File:THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN IN SOCOM- A PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR POLICY EVALUATION (IA theintegrationof1094564061).pdf

After the repeal of the Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule in 2016, direct combat positions in Special Operations Command (SOCOM) opened to women, along with all other positions in the U.S. military. Since then, relatively few women have attempted or completed the accession programs in SOCOM for these previously closed positions. Women can offer unique benefits to SOCOM like reduced signature management, increased access to women in conservative cultures, and the use of different risk analysis strategies. Understanding how many women have already and will be entering SOCOM has becomes a relevant question. This thesis attempts to predict the number of women who will enter SOCOM and evaluate different strategies to enhance this integration. I developed a model that predicts the number of women entering SOCOM in previously closed positions. Then, I altered this steady state model to predict the performance of three different strategies aimed at women’s recruitment, selection, and retention in SOCOM. Performance of these strategies was evaluated using five criteria: numerical performance, costs, controllability and reactivity, tenability, and impacts to performance. Retention-based strategies predicted few additional women in SOCOM but performed the best in our meta-analysis due to their benefits in performance, cost, and tenability. Other gender-specific programs may need to be leveraged for SOCOM to reliably profit from the unique benefits women offer.