Female Officers in the Department of Defense and Coast Guard Increasing Recruitment and Accessions

Since the end of the Second World War, the role of women in the military has been evolving. Changes to laws and Department of Defense (DOD) policies have either eliminated or clarified restrictions on women serving in the military. A 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission reported that women comprise more than 50 percent of the recruiting pool for the officer corps. Public Law 113-291 included a provision for United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Armed Forces outreach and recruitment efforts directed at womens representation in the officer corps, among other things. This book evaluates the extent to which accessions of women into the officer corps have increased, and DOD and the Coast Guard have determined resources and funding to increase the accessions of women into the officer corps; and DOD and the Coast Guard have initiatives and an oversight framework to increase the recruitment and accessions of female officers.