“We recently lost an icon in Ruth Bader Ginsberg who once said ‘As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.’

In the last five years, our industry has seen record levels of women moving into C-suite positions and performing at the highest levels, but the events of the past year have shown us that this is no time to get complacent.

First, we have endured a global pandemic that has redefined how we all interact with the world and each other. However, as the pandemic stretched on it became clear that women took on the burden of carrying the load at home: educating their children, taking care of aging parents, and entertaining children on summer break, all the while, being tasked with pushing through their jobs. Large swaths of women began stepping away from the workplace and what progress we made was suddenly threatened.

Secondly, the jarring death of George Floyd and disproportionate devastation to the black community from COVID on top of centuries of racial discrimination shook the world of its passivity. At long last, we began to truly see and listen to each other and take meaningful action.

It’s clear that we are at an inflection point, and we must rely on our listening skills and empathy if the women’s movement and fight for inclusion are to endure and progress.

Thankfully, I draw hope from our Chairwoman and CEO, Mary Barra, who said: ‘In this moment, we each must decide what we can do—individually and collectively—to drive change…meaningful, deliberate change. As one of the largest global companies, there is much we can do.”

“I would have to say the biggest changes I’ve seen with women’s inclusivity in my industry in the past five years was Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s willingness to open all military jobs to women in 2016.

As long as a woman can meet the standards of the job, she can be part of that mission and serve in that capacity. Since then, more than 30 women have completed Ranger training—including Captain Kristen Griest and 1st Lt Shaye Haver, the first two women to graduate from Ranger School, opening the way for others to follow in their footsteps.

In 2019 the first woman successfully completed the extremely challenging screening process for the Navy SEAL Officer training program, although she was not selected to continue on as a SEAL.
In July 2020 we saw the first woman complete the Army’s Special Forces Qualification Course and join a Special Forces team as a Green Beret. Two more women are currently in the Air Force Special Tactics pipeline working towards joining the elite Special Tactics community where I worked as an intelligence officer 16 years ago.

And finally, this year we saw President Biden nominate two very accomplished women leaders, General Jacqueline Van Ovost (the first female four-star general in history) and Lieutenant General Laura Richardson, to become the first women leaders of major military commands.

Now all women can apply for the jobs they want and contribute in ways that mean the most to them. I’m so excited to hear their stories and see what they achieve as they continue to contribute to the defense of our nation.”