Best wishes for an informative journey as you research and write this piece.
As a former Navy leader who happens to have 2 X chromosomes, I would venture to say from my close observations of USNA and peripheral associations with the other service academies, and other pre-comm programs, women and men should want to attend the service academies for generally the same reasons: to serve, to challenge themselves, to gain professional skills, to gain experience that will be valuable for a lifetime, to exchange years of their lives for a quality college degree and a choice of interesting career paths, to enjoy the unique and deep bonds that bind classmates and graduates together. Women have attended in increasing numbers since those first brave souls in the late 70’s.
I never aspired to be a future female leader. All I wanted to be was a naval officer, a leader, a good shipmate and team player, and mostly someone who earned the respect of my people. The female thing I left out of the equation as irrelevant in most circumstances.