Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Panelists will discuss women’s leadership roles in the military today as part of Women’s History Month.
The Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center is sponsoring the seminar “Women’s Roles in the Military: The Challenges of Leadership.” The seminar will take place today from noon to 1 p.m. in the Jayhawk Room of the Kansas Union.
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Women in the Armed Forces
Department of Defense : 15.1 percent
Army: 15.3 percent
Navy: 14.8 percent
Marine Corps: 5.8 percent
Air Force: 18.0 percent
Coast Guard: 14.4 percent
—From the Women’s Research and Education Institute
The event will feature two panel members from Fort Leavenworth and two members from the University of Kansas Army ROTC program.
Angela Oliver, assistant director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, coordinated the event. She said the seminar was one of three in a series this semester to focus on women in leadership roles.
Oliver said she thought women in the military would be a good topic because of the current war in Iraq.
According to the Women’s Research and Education Institute, women currently constitute about 15 percent of all military officers. That number has increased since 1948, when women could not legally constitute more than two percent of the military force.
Second Lt. TiCondra Swartz, scholarships and admissions advisor for the KU Army ROTC, will be a panelist at the event. She said the number of women in leadership roles in the military could be higher.
“There are so many people that look up to women in leadership roles,” Swartz said. “I think it’s good for them to set an example for our younger female and male soldiers.”
Lt. Col. Sandra Leiker, adjunct professor in the KU Air Force ROTC, said the opportunity for women to occupy leadership roles in the military has changed significantly in the past 20 years.
She said Maj. Marne Sutton and Maj. Elizabeth Sweeney, both panelists from Fort Leavenworth, would bring a unique perspective to the panel discussion because both have achieved higher-level leadership positions.
Currently, most military occupations are open to women, according to the Women’s Research and Education Institute. But the Department of Defense has restricted combat positions to men.
Swartz said many women think they are as capable as men to fill many of these restricted leadership roles.
“There are a lot of females that are like, ‘Hell, I can do that,’” she said. “If they want to do it, I think we should give them an opportunity.”
Panelists will discuss these and other topics, which Oliver said would be relevant to KU students.
“We don’t want to focus entirely on the negative aspects,” Oliver said. “We also want to highlight a lot of the progress that has been going on.”
—Edited by Mandy Earles
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