Postpartum Policies for Military Mothers: Their Impact on Retention of Female Air Force Officers - Literature Review and Interviews about Work and Family Balance Issues, USAF Policies and Career Priorities

This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Women are leaving the military at a higher rate than their male counterparts. While there is no one reason that women are separating, work-family balance issues have often been noted as a cause. Recently, the Air Force released multiple policies that could help increase the retention of women in the military including increased maternity leave, increased post-partum deployment deferment, increased exemption time for post-partum fitness assessment, and the career intermission program. This research conducted a literature review in conjunction with interviews of women that are currently serving in the military to determine the effectiveness of these policies to increase the retention of women. The literature review looked at each policy in depth and compared these policies to both the government civilian sector and the private sector. Women from different career fields, ranks and family situations were interviewed to gain a better understanding of why women continue to serve or separate and their perspectives on the new policies. The research concluded that these policies have the potential to increase retention, but that predicting retention is difficult because each career field is different and an individual's priorities change over time. It was determined that the Air Force is viewed as family friendly and supports a good work-family balance but is limited by its mission that must be accomplished.

Due to the lack of information to answer the question of "why" women are leaving the service at this time, this research provides a starting point by gathering information from 10 female officers that are currently serving in the Air Force. Each of these women was interviewed to collect information about their perspective on retention when they first joined the service compared to their current perspective. The new policies were only recently released so it is too early to determine whether these policies will increase the retention of women officers during this critical timeframe. The research serves as a launch-point for future work by identifying any trends or themes. It will also capture initial reactions to the new policies. This is qualitative research to build the understanding of "why" women leave the Air Force and to provide other avenues to help increase the retention of women in the Air Force. This research explores the topic of retention, specifically where it ties into family, motherhood, and the work-family balance. This paper will first analyze the literature surrounding this topic. Once the knowledge gaps are identified, it will lay out the methodology to execute the qualitative research. Then there will be an analysis of the interviewee responses, identifying common themes among the women. Finally, it will draw a conclusion on the impact of the new policies with recommendations on how the Air Force can move forward to resolve this problem of retention in the future.