Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
8-2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
J. Scott Self
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Irma Harper
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Andrew Lumpe
Abstract
There is little research about the gender-related barriers female military officers face when working to advance in the ranks even though there continues to be research about gender bias and discrimination when pursuing leadership and management positions. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of veteran female officers who advanced in rank in the U.S. military. Secondarily, the purpose was to: (a) determine if women experienced role congruity barriers, while advancing in rank and (b) determine if women experienced role congruity when they attempted to advance in rank to elite-level leadership positions. In this study, the viewpoint of veteran female officers, who served during the period 2010–2020, were examined. In addition, the perspectives of female officers who are still serving were assessed with the purpose of comparing their gender-related military leadership experiences to those of veteran female officers. Data collection comprised of semistructured individual interviews, focus group interviews, and artifacts. Eighteen participants were purposively selected for semistructured individual interviews and four–eight participants for each set of six semistructured focus group interviews, based upon specific criteria such as having a direct commission or a commission through a Reserve Officer Training Corps program, an Officer Candidate School, or one of the U.S. military service academies. The insights from female military leaders provide information not found in previous research. Keywords: military, officer, veteran, women, role congruity, theory, elite, leadership
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Gill, Glenda A., "An Examination of Female Officers’ Career Advancement in the U.S. Military" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 398.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/398