According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office study published mid 2020, family planning and child care are among the most common reasons women leave military service. US Air Force has recently been trying to address, surveying female airmen for input on maternity uniforms and investing in family planning resources.
However, back in 2018, finding maternity uniforms was not easy for pregnant airmen due to logistics issues, design problems just simply lack of recognition for women to need customized uniforms during this phase.
Senior Master Sgt. Genevieve, faced similar issues during her own pregnancy and decided to lead the initiative to to redesign maternity uniforms and increase availability. Her and her team’s efforts have since led to an improvement in availability of maternity uniforms.
Genevieve also contributed to the birth of the Rent the Camo: Access to Maternity Wear Act. The program is modeled after Rent the Runway and offers maternity uniforms and related items to pregnant service members free of charge.
The program has been included in the 2021 defense policy bill, which has yet to be finalized.
