Ambivalence at the Academies: Attitudes toward Women in the Military at the Federal Service Academies

Abstract

In this paper I analyze comparative data on attitudes toward women at the Federal Service Academies relative to Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students and active-duty officers using data from a 1998-1999 Triangle Institute for Security Studies survey. This paper serves as a pilot study for a more organizationally grounded analysis of masculine culture. I illustrate this approach by comparing patterns of gender related attitudes across a range of military institutions, while controlling for demographic and selection variables. I find that cadets at the academies are more ambivalent toward women than are senior officers or ROTC students, and that some of this effect can be attributed to socialization within the academy context. The relationship between culture, discrimination, and sexual harassment was evident at all of the academies. However, I also find that this relationship cannot be assumed by the existence of a masculine culture alone as patterns of gender attitudes vary across the services.