Prof. Lotte Bailyn

From Cognoscenti, WBUR.org

By lifting its ban on women in combat, the Pentagon is opening up thousands of frontline jobs, creating a true path for female service members to advance their professional careers. If only we could do the same in the private sector.

Spending time on the frontlines in combat positions is viewed as critical to advancing in the military. A 1994 Pentagon rule prohibited women from armor, artillery, infantry, and other combat roles, yet on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan it is much different. As of last year, more than 800 women had been wounded in the two wars and more than 130 had died, according to the Pentagon.

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Lotte Bailyn is the T. Wilson professor of management, emerita and a professor of organization studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management.