Iraq and Afghanistan. In other ways, however, military women are not different from military men they are just as likely to be officers they joined the armed services for similar reasons and post 91. Portable Corel Photo-Paint X5 there. Since 1. 97. 3, when the United States military ended conscription and established an all volunteer force, the number of women serving on active duty has risen dramatically. The share of women among the enlisted ranks has increased seven fold, from 2 to 1. Department of Defense policy prohibits the assignment of women to any unit below brigade level whose primary mission is direct ground combat. While this policy excludes women from being assigned to infantry, special operations commandos and some other roles, female members of the armed forces may still find themselves in situations that require combat action, such as defending their units if they come under attack. This report explores the changing role of women in the military using several data sources. Two Department of Defense publications Population Representation in the Military Forces, FY2. Demographics 2. 01. Profile of the Military Community provide the overall trends in military participation by gender, as well as demographic and occupational profiles of male and female military personnel. The report also draws on data from two surveys of military veterans a Pew Research Center survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,8. July 2. 8 Sept. 4, 2. July 2. 01. 0 Current Population Survey CPS Veterans Supplement n9,7. The CPS data provides information about the overall female veteran population n6. The Pew Research survey data provides insight into the experiences of post 91. The analysis of the Pew Research survey should be interpreted with caution due to small sample sizes. However, any differences highlighted in the report are statistically significant. Key Findings of the Report. Growing Presence. From 1. 97. 3 to 2. Over that same period, the enlisted force as a whole has seen a decrease of about 7. Ranks. While a smaller number of women than men serve overall, a slightly greater proportion among the ranks of women are commissioned officers, compared with the share of men who are officers 1. Demographics. The current active duty female force is more racially diverse than the male force. Nearly one third 3. While military women are less likely than their male counterparts to be married 4. Combat. Among living veterans from any era, only 1. Since the 1. 99. 0s, changes in military policies and a decade long conflict have contributed to an increase in combat exposure among women, from 7 among pre 1. Re entry. The Pew Research survey finds that women veterans are just as likely as men to experience the struggles and benefits of service upon discharge fully half say they experienced strains in family relations and 4. On the other hand, 9. Opinions of the Wars. The Pew Research survey also finds that women veterans are more critical than their male counterparts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistanfully 6. Iraq war was not worth fighting and 5. Afghanistan has not been worth it compared with 4. Among the general public, by contrast, there are no significant differences by gender in the share who say the post 91.