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- May 14, 1948: The Israeli Defense Force was founded. Several women transport pilots served in the 1948 war of independence and "Operation Kadesh" in 1956), but later the Air Force closed its ranks to female pilots. There is a draft of both men and women. Most women serve in non-combat positions, and are conscripted for only two years (instead of three for men). Israel remains the only country to conscript women. However, they were largely barred from combat until a landmark high court appeal in 1994, which forced the Air Force to accept women air cadets. In 2001, Israel's first female combat pilot received her wings. Until 2005, up to 83% of positions in the Israeli army were open to women, and today, they serve in combat positions in the artillery, frontier guards and on Navy ships. Combat duty is voluntary for women.
- 1950: Blanca Canales leads the Jayuya Uprising in Puerto Rico against the Federal government of the United States. After leading rebel forces, she was arrested for the murder of a police officer and the wounding of three others.
- 1951: Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services is established in the United States.
- 1951: The People's Republic of China begins recruiting female military pilots.
- 1953: Barbara O. Barnwell becomes the first female United States Marine to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism.
- 1953: Korean war ends. Women start serving in the South Korean military.
- 1958-1960: Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Pachen leads her clan in armed rebellion against the Chinese.
- 1961-1964: Phung Le Ly Hayslip fights for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
- 1964: Alice K. Kurashige becomes the first Japanese-American woman to be commissoned in the United States Marine Corps.
- 1965: A female United States Marine serves under hostile fire, making her the first female marine to do so.
- 1965: CWO3 Rose Franco becomes the first Puerto Rican woman to become a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- 1967: Barbara Dulinsky becomes the first female United States Marine to serve in a combat zone.
- August 31, 1967: Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider, alias Tania the Guerilla, communist revolutionary, is killed battling Bolivian soldiers.
- 1970's: Aminta Granera abandons her training as a nun in order to join the Sandistas and fight against Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
- 1970: Anna Mae Hays becomes the first woman in U.S. military to be promoted to general officer rank. Elizabeth P. Hoisington is promoted the same day.
- June 22, 1970: Dang Thuy Tram, a Vietnamese military doctor, is killed by United States forces while defending a hospital. Her wartime diaries are published in 2005.
- 1971: Taramon Bibi fights Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
- 1974: Nelida Cabigayan, a member of the Philippine's New People's Army which was fighting the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, surrenders. She is considered to be a folk hero in the Phillipenes.
- February 17, 1974: Zimbabwean politician Joyce Mujuru shoots down a helicopter with a machine gun during Zimbabwe's War of Liberation. She eventually takes the nom-du-guerre Teurai Ropa ("Spill Blood"), and then rose to become one of the first women commanders in Mugabe's ZANLA forces.
- 1976: The United States Air Force Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy become coeducational.
- 1978: Margaret A. Brewer becoms the first woman to reach the rank of general in the United States Marine Corps.
- 1979: Nora Astorga acts a guerilla fighter in the Nicaraguan Revolution.
- 1980: The first classes with women graduate from the United States Air Force Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy.
- 1980: Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front forms. Ana María becomes second in command.
- 1981: Michelle D. Johnson becomes the first woman to hold the position of Cadet Wing Commander at the United States Air Force Academy, and the first woman to hold the senior-ranking cadet position at any of the U.S. military academies.
- 1986-1987: Alice Auma leads a rebellion against Ugandan government forces.
- 1987: All trades are opened to women in the Canadian Forces, including the combat arms. However, women are still restricted from serving in submarines until 2002 when the Victoria Class submarines were acquired.
- January 19, 1989: Canadian Forces soldier Heather Erxleben becomes the first female to graduate from a Regular Force infantry trades training course.
- 1990s: Amazon feminism emerges.
- 1990: Bibi Ayesha becomes Afganistan's only female warlord.
- 1993: The United States Marine Corps opens pilot positions to women.
- January 1, 1994: Comandante Ramona, an officer of Zapatista Army of National Liberation, takes control of San Cristóbal de las Casas, a Mexican city.
- 1995: The Royal Norwegian Navy became the first navy in the world to appoint a female submarine captain.
- 1995: Major Sarah Deal becomes the first United States Marine Corps female aviator.
- 1997: Claudia Kennedy becomes the first woman in the United States Army to hold a three-star rank.
- 1998: The Australian Navy became the second nation to allow women to serve on combat submarines. Canada and Spain followed in permitting women to serve on military submarines.
- 1999: Joanne Mein makes her public debut. She is the first woman to fly in a military precision flying team.