Military Women and the Force of the Future

ABSTRACT

Women are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S .military population. Since the U.S. Department of Defense rescinded ‘Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule,’ and implemented the 2016 policy to allow women into combat arms, the next time the United States goes to war, women will be at the battle forefront. This special issue of Defence and Peace Economics (DPE) explores the implication of the directive on the demand and supply of military labor and possible substitution and complementarity within military occupational classifications in response to the directive. The three papers highlighted in this special issue approach the status of women in the forces from three different aspects, integration, health, and education.

KEYWORDS:

• Military women
• women veterans
• education
• montgomery GI Bill
• integration
• marine corps

Acknowledgments

My thanks to the authors who contributed to this issue as well as to all the scholars who took the time and effort to review and evaluate the papers submitted. I would also like to extend a warm thanks to Dr. Christos Kollias and Dr. Binyam Solomon for their support and suggestions throughout this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.