Nominations to military academies on the rise for women

A new analysis shows that the percentage of female students nominated by members of Congress for admission to U.S. service academies has been rising, but that men are still put forward nearly three times as often as women.

A nomination from a federal lawmaker is required for most applicants to the Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy.

Some advocates say female enrollment remains low at those institutions considering how gender barriers have been falling across the armed services.

The Connecticut Veterans Legal Center did the analysis with the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School by reviewing data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests on nominations made by members of the current Congress.

From the 1994-1995 application cycle to the 2019-2020 cycle, it found 21% of their nominees overall have been women.