Meet Marsha Evans:
Women Who Rock the World
My Job: Responsibilities

My Job

Lauren: What does a Rear Admiral do? What kind of responsibilities do you have?

Adm. Evans: In general, Rear Admirals in the Navy are part of making the Navy be a world-wide organization so that we can have our ships and planes and submarines and Navy men and women around the world serving this country.

In my particular role, I'm just like the president of a college or university. In the Navy, education is very important to us, and so many Navy men and women get to go to schools. We have people going to all kinds of training and college and high school courses. So I have the opportunity to be responsible for all of the graduate education in the Navy. So it's like being the president of a college.

Lauren: You were also in charge of the Navy's Committee on Military and Civilian Women. What was that like? Did you get to give advice or make changes for women in the Navy?

Adm. Evans: I sure did! We looked at the fact that, in 1992, there were still a lot of opportunities closed to women. What we worked on was how to open more opportunities. So we had to get a law changed. There was a law in existence that said Navy women could not be assigned to combat ships, and so we had to get the law changed. That was one of our big efforts.

Once the law was changed we had to do a plan to make sure that, as we integrated our ships that previously were all male, that we did it the right way. We trained people and got them ready for the jobs that they would be going to do.

It was very exciting, because today, virtually all jobs in the Navy are now open to women. There's just a couple that are closed. That's neat! That's a major step. A historic step. It has meant that women can fly planes on aircraft carriers. Women can serve in our newest, high-tech ships. That's why I'd like to be a young woman, starting over again to have some of these opportunities that haven't been open before.

Lauren: What's it like to be one of the highest ranking women in the Navy?

Adm. Evans: Well, it's fun. You have to enjoy the fact that you're on a team and maybe some people look up to you, but really, at the same time, you have a responsibility to the people on your team.

You have to do as good a job as you can, because they're depending on you. You have to set a good example... it's a little bit of a responsibility, but it's also very rewarding to think that maybe, because of your example, someone else is going to be really successful in their future. That's terrific. You want people to be successful. It's good for them, and it's also good for the Navy.

	Angela & Gina's Room |  Brigid & Kayla's Room | Christine & Erika's Room |  Lauren & Sarada's Room | Circle of Friends PenPal Club  | Site Map
	Since 1996, your space on the web : written and edited by girls and teens from all over the world. Media Kit   Feedback   Newsletter   Write FOR us   Contact Us