1. The Changing Roles
Of Military Wives
By Nellie Russell
Sociology: Gender Roles
Professor Erica Dixon
August 14, 2009

2. BACKGROUND
Being the wife of a military man is no
easy job, the title brings great
responsibility. Becoming a military
wife means making big sacrifices for
yourself and your family. These
women must juggle many jobs and
roles before, during, and after
deployment.
For someone not in a military family, it
is hard to imagine the drastic changes
that go on during deployment; every
family goes through changes in
household routines and duties. This is
an especially big transition for the
wives, these women must completely
redefine who they are and what role
they play in the family, often times
taking them way out of their comfort
zones.

3. HYPOTHESIS
Military wives must sacrifice a great
deal and must go through a
change in their roles as a wives
and or mothers and re-examine
their place within the family
when their husbands are away.
These role changes alter the
entire family system and how it
runs, not only the woman herself.
By taking on the role of both
parents, these wives must
transform how they define their
role as a wife. The
transformation that these women
go through can be a permanent
life changing experience that
affects the whole family.

4. Methods
My first method of research was reading articles related
to the lives of military wives, including studies on
recreation and leisure, employment and role
satisfaction, life satisfaction, and army wives dealing
with pre and post deployment changes. I also wrote up
and sent out surveys through a number of army wife
support groups, forums, and blogs. The main site I used
to network with military wives was The Army Wife
Network. I Received contact from a total of 6 women
and 3 of them returned my survey when I sent it out.
Even with a small sample group, the results were very
emotional and fit directly with my hypothesis.

5. Prior to your husband’s deployment,
how would you define your overall role in the family?
• Mother
• Wife
• Caregiver/Nurturer
• Typical mom stuff like running errands, and
going to school function
• Shared household duties but did not get
involved in finances or automotive care

6. How did your role change
when your husband deployed?
The responses I got all came to similar conclusions
which were that the wives had to not only do their
normal jobs but had to take their husbands role as
well. Many of them felt overwhelmed because they
had twice as work and half the time to do it and
some of the women complained about having to
become the main disciplinarian.

7. What duties did you take
over doing when he was gone?
The wives had to take over the known masculine
chores around the house. Some things they
had to included mowing the lawn, fixing the
car, paying the bills, handyman, and being the
only person to drive around the kids or go
grocery shopping.

8. If you have children, how did they react
to the changes in your role and duty as a parent?
Overall, the children took advantage of the fact
that there was not a masculine figure in the
house by acting out and not listening to their
mother. In situations with male teenagers, the
mothers had trouble explaining hormonal
changes, i.e. puberty to their questioning
sons.

9. How did your change of role
and duty affect you emotionally?
These women went through many emotional
ups and downs during deployment. They
expressed many tired days and having no time
for themselves. Some women cried through
many nights, they felt like they were spread
too thin and were not doing well enough as
parents.

10. When your husband returned home,
what changed? What stayed the same?
Homecoming was very difficult for the whole
family because everyone had to change the
had been living. Reverting back did not come
easy and was often frustrating for the
husband because he felt left out; it was
difficult for the mother to give up her newly
adopted responsibilities.

11. How did the changes you went through
affect your relationship with your husband?
The husbands return affected all aspects of the
relationship, especially communication and
intimacy. The husbands acted very distant and
tended to isolate themselves. They felt
emasculated by their wives taking over their
masculine responsibilities. Although they
were still very much in love, they didn’t quite
see eye to eye upon homecoming.

12. Conclusion
Throughout this study, my hypothesis was proven
through the fact that it is very difficult for military
wives to take on both gender roles while their male
counterpart is away. In addition I have found that it is
much more difficult for the woman and children to
get used to the fact of having a masculine figure in
the home after their time away. I have also noticed
through my research that these women go through
an emotional roller coaster because of the buildup to
deployment, the stress of losing their partner, getting
used to the way life is, then having to change again
once their husbands come back. My study has
proven that woman can do anything a man can do.