Military Organizations Taking ‘Man’ Out of Job Titles

Military service organizations are changing some job titles to reflect their more inclusive policies and gender-neutral job positions.

In December, Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered all military jobs to be open to women.

Today, ‘firemen’ and ‘policemen’ are commonly referred to as ‘firefighters’ and ‘police officers’. Likewise, the Navy and Marine Corps are also considering some changes to the names of their job titles.

The changes will also contain terminology that can be transferable to civilian jobs and resumes.  Some suggested changes include ‘yeoman’ to be updated as ‘administrative specialist’, ‘messman’ to ‘culinary specialist’, and ‘corpsman’ to ‘medic’ or ’emergency medical technician’.

The Army and Air Force, however, say they are placing more emphasis on incorporating women and their skills into the needs of service instead of changing the names of the job titles that they will be taking on.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus acknowledge that the title name changes are not as important as incorporating women into traditionally male roles.

The title name changes contribute to changing the image and perception of military service members.

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