Ban on women lifted for 1% of military jobs

Ban on women lifted for 1% of military jobs
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 9, 2012 15:21:29 EST
The Pentagon will lift parts of its longtime ban on women serving in combat units, but only a small fraction of the force will be affected, officials announced Thursday.

The change will open up about an additional 1 percent of military jobs to women, but about 20 percent of jobs across the active-duty force will remain restricted to men.

The new rules, likely to take effect this spring, will continue keep most combat career fields off-limits to women, who make up about 15 percent of the active-duty force.

For the Army the change means nearly 14,000 new jobs are available for women, less than 10 percent of the jobs currently closed to them. The Army will be opening six enlisted occupational specialties that were not formerly available to women, including artillery mechanic and maintainers for the Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

For the Marine Corps, the change will be less significant because the Marines are currently not enforcing the legally optional restrictions on women serving in units that “co-locate” with ground combat units. That’s less than 1 percent of the roughly 54,000 Marine Corps jobs currently closed to women. The Marines for the first time will allow women to serve in some career fields in artillery battalions, tank battalions and combat assault battalions.

The Navy will open 60 positions that were previously closed, also less than 1 percent of the nearly 34,000 Navy jobs currently closed to women.

The Air Force will be largely unaffected by the change because more than 99 percent of Air Force jobs are already open to women.
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