Fernandez 1

Star Fernandez

Ms. Curtin

Independent Research I GT, Pd. 3

6 April 2017

The Womens Army Corps: Development of Female Roles in the U.S. Marines

There were certain positions in the United States Marines that were prohibited from

female soldiers when initially integrated. The U.S. Navy is a section of the military which

integrated women into the army by 1978 (Callahan). This was supported and advocated by

organizations, such as the National Woman Suffrage Association formed on May 15, 1869 (

Womens Suffrage: Their Rights and and Nothing Less). After the integration, women faced

discrimination at the camps where their opportunities to certain duties, such as driving an

automated vehicle, and needed to be with another women during group activities to ensure safety

and prevent discrimination. There were times where organizations decided to include other

reasons of opposition, such as protecting foreign not national rights. The people within the

organizations, Womens Army Corps (WAC), conducted actions to reform characteristics of

female service in the U.S. Marines. To help females gain egalitarianism in the U.S. Marines, the

Womens Army Corps conducted court cases, obtained acknowledged positions, and achieved

proper aspects for females to do equal service.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman passed the Womens Armed Services Integration Act

(Truman). It restricted female promotions to full colonel or Navy captain and women from
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combat positions on flying aircraft and ships, limited the amount of female officers able to serve

as lieutenant colonels or Navy commanders, and permitted service Secretary's authority to

discharge women without requiring a specific reason. While the Army was able to use loopholes

due to the lack of specification of women and the army, there was a policy on that interpretation

and some exclusions are still currently functioning (Stanley). Before the act was passed, the

military did not have high opinion of female integration. In 1939, the Army staff addressed the

chances of women becoming a part of the army. One reply by a male officer was: "women's

probable jobs would include those of hostess, librarians, canteen clerks, cooks and waitresses,

chauffeurs, messengers, and strolling minstrels, and General Thomas Holcomb stated Like

most Marines, when the matter first came up, I didn't believe women could serve any useful

purpose in the Marine Corps . . .Since then, I've changed my mind" (Bellafaire). However,

during World War II, the U.S. Army suffered heavy casualties and lacked the manpower

necessary. Thus, General Thomas Holcomb decided to integrate women into the U.S. Marines in

1941. The government believed that the integration of women would lead to issues of

fraternization, and homosexuality, and overall negative effect (Stanley). However, these were

assumptions of women as a whole, not individuals, and the Department of Defenses evaluations

did not support the assumptions.

Representative Edith Nourse Rogers pursued to pass the WAAC bill to ensure women

had legal and medical protection during the next war other than participating as volunteers under

contract (Creation of the Womens Army Corps); she claimed that "That is what government

of the people, by the people, and for the people means, and women are people equally with men"

(QuoteHD). This Representative believed that all people serving for their country deserve
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equal protection and rights, no matter their physical and sexual differences. George C. Marshall

supported this bill with the belief that Women certainly must be employed in the over-all

effort of this nation, and for the activities indicated in the draft of the law proposed to Congress

we consider it essential that their status, their relationship to military authority, should be clearly

established (George C. Marshall Foundation). General Marshall thought women are capable of

filling the gap of manpower for the war, for they are equal as humans and this method of

including females was not attempted by the military yet to prove that it would harm the United

States Military. The bill was unsuccessful in 1941 because the Pearl Harbor attack influenced the

Congress decision. Representative Rogers persevered and introduced the bill again. After

debate, Edith Nourse Rogers settled with a compromise where the organization would be

auxiliary. Thus, women were not considered a part of the military, but they were considered as

working with the armed forces. On May 15, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the Massachusetts

bill (Creation of the Womens Army Corps). In 1943, Edith Rogers introduced identical bills

allowing the enrollment of females into the U.S. Military caused the WAAC to no longer be

considered auxiliary and allowed females to serve overseas. According to Representative

Rogers, the WACs contain regular positions, excluding those involving combat, of the Army.

However, female soldiers faced legal restrictions in the military.

Women gained equality in the U.S. Marines through court cases. One significant court

case is Frontiero V. Ferguson. The Supreme Court declared the requirement of a female soldier

to prove that her spouse and minor children were dependent on her to get entitlements, including

medical care and housing, was unconstitutional. In another court case, Crawford v. Cushman,

most senior officers argued against changing a controversial policy, the Pregnancy Section III
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Article 615-361, which prohibits pregnant women to serve (Sgt. Sneden); one female soldier

declared "...I can only conjecture that they are based on the notion that the Army discriminates

against women by requiring their separation when they become pregnant. It is a fact that a

woman has freedom of choice in deciding whether or not she will become pregnant. If she elects,

therefore, to become pregnant and deliberately incapacitates herself. . ..how has the Army

discriminated against her?" (Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation).

The opposers declared that if a women chose to become pregnant and be discharged, then it

would not be discrimination. However, some female soldiers still desired to continue their

service and, thus, felt that the policy restricted their freedom of choice. As a result, the policy

was banished due to the violation of the Fifth Amendment. Women obtained an increased

amount of freedom in their service.

