According to a new bill, soon-to-be-moms in the military could receive a temporary maternity uniform in the event the bill becomes law.
The final version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which was released last week, reveals that the lawmakers are persuading the Defense Department to conduct a pilot program to issue maternity uniforms and other related items to pregnant military members on a temporary basis.
The Defense Logistics Agency, which is responsible for issuing uniforms and gear to the armed services, will coordinate with each service secretary to come up with a list of items a pregnant servicewoman might need and its corresponding quantity.
The bill also states that the secretaries will establish an office where the women can turn in their items that are no longer required to be cleaned or repaired before reissuing them to another expectant servicewoman.
Other information in the bill includes orders on how the maternity uniforms are to be treated and barring the usage of insecticide chemicals like Permethrin.
The lawmakers state that the goal of this bill is to understand whether or not having the right uniforms will allow women to perform their duties effectively while pregnant.
The findings of this experiment are to be submitted to the NDAA no later than September 30, 2025. The analysis report will contain details pertaining to the success of the program in terms of the number of tax dollars that will be saved and how it differs from providing allowances to its members instead.
This bill and many other recent policy changes were initiated in order to retain female service members and enable them to work efficiently.
