When Rosalyn Cox, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, tried to join a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Pennsylvania during the late 1980s, it was still "frowned on" for women to become members, despite the organization officially amending its bylaws a decade earlier to allow it.
"They told me in no uncertain terms that women couldn't join," Cox, 46, said. "I know now that wasn't the case; it was just looked down upon by the good ol' boy network."
Having spent 20 years in the male-dominated military -- 10 of those on active duty -- Cox said her first experience with the VFW didn't cause her to shy away from trying again.
In 2007, after returning from a deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and retiring from the Coast Guard, Cox asked to join the VFW post in Camden -- and this time, she got in.
About 26 years after Cox was denied membership, the organization's nearly 80-year-old charter will soon change to make clear that the VFW is no longer only for men.
President Barack Obama is expected to soon sign into law a bill unanimously passed by Congress on Nov. 24 to strike the words "men" and "widows" from the congressional charter.
The bill calls for the word "men" to be replaced with "veterans" and "widows" replaced with "surviving spouses."
Patrick Flenniken, senior vice commander for the Arkansas VFW, said he hopes the change will eliminate the perception that the organization is just for "good ol' boys."
"This is something to get us more in step with what's going on in today's world," Flenniken said. "Back when the charter was first signed, it was primarily all men because they were the ones who did all the fighting. In today's military, things have changed."
Delegates passed a resolution to change the charter during the organization's national convention in July.
Congress then approved the measure soon after John Stroud, the organization's national commander, called for modernization of the group, which is mostly made up of male Vietnam War-era veterans.
In a letter to the state chapters last month, Stroud said he would support the shutdown of any post that perpetuates the VFW's stereotype of being "dingy, dark and smoke filled" and isn't committed to increasing its number of younger members or working toward the organization's main purpose -- lobbying for veterans benefits.
In its latest push to get young people involved, the VFW partnered with the Student Veterans of America to assist students in receiving educational benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
VFW members in Arkansas also attend meetings of student veterans organizations and recruit at military installations in the state, Cox said.
The number of women in the military has grown steadily over the past two decades, according to a report by the VA.
According to the latest military demographics report, women accounted for about 15 percent of the active-duty force and 18 percent of the Reserve component in 2012. Last year, a move to lift the military's ban on women in combat opened additional front-line positions to them.
In Arkansas, about 10 percent of the state's almost 250,000 veterans are women, according to October statistics from the VA.
However, the increase in female veterans is not yet reflected in the state VFW's membership.
At the national level, about 10 percent of members are women, Cox said, but in Arkansas the percentage is "much, much lower."
Of the 14,158 members in 93 posts throughout the state, only about 100 to 200 are female, she estimated.
Flenniken said the state needs to recruit more women in order to lobby better for issues specific to the increasing number of female veterans.
When Flenniken first joined the VFW in 1979, "there were no women," he said. "Now, we're trying to seek them out. If we can get them in, maybe they can come up with new ideas -- things that need to be done to help the organization and in identifying things important to women veterans that we can fight for."
The national organization's 2013 annual report states that female veterans are one of its fastest-growing groups. There has been a 100 percent increase in female members since 2010, according to the report, though it does not give the total number of women in the organization.
"They're stepping up and taking leadership roles within our organization," Flenniken said. "They are becoming a force within our ranks, and we want to recognize that."
Cox, now junior vice commander of the Arkansas VFW, is set to become the state commander in 2016. She will be the first woman to hold the state organization's highest title in its 82-year history.
Though progress is being made, Cox said, there are still some things that haven't changed.
When she ran for her current position within the organization, one member told her he wouldn't vote for her because she was a woman, she said.
"He told me that specifically," Cox said. "So, it's still out there. There are older fellas who were around when the VFW was men only. But, ultimately, I got elected in. I prevailed."
Metro on 12/07/2014