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FORT MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- Within the time span it took for women
in television to transform from the female stereotypes portrayed on
"I Love Lucy" to the more modern, late-century version found on
"Murphy Brown," women in the U.S. Air Force were making strides that
far outpaced their Hollywood counterparts.
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Quick evolution of women's roles in Air Force following World War II (Graphic by Sylvia Saab)
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By the end of World War II, women were fully incorporated
into the military, although still primarily limited to
mostly clerical roles such as typists, clerks and mail
sorters, and represented only about two percent of the
force. Less than a year after the Air Force became its own
service, President Harry Truman signed the Women's Armed
Services Integration Act, accepting women as a permanent
part of the military. It was the beginning of the Women's
Air Force, and for the next 30 years would represent a
separate, but equal part of the military.
During the
Korean War (1950-53), the only Air Force women permitted to
serve in the Korean battle zone were medical air evacuation
nurses. Servicewomen who had joined the Reserves following
World War II, were involuntarily recalled to active duty as
Women in the Air Force (WAF). Together, with already
in-service WAFs, the women carried out support roles at
rear-echelon bases in Japan. They were air traffic
controllers, weather observers, radar operators and photo
interpreters. Nurses served stateside, and flight nurses
served in the Korean theater.
By the end of
the Korean War (1953), 12,800 WAF officers and enlisted
women were serving
worldwide, and in 1955, Air Force
nurses experienced a moment of turnabout when men were
accepted into the Air Force Nurse Corps.
These
events would prove to be a harbinger of women's emerging
equality in all aspects of military service. Yet, it would
take two more decades and service in another war to achieve
parity.
The Vietnam War (1965-75) numbers reveal a
different story than the Korean War. American women military
serving in Southeast Asia numbered 7,000, with 600 to 800
reported to be WAFs. However, although the numbers may vary,
it is more interesting to note the solid achievements and
the expanding role of women in the military that evolved
during that time of intense service.
No longer
thought of only as nurses or medical evacuation personnel,
WAFs also served in a variety of support staff assignments,
in hospitals, with MASH Units, in service clubs, in
headquarters offices, intelligence, and a in variety of
personnel positions throughout Southeast Asia.
With
the 1967 repeal of the two-percent cap on the number of
women serving, and the lifting of the restriction on the
highest grade women could achieve, the first of many glass
ceilings was shattered.
Then, in 1968 the passage of
Public Law 90-130 allowed women to enlist in the Air
National Guard, and on campuses in 1969, Air Force Reserve
Officers Training Corps (AFROTC) opened to women.
Perhaps the most notable (to date) women's accomplishment
came in 1971 when Jeanne M. Holm was promoted to brigadier
general. She was the first female airman to reach that rank.
It was an achievement that would serve as inspiration for
women throughout the WAFs for two years, until 1973, when
she was promoted to major general.
It was that same
year, 1973, that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Air
Force Lt. Sharon Frontiero and changed military life
forever. The Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the
inequities in benefits for the dependents of military women.
Until then, military women with dependents were not
authorized housing, nor were their dependents eligible for
the benefits and privileges afforded the dependents of male
military members, such as medical, commissary and post
exchange benefits.
By the end of the Vietnam War
(1975) the Department of Defense had reversed policies and
provided pregnant women with the option of electing
discharge or remaining on active duty. Previous policies had
required women to be discharged if they became pregnant or
if they adopted a child.
By the conclusion of the WAF
program (1976) when women were accepted into the Air Force
on an equal basis with men, women were laying a solid
groundwork for attaining leadership positions and equal
opportunities.
It was that year--our country's
bicentennial--more than 200 years since women first served
on the battlefield of the American Revolution as nurses,
water bearers, cooks, laundresses and saboteurs--that women
were admitted to the service academies.
After that,
the sky was the limit. In 1976, the Air Force selected the
first woman reservist for the undergraduate pilot training
program, and the Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC)
assigned the first woman aircrew member to alert duty.
In 1980, the first women graduated from the service
academies, and just two years after that (1982) the Air
Force selected the first woman aviator for Test Pilot
School.
Six Air Force women served as pilots,
copilots and boom operators on the KC-135 and KC-10 tankers
that refueled F-111Fs during the raid on Libya in 1986.
That year was a banner year academically for women as,
for the first time in history, the Air Force Academy's top
graduate was a woman.
The War in the Persian Gulf
(1990-91) deployed 40,000 American military women during
Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. And at
the end of that war, the Air Force Reserve selected its
first woman senior advisor and Congress repealed laws
banning women from flying in combat.
It wasn't until
1993 that women stood on the threshold of space. In that
year, Lt. Gen. Susan J. Helms (then Maj. Helms) a member of
the first class of the U. S. Air Force Academy ('80) to
graduate women, became the first American military woman in
space as part of the Space Shuttle Endeavor team.
By
then, the Civil War had been over for 125 years and our
nation had seen, endured, and survived two World Wars, the
riots of the 60s, the war protests of the 70s, and the Space
Shuttle Challenger setback of the 80s.
The best was
yet to come.
Martha Lockwood is the
By USAF Martha Lockwood
Chief of Air Force Information
Products for the Defense Media Activity
Air Force News Service
Copyright 2013
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