Through the Decades 1970s

The fight for equality continued in the 1970's as women all across the country banded together, creating organizations like the National Organization for Women, to fight for the respect and rights they thought they previously earned with the passage of the 19th Amendment. Women would no longer be forced to be domesticated. Gone were the days of ASKING for a more prominent role in the male dominated society; they were gonna take it. And take they did. Women began forcing themselves into uncharted territory, including the Marine Corps.

This is the Marine Corps through the Decades.

The 70's were a time of firsts for the women in all facets of society. Katherine Graham became the first female Fortune 500 CEO when she took the helm of the Washington Post. Barbara McClintock became the first woman to win a solo Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine for the discovery of Mobile Genetic Elements. Actress Shirley Temple became both the first female Chief of National and International Diplomatic Protocol. While Women were making strides in the civilian world, female Marines were shattering the glass ceiling and taking on military roles previously unavailable to them. Margaret Brewer became the first female to be promoted to brigadier general. Gunnery Sgt. Mary Vaughn became the first African American to become a Warrant Officer. Women like Catherine A. Kocourek-Genovese proved that women belonged in the Corps, when she became the first female to earn a sharpshooter badge. While wearing the badge was unauthorized in uniform, Kocourek-Genovese took so much pride in her accomplishment that she hid the badge under her tie. Bucking the statues quo would passed down to female Marines for generations to come.