Invisible and yet Hyper-Visible: The Gendered Experiences of Female Military Leaders
Open AccessInvisible and yet Hyper-Visible: The Gendered Experiences of Female Military LeadersThe purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the gendered experiences of active-duty senior enlisted women in the US military. This study was informed by Gendered Organizations Theory, Feminist Institutional Theory, and Social Learning Theory. In-depth interviews with 12 active-duty senior enlisted women representing various occupational specialties within the four branches of the US military resulted in compelling stories of the gendered experiences of the participants related to organizational structures, institutional culture, gendered misconduct, and learning to navigate on their leadership paths within the military context. This study found that military organizational structures often appear gender-neutral or seek to support women’s military service, however more often than not encompass unintentional negative consequences for women. Participants gendered experiences illustrated that no single-issue policy or regulation will likely resolve issues of gender in the military without first recognizing the need for entrenched cultural upheaval and the variances across branch and occupation. In particular, experiences with gendered misconduct suggest it is likely more pervasive than data may belie as concerns over reporting, negative consequences and backlash, and support, remain and make combatting such misconduct challenging despite recent progress and initiatives. Participants encountered a variety of gendered experiences throughout their military careers and learned from not only their own direct experiences, but also those they observed or were relayed by others through socialization. Future research should include (1) greater diverse representation to capture the voices of a broader military population in both traditional (age, race, and marital status) and military-specific [branch, military occupational specialty (MOS)/rate, rank and equivalent grade, and years in service] demographics, (2) and should have a longitudinal design to understand the professional lives of female military leaders. Future military leadership development initiatives should incorporate efforts to support and enable the advancement of women and to educate all future leaders, regardless of gender, on the magnitude of leader roles and responsibilities when encountering issues of gender. Furthermore, policy and regulatory efforts regarding gender in the military should simultaneously address the organizational structures, institutional culture, and socially learned environment.
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