Women Promotion and Leadership In Navy

Women Promotion and Leadership In Navy

Chapter 1: Introduction

Outline

In this research the detail of the presence of women in navy has to be discussed and their leadership qualities that make them eligible to gain promotion to higher posts.

The military has a unique function. It kills and it does so, on behalf of the nation and at the direction of its elected leaders. In addition, many military members take great risks and some sacrifice their lives. On the other hand, although trained for combat, some never engage in it, and others have specialties such as accounting that do not require them to kill and that almost guarantee their safety. Nevertheless, all who wear a military uniform are conscious of what separates them from civilians. That is a mission that can involve the taking of an enemy's life and the sacrifice of one's own.

Thesis Statement

This research is to be conducted to find the relation of women contribution towards navy with the recognition they get. The recognition can be determined by the leadership qualities and the leadership positions those women in navy posses.

Background

In U.S. culture many men and women too, are uncomfortable with women's fulfilling that responsibility. In spite of the difficulty of recruiting enough volunteers for the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) and in spite of a general ethic of equality, U.S. women are still barred from ground combat. Further, women have only been allowed to serve in combat aviation since 1993 and on many combat ships since 1994. (They are still excluded from submarines for privacy reasons.) Thus, even if women are in the military, constraints on their full participation continue to exist. If you are not perceived as a full member of a group, it is hard to be its leader.

In 2010, women are about 15% of the U.S. military. That is an all-time high, and a brief history of women's military service is in order. The vanguard was the nurses. Some women served as nurses during the Civil War and more than a thousand served during the Spanish-American War. In World War I nurses served abroad, some near the front line, and the U.S. Navy made some women regular, although temporary, members of the navy. (Many of these were badly needed telephone operators.) World War II brought large numbers of women into the military although they numbered less than 2% of the total. There was a plan to draft nurses, but when this was made public, enough nurses volunteered that a draft became unnecessary.

After World War II women for the first time became regular members of the peacetime force. However, there were limitations. The head of the nurse corps and the director of the women's corps, the WACs (Women's Army Corps members), WAVEs (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service [U.S. Navy], and WAFs (Women in the Air Force), could temporarily hold the rank of colonel (army, air force, Marine Corps) or captain (navy). Otherwise the top rank for women was lieutenant colonel or commander. The total number of women was not to exceed 2% of the force, and no more than 10% of the women could be officers. A 1951 executive order authorized the discharge of ...