Why Can't Anything Be Done. Measuring Physical Readiness of Women for Military Occupations.

摘要

When 'Women, Combat, and the Draft' was written, there was little evidence upon which to base policy for the assignment of women in the armed forces. The 1977 Department of Defense background study, The Use of Women in the Military, set as its goal to avoid emotionalism and to report what information was available and where DoD could expect to be in five years. However, the study addressed only military manpower requirements and projections for expanding the percentage of women in the military. The issue of individual performance was not addressed. Curiously, in retrospect, the Use of Women in the Military established what have become the unchanging boundary of the policy debate. Although the study opened with the usual piety, 'To put this study in context, one must remember that the overriding issue is maintaining the combat effectiveness of the armed forces.' It immediately stated the reasons for increasing the role of women in the military: the movement in society to provide equal economic opportunity for women and to meet the manpower needs of the all-volunteer force in the face of a declining youth population. The record now shows that the social concern for equality has dominated policy-making to such extent that the collection and evaluation of performance data, individual and collective, has been either overlooked or slighted. The policy reviews that have occurred have been occasioned largely by serious social problems in the training base and field or by flamboyant assessments of military operations. However, in no instance has performance data ever trumped the social concern for progress toward equality. That is not to say that the policy reviews did not invite testimony and collect performance data, only that the issues of performance, especially in the land forces, were discounted when decisions were made. However, in contrast to many of the previous reviews, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission limited its attention entirely to social concerns.