Navy leaders want women to make up a quarter of the force within a decade.

They say reaching that "critical mass" will improve the Navy's talent base and aid in countering problems like workplace harassment, and they are laying out an slew of deals to entice more women to sign up and stay in. But a sea change is needed to come anywhere near this ambitious milestone, with women leaving at a much higher rate.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has now lent his support to what Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle Howard has been saying for the past few months — the Navy needs to needs to raise the number of women in the ranks, ensuring that a quarter of every ship, squadron or wardroom is women.

The 25 percent figure is important, Howard told Navy Times in March, because it is the tipping point for women to be fully accepted into the workforce and not feel isolated.

It's a road the Navy must go down, leaders say, if the service hopes to recruit the best people . Women constitute nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and outnumber men at U.S. universities .

Officials say the Navy would be selling itself short if it didn't expand opportunities for women to serve, which has been a hallmark of Mabus' six-year tenure.

"We need more women in the Navy and Marine Corps, not simply to have more women, but because a more diverse force is a stronger force," Mabus told Naval Academy midshipmen May 13. "We need educated officers, and women represent 57 percent of college graduates in America."

"In the fleet, this year, we are also increasing female enlisted accessions, emphasizing those ratings in which women are underrepresented."

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The retention battle for female sailors will be crucial. To that end, the service has spent a good deal of time and money trying to come up with solutions. They include expanding the Career Intermission Program, improving the availability of child care programs on base, and providing more flexibility for dual military couple assignments.

CIP will increase spots and eligibility. Child care hours will be extended by four hours, two in the morning and two in the evening, to help working parents. And women will be eligible for twice as much paid maternity leave, 12 weeks instead of six.

As of March 31, women comprised about 18 percent of the Navy's active-duty workforce — 18 percent in the enlisted ranks and 17 percent in the officer corps.

The greatest numbers of women are in the junior enlisted and officer ranks, which tend to drop off sharply by the E-5 and O-4 paygrades, according to official figures provided by Navy Personnel Command. If the brass hopes to have any success, they will need to keep more women in for careers.

For example, the force currently boasts 25 percent women among seamen recruits. That drops to around 20 percent through E-4, then 17 percent at E-5. Women represent 12 percent of chief petty officers and 7 percent of master chiefs .

Similarly, about 21 percent of O-1s and O-2s are women, but only 12 percent of Navy captains.

One success story: women account for many more admirals in 2015 than they did only a few years ago. They represent 12 percent of vice admirals, up from 3 percent only four years earlier.

150514-N-WF272-057 PEARL HARBOR (May 14, 2015) Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) Adm. Michelle J. Howard addresses Sailors based in Hawaii during an all-hands call (AHC) held at the Bloch Arena on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. During the AHC, Howard discussed gender integration, sexual assault and cyber security. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Diana Quinlan/Released)

Vice Chief of Naval OperationsAdm. Michelle Howard talks about the importance of bringing more women into the service during an all-hands call on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, May 14.

Photo Credit: MC2 Diana Quinlan/Navy

Women tend to concentrate in a handful of ratings and are vastly underrepresented in others, the figures show.

Female sailors are concentrated in the administrative and supply communities, at 31 percent and 25 percent, respectively. About 21 percent of surface operations and cyber, 19 percent of aviation and 17 percent of the surface engineering communities are women.

On the other hand, few women serve in the Seabees and even fewer as Navy divers or explosive ordnance disposal technicians, where they represent less than 1 percent.

Women are underrepresented at sea, too. As of May 8, women filled 16 percent of sea duty billets, and 22 percent of shore duty billets. They account for 9 percent of chiefs on sea duty .

Officials are hoping to boost the number of women at sea, noting there are fewer impediments for women to find sea duty billets than a few years ago. The situation will only get better as older ships like frigates and attack subs are decommissioned and new ships are built from the keel up to accommodate women.

"With the exception of [no] enlisted female berthing on [coastal patrol ships], [mine countermeasures ships] and [frigates], it was found that more women can be accommodated at sea because all new construction since 1994 has been completed to a gender-neutral standard, and most ships built prior to 1994 have had berthing modifications for women," said Cmdr. Renee Squier , head of enlisted plans and policy for the chief of naval personnel.

This means, she said, that more berthing on nearly all platforms can accommodate women as well as men — without needing alterations.

Raising the number of women in the force is a two-pronged battle being waged by recruiters and fleet Navy counselors — a rating that's nearly 46 percent women .

On the recruiting side, officials say they're making progress. In fiscal 2014, the Navy brought in 23 percent women and has upped that to 25 percent this year. Next fiscal year, it's slated to increase slightly.

The goal is to ramp up officer and enlisted accessions to reach a goal of somewhere between 25 and 30 percent women by fiscal 2025.

As part of the push, recruiters are concentrating on sending more of these female recruits into women in what, in the past, have been called non-traditional ratings, an effort that personnel officials say is key to increasing overall female representation.

"The initial increases were primarily taken in 24 of the 47 sea-centric and sea-intensive ratings, based on female manning, recruitability, and lifecycle retainability," Squier said. "A Female Rating Accessions Strategy Working Group has been stood up to examine additional factors such as: rating desirability, civilian counterpart data, retention, and attrition data on all 84 of the Navy ratings to further examine which ratings would be favorable for greater female numbers."

In the four ratings initially targeted, the numbers of women have climbed steadily. They now make up 23 percent of aviation ordnancemen, 24 percent of operations specialists and 19 percent of gas turbine systems technicians (mechanical) .

The toughest battle for the Navy has been in retaining women beyond their first and second enlistments. Another challenge has come in the chiefs ranks, officials say. Female chiefs retire right at 20 years at a higher rate than their male counterparts.

Simply raising the number of women in the ranks could convince more women to stay, officials say.

"While a concrete critical mass percentage has not been determined," Squier said, "studies have shown roughly 25 to 30 percent female representation may positively influence retention."

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