The Coast Guard is looking to overhaul its body weight standards because a disproportionate number of women don’t meet them.
A new one-year pilot program will determine a service member’s fitness by abdominal circumference instead of the traditional height-weight ratio. Coast Guard officials cited studies that found abdominal circumference is “a more accurate measurement of overall health risk.” The new program will take effect Oct. 1.
“Women are three times as likely as men to fail the standard taping process” for body fat assessment, revealed Cmdr. Matt Rooney, chief of the Coast Guard’s policy and standards division.
The pilot program will allow men a maximum waist measurement of 39 inches and women a maximum of 35.5 inches. Women make up about 15% of the Coast Guard but represent 30% of the 480 members kicked out due to weight issues. The guard has just over 40,000 active-duty members and 7,000 reservists.
A RAND study into why women left the Coast Guard at higher rates than men found that “meeting [weight] standards is a particular burden for women and a source of stress that can influence retention decisions.” The study’s report did not definitively conclude why women were failing.
All military branches have had trouble recruiting and retaining members in recent years. Officials have pointed to an improving economy and deployment fatigue as likely reasons, so the branches have worked to attract and retain troops with large bonuses and new marketing campaigns.
Other services have also made efforts to accommodate women in their forces. The Marine Corps announced last year that it planned to issue new helmets that would fit women’s hair buns. It also implemented new body armor plate sizes and an adjustable frame backpack to help female Marines carry heavy loads. The Army has implemented a new helmet for women and made several changes to body armor over recent years to better fit women in the service.
The military’s attempts to accommodate female service members have come under scrutiny, particularly after the Obama administration opened up more combat roles to women in 2016. Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, then head of U.S. Southern Command and later President Trump’s chief of staff, said he feared the Corps would have to lower its standards due to pressure from Washington to include women in combat. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advocated keeping some roles limited to men when he was commandant of the Corps.
Today, hundreds of women are serving in jobs that 3 1/2 years ago were not open to them, including infantry, armor, fire support, and special operator roles.
