DRAFT Crafting a Working Life on the Move: The Experiences of U.S. Air Force Wives. Michelle Still Mehta

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1 DRAFT Crafting a Working Life on the Move: The Experiences of U.S. Air Force Wives Michelle Still Mehta Abstract This paper discusses a proposed dissertation study of the working lives of U.S. Air Force wives in Germany. The research question for this study is: What are the experiences of U.S. Air Force wives who wish to craft a working life for themselves while moving with their husbands? Although a large body of research exists on the employment challenges facing military wives, researchers have paid little attention to the experiences of these women. In particular, there is a need to better understand the role that paid work plays in their lives, and how diminished access to meaningful work may impact sense of self. Most prior research on this subject has focused on the economic impacts to military wives from frequent relocation. Research has demonstrated that military wives earn less and face higher unemployment than their civilian counterparts, and many become discouraged workers, dropping out of the workforce altogether. Many scholars attribute this fact to the military wife s role as a trailing spouse, tied to her husband s highly mobile career. Some feminist research has added to the economic perspective by examining the implications of the military spouse as a gendered role. The vast majority of military spouses are female, and they fill a role that carries with it many traditional gender-based expectations. Generally this entails the expectation of free volunteer labour to support her husband s military career. In addition, the military acts as a greedy institution, expecting the military member to be 100% available to military demands, deferring family and home responsibilities to the spouse. Adding these two perspectives together, both economic and cultural factors create significant barriers to military wives who wish to craft a working life for themselves. Although this study is focused on a U.S. military population, this topic has broader implications to civilians who share the trailing spouse experience. Key Words: Military spouse, military wife, employment, working life, self ***** 1. Introduction In recent years, there has been a growing movement in the United States to address the unique needs of military families. Beginning with the

2 2Crafting a working life on the move Vietnam era, the Department of Defense (DoD) began sponsoring research into the lives of military families, adopting the point of view that combat readiness requires family readiness. 1 When President Obama was elected, First Lady Michelle Obama named support for military families as one of her top issues, and has led a variety of new initiatives to improve the lives of military families. Military spouse employment is one of the many issues being addressed in the effort to support military families. Although more educated than the average civilian population, military spouses are less likely to work and earn less than their civilian counterparts when they do work. 2 Barriers to employment include both economic and cultural factors. Economic barriers result primarily from the military s mobile lifestyle and the effect of military presence on local labour markets. Because military members move routinely, frequent relocation is a significant factor in crafting a viable working life for a military spouse. Cultural factors include a tradition of the military wife as a professional volunteer, and the greedy nature of the military as an employer. Although a variety of employment studies have been conducted to define the problems military spouses encounter, there has been little focus on what the experience is like for them, and how their sense of self may be impacted by diminished access to meaningful work. The purpose of this paper is to describe what prior research tells us about this subject, and to propose a new study to address the gaps that exist in this field of research. This new study will focus on the experiences of U.S. Air Force wives located in Kaiserslautern, Germany. 2. Profile of the U.S. Military Spouse Although the term military spouse has replaced the term military wife in the American military community, the fact remains that 93% of American military spouses are female. 3 The vast majority of military spouses have a desire to work, but far less do so. In a recent DoD survey of spouses, 91% of the respondents claimed an interest in employment, but only 57% were employed at the time. 4 Economic statistics consistently show a pattern of higher unemployment and underemployment, a greater proportion of discouraged workers, and lower earnings among the military spouse population as compared to their civilian peers. 5 Despite these employment facts, military spouses average more years of education than their civilian counterparts. 6 A large qualitative study by Castaneda and Harrell reveals that twothirds of military spouses believe that being a military spouse negatively impacts their work opportunities. 7 Frequent relocation is mentioned as the most significant challenge, while other factors include service member absences, child care difficulties, and perceived employer bias against hiring

