A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

TM

Womenin the

 united states navy

We literally could not run the Navy without women.

—Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, 2010

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Although women have served in and with the Navy 

since the American Revolution, they did not 

become an official part of the service until 1908 when 

Congress established the Navy Nurse Corps. The 

Opposite page: Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) Airman 

Susan Rodriguezrivera awaits flight operations aboard the 

aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in the Gulf of 

Oman, August 2009.

Left: The first Navy nurses were called the Sacred Twenty, 

shown here on the steps of the Naval Hospital in Washington, 

D.C., shortly after their appointment in 1908. 

Today’s women are closer than ever before to achieving equality and 

equal opportunity in the Navy. They stand on the shoulders of their 

predecessors who provided outstanding service during peace and war.
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Navy’s first enlisted women, more commonly known 

as Yeomen (F), provided primarily clerical support 

during World War I, but only for the duration of the war. 

Nurses remained the only women in the Navy until 

1942 when the service launched the program 

designated WAVES, the acronym for Women Accepted for 

Volunteer Emergency Service. During World War II 85,000 

WAVES served as air traffic controllers, artists, bakers, 

couriers, cryptologists, draftsmen, hospital corpsmen, 

lawyers, meteorologists, and translators at naval shore 

establishments across the nation and overseas, while 

11,000 Navy nurses treated patients in 12 hospital 

ships, on planes evacuating patients from the combat 

zone, and at stateside and overseas hospitals.

The contributions of these Navy women and their 

counterparts in the other services convinced military 

and congressional leaders that women should have 

a role in the peacetime armed forces. The Women’s 

Armed Services Act of 1948 accomplished that, albeit 

Far left: Lt. j.g. Harriet Ida Pickens, left, and Ens. Frances 

E. Wills were the first African American officers in the 

WAVES program.

Top right: Ens. Jane Kendeigh, the first flight nurse, prepares to evacuate patients from the Iwo Jima battle area 

during World War II. 

Bottom right:Yeomen (F) working at the Navy Department 

in 1918.
“For women, the Navy world is the best. In the 

Navy, I had the same opportunities in training 

and promotions as the men—and that wasn’t 

always true in the academic or business worlds.”

m. grace hopper

Rear Admiral M. Grace Hopper was one of the Navy’s most accomplished 

women and a leading computer scientist of the Cold War. After 

graduating from Vassar College and receiving master’s and doctoral 

degrees in math and physics from Yale University, Hopper taught 

mathematics at Vassar before entering the WAVES in 1943. Her work at 

Harvard University’s Computational Laboratory led to the development of 

the service’s first large-scale digital computer, the Mark I. She remained 

with the design team after the war to develop the Mark II and Mark III 

computers, contributed to the design of the COBOL programming 

language, and coined the term “bug” for computer malfunctions. Her 

legendary accomplishments earned her the affectionate name “Amazing 

Grace.” Among numerous military and civilian awards, she received the 

National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest technology award, 

presented by President George H.W. Bush. In 1996 the Navy honored her 

by naming a guided missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70). 

Capt. Hopper headed the Programming Languages Section in the Office of the Chief of 

Naval Operations in 1976.

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Top left: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt 

Jr. recognizes Capt. Alene Duerk upon her promotion to 

rear admiral in 1972. 

Bottom left: A veteran of two world wars and WAVES director from 1946 to 1953, Capt. Joy Bright Hancock played a 

critical role in the passage of the women’s integration act. 

Right: Lts. j.g. Barbara Allen, left, and Judith Neuffer were 

among the first four female naval officers chosen for aviation training in 1973, with Barbara (Allen) Rainey the first 

to earn her aviator wings.

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life for Sailors, especially equal opportunity for 

women, blacks, and other minorities—issued a series 

of mandates for change known as Z-Grams. On 7 August 

1972 Z-Gram-116 expanded the role of women in the 

Navy, opening the Reserve Officer Training Corps, aviation 

training, Chaplain Corps, and Civil Engineer Corps to 

women. President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-106, 

requiring service academies to admit women by the fall 

of 1976. Eighty-one women entered the U.S. Naval 

Academy’s Class of 1980. The Navy started its “women 

on ships” program in 1978, assigning them to auxiliary 

ships such as oilers, tenders, and repair ships. A year 

later the Navy established an office of women’s policy 

to advise the Chief of Naval Personnel. 

with many restrictions. In 1967 President Lyndon B. 

Johnson signed Public Law 90-130, allowing women to 

become admirals and generals. Five years later, Alene 

Duerk, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps, was appointed 

the Navy’s first female admiral. 

