Military Women as Wive and Mothers

The increasing number of women in the military, especially married women and mothers, is forcing the military to accommodate populations it did not have to deal with in the past. The military community has responded by initiating programs that address the needs of active duty wives and mothers, especially with regard to family support, health care, and available child care facilities. However, many policy questions pertaining to military women remain, including nondeployment of breastfeeding women or mothers of small infants, treating the family as the unit of analysis and not just the service member, and providing programs such as WIC and Head Start to its members overseas.