From the Desk of the National Special
Assistant for Military Women
Submitted by Colonel (retired) Mary Hammond, National Special
Assistant for Military Women, Federally Employed Women
In September 2009
our National Federally Employed Women’s (FEW) President Sue
Webster asked me to step up to serve out her term as the Special
Assistant for Military Women. Being in my second term as a
local Chapter President, I could see the value of trying to
exploit this possible membership source for my own Chapter. It
could also be a gain for the entire organization. From
thousands of federally employed women, the National FEW has
slightly fewer than 4,000 dues-paying members, and not many of
them are active duty military.
I willingly
accepted the position and then took some time thinking about
just what this position could be all about.
I decided that the
vision is to grow the number of active, reserve and retired
women military members into our FEW organization that values
diversity, compliance, legislation and training. The challenge
of this vision is not necessarily the planning piece, but the
execution to make it a reality. At the moment, I have more
questions than I have answers.
Is there a
military member market out there? If there is, then what do we
do as an organization to attract them? As a former active duty
person myself, I believe one of the first things we have to do
is dissolve the myth that FEW is an organization for civilian
women only. How do we get military people to join? Finally,
what would military women bring back to their active duty or
reserve units from the FEW organization?
I would tell you
that my generation, the “Baby Boomers,” looked at growth
opportunities in our military careers and strides made through
the legislative process. Now the target audience is most likely
those groups known as the “Gen Xers (’65-’76)” and some younger
“Millenials (’77-’98).” Depending on what you turn up on your
internet search, both groups have distinct needs from employers
and groups to which they chose to belong. How do we establish
what FEW has to offer to the military person? In other words,
why join? Helping them find a career path or attain their
personal goals are expectations from these groups of young
people. I think the personal benefits women can derive from the
offered training could be an area of concentration to get
military people to join FEW.
The strides made
with congressional legislation have leveled the playing field
for military women regarding assignments, promotions and more
job opportunities. Is there a need for additional legislative
changes? I don’t know and would like some feedback and dialogue
regarding this topic.
To grow FEW, we
absolutely have to get the word out throughout major units and
installations. I am open to any suggestions to help us obtain
our goal of attracting more military women to our organization
and especially ideas on how to market FEW.
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