ACLU: Women Grossly Underrepresented In Service Academies
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- The Naval Academy in Annapolis is targeted in a new lawsuit. A women's veterans group wants three U.S. service academies to give up information about how many women they do and do not admit. They believe women are grossly underrepresented.
Christie Ileto speaks to the civil rights group that filed the suit.
The ACLU asked West Point, the Air Force and the Naval Academy back in November for that information. They say the Naval Academy was the only school that provided just some of the documents.
It's a culture where men outnumber women nearly three to one--a brass ceiling the ACLU wants to break in military colleges--like Maryland's Naval Academy.
ACLU attorney Areila Migdal spoke by Skype in New York. She helped file the suit against the D.O.D.
"It's very strange to see the military academies have such low numbers of women when you have a military in which women can now do or will be able to do just about every job," said Migdal.
Right now, women make up more than 20 percent of the academy's plebes.
Over the last couple of years, Naval Academy records show the rate at which they're admitting women is growing. But is that number enough?
The ACLU wants answers on how women are recruited, spotlighting what they call a "gender bias" and an environment "conducive to sexual harassment and assault."
"It creates an environment in which women have often spoken about being subject to bias. And of course, there's the sexual assault reporting."
In an exclusive WJZ interview, a Naval Academy grad highlights a culture of coverup--one the school is working to change.
"The Class of 2017 has been through four phases of sexual assault prevention and response training."
But the ACLU says more needs t be done to level the playing field.
"We're trying to find out more about the climate for women midshipmen and cadets at these schools."
Neither the Department of Defense nor the Naval Academy will comment on the pending litigation.
The Naval Academy Class of 2019 has the most women in academy history. Out of all five military branches, women make up less than a fifth of the officers.
