Evolution Of Female Leadership In The U.S. Armed Forces

Challenges faced by female officers

Women played a critical role in the United States armed forces according to Brownson, (2014). The participation of women in the military began in the 20th century. When the Mexican and civil war began, a small portion of women started involving themselves in the combat. However, men were still dominating the army. The first woman to take part in the war was Deborah Samson Gannet in 1782. She came from Plymouth, Massachusetts. Deborah served for the next seventeen years in the military.  While fighting in the revolution war, she suffered injury twice on her leg. When it came the year 1804, Deborah got a pension for serving in the military. The second woman who vigorously participated in the revolutionary war was Margaret Corbin in the year 1776 in reference to Defraites, Niebuhr, Teneza, Clark & Ludwig, (2015). She used to accompany her husband when she was going to fight for the United States of America. They used to be in a group of six hundred soldiers providing a defense to Fort Washington in New York.

Apart from the above two women, Dichter & True, (2015) argues that, Elizabeth Newcome was also another soldier during the Mexican war. Elizabeth used to put on male attires and join the military during the battle at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Her efforts were evident in the year 1847 when she fought Native American living in Dodge City. Many people discover that Elizabeth was a female soldier until the year 1848. When other soldiers found that she was a female, they quickly removed her from the military service.

Consequently, the Congress discovered the efforts that Elizabeth had put in fighting for the Americans and rewarded her. During the civil wars in America, several women joined military pretending to be men. For example, Sarah Rosetta pretended to be a man to fight for the army. Unluckily, she met her death during the war at New Orleans. Up to the time she was passing away, many people could not discover that she was a female soldier in reference to MacKenzie, (2015). When other women saw the efforts, their counterparts are making to fight for their nation; many other women joined the military during the world wars to fight for the United States of America.

It was not a walk in the park when women joined the military; they faced several challenges which they had to find a way to deal with to move on. Northouse, (2018) says that, the first main challenge was the risk of rejection. Many women feared to identify themselves. From the research, women such as Elizabeth had to wear men’s clothes to conceal their identity. The challenge means that if women were found in the military, they could be sent away. However, women address the problem by putting on like men. The fellow soldiers could not realize that they were women until the later days. The second challenge was the level of skills. Military required knowledge of using ammunitions such the guns, however, in the male-dominated society men are the one who knew how to use the firearms. In such a situation, women doubted their effectiveness while working with the military.

Key achievements of women in the military

Consequently, many female soldiers could befriend a few male counterparts who knew how to use firearms and work with them effectively. Another evident challenge was the risk of sexual assault. In a military dominated by men, women risk chances of sexually harassed because they are only female in the combat. However, these women could dress like men to prevent other male soldiers from identifying them according to Nye Jr, (2016). Lastly, the issue of the family was also a challenge. Women were the one who could effectively look after the family members. When they joined the military, no one was back at home to look after the kids. Therefore, it proved to be a challenge to them.

Women achieved many things when they joined the United States military to fight for their nations. The first thing is that they boosted the morale of their men during the fight. It was a great challenge that women can also be courageous and fight. The support made men be strong and defend their nation. Secondly, many women have gotten positions while in the military. For instance, some of them became pilots as others later take leadership positions within the military. Apart from the above achievement, when women fought in the army, Congress then recognized their efforts and rewarded them. For instance, Elizabeth was awarded present from the Congress because of her efforts in the military according to Osiel, (2017). There is also the issue of motivation. The women that joined the leadership motivated other women and girls are also able to lead in the society that is dominated by men. Several women started entering the leadership levels. Women started fighting for equality because they are also ready to fight like men in the society. The Congress had to debate on several laws seeking to amend the rule and bring balance in the community.

The most notable female leaders in the United States of America and the reason for their outstanding leadership.

Several women did recommended jobs in the leadership arena. The first notable woman is Lady Deborah Moody. She was in the religious freedom leadership. The reason why she becomes a distinguished female leader is that comforted all the settlers who were looking for the religious freedom in Gravesend, New Amsterdam according to Segal, Smith, Segal & Canuso, (2016). She later brought the people to New York. Deborah was one of the women of who were respected in the society because of her courageousness and support to the poor. The second notable woman was the Margaret Brent, who fought for human rights and women suffrage. She was from North America and rose to be one of the known female landowners. She worked on the settling disputes and created volunteer groups to fight for the rights of women in the society. Apart from the above leaders, another female leader was Jeannette Rankin, who was in the political arena. Jeannette became the first female to be elected in the Congress.

The women leadership in the United States of America have a lot of impact on the country. The first issue is that the administration has acted as the eye-opener to other members of the society. In the traditional culture, the community viewed women as housewives. There work to look after children as men were going to fight. However, the rising of the few women in society has changed the perspective of many people. Men dominated institutions like the American Congress in the past days but currently women are also getting into the Congress positions in reference to Simon, (2018).  After a few women proved that they could lead the country, they started scrambling for the leadership positions in the society. Secondly, the leadership brought the beginning of fighting against oppression in women. Some women took the leadership positions to address women rights for instance. From that perspective, many members of the gained hope for their freedom. The United States gained some benefits because of the tactics of addressing issues that women brought in the country. For instance, in the military women had a way of fighting that they knew could assist in dealing with the enemy. They also acted as spices as an away to get the information from the enemies. Such tactics steered the country near independence as compared to the well-known men measures. Up to date, women are fighting for equality in the political arena according to Van Vugt, & Grabo, (2015), something that would not have been there if there was nobody to engineer it.

References

Brownson, C. (2014). The battle for equivalency: Female US Marines discuss sexuality, physical fitness, and military leadership. Armed Forces & Society, 40(4), 765-788.

Defraites, R. F., Niebuhr, D. W., Teneza, B. C., Clark, L. L., & Ludwig, S. L. (2015). Comparative morbidity and mortality of women serving in the US military during a decade of warfare. Women at War, 3-21.

Dichter, M. E., & True, G. (2015). “This Is the Story of Why My Military Career Ended Before It Should Have” Premature Separation From Military Service Among US Women Veterans. Affilia, 30(2), 187-199.

MacKenzie, M. (2015). Beyond the band of brothers: The US military and the myth that women can’t fight. Cambridge University Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Nye Jr, J. S. (2016). Bound to lead: The changing nature of American power. Basic Books.

Osiel, M. J. (2017). Obeying orders: atrocity, military discipline and the law of war. Routledge.

Segal, M. W., Smith, D. G., Segal, D. R., & Canuso, A. A. (2016). The role of leadership and peer behaviors in the performance and well-being of women in combat: Historical perspectives, unit integration, and family issues. Military medicine, 181(suppl_1), 28-39.

Simon, R. J. (2018). Women in the Military. Routledge.

Van Vugt, M., & Grabo, A. E. (2015). The many faces of leadership: an evolutionary-psychology approach. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(6), 484-489.