USMMA: 1ST ACADEMY TO ADMIT WOMEN

In the summer of 1974, the first brave women in-processed at a US Service Academy. The US Merchant Marine Academy was the 1st and only Service Academy to admit women before it became federal law.

President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-106 in 1975 mandating women be admitted to the all-male military colleges. The Coast Guard Academy, West Point, Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy admitted their first female cadets/midshipmen in 1976.

The path to admitting women at federal military colleges is one fought for by many women that came before us. Prior to WWII, women could only enlist as volunteers in clerical or nursing positions in the military, but in May of 1942, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was founded.

On June 12, 1948, after legislative debates, Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act which granted women the right to serve as permanent and regular members in all four branches of the military in a number of official capacities. This Act was later amended in 1956 to provide flexibility in the distribution of women officers in the grades of commander and lieutenant commander. In 1951, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services was established with the purpose of seeking fair and equal treatment for women in the Armed Forces which eventually led to the 1994, rescinding the “risk rule” and 2013 lifting of The Combat Exclusion Policy .

We salute all the women of our Nations Armed Forces, past, present and future.

Source:

https://www.govinfo.gov/features/anniversary-women-west-point

https://www.usmma.edu/admissions/diversity/opportunities-women