3 3 Michelle Still Mehta military spouses. This research also focuses on the reasons military spouses want to work. Much like the general population, military spouses work for a variety of reasons beyond financial remuneration. Most claim an interest in working for personal fulfilment in addition to the need for income. Research on the general well-being of military spouses tells us that simply obtaining employment has no lasting positive impact on well-being. Only pursuing work that fits self-expectations will positively influence general well-being Economic Factors Based on the above profile, we know that the average military spouse is a woman who desires employment but faces significant challenges in obtaining employment comparable to her civilian peers. Economic research highlights two structural factors underlying the military spouse s employment situation. First, the experience of tied migration leads to lower rates of employment. Second, the militarisation of local labour markets depresses both employment and wages for all women in that labour market. In the tied migration model, the military spouse follows her husband each time he is relocated for a new military assignment. According to this model, tied migration leads to a trailing wife effect where the economic status of a married woman declines when moving with her husband. 9 Cooke and Speirs found a trailing wife effect of a 9% increase in unemployment for military spouses, due to migration. The concept of tied migration is especially salient for the military population, since the average U.S. military member is relocated every 2-3 years. 10 The presence of a military base also presents challenges to women in the local labour market, including military spouses located at that installation. 11 Several factors converge to worsen the employment picture for military spouses. First, a large proportion of men in the military creates a large supply of female spouses seeking employment near military bases, which results in a surplus of female civilian labour. Second, military bases tend to generate low-paying service sector jobs, such as food service, retail and childcare. Third, military bases tend to be dominant employers in the local labour market, resulting in a monopsony market of few employers and depressed wages. In Booth s study of this phenomenon, he estimates a labour market effect equal to a 5% reduction in women s earnings for every 10% increase in military presence. He estimates that the average military spouse incurs an additional 19% earnings penalty due to tied migration. 4. Cultural Factors While economic barriers to gainful employment are significant, these do not fully explain the reasons behind the unemployment and underemployment of military spouses. The culture within the U.S. military

4 4Crafting a working life on the move also exacerbates this situation by reinforcing a traditional wife role for the military spouse. Although the term spouse has replaced the term wife in military discourse, expectations for the traditional military wife role remain. Such expectations include unpaid work in the form of volunteering to support military activities and other military families. As Harrell argues, this is clearly a gendered role because male military spouses are generally excused from participation in such volunteer work. 12 If they do choose to participate, it is seen as amusing or charming. For female spouses, this remains a real expectation of time and energy that may further discourage the pursuit of paid work. Another aspect of military culture includes its nature as a greedy institution. 13 Because being a member of the military demands complete dedication, and the ability to work at any time or any place, this impacts the family system. The culture reinforces a family model where the military member must be ultimately flexible to meet any military demand and the spouse must be completely flexible to maintain all family and household needs. Such uncertainty makes the spouse s commitment to her own paid work challenging. Finally, the military spouse s role within the military culture is one of perpetual marginality. 14 While the military relies on the wife s free labour to meet many of its needs, the spouse is consistently reminded of her second class status within the military. When seeking services, she is known as the dependent who may only access healthcare, groceries, or other basic needs through her relationship to her husband. At the same time, frequent relocation prevents her from achieving security and connection in the civilian world. Several studies have focused on feelings of invisibility and voicelessness that are common among military spouses. 15 I believe this disenfranchisement is exacerbated by limited access to paid work, creating a reinforcing spiral of isolation and underemployment. 5. Recommendations for Further Research Although much research has been conducted on military spouse employment, most of this research has been focused on the seemingly practical problem of boosting employment and earnings statistics. Positivist research has attempted to isolate contributing factors so that employment challenges can be solved as an economic problem. Most studies are based on quantitative survey analysis that limits the researcher s ability to understand the experience of the research participants. Margaret Harrell eloquently discusses this dilemma from her own experience as both a cultural anthropologist and a researcher on military issues with the RAND Corporation. 16 She contends that because of the exclusive reliance on

