The U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. has a policy of providing all its cadets with unisex army combat uniforms. This means that all of the female cadets are supposed to wear ill-fitting uniforms that are not designed to accommodate a feminine physique.
In an effort to correct this, Senator Maggie Hassan has requested Army Secretary, Ryan McCarthy, to review and possibly change this gender-neutral policy.
“While on its face, the uniform policy may appear to be a gender-neutral policy, it does not appear to be so in effect. As the academy celebrates 40 years since its first female cadets graduated, it is past time to ensure that female cadets have equal access to uniforms that fit,” Hassan wrote in a letter to McCarthy last Monday. “The disproportional impact of this policy on female cadets may unintentionally send a message to female cadets that they are second-class citizens.”
According to Hassan’s letter, the Military Academy issues a set of uniforms to each incoming cadet, however, fails to provide alternate sizes of the uniform called the ACU-Female. The cadets who wish to wear the ACU-Female, are required to purchase their own with their money.
“However, cadets do not even have access to the Post Exchange that sells the ACU-Female uniforms until after they have completed their initial six-week cadet basic training,” Hassan wrote. “They must wear the original-issued uniform throughout those first six weeks, even if it does not properly fit. These cadets are thereby forced to wear uniforms that do not match the expected standards for a uniform appearance.”
Hassan has also mentioned that since the cadets go straight into training; they miss the opportunity to return any unused uniforms for an appropriate size while their counterparts are not required to spend any additional amount for the same.
It was further pointed out that ill-fitting uniforms may create a sense of stigma or be a cause to lose morale.
Hassan has requested that McCarthy provides an answer by October 30th.
