Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services

The Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 established specific roles for women in the peacetime Armed Forces of the United States. Previously, women had only been allowed to serve as nurses in peacetime with a wider variety of roles only open to them in time of war.[2] However, with the start of the Korean War in June 1950, the DoD began to investigate ways to increase recruitment and retention of women in all services. Internal inquiries from defense agencies, such as the National Security Resources Board, and external pressure from politicians, such as Senator Margaret Chase Smith, added to the sense of urgency in defining a more comprehensive position for women in the military.[3]

At the suggestion of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower Anna Rosenberg, Marshall formed the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services in August 1951. Its first chair was Mary Pillsbury Lord, a civic activist who had been chair of the National Civilian Advisory Committee of the Women's Army Corps (WAC).[3] Some of its original members included Oveta Culp Hobby, the first WAC director; Mildred McAfee Horton, former director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES); Ruth Streeter, former director of the Women Marines; actress Helen Hayes; Sarah G. Blanding, Vassar College president; engineer Lillian Gilbreth; and publisher Beatrice Gould.[4] Meeting for three days at the Pentagon in 1951, they heard presentations about recruiting and the possible need for a women's draft based on the failure of recruiting during World War II to meet the military services' requirements for women.[5] The committee helped to develop policies and standards for women in the military—using them, expanding their opportunities, recruiting them, and training them. The committee ensured that military women would have representation at the Department of Defense.[4]

Over the years, the DACOWITS charter has expanded, enabling the committee to submit numerous recommendations to the SecDef. The majority of proposals have been either fully or partially implemented. DACOWITS is instrumental to the DoD and has made significant contributions on topics including the opening of closed positions to women; improvements to the health of deployed servicewomen; increased marketing, accession, and recruitment of women; and increased parental leave authorizations.[6]

DACOWITS’ recommendations have addressed a variety of topics and subtopics throughout the years. The table below lists the most common topics of concern the committee has addressed.

D'Amico, Francine J., and Laurie L. Weinstein, eds. (1999). Gender Camouflage: Women and the U.S. Military. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 9780814719077. OCLC 39951636.

Judith Lawrence Bellafaire, "Public Service Role Models: The First Women of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services"

United States. Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services Records, 1951-1959. Schlesinger Library Archived 2012-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

• Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services
• DACOWITS Annual Reports
• DACOWITS Facebook and DACOWITS Instagram
• Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
• Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity
• Defense Human Resources Activity - Diversity Management Operations Center
• Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Women Veterans
• DoD Women's Health
• DoD Personnel statistics
• Women in the Services Review (WISR) Studies
• Fact Sheet: WISR Implementation