Women in the United States Coast Guard

There have been women in the United States Coast Guard since 1918, and women continue to serve in it today. All assignments in the Coast Guard are open to women.

World War I
In 1918, twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker of the Naval Coastal Defense Reserve became the first uniformed women to serve in the Coast Guard.

World War II
On November 23, 1942, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, nicknamed SPARS or SPARs, was created with the signing of Public Law 773 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Dorothy Stratton transferred from the Navy WAVES to serve as the Reserve's director. Dorothy Tuttle was the first woman to enlist in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve, and in all 11,868 enlisted women and 978 female officers served in it during World War II. After the war, the Coast Guard Women's Reserve was ended in 1947 but recreated in a smaller form in 1949.

Korean War era
Approximately 200 women who had been in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve reenlisted and served during the Korean War. They mostly served at the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Vietnam War
The Vietnam War gave the Coast Guard a surplus of qualified male applicants, and the Coast Guard did not make a systematic effort to attract women during that time.

Women in the Coast Guard since 1972
Frontiero v. Richardson,, was a landmark Supreme Court case which decided that benefits given by the military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex. In 1974 the Coast Guard Women's Reserve was ended and women became part of the regular Coast Guard. In 1976 the Coast Guard Academy first admitted women; in 1985 the Coast Guard Academy's top graduate was a woman for the first time. In 1977 the first Coast Guard women were assigned to sea duty as crew members aboard the Morgenthau and Gallatin. In 1978 the Coast Guard opened all assignments to women.

Women in the Coast Guard served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

Women in the Coast Guard also served in the Afghanistan War from 2001 until 2014, and in the Iraq War from 2003 until 2011.

In 2011 Sandra Stosz was chosen by the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, ADM Robert J. Papp to become the superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy. As such, she was the first woman to lead a United States military service academy.