PUBLISHED:April 06, 2007

Women in Combat: Is the Current Policy Obsolete?

Colonel Martha McSally, USAF, the first woman in the Air Force to fly a combat mission and lead a combat squadron, will address the Department of Defense policy that excludes women from ground combat units on April 10. The lunchtime talk is co-sponsored by the Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, the Program in Public Law, and the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security.

This event will begin at 12:15 in room 3041 at Duke Law School, located at the corner of Science Drive and Towerview Road on Duke’s West Campus. It is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the Bryan Center.

In 1994, Colonel McSally became the first woman to fly a combat mission and in 2006 the first to lead a combat squadron. She also made headlines in 2002 when she successfully challenged a Department of Defense policy requiring female service members to wear traditional Islamic overgarments when off-base in Saudi Arabia.

Colonel McSally is a contributor to the May 2007 issue of the Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy entitled “Gender, Sexuality & the Military.”

For more information, contact Frances Presma at (919) 613-7248 or presma@law.duke.edu