Background
1988: The Department of Defense policy that extended women’s combat exclusion to bar their participation in any non-combat unit where the risks of exposure to combat were equal to or greater than the combat units they supported.
1991: Congress establishes the Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces to study all matters relating to the assignment of women in the armed forces.
1994: Secretary of Defense Les Aspin officially rescinded the Risk Rule through a memorandum titled “Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule.” This policy change opened thousands of new positions to women while still excluding them from units below brigade level whose primary mission was direct ground combat.
Primary Legal Documents
Aspin, L. (1994, January 13). Direct ground combat definition and assignment rule [Memorandum]. Department of Defense. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/PDFFiles/directgroundcombatdefinitionandassignmentrule.pdf
Congressional Documents
U.S. Congress, Senate. (1991). S.1515 – Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces Act of 1991, 102nd Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/1515
U.S. Department of Defense. (2012, February). Report to Congress on the review of laws, policies and regulations restricting the service of female members in the U.S. Armed Forces.
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Military Personnel. (2013, July 24). Women in Service Reviews [Hearing, 113th Congress, H.A.S.C. No. 113-50].
Academic and Scholarly Sources
Books
Elshtain, J. B. (1987). Women and war. Basic Books.
Francke, L. B. (1997). Ground zero: The gender wars in the military. Simon & Schuster.
Holm, J. M. (1992). Women in the military: An unfinished revolution (Rev. ed.). Presidio Press.
Mitchell, B. (1989). Weak link: The feminization of the American military. Regnery Gateway.
Stiehm, J. H. (1989). Arms and the enlisted woman. Temple University Press.
Stiehm, J. H. (Ed.). (1996). It’s our military, too! Women and the U.S. military. Temple University Press.
United States Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. (1992). Report to the President, November 15, 1992. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d00277676f&seq=2
Scholarly Articles
Buscha, C. A. (2023). Overturning the “Risk Rule” of 1988, opting for new risks: U.S. women servicemembers and the War in Afghanistan. Armed Forces & Society, 49(3), 651-676. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221103295
Collins-Dogrul, J. (2018). Public discourse about women in combat. Armed Forces & Society, 44(3), 534-552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X17715650
Harrell, M. C., & Miller, L. L. (1997). New opportunities for military women: Effects upon readiness, cohesion, and morale. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR896.html
Kamarck, K. N. (2016). Women in combat: Issues for Congress (CRS Report No. R42075). Congressional Research Service. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1007840.pdf
Miller, L. L. (2001). Not just weapons of the weak: Gender harassment as a form of protest for Army men. In D. Inbody (Ed.), Gender, identity, and the production of meaning (pp. 32-51). Westview Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2787010
Peach, L. J. (1994). Women at war: The ethics of women in combat. Hamline Journal of Public Law & Policy, 15, 199-232.
Journalistic and News Sources
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (2011). Defending America in mixed company: Gender in the U.S. Armed Forces. Daedalus, 140(3). https://www.amacad.org/publication/daedalus/defending-america-mixed-company-gender-us-armed-forces
Barnes, J. (2013, January 24). ‘Valor knows no gender’: Pentagon lifts ban on women in combat. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/valor-knows-no-gender-pentagon-lifts-ban-women-combat-flna1C8103334
Filkins, D. (2013, January 28). The blurry distinction between combat and non-combat roles. The New Yorker.
Garamone, J. (2013, January 24). Defense Department expands women’s combat role. American Forces Press Service.
Grossman, E. (2001, November). Women’s role in combat questioned. Women’s eNews. https://womensenews.org/2001/11/womens-role-combat-questioned/
National Public Radio. (2007, October 3). Two opposing views on women on the battlefield. All Things Considered. https://www.npr.org/2007/10/03/14960494/two-opposing-views-on-women-on-the-battlefield
Raphel, A. (2014, January 23). Women in the U.S. military and combat roles: Research roundup. The Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/gender-society/women-military-research-roundup/
Roulo, C. (2013, January 24). Secretary of Defense rescinds ‘Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule.’ U.S. Army. https://www.army.mil/article/94932
Scarborough, R. (2004, October 22). Female soldiers eyed for combat. The Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/oct/22/20041022-120846-1796r/
Thompson, M. (2013, January 24). Let women fight. Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/let-women-fight
Government Archives and Digital Collections
Center for Naval Analyses. (2018). An update on the status of women in combat. https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/an-update-on-the-status-of-women-in-combat
Library of Congress, Veterans History Project. (n.d.). Women at war: Diverse experiences in service. https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/serving-our-voices/diverse-experiences-in-service/women-at-war/
Vergun, D. (2013, January 24). Secretary of Defense rescinds ‘Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule.’ https://www.army.mil/article/94932
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (1998, October). Gender issues: Information on DOD’s assignment policy and direct ground combat definition (GAO/NSIAD-99-7). https://www.gao.gov/products/nsiad-99-7
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (1998, June). Gender issues: Changes would be needed to expand Selective Service registration to women (GAO/NSIAD-98-199). https://www.gao.gov/products/nsiad-98-199
U.S. Government Printing Office. (2022, March 9). 45th anniversary of women admitted to West Point. GovInfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/features/anniversary-women-west-point