Opportunities for women in the Navy increased 

dramatically during the 1970s. Chief of Naval Operations 

Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr.—who focused on quality of 
Deborah Loewer

Rear Admiral Deborah Loewer distinguished herself throughout a 

31-year naval career, becoming the first warfare-qualified woman 

promoted to flag rank in 2001. She holds a doctoral degree in 

international law from the University of Kiel in Germany. Providing 

leadership to others as she advanced through the ranks, Loewer 

established a successful online mentoring program for female surface 

warfare officers that continues today. Between 1979 and 2000 she 

compiled 13 years’ service on six ships, completing six deployments 

and six shipyard overhauls. In her later career, she served as senior 

military advisor to Secretary of Defense William Cohen; as director 

of President George W. Bush’s White House Situation Room; as Vice 

Commander, Military Sealift Command; and as Commander, Mine 

Warfare Command, retiring in 2007. At Director Oliver Stone’s personal 

request, Loewer worked as the military technical advisor for his film 

“W” released in October 2008.

“[Women] continue to push open the ‘door of 

opportunity’ and assume combat roles nearly 

inconceivable just two decades ago.”

Rear Adm. Deborah Loewer, deputy to Vice Adm. David Brewer, left, Commander, Military 

Sealift Command, in 2003.

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The progress of the 1970s provided the basis for the 

next generation to reach unimaginable heights. In the 

1980s Navy promotion boards began selecting women 

for flag rank. By the 1990s women commanded ships, 

recruiting districts, shipyards, and training stations and 

constituted 15 percent of the naval personnel fighting in 

Iraq and Kuwait during the First Gulf War (1990–1991). 

A year later, for the first time a woman served as brigade 

commander, the Naval Academy’s top-ranking midshipman. 

The 1993 repeal of the Combat Exclusion Law for 

women allowed them to serve on combatant ships. In 

1998 Commander Maureen A. Farren became the first 

woman selected to command a naval combatant, the 

Above: Naval Academy graduate Ens. Matice Wright, the 

first African American female naval flight officer, received 

her assignment to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 

in 1993.

Center: Rear Adm. Roberta L. Hazard, a pioneering unrestricted line officer, helped develop policies to increase 

opportunities for women. She directed two studies on 

women in the Navy for the Chief of Naval Operations in 

1988 and in 1990. 

Right: Among the first of her gender to graduate from 

the Naval School of Diving and Salvage, in 1990 Cmdr. 

Darlene Iskra became the first woman to command 

a Navy noncombatant, the salvage ship USS Opportune

(ARS 41). 
“Any job worth doing is worth doing right 

and deserves your full effort.”

jacqueline DIRosa

“Any job worth doing is worth doing right and deserves your full 

effort.” Command Master Chief Jacqueline L. K. DiRosa, the Navy’s 

senior ranking enlisted woman by position in 2010, lives by these 

words. A native of Mount Olive, Illinois, she entered the Navy in 

1981 and rose to Chief Hospital Corpsman in eight years. DiRosa, 

who earned enlisted surface and aviation warfare pins, was the first 

woman selected for both Force and Fleet Master Chief, among the 

most prestigious positions in the enlisted service. “Opportunities 

have never been better for those willing to take advantage of them,” 

she wrote. “It makes no difference if you are a man or a woman. If 

you are willing to grasp the opportunities the Navy has to offer and 

give it your full effort, then success will be yours. The question is, 

are you willing?”

Jacqueline DiRosa, Command Master Chief for Navy Information Operations Command, 

Suitland, Md., 2010.

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amphibious dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon (LSD 

39). In the aviation community, female aviators began 

flying combat missions over the Balkans and Iraq in 

1994 and continue to fly combat sorties over Iraq and 

Afghanistan. 

Female naval aviators also joined the elite ranks 

of those selected for NASA’s space program. Wendy 

Lawrence, a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, 

began astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center 

in 1992. The former helicopter pilot was also the first 

female Naval Academy graduate to fly in space, logging 

more than 1,200 hours in orbit. 

The 21st century brought new challenges and 

opportunities for women. In 2008 three female 

members of Naval Construction Battalion One 

assigned to a U.S. Marine Corps unit in the Middle 

Top left: Chief Quartermaster (Surface Warfare) Stephanie Kotatis stands 

Junior Officer of the Deck on the bridge of USS Freedom (LCS 1).

Top right: Astronaut Wendy Lawrence completed four space flights, including 

two trips to the Russian space station Mir. 

Bottom left: Cmdr. Michelle J. Howard was the first African American 

woman to command a combatant ship, USS Rushmore (LSD 37), in 

1999. By the end of 2010 she had achieved two-star flag rank.

Bottom right: More than two football fields long, Rushmore was designed 

to launch amphibious operations, using landing craft stored in her well 

deck and helicopters.
Evelyn Banks

Evelyn “Vonn” Banks, Command Master Chief, Naval Sea Systems 

Command, graduated from the Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned 

Officer Academy and the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy. She was the 

first black woman to reach the rank of Command Master Chief Petty 

Officer in an air wing. She is well known for her energetic personality, 

passion for promoting naval service, and a genuine concern for 

her Sailors. Her supportive family, outgoing personality, a thirst for 

knowledge, and faith have contributed to her success. She is working 

on a master’s degree and plans to obtain her doctorate before retiring. 

She advises Sailors to learn from their mistakes, help others advance 

as their career progresses, and to “learn the rules, respect the rules 

and follow the rules,” Command Master Chief Banks is among the 

highest ranking black enlisted females in the Navy. 

