Description
Women who fight in wars also have to fight for their right to do so. But what are the obstacles impeding their progress in achieving equal status as both active service members and as veterans? This book, written by a team of female veterans and military scholars, demonstrates the ways in which women service members and veterans experience a unique set of challenges when attempting to both honorably serve their country and reintegrate into civilian society following military service. These challenges include – but are not limited to – discrimination, staggering rates of suicide, and barriers to obtaining treatment for military sexual trauma and other critical benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Women Veterans: Lifting the Veil of Invisibility examines current service-related policies and gender in the military’s hierarchical power structure. Here, a confluence of white male privilege and entitlement, the culture of domination, and the effeminization of the enemy manifest themselves as a backlash against women, calling into question a woman’s agency and her very status as a citizen. Special attention in the book is paid to the civil-military divide, representative bureaucracy, and the function of the military and civilian justice systems. Moreover, the need for appropriate healthcare policies and structures is examined within a ‘wicked problems’ framework. The authors conclude that the responsibility for women veterans, and all veterans for that matter, must become a matter of compelling government interest. This ground-breaking book is required reading for practitioners of public policy and administration with an interest in military and veterans affairs, public health, NGOs and activist groups, as well as scholars of gender and public service, public personnel management, and nonprofit management.
Table of Contents
Part I. Preface
Part II. Inter-Sectionality
1. Women as Warriors
2. Women as "Other"
3. Women as Supporters and Caregivers
4. Women as "Sex Objects"
5. Women as "Marginalized"
Part III. Citizenship
6. Agency and Second Class Status
7. Who is a Veteran?
8. The Selective Service Act
9. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
10. The Combat Exclusion Policy
Part IV. Military Culture
11. Male Privilege and Entitlement
12. A Culture of Domination
13. Effeminization of the Enemy
14. Backlash Against Women
Part V. Women and Power
15. Women in Power
16. Women as Tokens
17. Women as Proxies for Men
18. The Role of Equalizers (Money, Economics, Education)
Part VI. The Civil-Military Divide
19. Who Serves in the Military?
20. The Notion of Representative Bureaucracy
21. Legal Frameworks Apart: The UCMJ v. the Civilian Court System
Part VII. Confronting Wicked Problems: The Role of Health and Violence
22. Determinants of Health
23. Impact of Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
24. The Military’s Response to MST
25. Biological, Psychological and Sociological Outcomes
Part VIII. Conclusion: The Implications of Veiled Invisibility
26. The Ethics of Responsibility
