Charles Moskos

About the Author: Charles Moskos is a professor of sociology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Two of his most recent books are The Military and A Call to Civic Service.

Editor’s Note: The armed forces fully integrated women into their ranks in the mid-1970s. Since then, military laws and regulations have been aimed at eliminating discrimination based on gender. In spite of this official policy, many observers believe that military women are still victims of discrimination, sexual harassment, and disrespect.

According to Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider, authors of Sound Off! American Military Women Speak Out, the military woman “must waste the energy that men can save for their jobs or their pleasures in proving herself, in smashing stereotypes and overcoming prejudice.”

Others believe the...