WOMEN ENLISTING

1917

The Navy allows about 11,000 women to enlist and serve stateside during World War I, three years before women could vote for president. Later in World War I, the Navy enlists 24 African-American women, who work in the Navy Department building.

1918

Opha May Johnson becomes the first woman accepted for duty in the Marine Corps in Washington, D.C.

1942

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes the creation of the Army, Navy and Coast Guard women’s auxiliary/reserves. The Army’s female auxiliary members become known as WAACs; their Navy counterparts become known as WAVEs.

1943

More than 76,000 women who had enlisted as WAACs are given full military status.

1948

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act grants women permanent regular and reserve status in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.

1967

Marine Corps Master Sgt. Barbara Jean Dulinsky becomes the first female Marine to serve in a combat zone in Vietnam.

1974

Navy Lt. j.g. Barbara Ann (Allen) Rainey earns her wings as the service’s first female aviator.

1975

President Gerald R. Ford signs a law permitting women to enroll in military academies beginning in the fall of 1976.

1978

Marine Corps Col. Margaret A. Brewer becomes the first female general.

1990

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Darlene Iskra becomes the first woman to command a commissioned naval ship.

1994

Defense Secretary Les Aspin rescinds the 1988 “risk rule” and replaces it with a less restrictive ground combat policy that allows 80 percent of military positions to be filled by women.

2001

Marine Corps Capt. Vernice Armour becomes the first female African-American pilot in the Marine Corps, and later becomes the first woman to fly combat missions in Iraq.

2010

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announces that for the first time, women can be assigned to submarines.

2013

On Jan. 24, 2013, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta lifts the barriers that have prevented military women from serving in direct combat roles.

2015

The Pentagon lifts its ban on women serving in ground combat.

2016

Army Capt. Kristen Griest, an Army Ranger, becomes the first female infantry officer.

Darlene Iskra in 1991. She served in the Navy 21 years and retired as a commander. She also has a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Women inducted into the Marine Corps during World War I.

Vernice Armour in 2006. She completed two combat tours in the Persian Gulf, flying an attack helicopter.

A World War II poster.