Today, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) released its annual report on matters relating to women serving in the Armed Forces of the United States for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. DACOWITS provides the Department of Defense (DoD) with advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment and retention, treatment, employment, integration and well-being of highly-qualified professional women in the armed forces.
Each December, the committee selects several study topics to examine during the following year. For 2016, DACOWITS studied 14 topics. The committee gathered information from multiple sources in examining these topics; for example, briefings and written responses from the DoD, service-level military representatives, and subject matter experts; data collected from focus groups and interactions with service members during installation visits; and peer-reviewed literature. DACOWITS collected qualitative data during their visits to multiple installations—representing all four DoD Service branches (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy) and the Coast Guard.
Based upon the data collected and analyzed, the FY16 annual report includes 14 recommendations and four continuing concerns the committee made to the secretary of defense on the following topics: mentorship, single-parent waivers, accessions and marketing, the chaplain corps, gender integration, combat gear and equipment, pregnancy and parenthood, physical standards, strategic communications, transition services, and sexual harassment and sexual assault training. The FY16 annual report is available online and includes detailed reasoning supporting each of the recommendations and continuing concerns addressed by the committee.
DACOWITS is one of the oldest DoD federal advisory committees. The committee was established following the signing of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, by then Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall. The new law enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the Armed Forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the recently formed Air Force. This annual report marks the Committee’s 65th Anniversary.
Electronic copies of the committee’s a
nnual reports and additional information about the DACOWITS can be found at
http://dacowits.defense.gov/
.