Dover honors women's contribution to force

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AFPN) --  Dover Air Force Base members commemorated the 87 years since the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed and saluted all women here Aug. 24.
Since Esther Blake enlisted July 8, 1948 on the first minute of the first hour of the first day regular Air Force duty was authorized for women, women have made significant contributions to the Air Force.

"You merely have to open your eyes and look around Dover to see the contributions of our female Airmen," said Airman 1st Class Maria Rodriguez, a 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron customer service technician. "The involvement of our female force is everywhere here. I am surrounded by successful female role models. Our female force ranges from Airmen like me to our highest-ranking chiefs and officers."

Airman Rodriquez said she takes great pride and is humbled by the sacrifices the female Airmen before her made to guarantee the Airmen of her generation have an equal seat at the Air Force table.

"Woman have overcome so much and so many obstacles in our Air Force to prove that we are just as good as any other servicemember," she said. "Nowadays, not only are women respected and valued, but also they are treated just like any male Air Force member."

The road to equality was a long one for women in America.

"The strong effort for women's equal rights is a story of tenacious women joining together to break down the barriers to fairness," said Margie Porreca of the 436th Mission Support Squadron and a Federal Women's Program manager. "The passage of the 19th Amendment marked the end of a long road; the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women begun in 1848 when the women's suffrage movement was formally set into motion with the first women's rights meeting, held at Seneca Falls, N.Y."

Like Airman Rodriquez, today's Airman can thank early suffragists and affirmative action pioneers for their ability today to fill positions once completely unheard of in our society. Similar role models and opportunities were not as common when Col. Elaine Barron, the 512th Mission Support Group commander, was commissioned.

"When I came in, there were very few women who were in the field grades at wing level," she said. "My first base was Columbus (AFB), Miss., and female pilots were just starting to be a more routine occurrence, but they sure weren't ending up in fighters."

Since she joined in 1979, the Air Force has seen many changes. Even though women have always had the same rights as their male counterparts, in the timeframe of her career, prejudices sometimes prevailed.

"During my career, the Air Force has always been an equal opportunity employer," Colonel Barron said. "On the other hand, individual supervisors didn't always take women seriously."

Though Colonel Barron surpassed earlier prejudices and climbed to a command position, female commanders were significantly less common in years past.

"In 1983, I was working at the consolidated base personnel office (known today as the Military Personnel Flight)," said Chief Master Sgt. Charlotte Branum, the 436th MSG superintendent. "We had a new boss coming in and it turned out the major was a woman. She was the first female field grade officer I had met. Today, women make up more than 19 percent of our Air Force and you see women who are senior officers all the time. I can remember major studies being conducted on the effect women were having on military readiness and mission accomplishment. Can you imagine that today?"

A female Air Force chief master sergeant was also very uncommon when Chief Branum first joined.

"When I enlisted, women made up just about 7 percent of the Air Force," she said. "I did not meet my first female chief until 1988 ... seven years after I came in. Now, there are two of us in the (436th) Mission Support Group alone."

The change seen by the chief is a sign of the times.

"Most of the jobs that were closed to women when I joined were closed because of the job's inherent danger," she said. "The American people were not ready to have women go into combat. As our times changed, the Air Force did a good job of changing with them."

Now, women are considered in nearly every major decision.

In today's Air Force, the difference in male and female bodies even gets consideration in the development of new uniforms.

"Does anyone remember low quarter shoes with the green fatigues and the blue beret all women had to wear?" asked the colonel.

She recalled an NCO explaining at her initial uniform issue, "Ladies, these fatigues aren't made for women so don't expect them to fit."

"The new ABUs being available in women's sizes are amazing," she said.

The evolution of the role of women in the Air Force has been a long and winding road. The sacrifice of selfless individuals pushed the issue along that road to develop the Air Force into the service it is today. 

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