Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze? Integration of Females into a Male Organization

Integrating women into organizations that have historically been all male poses a number of problems from a policy implementation perspective. Under a directive issues by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, a variety of combat positions in the U.S. military must be open to women by January 2016 or exceptions must be requested; the order includes elite forces such as Navy Seals and Army Special Forces. Our project employs data from focus groups and a survey to understand the perspectives of men and women on the integration of women into U.S. Army Special Forces. In particular we identify the real and perceived barriers to implementation and make recommendations regarding gender integration.

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