Air Force reviewing gender-biased policies affecting airmen, guardians

The Air Force has launched a wide-ranging inquiry into outdated policies that disproportionately affect airmen and guardians of one gender over another, the service’s undersecretary told reporters here March 3.

Scrapping discriminatory gender-biased rules can end certain deep-seated barriers to airmen’s success — particularly for women, whose roles in society have dramatically changed since the Air Force was founded in 1947.

Undersecretary Gina Ortiz Jones stumbled upon one such quirk while reviewing enlisted airmen’s applications to commission as officers. She noticed one woman’s paperwork indicated that the applicant had a waiver.