Another Glass Ceiling is Breaking

Captain Margaret D. Klein is the U.S. Naval Academy's first female commandant. The Washington Post reports the new number two person at the Academy will focus on forging new leaders.

As she assumes the academy's No. 2 slot, Klein said she hopes to set an example not just for the women there but for male midshipmen as well.

"I can honestly say I never felt like a trailblazer," Klein said in an interview yesterday with reporters, adding: "If the female midshipmen relate to that, I think it's an excellent byproduct."

Naval Academy history

A quick Wikipedia search reveals the institution was founded as the Naval School in 1845 by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft. The campus was established at Annapolis on the grounds of the former U.S. Army post Fort Severn.

The Naval Academy first accepted women as Midshipmen in 1976, when Congress authorized the admission of women to all of the service academies. Klein graduated from the academy in 1981 with the second class to include women. Women compose about 19 percent of entering plebes, but it has not been a smooth process.

Controversy at the Adacemy

Following the 2003 US Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal and due to concern with sexual assault in the U.S. military the Department of Defense was required to establish a task force to investigate sexual harassment and assault at the United States military academies in the law funding the military for fiscal 2004. The report, issued August 25, 2005 showed that during 2004 50% of the women at Annapolis reported instances of sexual harassment while 99 incidents of sexual assault were reported. There had been an earlier incident in 1990 which involved male midshipmen chaining a female midshipman to a urinal after she threw a snowball after them and then taking pictures of her.

Hope for change

Klein was appointed by the academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, who came to the academy with a reputation as a leader in advancing the role of women in the military. As more women move into positions of leadership there is hope the culture at the Academy will change.