5 5 Michelle Still Mehta positivist research, military leaders are ineffective in their ability to set policy. Although she believes that DoD policy makers have a genuine desire to improve the lives of their people, they are unable to do so because they lack a deep understanding of their lived experiences. There has been significantly less attention paid to the experiences of military spouses who live in a complex system of multiple influences on their working lives. This complexity is evident in the high number of discouraged workers in the military spouse population, those women who yearn to have a working life but find the challenges too great. We know that military spouses face high barriers to employment created by tied migration and militarised labour markets, and that underemployment or work that is not a good fit is often a problem even when employment is available. We also know that the military culture poses additional challenges by unofficially requiring the military spouse to participate in volunteer activities and be the primary home maker. In addition, we know from a variety of research that military spouses in general often feel isolated, living on the margins, feeling that they unable to speak out. However, we don t know very much about how military spouses feel about their experiences as it pertains to their working lives, and how these challenges impact their sense of self. Previous ethnographic studies of military wives paint a rich picture of the variety of challenges faced by military spouses, but this literature provides scant coverage on the topic of work. Conversely, militarysponsored research on spouse employment dives deeply into economic factors, but barely dips a toe into the waters of lived experience. Castaneda and Harrell s inquiry into the reasons spouses work allows a small glimpse into the potential impact to self. Explaining the impact of frequent moving, one research participant said, It takes a lot of your self-esteem; you re not confident with yourself anymore. It breaks you down. 17 A recent study on the career-identity of military wives also acknowledges that employment efforts do not do justice to a problem that is an issue of deep-seated identity. 18 The existing research contains clues to draw from, but new research is needed to specifically address the question: What are the experiences of military wives who wish to craft a working life while moving with their husbands? I am proposing a new study to explore the experiences of military spouses who express a desire for their own paid work, whether or not they have been successful in that pursuit. The study will focus on U.S. Air Force wives stationed at Ramstein Air Base, near Kaiserslautern, Germany. I plan to interview women about their working lives, and their perceptions and feelings regarding their experiences. My hope is to add new knowledge to the ongoing discussion about military spouse employment by highlighting the personal impacts created by diminished access to meaningful work.

6 6Crafting a working life on the move Although the intent behind my research question is to fill a small void in the research on military spouses, it also has the potential to be a broadening question in the field of working life. This inquiry could lead in multiple directions and could cover a variety of subjects that are relevant to the concept of the value of work. The following are questions I will probe for in my research: (1) How does diminished access to meaningful work impact self? (2) What is the value of paid work vs. other forms of work? (3) How does one form identity when work is unstable or absent? By posing such lines of inquiry I hope to build a bridge between two separate scholarly conversations the discussion of military spouse employment and the critical discourse on working life. I believe the latter has the potential to provide a useful framework for the former by illuminating the employment challenge not just as an economic or cultural problem, but as a systemic issue of restricted freedom to pursue meaningful work. It is inadequate to frame military spouse employment as purely an issue of economics, just as it is equally inadequate to consider it solely a personal development challenge. By situating this dilemma as a working life problem, there is the potential to address both the personal and systemic aspects of this experience. In doing so, perhaps there is hope of making change that provides real access to meaningful work, rather than simply measuring family readiness through employment statistics. Notes C Enloe, Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women s Lives, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, M C Harrell, N Lim, LW Castaneda, and D Golinelli, Working Around the Military: Challenges to Military Spouse Employment and Education, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 2004; and N Lim, D Golinelli, and M Cho, Working Around the Military Revisited: Spouse Employment in the 2000 Census Data, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, U.S. Department of Defense, Demographics 2007: Profile of the Military Community, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy, 2007.

7 7 Michelle Still Mehta 4 Defense Manpower Data Center, 2008 Survey of Active Duty Spouses: Tabulations and Responses, No , Arlington, VA, Lim, Golinelli, and Cho 6 ibid 7 LW Castaneda and MC Harrell, Military Spouse Employment: A Grounded Theory Approach to Experiences and Perceptions. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 34, 2008, pp L N Rosen, J R Ickovics, and L Z Moghadam, Employment and Role Satisfaction: Implications for the General Well-Being of Military Wives. Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 14, T J Cooke and K Speirs, Migration and Employment Among the Civilian Spouses of Military Personnel. Social Science Quarterly, vol. 86, 2005, pp L M Burrell, Moving Military Families: The Impact of Relocation on Family Well-Being, Employment, and Commitment to the Military, in Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat. Volume 3: The Military Family, C A Castro, A B Adler and T W Britt (eds), Praeger Security International, Westport, CT, B Booth, W W Falk, D R Segal, and M W Segal, The Impact of Military Presence in Local Labor Markets and the Employment of Women. Gender and Society, vol. 14, 2000, pp ; and B Booth, Contextual Effects of Military Presence on Women s Earnings. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 30, 2003, pp M C Harrell, Gender and Class-Based Role Expectations for Army Spouses, in Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty-First Century, P R Frese and M C Harrell (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003, pp M W Segal, The Military and the Family as Greedy Institutions. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 13, 1986, pp M Wherry, The Military Officer s Wife: Creating and Locating a Social Identity, Bowling Green State University, 2000, p. 29.

