WHEREAS, Women have served in every major conflict since the American Revolution; and

WHEREAS, During the American Revolution, women served on the battlefield alongside the men, even dressing as young men and boys to fight; and

WHEREAS, More than 400 women fought in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War; and

WHEREAS, During World War I, about 35,000 women officially served as nurses and support staff in components such as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit (also known as the “Hello Girls”); and

WHEREAS, Following Pearl Harbor, Congress authorized new women’s components for each branch of the military and increased the number of active duty positions in the United States Army Nurse Corps and the Navy Nurse Corps; and

WHEREAS, Women in World War II served in many roles, including performing dangerous missions such as flying targets for anti-aircraft gunners; and

WHEREAS, More than 200,000 women served in World War II; and

WHEREAS, One hundred forty thousand women served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and performed critical jobs, such as military intelligence, cryptography, and parachute rigging; and

WHEREAS, In August 1943, the Women in the Air Force and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment merged into a single unit for all women pilots known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), who flew more than 60,000 miles in two years; and

WHEREAS, The 6888th Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight,” was formed as the first and only all-Black female WAC unit to be deployed overseas, and their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale”; and

WHEREAS, At the end of World War II, in 1945, about 280,000 of the approximately 12,000,000 people who remained in the United States Armed Forces were women; and

WHEREAS, President Harry S. Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (Public Law 80-625) into law on June 12, 1948, making women a permanent part of the United States Armed Forces, but the act continued to restrict women to 2 percent of the military population. That restriction was finally lifted in 1967 with the amendment of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which also opened senior officer ranks to women; and

WHEREAS, During the Korean conflict, women continued serving by volunteering for service in the WAC, Women in the Air Force (WAF), Women’s Reserve in the United States Navy, and Women Marines; and

WHEREAS, Around 22,000 American women were serving on active duty during the Korean conflict; and

WHEREAS, During the Vietnam War, women served in all branches of the military and held many positions, jobs, and pay grades; and

WHEREAS, Among the 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., are eight women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 11,000 women served in Vietnam and played a vital role in sustaining our national security; and

WHEREAS, In the 1970s, the transition of the United States Armed Forces to an all-volunteer service opened up more opportunities for women; and

WHEREAS, Women sued the United States Department of Defense in 1976 to be allowed to serve aboard Navy combat vessels; and

WHEREAS, In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of the contributions made by women in World War II were formally recognized through laws that granted these women with veteran status for their time in service. This opened doors for women to take advantage of programs, opportunities, and benefits from the federal government, state governments, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA), and other veteran service organizations; and

WHEREAS, In the 1980s and 1990s, women graduated from military service academies and flew combat missions for the first time; and

WHEREAS, The early 1990s was a historic time for women in the military, with over 40,000 women deploying in support of the Persian Gulf War, making women servicemembers more visible in the eyes of the public. In addition, in 1992, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 repealed combat exclusion laws that had prevented women from flying combat aircraft; and

WHEREAS, During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, women performed vital work on Female Engagement Teams; and

WHEREAS, One hundred sixty women gave their lives during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, June 12, 2023, is the 75th anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act; and

WHEREAS, Women are the fastest growing group in the veteran population, as they account for approximately 10 percent of the overall veteran population today, and it is projected that women will make up 18 percent of the veteran population by 2040; and

WHEREAS, Women who have served in the United States military are often referred to as “invisible veterans” because their service contributions went largely unrecognized by politicians, the media, academia, and the general public until the 1970s; and

WHEREAS, Though women have been officially serving in the military since 1901, they have not always been considered qualified for veteran status for the purpose of receiving benefits from the USDVA; and

WHEREAS, Even after women were granted veteran status, issues of access, exclusion, and improper management of their health care still remained; and

WHEREAS, In 2008, the USDVA’s Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group began a five-year plan to redesign the nation’s health care delivery system for women, and a fundamental component of this plan was to ensure that all women veterans had access to comprehensive primary care from skilled women’s health providers. There are 2,000,000 women veterans in the United States, the territories of the United States, and abroad according to the USDVA, and nearly 163,000 women veterans make California their home according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet); and

WHEREAS, California is home to nearly 163,000 women veterans and 32,000 servicewomen at 32 military installations; and

WHEREAS, We owe all military women a great debt of gratitude for their service to our nation; now, therefore, be it