A Proposal for Combatting Sexual Discrimination in the Military: Amendment of Title VII

Each branch of the military excludes women from combat positions. This Comment argues that the combat exclusion encourages sex-based discrimination in the military and should be reformed or eliminated. The author concludes that although the asserted justifications for the ban against women in combat are tenuous, an outright repeal of the combat exclusion is unlikely. She therefore suggests attacking the discrimination that emanates from the combat exclusion with an approach requiring concise articulation of the definition and underlying reasoning of the exclusion. For this purpose, the author proposes expanding Title VII to apply to the uniformed military. The author responds to arguments against authorizing the courts to address issues of discrimination in the uniformed military, concluding that the courts are an appropriate forum for the redress of these issues.