8 8Crafting a working life on the move 15 D B Brancaforte, Camouflaged Identities and Army Wives: Narratives of Self and Place on the Margins of the United States Military Family, 2000, Princeton University; and M C Harrell, Invisible Women: Junior Enlisted Army Wives, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 2000; and M Wherry, The Military Officer s Wife: Creating and Locating a Social Identity, Bowling Green State University, 2000; and E M Richard, Constructing and Contesting the Public and Private Lives of Military Families, Arizona State University, MC Harrell, Subject, Audience, and Voice, in Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty- First Century, P R Frese and M C Harrell (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003, pp Castaneda and Harrell, p K L Dana, Careers of Their Own: Role-Identity Negotiations Among Air Force Officers Wives, University of Oklahoma, Bibliography Booth, B., Falk, W. W., Segal, D. R., & Segal, M. W., The Impact of Military Presence in Local Labor Markets and the Employment of Women. Gender and Society, vol. 14, 2000, pp Booth, B., Contextual Effects of Military Presence on Women s Earnings. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 30, 2003, pp Brancaforte, D. B., Camouflaged Identities and Army Wives: Narratives of Self and Place on the Margins of the United States Military Family, 2000, Princeton University. Burrell, L. M., Moving Military Families: The Impact of Relocation on Family Well-Being, Employment, and Commitment to the Military, in Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat. Volume 3: The Military Family, C A Castro, A B Adler and T W Britt (eds), Praeger Security International, Westport, CT, 2006.

9 9 Michelle Still Mehta Castaneda, L. W., & Harrell, M. C., Military Spouse Employment: A Grounded Theory Approach to Experiences and Perceptions. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 34, 2008, Cooke, T. J., & Speirs, K., Migration and Employment Among the Civilian Spouses of Military Personnel. Social Science Quarterly, vol. 86, 2005, pp Dana, K. L., Careers of Their Own: Role-Identity Negotiations Among Air Force Officers Wives, University of Oklahoma, Defense Manpower Data Center, 2008 Survey of Active Duty Spouses: Tabulations of Responses (No ), Arlington, Enloe, C., Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives. University of California Press, Berkeley, Harrell, M. C., Invisible Women: Junior Enlisted Army Wives, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, Harrell, M. C., Gender and Class-Based Role Expectations for Army Spouses, in Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty-First Century, P R Frese and M C Harrell (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003, pp Harrell, M. C., Subject, Audience, and Voice, in Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty- First Century, P R Frese and M C Harrell (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2003, pp Harrell, M. C., Lim, N., Castaneda, L. W., and Golinelli, D., Working Around the Military: Challenges to Military Spouse Employment and Education. RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Lim, N., Golinelli, D., & Cho, M., "Working Around the Military" Revisited: Spouse Employment in the 2000 Census Data. RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, 2007.

10 10Crafting a working life on the move Richard, E. M., Constructing and Contesting the Public and Private Lives of Military Families, Arizona State University, Rosen, L. N., Ickovics, J. R., & Moghadam, L. Z, Employment and Role Satisfaction: Implications for the General Well-Being of Military Wives. Psychology of Women Quarterly, vol. 14, Segal, M. W., The Military and the Family as Greedy Institutions. Armed Forces & Society, vol. 13, 1986, pp U. S. Department of Defense, Demographics 2007: Profile of the Military Community. Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Military Community and Family Policy, Wherry, M., The Military Officer s Wife: Creating and Locating a Social Identity, Bowling Green State University, Michelle Still Mehta is a doctoral student at Fielding Graduate University. Her scholarly interests focus on issues of working life as it pertains to human and organization development, and her current research explores the working lives of military spouses.