Women in the Military

While some headlines have accented the negative side of gender integration in the military, this study paints a brighter picture.

This book is about the women who serve the military as wives and those who serve as soldiers, sailors, and flyers. Comparing wives and warriors in the U.S. and Canada, it examines how the military in both countries constructs gender to exclude women from being respected as equals to men. Written by a wide range of scholars and military personnel, the book covers such contemporary issues as the opening of military academies to women, the opening of combat posts to women, the experience of being a wife in the two-person career of an officer-husband, sexual harassment, turnover of women in the armed services, and U.S. and Canadian policies allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Part of an emerging feminist scholarship in military studies, this work also explores how gender has been constructed to maintain the status quo and women's narrowly defined roles as the dependent helpmates of men.

Allowing women to serve in the military during wartime has been a subject of controversy since World War I, when, for the first time in history, thousands of American women volunteered, answering the same patriotic call to duty as the men. Unlike the men, however, these pioneers were targets of gossip and branded as "camp followers" by some. Since that time, some 3.5 million American women have served their country as spies, nurses, guerrillas, or war correspondents. Many of these volunteers were wounded or died in the line of duty, others suffered as prisoners of war - all with little or no recognition. War and American Women brings to life the compelling stories of the ordinary and extraordinary women who served their country in times of war.

This book examines the degree to which women in the armed services are represented in occupations open to them and determines whether certain factors hinder or preclude them from working within their military specialties. The authors analyzed all military

More than 10,000 women served alongside U.S. troops during the Vietnam War. They sacrificed and suffered, yet, for many years, their involvement has gone unnoticed. This is the story of these heroic women and the vital role they played.

This is the story of that small band of women who wore U.S. Marine uniforms during the Korean War. These women are a "lost generation" of women Marines who stepped into the breach between two wars and preserved the opportunity to be a Marine for those who were as yet unborn. They were, in fact, a "thin green line"--and they stood fast, just like Marines are taught to do.

A topical presentation of firsthand accounts from some of the thousands of army and navy nurses who served both stateside and overseas during World War II, this book tells the stories of the brave women who used any and all resources to save as many lives as possible. Although military nurses could have made more money as civilians, thousands chose to leave the warmth and security of home to care for the young men who went off to war. They were not saints but vibrant women whose performance changed the face of both military and civilian nursing. Jackson's account follows both army and navy nurses from the time they joined the military, through their active service, to their lives today.

Documents the life histories of Japanese American women who served in WWII.