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“Learn the rules, respect the rules 

and follow the rules.”

Command Master Chief Evelyn Banks at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, during a 2006 trip to U.S. 

Naval Forces Central Command.
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are commanding warships, carrier air wings and 

squadrons, and Medical and Civil Engineer Corps units, 

as well as developing plans and strategies for the Navy’s 

future. There are no restrictions on women in aviation; all 

aviation enlisted ratings are open to women. The first 

group of female officers selected for submarine duty 

entered qualifications training in 2010 for integration into 

the crews of two ballistic missile and two guided missile 

submarines. By late 2010 there were two three-star 

East volunteered to search Muslim women and 

children for explosives and contraband because 

Muslim law prohibits men from doing so. The Marine 

Corps had recruited women as early as 2003 to 

perform these and other specialized duties, such 

as translation and intelligence analysis.

Today nearly every naval community is open to women. 

They make vital contributions ashore and afloat in Iraq and 

Afghanistan and in overseas contingency operations. They 
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Left: Builder 3rd Class Amy Higgins, a member of the 

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 Air Detach-

ment Afghanistan, builds a hut at Kandahar Airfield, 

April 2009.

Center: Navy dentist Lt. Rasha Hanna visits with Iraqi 

children during a female civil affairs mission to a 

school in Abu Tiban, Iraq, January 2005.

Right: Lt. Amy Tomlinson, the first female Naval Flight 

Officer selected for the Navy’s Blue Angels, is the 

organization’s event coordinator, October 2009.

Top: The first of the Navy’s new littoral combat ships, 

USS Freedom requires small, highly skilled crews. Cmdr. 

Kris Doyle, the ship’s first female commanding officer, 

led the blue crew from March 2009 to July 2010.

Bottom left: Vice Adm. Ann E. Rondeau is the senior 

ranking woman in the Navy and president of National 

Defense University, 2010. Here she is running with 

recruits during battle stations on 18 May 2003 when 

she was a two-star flag officer and Commander, Navy 

Service Training Command at Great Lakes, Ill.

Bottom right: Cmdr. Sara Joyner, commanding officer 

of Strike Fighter Squadron 105, dresses out in flight 

gear aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman

(CVN 75) in March 2007. She was the first woman to 

command a strike fighter squadron.
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admirals among the 31 female flag officers, 52 command 

master chiefs, and 13 command senior chiefs. The 

opportunities for women to serve and achieve leadership 

positions have never been greater.

In the 21st century the Navy’s leadership remains 

strongly committed to diversity. Chief of Naval Operations 

Admiral Gary Roughead declared that the Navy “must 

embrace the demographic changes of tomorrow and build 

a Navy that always reflects our country’s makeup.”

A person who is motivated and hardworking, and 

has the honor, courage, and commitment to serve, can 

achieve his or her dreams, regardless of gender, race, 

creed, color, or ethnic origin.

Photo credits: Blue Angels Public Affairs Office; Defense Equal 

Opportunity Management Institute; U.S. Defense Visual Information Center; Naval History & Heritage Command; NAVY.mil., Vice 

Adm. Ann E. Rondeau, USN; Capt. Margaret Kibben, ChC, USN; 

and Command Master Chief Jacqueline DiRosa, USN. 

Front cover: As Officer of the Deck, Lt. j.g. Karen Sankes stands 

watch on board the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge

(LHD 3), the flagship for an amphibious task force in the Red 

Sea, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in February 2003.

Left: Capt. Kathlene Contres, Commandant of the Defense 

Equal Opportunity Management Institute and the highest 

ranking female Hispanic active duty line officer in 2009, 

signs a Hispanic-American Heritage Month Proclamation.

Right: Chaplain Margaret Kibben, who went to Afghanistan in 

September 2006 as an individual augmentee and Command 

Chaplain for the Combined Forces Command, engages in a 

community relations project.

Top left: Capt. Kelly M. Johnson, left, salutes Capt. Mary M. Jackson, the 

new commanding officer of Naval Station Norfolk in August 2010. When 

Jackson relieved Johnson, she became the first female commanding officer 

of the largest U.S. naval base.

Far right: Rear Adm. Nora Tyson, shown here meeting a young student in 

Jakarta, Indonesia, assumed command of Carrier Strike Group 2 in July 2010 

aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in Norfolk, Va., 

becoming the first woman to command a carrier strike group.

Center left: Cmdr. Yvette Davids, shown here hosting members of the Royal Malaysian Navy, was the first Latina to command a Navy ship, USS Curts (FFG 38).

Bottom left: A newly commissioned ensign celebrates after receiving her 

diploma at the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2009 graduation and commissioning ceremony. Of the 1,036 graduates, 203 were women.

Bottom right: The Navy assigned the first women to submarine crews of the Ohioclass guided missile submarines, such as USS Georgia (SSGN 729), in 2010.

Navy Diversity Directorate (N134)

Chief of Naval Personnel

www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/Diversity

www.history.navy.mil

A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

TM