Within the framework of affirmative action and the theory of representative bureaucracy with a focus on organizational barriers, this paper demonstrates the lack of significant success of women in attaining positions of authority (executive, administrative, managerial) in the federal civil service. The role of veterans' preference policies in limiting the access of women to federal public service management positions is shown. Assuming the continuation of a strong lobbying effect in support of the continuation of veterans' preference policies, recommendations are made to rectify the organizational barrier to women posed by veterans' preference policies through the adoption of a point system which would assign to qualified non‐veterans additional points based upon qualifications which exceed the minimu