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Starting Jan. 1, every woman in the Marines Corps was supposed to meet a new physical standard by performing three pullups. But that’s been put off.

The Marine Corps announced it quietly. There was no press conference; just a notice on its social media sites and an item on its own TV show, The Corps Report.

Lance Cpl. Ally Beiswanger explained the pullup test had been put off until sometime next year, to gather more data and “ensure all female Marines are given the best opportunity to succeed.”

So far women Marines are not succeeding. Fifty-five percent of female recruits tested at the end of boot camp were doing fewer than three pullups; only 1 percent of male recruits failed the test.

The three pullups is already the minimum required for all male Marines. Now the Marine Corps has postponed the plan, and that’s raising questions about whether women have the physical strength to handle ground combat, which they’ll be allowed to do beginning in 2016.