Women in the WAAC took a stand in history through enrolling and participating in the

U.S. Marines. Initially, society feared that the military would cause the women to become more

masculine; a majority feared the stigma of men protecting women and believed that men's and

women's traditional roles would reverse. The government, in response, created posters stating

that women are necessary to win the war and they may join for their desire to help the war effort

(Library of Congress). The director of the WAC Oveta Culp Hobby played a significant role in

recruitment by creating regulations and policies of recruitment for the organization. Their

posters, mainly towards women leaders, were dramatic and persuasive depicting women with

makeup conducting significant labor in the Navy, such as a WAVE parachute rigger and air

traffic controller (Recruiting Posters for Women from World War II); it also utilized patriotic

phrases encouraging the female enrollment to become a better citizen of the United States, such
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as Every fit women can release a fit man. Join the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps Today

(Gonzales) and This is my war too (National Archives and Records Administration). The

Army established five WAAC training centers in 1942 and have accepted 40 African American

women of the initial 440 women at Fort Des Moines, Iowa (Marine Corps Womens Reserve).

By 1944, the WAAC recruited 35,000 women. This exceeded the requirement of 1,000 people

set by the president, accepted all races at their established schools, and created 400 occupations

for women. The organization also broke down racial and sexual barriers by accepting an

unprecedented large amount of females of all race.

By 1943, the female marines were needed for skills and the Marine Corps were able to

increase the amount of available jobs to the point that women had 85% of the Marines jobs

(Marine Corps Womens Reserve). Women were only assigned to jobs with female leaders to

avoid mockery. Females were also restricted from privileges that males had. Due to later small

necessities, women in the Marines gained the opportunities to higher positions (Murnane):

Brigadier General Elizabeth P. Hoisington is the first WAC promoted to general; Rear

Administer Deborah A. Loewer was the first warfare officer promoted to a flag rank; and U.S.

Marine Brigadier General Margaret A. Brewer is recognized as the first female Marine general,

brigadier general, Corps female general officer, director of 1979 Division of Public Affairs, and

creator of the first womens corporations platoon in the reserved program (Sgt. Sneden). Within

the WAC, female African American soldiers of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

were first sent to the front of the U.S. lines in World War II in 1945 (World War II and a New

Womanhood). These women, as well as others, broke down the barriers between genders and

encouraged more women to enroll in the military

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Their training reflected the men's training except for weapons, tactical training, and

adequate uniform. Some females served in "the oversized man's GI overcoat which [she] wore

over a thin fatigue dress. . .a typical sad sack GI shivering with a coat dragging in the snow. . ."

(Marine Corps Womens Reserves) and declared they "went through Officer Candidate

School in tennis shoes, foundation garments, seersucker dresses with bloomers and gas masks"

(Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation). After President Lyndon B.

Johnsons repeal of the Public Law 90-130 of 1967, Brigadier General Margaret A. Brewer was

able to inspect womens welfare, clothing, and other aspects. General Brewer also fought for

improvements in pregnancy and parenthood regulations. Eventually, females gained uniforms for

their specific gender, improving their experience and effectivity during service.

The Marines were negotiating for the responsibilities of these actions, such as inspection

and taxes, to decrease the gender barrier. The Corps Commandment also claimed that the female

Marines would not utilize names separating them from the rest of the Marines, like the

Femarines, which is mentioned in General Holcombs statement: They are Marines. They

don't have a nickname and they don't need one. They get their basic training in a Marine

atmosphere at a Marine post. The inherit the traditions of Marines. They are Marines. (Women

in Military Service For America Foundation). In response to the issues women, including

women from the WAC, introduced and addressed, the U.S. Marines and other significant figures

acted to solve the issues. In the Women Integration Act of 2010, pregnant women who is the

guardian of a child under the Secretarys decision of age and gave birth during service must be

separated from the armed force. Organizational entities in the Department of Defense, assisted in

enforcing these regulations and the affected people, such as CEW members and caregivers.
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Family Care Plan by the Department of Defense plan was enacted on December 7, 2010 and was

signed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford L. Stanley

(Family Care Plans). There were guidelines for the guardians to maintain their duties,

administer designated family care plans of interval visits, and coordinate caregiver employment

and breaks, such as the 4 month break for a gain of a dependent family member. The debate

leading up to this conclusion included questions about female capability to reach physical

standards, sexual assaults in the military, and the effect of female integration. These issues were

also acknowledged within the UN Security Council Resolutions (Murnane). DOD entity is the

family center inform parents on family care plans and custody over children from the court.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panettas decided to include women into the combat roles in 2013.

These issues associated with the female soldiers were also acknowledged within the UN Security

Council Resolutions. The debate concluded with questions on the female capability to reach the

physical standards, the committed sexual assaults in the military, and the effect of the integration

(Egnell). The process of female inclusion with complete rights is ongoing.

Females in the United States Marines were able to take a stand in history and gain

equality through a variety of methods. Through Representative Edith Rogers persistence to

establish the Massachusetts bill despite being rejected during the Pearl Harbor attack, the

Congress debated and decided to pass the Womens Army Corps bill in 1942, a year later.

Initially, the Corps worked with the Army until Representative Roger introduced another bill to

remove the auxiliary section of the title. The organization grew, exceeding President

Roosevelts set amount. In 1948, the Women Service Integration Act was established, but it

prohibited women from obtaining high positions within the U.S. military. Women soldiers
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training reflect the males except over combat positions and other aspects. On the contrary,

several females achieved the positions, such as general and colonel, appropriate uniforms, and

were recognized as equals to their gender counterparts. The process of female inclusion is still

ongoing as sexual assaults are increasing and investigation on whether women are capable of

reaching physical standards.

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