The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) released its 2023 annual report on March 15, 2024.
DACOWITS provides the Secretary of Defense with recommendations, via a comprehensive annual report, on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, employment, integration, well-being, and treatment of women in the U.S. armed forces. The report is available online and includes detailed reasoning supporting each recommendation addressed by the committee.
Established in 1951, DACOWITS is one of the oldest Department of Defense Federal Advisory Committees. The committee was created to assist with recruiting following the signing of the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act. Over the years, the DACOWITS charter has expanded, enabling the committee to submit numerous recommendations to the secretary. The Department and military services have either fully or partially implemented many DACOWITS' proposals. DACOWITS remains instrumental to the DOD and has made significant contributions on topics including the opening of closed positions to women; improvements to the health of deployed servicewomen; increased marketing and recruitment of women; and increased parental leave authorizations.
During 2022-2023, DACOWITS gathered information from multiple sources, including briefings and written responses from the DOD, service-level military representatives, and subject matter experts. During installation visits, the committee also collected qualitative data from focus groups and interactions with service members representing the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. Additionally, the committee examined peer-reviewed literature.
Based upon the data collected and analyzed, the committee submitted 26 recommendations to the secretary on the following topics:
- Recruitment initiatives to increase women's propensity to serve.
- Retention initiatives for servicewomen.
- Gender integration.
- Women in aviation.
- Physical fitness standards.
- Pregnancy in the military.
- Gender discrimination.
Electronic copies of the committee's annual reports are located online via https://dacowits.defense.gov/.
