Mabus: 1 in 4 Marine recruits should be women: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus wants more female Marines in the Corps, a goal the service's recruiting command say they were working toward before the call to action.
Mabus announced a plan to boost the sea service's enlisted female recruitment efforts to at least 25 percent of all accessions during a mid-May speech at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The move, he said, will help attract, recruit and retain women in communities in which they are underrepresented.
"[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 an auditorium of midshipmen.
Boosting female accessions to 25 percent would dramatically change the look of the Corps. Female Marines currently make up only about 7 percent of the Corps.
It's a challenge Marine Corps Recruiting Command has attempted to address in a variety of ways in recent years, said Master Sgt. Bryce Piper, a MCRC spokesman. One example is working with groups like the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Another is sending two million direct mail packages to female high school seniors, Piper said.
