American Civil Liberties Union

When Peggy Young got pushed out of her job at UPS after she became pregnant, she fought back by bringing a lawsuit against her employer, claiming that UPS discriminated against her by refusing to give her a light duty rotation, even though UPS admitted that it routinely accommodates workers with on-the-job injuries, workers who lose their drivers’ licenses, and workers who are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Unfortunately, many employers think it’s okay to treat pregnant workers worse than other employees who need temporary light duty positions or other temporary adjustments, like the ability to sit down or drink more water.  And some courts have agreed. 

Last week, four servicewomen who served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the Service Women’s Action Network, sued the Secretary of Defense in federal court to challenge the combat exclusion policy.  This policy prevents women from being assigned to most units that engage in direct ground combat.

Shannon Morgan was always a good shot, a skill she acquired growing up in rural Arkansas. As a member of a U.S. Army “Lioness” team of women soldiers in Iraq in 2003, she held her own in firefights and went out on patrols with both Army and Marine Infantrymen. Yet, official policy bars the armed services from assigning women to direct ground combat units in most situations, regardless of how well they perform under fire. Instead, when commanders want to put talented women soldiers on combat teams, they must do so by temporarily “attaching” them to those units, or sending them in a support role, rather than an official combat role. The result is that women soldiers, like Shannon, went into combat in Iraq with soldiers they hadn’t trained with and barely knew.

Less than three months after the Pentagon announced that it was loosening the rules that bar women from being assigned to ground combat units, the Marine Corps followed suit, taking important steps to open up previously restricted opportunities to women. Last week, the Marines announced that women volunteers would be allowed to attend the Infantry Officers Course in Quantico, Va., for the first time, and that enlisted Marine women would also soon gain access to infantry training. This week, Marine Corps General James F. Amos sent a message to all Marines explaining that the Corps would begin assigning women to a number of positions from which they had previously been restricted, including in artillery, tank, assault amphibian, and other staffs, for purposes of "research" on integrating women into the force. He also announced that the Marines will conduct quantitative research on how men and women Marines perform in tests such as marching with a heavy load and lifting a heavy machine gun.