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SUBJ/DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 2024 WOMEN'S EQUALITY DAY (CORRECTED COPY)//
RMKS/1. On August 26, 2024, the Department of the Navy (DON) will join the Nation in celebrating Women's Equality Day, which commemorates the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote in 1920. To observe this year's theme of "One Piece at a Time," we reflect on how the expansion of women's rights has impacted the DON, celebrate the achievements that women in our military and civilian ranks have made, and remind ourselves that achieving true equality is a continuing all-hands effort.
Women have long had a profound impact on the history of the DON. Before the establishment of the Navy Nurse Corps on May 13, 1908, women served in the Navy as civilian nurses on the hospital ship Red Rover in 1862 and throughout the Civil War. On July 30, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt paved the way for women to join the Navy's ranks by creating the women's reserve program through Public Law 698. Additionally on June 12, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, which granted women the right to serve as permanent members of the Navy and other armed services. In 1974, the "First Six" women out of eight who began Navy flight school earned their Wings of Gold. Women made further ground in expanding their roles within the DON on March 7, 1994, when the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) became the first combatant ship to be assigned women. In 2012, the Marine Corps began opening Ground Combat Elements to women. Numerous female civil servants in the DON have received the Presidential Rank Award, which is presented to just five percent of Senior Executive Service members in recognition of exemplary accomplishment and leadership. This past November, Secretary Del Toro also had the privilege of swearing in Admiral Lisa Franchetti as both the Navy's first female Chief of Naval Operations and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Today, more than 180,000 women comprise the DON's total force. Secretary Del Toro and I remain fully committed to ensuring that we can add more pieces to the picture of inclusive representation within the Navy, Marine Corps and our Nation. For more information on the impact that women have continuously made within the DON, I encourage you to visit: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by- topic/diversity/women-in-the-navy.html.
Released by Mr. Thomas J. Mancinelli, Acting Under Secretary of the Navy.//
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