The Nation : Navy Sets Limit on Women

The Navy, citing a ban on assigning women to warships, has decided to freeze the number of women on active duty at 46,796, or about 9% of the enlisted force, for the next five years. The ceiling on female enlisted strength, approved late last month by Adm. Carlisle A. H. Trost, chief of naval operations, will not stop the recruitment of women by the service, officials said. But it will reduce the number of female recruits sought by the Navy and scuttle earlier projections of a 10% increase in the level of women coming on active duty by fiscal 1991. It will not affect women joining as officers.