When I asked men how they feel about taking orders from a woman, most said they were fine with it...if she was qualified, had earned her position or asked them nicely.

Many questioned why I asked the... https://www.history.com/news/women-fought-armed-forces-war-service

...question.

This is one of the reasons why.

(In 1948) "Women were finally able to serve their country as members of the U.S. Armed Forces during peacetime. But in reality the act severely restricted their service. It limited the number of women who could serve to 2 percent of

...any military branch, allowed the military to involuntarily discharge women who became pregnant, and it limited the number of women who could become officers. Most significantly, it prevented women from commanding men or ever serving in combat.

“A prime objection...

...[to integrating women into regular service] which we were told was discussed in closed sessions, was that if women were in the regular military, men would have to take orders from a woman. Heaven forbid,”recalled Mary A. Hallaren, who began her career in the U.S. Army as a...

...WAAC and eventually became a Colonel.

It would take decades for the restrictions to change, but women were finally able to participate in the armed forces during peacetime, if unequally. Though discrimination reigned in all branches of the military—at the beginning of the...

...Vietnam War, for example, the Department of Defense authorized nearly 300,000 men they deemed of “low aptitude” to enlist rather than expand women’s roles—women continued to serve bravely and persistently."