COHESION AND READINESS IN GENDER-INTEGRATED COMBAT SERVICE SUPPORT UNITS - THE IMPACT OF ACCEPTANCE OF WOMEN AND GENDER RATIO

Cohesion, combat readiness and acceptance of women were examined among male and female junior enlisted soldiers and male noncommissioned off icers (NCOs) in 19 combat service support companies. The proportion of junior enlisted females in each company was negatively correlated wit h mean cohesion and readiness scores for junior enlisted males. The pr oportion of NCO females was significantly correlated with the proporti on of soldiers who said they did not expect to deploy with their units , which in turn was negatively correlated with cohesion for male NCOs. For junior enlisted males, results indicated that cohesion and combat readiness increased with increased acceptance of women, but decreased as the proportion of females in the unit increased. Furthermore, acce ptance of women decreased as the proportion of females in the unit inc reased. The results are interpreted in the light of two competing hypo theses regarding minority proportional representation-the tokenism hyp othesis and the minority-proportion discrimination hypothesis.