Martha McSally: A Champion for Arizonans and Women Everywhere

(U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. / Photo: AP)

Throughout her life, Martha McSally has been a fighter.

While attending an all-girls’ Catholic high school, she received a prestigious appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy, a rather unusual distinction for a young woman in the mid-1980s. After finishing her studies at USAFA, she earned her master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. McSally then took part in pilot training, ultimately finishing first in her class at the Air War College.

“I grew up in a house where I was told I could be anything I wanted to be. There were no limitations on me because I was a girl,” she told Opportunity Lives.

“I actually didn’t want to be a pilot,” McSally admitted. “I had motion sickness when I was a kid. I wanted to be a doctor. But because [military leadership] told me I couldn’t do it, I was very motivated to prove them wrong. I just decided I had this dream in my heart that I was going to become a fighter pilot. I was going to become the first woman fighter pilot.”

At the time, it was against the law for women to serve in that combat role. But, like many other times in McSally’s life, she wouldn’t be stopped by others’ restrictions.

“People laughed at me. But I said, ‘You know what? This is America. The law is going to change. I’m going to excel. I’m going to lean forward. I’m going to continue to grow and build my capabilities and my skills. And if the door opens, I’ll be ready to bust through it,’” McSally recalled. “I was so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right qualifications when the law was finally repealed, and later on, when the Pentagon finally repealed its policies.”

It took a decade. Rising to the rank of colonel, she became the first woman ever to fly in combat in the U.S. Air Force. She served in Operation Southern Watch, Operation Allied Force and Operation Enduring Freedom, retiring after 26 years of distinguished service. From Eastern Europe to Iraq, McSally sought to demonstrate American values in the way she conducted herself in uniform and with the changes her determination could catalyze.

“The principles of this country are meritocratic. It’s about increased opportunities for people based on hard work and capabilities,” she said.

For McSally, even the sky wasn’t a limit. One day, she noticed an instructional pamphlet ordering American servicewomen to dress in traditional Muslim clothing when operating in the Middle East. She was infuriated.

The U.S. military, she believed, should maintain its own values and not diminish them in the countries where it operated. After all, the United States is the best ambassador for its own mission when it demonstrates its character, even in contentious circumstances.

“We should certainly be respectful, but we don’t have to change who we are because we’re dealing with a country stuck in the 7th century based on how they deal with women,” she said. “We have to create that discomfort instead of buckling under pressure.”

After doing some digging, McSally realized that no one was quite sure where the order originated or who was mandating it. The military bureaucracy was maddening, and no one could give her an answer as to how to change the policy.

Each time she raised questions, she hit a dead end. Worse, she often met threats of punishment for speaking out. During this time, she was forced to wear the abiya, a loose-fitting women’s robe, and headscarf, as she sat in the back seat of vehicles journeying across the Middle East.

McSally, pictured here on Capitol Hill in 2002, rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and was the first female fighter pilot in combat in American history. | Photo: AP

After years of searching, McSally determined that the policy was first written as a recommendation in a local memo by a two-star general years prior and had been inexplicably enforced across the armed forces. To her, this was simply unacceptable.

“It’s part of who I am. If I see something I think is wrong, I’m going to do what I can to find out where it came from and see what I can do to change it,” McSally explained.

So, she filed a landmark case, McSally v. Rumsfeld, arguing that American servicewomen should not be forced to accommodate host nation traditions in dress when performing duties abroad. After eight years, Congress and the Bush administration finally repealed the regulation.  

But McSally’s quest for women’s equality didn’t stop there. After witnessing the inequality facing girls and women worldwide, especially in countries where the United States has a military presence, she dedicated part of her life to advocating their cause.

“I have been deployed to countries where women are treated as property, where women are systematically abused, honor-killed. They don’t have the basic rights that we have in our country. It’s pretty egregious. That’s the real war on women,” McSally said. “They’re married off as children. They’re systematically subjected to sexual abuse and assault. They don’t have the same rights in the legal system or to own property or to divorce or to travel without the permission their husband or their father who owns them. No opportunities for education. The plight is horrendous.”

“I’ve seen it firsthand. I believe so strongly and deeply — and studies have shown — that if we provide opportunities for girls and women to get an education, to meet their full potential, it can literally transform societies,” McSally explained.

McSally says that it’s crucial for girls to get an education, to open businesses, and to contribute to the public and privates sectors in order for societies to advance. “I’ve seen it. I’ve passionately spoken about it. After I retired, I was a professor in Germany, and we would have students from all over the world coming to our courses. And I used to teach on various issues, including the importance of women to participate in the security sector and civil society,” she said.

“Giving women and girls opportunity is pivotal to stability, prosperity and security for nations around the world,” she added.

After her time in the U.S. military and academia, McSally said she knew she wanted to serve her country in a different way. After losing by fewer than 3,000 votes in a 2012 contest, the colonel became Representative McSally from Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District in January 2015.

“I consider my service in Washington, D.C., to be the new combat mode I’ve deployed to,” she laughed.

Since taking office, she has represented her district with the same devotion she did her country in wars abroad. McSally has fought for their needs on two key committees that deeply affect her constituents: the House Committee on Armed Forces and the House Committee on Homeland Security. She is also chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, filling a vital role for her border district.

Seven of McSally’s bills have passed the House, an extraordinary accomplishment for a freshman member of Congress. In fact, she is currently tied for third among all members for total number of bills making it through the chamber, exceeding peers with three or four decades in office. Her efficacy is an outlier in Washington, especially as Americans lament the lack of cooperation and productivity on Capitol Hill.

Unwilling to simply be a seat-filler, McSally has strived to make her district proud. She’s tackled a tough portfolio of legislative issues, but she’s not stopping there. She seeks to truly transform the American labor force in a way that acknowledges the gifts and talents of all people.

Recently, she launched a congressional working-group on women in the 21st century workforce. Her task force is made up of dozens of lawmakers who aim to encourage greater professional development of women by expanding opportunity, increasing flexibility, removing barriers and empowering the next generation.

For the McSally, at the heart of it all is what it’s always been: fighting for what’s right. From foreign skies to military bureaucracies to the halls of Congress, she’s put doing the right thing first, even when it became difficult or she had to stand alone.

Today, she’s standing for Arizonans in the U.S. House of Representatives. And with the depth of her conviction and the sincerity of her cause, she’s standing for all women, too — in America and around the globe.

Ellen Carmichael is a senior writer for Opportunity Lives. Follow her on Twitter @ellencarmichael.