Can We Explain Gender Differences in Officer Career Progression?

by Beth J. Asch

"An ongoing concern in the Department of Defense is the lack of diversity among officers in the senior ranks. To address the gap in quantitative information on differences in the career progression of officers based on gender, as well as the factors that explain these differences, the authors analyzed career progression as a series of retention and promotion outcomes, using longitudinal data on officers to track cohorts of officers over their careers. The data include information on job-related characteristics, such as occupation, source of commission, and deployments, and on individual...