On June 28, 1976, Janet C. Wolfenbarger and 156 other women became the first female cadets to enter the Air Force Academy. The Class of 1980 was the first to graduate women, with a total of 97 women graduating that year. Forty-two years later, women comprised 212 of the 984 cadets from the Class of 2018 graduated from the Air Force Academy. In total, over 4,000 women have graduated from the Air Force Academy. Women currently make up 15 percent of active-duty personnel in the military overall.
In 1976, all the United States service academies – the United States Military Academy (Army), the United States Naval Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Coast Guard Academy and the United States Merchant Marine Academy – had been ordered to admit women. That year, both the male and female cadets participated in the same co-ed academic and physical education programs, except for contact sports.
One standout female cadet of “The First Ladies of ’80” was Wolfenbarger. She earned a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Science. She went on to work as an engineer and then to oversee the development of various weapons systems. In 2012, she made U.S. military history as the first woman in the Air Force to receive the rank of a four-star General.
Nearly 64,000 women serve on active duty for the Air Force, comprising about 20 percent of the total Air Force personnel. Meanwhile, 21 percent of the officers in the Air Force are women.
Overall, the last several years have been particularly historic for women in the U.S. Military. In 2011, the first woman to hold the position of Superintendent of any United States Military Service Academy was Vice Admiral Sandra Leigh Stosz at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. In January 2013, the Defense Department opened thousands of jobs to women that were previously only available to men. In August 2015, Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver became the first women in history to graduate from U.S. Army Ranger School, one of the most physically and mentally demanding programs in the Army. Major Lisa Jaster followed in their footsteps two months later in October 2015.
Starting in 2016, women were allowed to serve in all combat roles. Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson took over as leader of U.S. Northern Command in 2016, becoming the first female service member to lead a unified combatant command and thus the highest-ranking woman in U.S. military history. On September 25, 2017, a female lieutenant made history by becoming the first woman to complete the Marine Corps’ grueling 13-week Infantry Officer Course, based in Quantico, Virginia.
Women have come a long way since females first began attending the military service academies in 1976. As more and more women enter front-line ground combat positions, the military is making gender-specific accommodations for their gear – even down to tweaking protective equipment to fit around long hair. We thank all the American military women, for serving and protecting the United States and people around the globe.