The event took place Saturday, Jan. 7 at the California Heights United Methodist Church as part of an “Honor and Duty to Country” panel hosted by the AAUW to give insight on what it takes to be a female servicemember in the military.
After a brief business meeting discussing the organization’s internal operations, the panel began with remarks from Gilliam.
She served with the U.S. Air Force as a personnel apprentice for more than five years. After that, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, where she completed an associates degree in both patisserie-baking and culinary arts. She also joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as a program support clerk for the Department of Medicine at the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. In that role, Gilliam oversaw day-to-day administrative activities for the rheumatology department.
“My military career has given me a sense of pride in everything I do,” she said.
While serving on active duty with the Air Force, Gilliam was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and Lajos Fields Azores, Portugal. In that time, she helped military personnel that had children overseas arrange paperwork for the babies to acquire dual citizenship.
Contrary to Gilliam, Powell served in the military while still a civilian. She worked for the Port of Long Beach for 30 years and served as the director of trade and maritime services. Her story began as a secretary for the port. She said that mostly white men occupied positions of leadership in her work space, and she felt that she had to work harder to move up the corporate ladder. Eventually, she was promoted to be the first female chief wharfinger— a position that required her to travel to Asia and parts of Europe to meet with clients that moved cargo through the Port of Long Beach.
Her experience working in the port won her the nomination from the U.S. Coast Guard to be part of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). The committee was established in 1951 by then Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, and members were selected on the basis of their outstanding reputations in business, their professions, their public service and their records of civic leadership. DACOWITS meets with U.S. military personnel throughout the world and formulates recommendations to the Secretary of Defense about job opportunities and the identification of institutional barriers that limit the full use of military women.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Screen-Shot-2017-01-14-at-11.10.31-AM.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Wilma Powell spoke about the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and the impact she made while helping women in the military during an American Association of University Woman meeting that took place Saturday, Jan. 7.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] Powell joked that someone identified as General Alexander called her to notify her about her nomination to DACOWITS.
“You’re kidding, right?” she chuckled.
While working with DACOWITS, Powell had closed-door meetings with individuals in the military to discuss issues that should be brought up to high-command.
“We would open up saying, ‘This is very confidential, and we’re here to hear your issues because it is our responsibility to take your issues to the top levels of the military to hopefully get some type of solution for you,'” she said.
Powell added that the confidential conversations she had with women were mostly about sexual harassment, correct job assignments and proper child care. An example she gave was that she wanted to make sure that if a woman had been trained to work on helicopters, then she shouldn’t be assigned to make coffee for everyone.
One specific moment Powell discussed during the meeting was about a sexual harassment issue within the Navy. She said the Secretary of the Navy denied any such thing. She worked to try to shed light on the issue to top military leaders.
After she left the committee, Powell said she began to see more women assigned to positions in the military she thought would be impossible.
After the panel members shared their stories, there was time allocated for a question-and-answer session.
During the Q&A, Gilliam revealed that she was discharged from the services in 2002 because she was overweight. She said she thought that was unfair because her body structure did not fit what the military thought was appropriate.
“They even asked me to get breast reductions,” she said.
Powell then explained that most women aren’t aware of committees similar to the DACOWITS and that it would have been her job to look into things of that nature.
“We need women like her,” Gilliam said. “I believe that joining the military was the best thing that I could have possibly ever done for myself. It was a powerful, wonderful thing that has just continually benefited my entire life, even my daughter’s life, so even after 10 years of being off active duty, it still continues to benefit me in my every day.”
Powell was awarded the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Services in 1994, the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal in 1995 and the Outstanding Woman of the Year: American Business Women’s Association in 1994.
