The Combat Exclusion Policy

The United States (US) employed an exclusion policy from combat for women whereas other countries invoke an omission policy for women in the military during peacetime. This chapter convincingly describes the absurdity of the logic behind the US military's combat exclusion policy even as supporters of the policy themselves fail to articulate it effectively. It investigates Goldin's pollution theory to explicate the military's effective use of ensuring the convenient exclusion of women from combat occupations even as the military has always conveniently utilized women in the very roles. Pollution theory, like the military's combat exclusion policy, seeks to exclude women from entering the most prized occupations. The chapter argues that in repealing the combat exclusion policy, the military can only realize its talents best by integrating women throughout all of its occupations and doing so leveraging the intelligence of its women for a more effective workforce.