Militarized maternity : experiencing pregnancy in the U.S. armed forces

Summary: "In recent decades, the U.S. military has been on the vanguard of organizations implementing policies that increase maternity-related benefits. Despite these new policies, a so-called "pregnancy problem" continues to exist in the U.S. armed forces, wherein servicewomen are stigmatized for being pregnant and taking advantage of maternity policies. Conducting an analysis of military documents as well as interviews with enlisted servicewomen and female officers, Megan McFarlane examines the communicative construction of active duty servicewomen's pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy experiences in order to understand the reasons maternity continues to be stigmatized. Her analysis finds a policy/culture disconnect within the military that pregnant servicewomen themselves often co-construct, thus making the policy changes significantly less effective"--