Susan I. Enscore

The Built Environment of Cold War Era Servicewomen (Erdc / Cerl M-06-2) Susan I. Enscore

Although women have served in defense of our country since the American Revolutionary War, women were not given full military status until World War II. Providing full military status to women had repercussions for the built environment of the country's military installations, especially as the government mandated a gender-segregated military. It required a reconsideration of both the spatial organization and the design protocols used in constructing and/or rehabilitating military infrastructure, specifically as related to the housing, training, and workspaces of military women. This reconsideration led to ever-evolving regulations and standard operating procedures throughout the course of the Cold War concerning this matter, reflecting the military's immediate needs, as well as changing societal norms regarding gender. This project provides a service-wide historical context for how the accommodation of service women during the Cold War impacted the military's built environment. This historical context is based on archival research, oral histories, and an examination of historic photographs, plan maps, architectural drawings, and other associated primary documents.