According to a government watchdog study published on December 15, inconsistent regulations to stop sexual harassment and gender discrimination are one of the reasons why women make up less than 10% of the U.S. special operations forces.
In comparison to the rest of the armed forces, Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, the military’s unified combatant command that manages the special operations components across the services, has disproportionately few women. The GAO interviewed 51 women who are currently or have previously served in special operations while also speaking with representatives from five special operations forces headquarters during the course of their inquiry. The study looked at how occurrences that prevent women from enlisting in or succeeding in special operations are caused by a discrepancy between DoD-wide norms and those of the particular services.
