Howard: Goal is 25 percent women in each Navy ship, squadron15 May 2015 Wyatt Olson Stars and Stripes" JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — The Navy is proceeding with its plan to increase the number of women in the service to 25 percent with a similar goal of attaining that ratio in each ship and squadron, the vice chief of naval operations said Thursday.
Women currently make up about 17 percent of the Navy, said Adm. Michelle Howard, who made a stop in Honolulu on her way to the International Maritime Defense Exhibition in Singapore, where she will meet with her counterparts from other nations in the region.
Howard, who became vice chief last year, told an all-hands call that women made up only 5 percent of the Navy when she joined in 1978.
“The reason women were such a small percentage of the Navy was that up until 1967, women could only be 2 percent of the armed forces; it was the law,” Howard said. “And up until 1967, women could only be the rank of captain or colonel, and there could only be one of them at a time. That was the law.”
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said last fall during a stop at Pearl Harbor that the Air Force is made up of about 20 percent women but said she wanted to increase that number, possibly to 30 percent.
Howard said women make up about 46 percent of the civilian workforce, and studies by the Department of Labor have found that an organization achieves optimal performance when its workforce maintains at least 25 percent of whatever the minority ***** [S E X] might be.
Without that, there “are always accusations of tokenism” and “stereotyping,” she said.
For that reason, Howard proposed to the secretary of navy that the service “ought to be shooting for a Navy that’s about 25 percent women,” she said. At that level “workplace relationships get normalized,” she said.
Howard’s plan, however, goes beyond an overall number and seeks to specifically increase the number of women serving on each ship and squadron.
Because the Navy is globally distributed, a higher percentage of women is needed overall if they are to be represented in greater numbers in ships around the world, she said....
... Asked about overcoming a belief among some men that women aren’t physically up to the task of filling these elite combat positions, Howard said, “I can’t speak to the male perspective. I’m not a guy.”
After a pause she added: “I’ve served at sea for 30 years. I’ve been in command of a ship, know my community. I’ve been their leader, and my sailors have responded to that. And I believe I and my team have been successful in every mission we’ve been given.”"
Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/how ... n-1.346307