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How Senior Women See Bias and Progress in the US Military
Shortly after Lisa Franchetti joined the Navy in 1985, she boarded her first ship and found out what place she occupied in the eyes of her boss, the ship’s chief mechanic.
He said, “I don’t think you should be here, and I think I’ll see to it that you fail,” the current admiral recently recalled. “It was pretty blatant for me that someone said that.”
Why did we write this
Four high-ranking women from the US Army recently gathered for a rare minute on the same stage. They talked about discrimination, as well as the positive impact and growing acceptance of women in the military.
Earlier this month, Admiral Franchetti gathered with the most senior women in the U.S. military, including three other four-star generals and admirals, at the Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. They reflected on their careers and exchanged advice from decades of service with an audience full of young soldiers and senior mentors.
“All services have been on the road around sexual harassment, sexual assault, bullying,” the Coast Guard admiral said. Linda Fagan said, adding that she believes the trajectory, compared to a decade ago, is positive.
And when women sit down at the table, they should also talk, she added.
“Use your voice. Don’t assume that others around the table have your point of view, said Admiral Fagan. You are not here by chance. … You have earned your way into the room.”
Shortly after Lisa Franchetti joined the Navy in 1985, she boarded her first ship and found out what place she occupied in the eyes of her boss, the ship’s chief mechanic.
He said: “I don’t think you should be here, and I think I will make you fail,” the current admiral recalled this month. “It was pretty blatant for me that someone said that.”
At that time, there were only 17 ship positions open for women in the Navy, and she worked hard to get one of them.
Why did we write this
Four high-ranking women from the US Army recently gathered for a rare minute on the same stage. They talked about discrimination, as well as the positive impact and growing acceptance of women in the military.
However, when her colleagues learned of the altercation, they rallied around her “to make sure it didn’t happen,” she said. “Basically, we made it so that he was a loser because he did not want to [women] be here.”
Since last September, Admiral Franchetti has been Deputy Commander of Naval Operations, the country’s second-highest-ranking naval officer and the second woman in that position. (Admiral Michelle Howard was the first black woman – and the first woman in history – to serve as a deputy chief, as well as the first woman to achieve a four-star rank in the Navy.)
Admiral Franchetti collected earlier this month with the highest-ranking women in the US military, including three other four-star generals and admirals. It was the first time the four were on the same stage (the welcome dinner the night before was the first time they had been in the same room together).
In the history of the American military, hundreds of men have reached the rank of four-star general or admiral, but only 10 women have done the same.
Half of them, including several pioneering four-star female colleagues who have already retired, gathered at the Women in the Service Memorial in Arlington, Virginia this March during Women’s History Month to reflect on their careers and exchange stories. and the advice they have taken in their lives. decades of service, with an audience full of young soldiers and senior mentors.
During this time, there have been huge “changes in legislation, in politics, in culture that have allowed all of us to be here today – I think it is the honor of a lifetime to be a witness to this,” said Admiral Franchetti.
“And I think we’ve all been part of history – and had the opportunity to repay it a little bit forward.”
“You shouldn’t be here”
Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost also recalled the resistance she faced upon arriving at F-15 pilot school, shortly after Pentagon rules changed to allow women to fly fighter jets.
“One of the senior instructors said, ‘You shouldn’t be here,’” she recalls. “Of course it wasn’t my plan and I was a little shocked.”
It took her “about a day” to recover, and after that, “I’ll tell you, I really hoped for my peers.” Her male classmates “cheered me up. They said, “You have every right to be here. You are an excellent pilot. You can wax people, and we will help you with this.”
And they did. Up until this point, General Van Ovost had flown heavy aircraft and had not yet learned basic fighter maneuvers, she said. Her classmates worked with her to ensure that “the next time I was flying with or against this person” – the head instructor – “I was ready to wax him.”
As they have steadily risen through the ranks, the women say they rarely experienced the undisguised contempt they faced early in their careers, although there have been moments these days that have given them pause.
Adm. Linda Fagan, who last year became commandant of the Coast Guard, recalled recently witnessing a scene familiar to women of all walks of life as she sat in a meeting full of men.
“It happened – not in the last 18 months, but in the last two years – in a room full of very high-profile people, mostly older white men: they walk around the table asking for an opinion on a topic, and it will come to me and I will say something. And it’s just a nod and they walk around and then two people later say the same thing and they say, “Oh, that’s a great idea!” And it’s like, “I just said that!”
Now that she is a high-ranking Coast Guard officer and the first woman ever to command the US military, “all of a sudden I’m very smart, very funny,” she said. “And it’s like, ‘Wow, how did that happen?’
Army General Laura Richardson, who currently heads US Southern Command, said over the years she has learned that it is useful to do some “shaping” and “influence” behind the scenes before presenting any big idea in any big meeting.
“You have these alliances, so when you bring this up, you can count on those reinforcements that have already processed it and agree with you that it’s a good idea,” she told the audience. “That’s what’s good about us – we know how to do it.”
Long haul
In each of their more than three decades of service, they have seen significant changes for the better. But they acknowledge that the military still has a “long way to go” in areas such as preventing sexual harassment and assault. According to a 2022 Pentagon report, about 8.4% of female service members were sexually assaulted at work while on duty.
“All services have been on the path to sexual harassment, sexual assault and bullying,” said Admiral Fagan, adding that she considers the trajectory, compared to a decade ago, positive. “I wouldn’t have persuaded my daughter,” now a lieutenant in the Coast Guard, to come here if I didn’t believe we could do it.”
In essence, the obstacles that women continue to face in the armed forces are “to accept women, not to include them,” General Van Ovost said.
“If we were fully inclusive, we would have armor built for the female body depending on how we carry the weight of the gear. We would have flight suits that would suit us.”
Admiral Franchetti, for his part, considered leaving the Navy early in his career while on shore. “I thought, ‘I don’t really like this. She lived in southern Oregon and attended massage courses. “I was definitely going to leave the Navy,” she said.
Her father advised her to think about her choice. “So I got ‘What color is your parachute?’ book, and I forced myself to sit down to lunch every day and do a workbook,” she said. “It all came down to the fact that the Navy had everything I wanted.”
Having reached the top ranks of their services, they emphasize that they are trying to make the US military better for those who follow in their footsteps.
“It is our responsibility as leaders to encourage tough talk and promote diversity within the ranks,” said Gen. Van Ovost, who now heads the US Transportation Command. If everyone “walks, talks, and looks like you, and there’s an academy graduate sitting at that table, you won’t get better advice.”
And once people are seated at the table, they need to make sure they’re talking too, she added.
“Use your voice. Don’t assume that others around the table have your point of view, said Admiral Fagan. You are not here by chance. This is no coincidence. It’s not luck. You deserve your way into the room.”
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