The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services—known as DACOWITS—delivers to the U.S. Department of Defense advice and recommendations on policies related to the recruitment, retention, treatment, employment, integration, and well-being of the highly qualified professional women in the U.S. Armed Forces. In 2018 Insight collected and analyzed data from focus groups with hundreds of military service members, conducted several literature reviews, and compiled findings from a wide array of data sources to inform eight topic areas.

Authored by Insight’s military and veteran support team, the DACOWITS’s 2019 Annual Report presents key research findings and 16 recommendations to advise the Secretary of Defense on the following topics: conscious and unconscious gender bias, improving female retention, variance in women’s retention at senior levels with emphasis on race/ethnicity, physical fitness tests, women in ships, Marine Corps recruit training, childcare resources, domestic abuse affecting servicewomen, breastfeeding and lactation support, pregnancy policies, women’s reintegration, and maternity uniforms.