Our white papers, issue briefs, and articles spotlight areas of improvement for social policies and programs, changing the way we see the world a little bit at a time.
Our white papers, issue briefs, and articles spotlight areas of improvement for social policies and programs, changing the way we see the world a little bit at a time.
The U.S. Army’s approach to assessing physical fitness and well-being has changed over the years, with an increasing focus on evidence-based assessments that reduce injury and better predict Service members’ success in their occupational specialties. This report, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), provides an overview of the approach and history of physical fitness assessments used in the U.S. Army and describes approaches used by foreign militaries to implement physical fitness assessments. The report outlines the conclusions and implications for DACOWITS, suggesting that as DACOWITS continues to study the U.S. Military Services’ physical fitness assessments, foreign military approaches to these assessments can provide additional context and information.
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Recognizing how youth perceive different types of careers may provide a valuable foundation for understanding how to best promote military career opportunities. Insight’s military and veteran support team conducted this literature review for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (known as DACOWITS) on perceptions of careers and early career aspirations among the nation’s youth. The review explores youth career perceptions and development, career influences, and strategies and best practices for influencing youth career decisions, both in general and within the context of military service.
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Voluntary turnover in the United States is estimated to have cost organizations approximately $536 billion in 2016. Given the costs associated with hiring and training new employees, companies unable to retain key staff fight an uphill battle to remain competitive. This literature review, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, describes employee retention trends in the United States and summarizes strategies civilian industry uses to measure and better understand factors that influence retention and employee engagement. It presents an overview of best practices used by civilian industrial organizations to improve retention, including a special focus on caregiver leave and sabbaticals. The report concludes with a synthesis of lessons learned and implications for the military.
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As of 2018, women represented 16.5 percent of active duty and 22.2 percent of reserve duty service members. As more servicewomen are being deployed to combat locations, it has become increasingly important to understand how deployment affects military mothers and their families. This literature review, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, summarizes the available literature on the impact of deployments on military mothers, identifying areas of consensus and research gaps. This report describes the prevalence of military mothers and summarizes research on challenges faced by military mothers related to parenting, household roles, and family dynamics. It concludes with an overview of programs for military parents overall.
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Conscious and unconscious gender bias permeates society and continues to limit women’s participation and advancement even when equality has been legally established. This literature review, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, and conducted for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (known as DACOWITS), reviews the academic foundations of bias; media coverage on gender bias within the U.S. military; and how gender-inclusive wording has been adapted within the U.S. military, foreign militaries, and U.S. commercial workplaces and civilian industries. The paper concludes by identifying best practices and strategies to address conscious and unconscious gender bias through gender-inclusive wording and policies.
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As part of their ongoing effort to recruit and retain women into the military service, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (known as DACOWITS) requested a literature review to identify the gender distribution in selected civilian career field and summarize the strategies, if any, used to recruit and retain women in these fields. This literature review, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, reviews the retention efforts for women in the military and provides a detailed discussion of male-dominated civilian career fields and strategies that have been used to recruit and retain women. The report concludes by identifying the pattern of challenges for women in male-dominated career fields and the strategies that have been used successfully to attract and keep women in these industries.
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Although all units and positions were officially opened to women as of December 3, 2015, gender diversity in the military remains nominal, especially at the highest echelons of Department of Defense leadership. Some branches have introduced or are considering several diversity initiatives, including efforts to increase diversity in key military development positions. Insight conducted this literature review for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (known as DACOWITS) to summarize how the Rooney Rule—a National Football League (NFL) policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for senior coaching and management positions—is being used in the civilian sector to improve diversity in higher level jobs. This report provides an overview of diversity in the military and the civilian sector, describes the Rooney Rule and its effectiveness in the NFL, presents applications in the civilian sector, and identifies ways to increase diversity within organizations moving forward.
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Women serve in the armed forces of at least 74 countries around the world. To better understand successful strategies the military services of other countries have used to attract and retain highly qualified women, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (known as DACOWITS) requested this literature review be conducted by Insight’s military and veteran support team. This review provides an overview of foreign militaries that have women serving in their armed forces and presents case studies of four militaries that allow women to serve in combat: South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Norway. The report concludes by applying findings to the recruitment and retention approaches used by the U.S. Military.
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A disproportionate number of persons experiencing homelessness are veterans. While veterans represent only 9.5 percent of the U.S. adult population, they make up 11.4 percent of the population living in homeless shelters. Female veterans are the fastest growing segment, making up 9 percent of the total homeless veteran population. This literature review, authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, presents research related to statistics on rates of homelessness, suicide, unemployment, and posttraumatic stress disorder within the female active and reserve service member and veteran populations.
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