Army Says It Doesn’t Intend to Eliminate ‘Man’ From Job Titles
An Army spokesman confirmed Friday the service has no immediate plans to remove the word “man” from military job titles.
What this means is that traditional job titles like “infantrymen” and “crewmen” will remain the same, even though women are now allowed to access these military occupations.
“While our policies are perpetually under review, there are currently no immediate plans at this point to change terms,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk told Army Times.
To explain himself, Pionk noted that the root of “man” comes from the word “human.”
“This is why you still see the Air Force use airman for all their personnel, or policeman or Congressman and even woman,” Pionk said.
Many other job titles in the Army are already functionally gender neutral, aside from the two main ones: infantryman and M1 armor crewman. But usually, it’s common practice to dodge the term “infantryman” and use “infantry officer” or “infantry soldier.”
Other services have initiated similar job title reviews. The Air Force, usually known for leading the way on diversity measures, said back in January that officials do not intend to review any titles.
The Navy and the Marine Corps, on the other hand, are still conducting reviews. The Navy has run into several problems, however, namely that officials have no clue on how to make job titles like “yeoman” gender neutral. Some have floated replacements like “yeo-person” or “yeo-specialist,” but those have proved deeply unsatisfying. Additionally, not only is the Marine Corps looking to potentially change the job title “rifleman,” but officials are also looking at phrases where the term is used, such as “every Marine a rifleman.”
These reviews follow Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s December decision to open all combat roles to women. The idea behind removing “man” from job titles is to eliminate any blockades to full integration. The counter argument, noted by Pionk, is that the word “man” derives from “human,” but that has not appeared particularly persuasive to all military leadership.
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