Janine Davidson, President Barack Obama’s nomination for Under Secretary of the Navy is an advocate for women serving in combat roles who believes this is “policy catching up with reality.”
Janine Davidson, a former U.S. Air Force C-130 and the C-17 cargo aircraft pilot and commander said, “This is not just using the military for social engineering.”
Davidson explained, “There are women out there as a battle necessity and people shoulder to shoulder with these women aren’t questioning anymore.” Her appointment is off the heals of the Marine Corps being expected to ask that at least some combat jobs remain male-only. Recently, the Marine Corps commissioned a study which showed that men outperform women in combat tasks. (RELATED: Marine Corps Study Shows That Men Are Better In Ground Combat Than Women)
Davidson believes the differences between men and women are “more social than physical.”
Davidson has been a Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relationssince 2014. From 2013 to 2014, she served as a member of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force and an Assistant Professor at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy.
Davidson was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Plans from 2009 to 2012. From 2006 to 2008, she was a Director in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. Davidson began her career in the U.S. Air Force as a cargo plane pilot. Davidson received a B.S. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.