DoD Vows to Open 14,000 Jobs to Women

The Department of Defense announced Thursday it would remove two key barriers for women serving in combat, opening up roughly 14,000 job assignments to which women previously had been barred.

In a briefing for journalists, Deputy Under Secretary for Military Personnel Policy Vee Penrod and Principal Director for Military Personnel Policy Maj. Gen. Gary Patton outlined a new report to Congress and answered pointed questions about why the Pentagon is not recommending a more comprehensive lift of the ban.

The first change will revoke a 1994 policy prohibiting women from serving in positions that are “near” combat units, which will allow women to serve in jobs such as tank mechanics and field artillery radar operators.

The second change is an “exception to policy” to allow women to officially take assignments at the battalion level in jobs they already perform. Today, they’re typically assigned at the brigade level, or by virtue of being “attached” to a battalion rather than officially assigned.  This will open up roughly 1,200 assignments to women.

In contrast, an estimated 238,000 positions across the different services will remain closed to females. These mostly include infantry, armor and special operations units.

Both Penrod and Patton emphasized that these first two steps are a beginning, not an end, and defense officials will do further research to determine just how many more jobs could be opened to women in the years to come.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also touched on DoD’s aspirations in an announcement.

“We will continue to open as many positions as possible to women, so that anyone qualified to serve can have the opportunity to do so,” he said. Panetta has ordered each service to review its standards and make recommendations for “gender neutral” physical fitness guidelines, based on occupational specialties, and to make recommendations on further integration of the sexes.

For now, DoD’s initial changes will take place after 30 consecutive congressional session days. For those assignments that have been previously closed to women, Patton acknowledged it will take longer to implement change, given the need to recruit and train women in those areas.

An earlier report to DoD by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission advocated a more robust removal of the ban.  Both Penrod and Patton said they believe these first two steps are a prudent move in the right direction.

Penrod, who served in the Air Force for 35 years, said she was “very excited” by the progress and said that when she was in the Air Force, she was banned from serving at a base in Minot, North Dakota, because it was considered “too cold” for women.

Patton, a career infantryman with multiple deployments, expressed his support for the partial lifting of the ban, saying it was the “right thing to do,” and adding “I wish I could have had women in my battalion.  It expands the talent pool.”

According to official figures, 99 percent of all Air Force positions are open to women; 88 percent are open in the Navy; 68 percent are open in the Marine Corps and 66 percent are open in the Army.

To see the full report from the Department of Defense, click here.