ABSTRACT
Women have served in an active duty capacity in the U.S. Coast Guard for more than four decades, however they have not gained in numbers in the overall organization. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy has accepted women since 1976 and now boasts an environment of nearly 40% women in the cadet corps, yet women comprise only of 14.6 percent of the entire active duty. Data analysis shows that women leave the U.S. Coast Guard at a higher rate than men during their mid-career points. Because of this gap, a group of individuals formed an organization called the Coast Guard Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) in 2012. WLI advocates for equality between women and men in the U.S. Coast Guard through conversations with the executive leaders while maintaining a focus on professional development, mentoring and networking. Recent discussions highlighting the retention gap triggered a joint effort between WLI and the U.S. Coast Guard to study the issues. The women’s retention study and holistic analysis, conducted by RAND Corporation, identified the root causes of women attrition and provided recommendations as to where the U.S. Coast Guard should invest to improve retention. Some findings contradict previous beliefs and assumptions about women serving in the maritime environment. This presentation discusses the study and how the collaboration between the military organization and affinity group efforts are igniting cultural change to build diversity, increase women’s retention, and make the U.S. Coast Guard more inclusive.