Women in warfare (1945–1999)

* 1948: The Women's Armed Services Integration Act is passed, allowing women to serve directly in the United States military. Women in the Air Force (WAF) is formed.
* 1950: Blanca Canales leads the Jayuya Uprising in Puerto Rico against the Federal government of the United States. After leading rebel forces, she was arrested for the murder of a police officer and the wounding of three others.
* 1951: Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services is established in the United States.
* 1951: The People's Republic of China begins recruiting female military pilots.
* 1953: Barbara O. Barnwell becomes the first female United States Marine to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism.
* 1953: Korean war ends. Women start serving in the South Korean military. [citenews|title=S. Korea gets its 1st female fighter pilots|author=Kyodo News International, Inc., Gale Group|date= Sept 30, 2002|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2002_Sept_30/ai_93437896|accessdate=2008-06-25]
* 1955: Private Esther Arditi become the first female soldier to be awarded an IDF decoration, the Medal of Distinguished Service.
* 1958-1960: Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Pachen leads her clan in armed rebellion against the Chinese.
* 1961-1964: Phung Le Ly fights for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, an experience she chronicles in her memoir "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places".
* 1964: Alice K. Kurashige becomes the first Japanese-American woman to be commissoned in the United States Marine Corps.
* 1965: CWO3 Rose Franco becomes the first Puerto Rican woman to become a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
* 1967: Barbara Dulinsky becomes the first female United States Marine to serve in a combat zone.
* August 31, 1967: Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider, alias Tania the Guerilla, communist revolutionary, is killed battling Bolivian soldiers.
* 1967: President Johnson signs Public Law 90-130, lifting grade restrictions and strength limitations on women in the United States military.
* 1970s: Aminta Granera abandons her training as a nun in order to join the Sandistas and fight against Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
* 1970: Anna Mae Hays becomes the first woman in U.S. military to be promoted to general officer rank. Elizabeth P. Hoisington is promoted the same day.
* June 22, 1970: Dang Thuy Tram, a Vietnamese military doctor, is killed by United States forces while defending a hospital. Her wartime diaries are published in 2005.
* 1971: Taramon Bibi fights Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
* 1974: Lieutenant Sally D. Murphy, the first woman to qualify as an aviator in the Army, became the first woman U.S. Army aviator and U.S. Army helicopter pilot.
* 1974: Nelida Cabigayan, a member of the Philippine's New People's Army which was fighting the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, surrenders. She is considered to be a folk hero in the Philippines.
* February 17, 1974: Zimbabwean politician Joyce Mujuru shoots down a helicopter with a machine gun during the Rhodesian Bush War. She eventually takes the nom-du-guerre "Teurai Ropa" ("Spill Blood"), and then rose to become one of the first women commanders in Mugabe's ZANLA forces.
* 1976: The United States Air Force Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy become coeducational. USAF eliminates the WAF program; with women more fully integrated with men in the service it is unnecessary.
* 1978: Margaret A. Brewer becomes the first woman to reach the rank of general in the United States Marine Corps.
* 1979: Nora Astorga acts a guerilla fighter in the Nicaraguan Revolution.
* 1980: The first classes with women graduate from the United States Air Force Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy.
* 1980: Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front forms. Ana María becomes second in command.
* 1981: Michelle D. Johnson becomes the first woman to hold the position of Cadet Wing Commander at the United States Air Force Academy, and the first woman to hold the senior-ranking cadet position at any of the U.S. military academies.
* 1986-1987: Alice Auma leads a rebellion against Ugandan government forces.
* 1987: The Combat Exclusion Law of the United States banning women from warships is lifted. [cite news|title=Accomplished female chief set to retire
url=http://www.wvec.com/news/military/stories/wvec_military_051308_chief_retires.f94a1de8.html|work=Wvec.com, reported by Mike Gooding |date=2008-04-13 |accessdate=2008-04-14]
* 1987: All trades are opened to women in the Canadian Forces, including the combat arms. However, women are still restricted from serving in submarines until 2002 when the Victoria Class submarines were acquired.
* January 19, 1989: Canadian Forces soldier Heather Erxleben becomes the first female to graduate from a Regular Force infantry trades training course.
* Early 1990s: Jo Salter becomes the Royal Air Force's first female fighter pilot. [citenews|author=Smyth, Chris|title=Women on the front line|publisher=Times Online|date=June 18, 2008|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4164468.ece|accessdate=2008-06-25]
* 1990: Bibi Ayesha becomes Afganistan's only female warlord.
* January 1, 1994: Comandante Ramona, an officer of Zapatista Army of National Liberation, takes control of San Cristóbal de las Casas, a Mexican city.
* 1995: The Royal Norwegian Navy became the first navy in the world to appoint a female submarine captain.
* 1995: Major Sarah Deal becomes the first United States Marine Corps female aviator.
* 1997: Claudia Kennedy becomes the first woman in the United States Army to hold a three-star rank.
* October 18, 1997: The Women in Military Service for America Memorial officially opens to the public.
* 1998: The Australian Navy became the second nation to allow women to serve on combat submarines. Canada and Spain followed in permitting women to serve on military submarines.
* 1998 Brigadier Patricia Purves becomes the first British one-star general selected in open competition across the British Army. (The Women's Royal Army Corps, disbanded in 1992, had a 'tied' brigadier appointment.)
* January 1999: Indonesian Cut Syamsurniati successfully leads a group of women to negotiate with the military when her village is attacked. [cite news| first=Andrew |last=Marshall |title=Cut Syamsurniati: In Aceh, a woman warrior fights against fear|url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/heroes/cut_syamsurniati.html|work=TIME Magazine |date=2003-04-28 |accessdate=2008-01-28]
* 1999: Joanne Mein makes her public debut. She is the first woman to fly in a military precision flying team.

References

ee also

*Women in warfare (1918-1939)
*Women in warfare (2000-present)