Yes, a woman can be a Navy SEAL. Since January 2016, every military occupation, including the SEALs, has been open to women under the same standards applied to men. No woman has yet completed the full SEAL qualification pipeline, but at least one has finished the officer screening phase, and the path is legally and procedurally open to any qualified candidate.
When the SEALs Opened to Women
In December 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that all military occupations and positions would open to women beginning in January 2016, with no exceptions. The announcement specifically named Navy SEALs alongside Army Rangers, Green Berets, Marine Corps infantry, and Air Force parajumpers. Carter’s directive told the services to update their integration plans within 30 days and stated that assignments would be based on ability, not gender. The policy also made clear that equal opportunity would not mean equal participation and that no quotas would be imposed.1U.S. Department of War. Carter Opens All Military Occupations, Positions to Women
One thing the 2016 change did not touch: Selective Service. Only males between 18 and 25 are required to register for the draft, even with combat roles now open to women.2Selective Service System. Who Must Register
The Same Standards, Applied Equally
There is no separate track, no adjusted benchmark, no relaxed timing for female candidates. A woman applying to the SEALs meets the identical baseline every male applicant meets.3U.S. Navy. Navy SEAL Careers
- U.S. citizenship, age 17 to 28 (waivers possible at 29 and 30 for strong candidates)
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Qualifying ASVAB line scores for the Special Warfare Operator rating
- Uncorrected vision of at least 20/40 in the best eye and 20/70 in the worst, correctable to 20/25
- Full medical clearance, with certain conditions permanently disqualifying4Department of Defense. Medical Conditions Disqualifying for Accession Into the Military
- Eligibility for a security clearance
The Physical Screening Test
Before anything else, candidates have to pass the Physical Screening Test. It runs in a fixed order with timed rest between events.5MyNavyHR. MILPERSMAN 1220-410 – SEA-AIR-LAND (SEAL) Physical Screening Testing Standards and Procedures
- 500-yard swim in 12:30 or faster (sidestroke or breaststroke)
- At least 50 push-ups in two minutes
- At least 50 curl-ups in two minutes
- At least 10 pull-ups, no time limit
- 1.5-mile run in 10:30 or faster
Those are the minimums to avoid being disqualified. Competitive scores that give a candidate a realistic shot at selection look more like a 10:30 swim, 79 push-ups, 79 curl-ups, 11 pull-ups, and a 10:20 run. Candidates who arrive at BUD/S at minimum fitness tend to wash out in the first two weeks.
How Far Women Have Gotten
As of late 2019, five women had been invited to SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, three entered, and one completed the full two-week screening process. That candidate was not selected for a SEAL contract. No woman has entered or completed BUD/S in any publicly confirmed report.1U.S. Department of War. Carter Opens All Military Occupations, Positions to Women
Context matters when reading those numbers. Even among men, roughly two-thirds to four-fifths of BUD/S candidates fail. The pool of women who have attempted the pipeline is very small, and any statistical conclusion is premature.
The Two Routes In
The Navy needs roughly ten enlisted SEALs for every officer, so the enlisted path has more slots but remains fiercely competitive. Enlisted candidates work with a Navy recruiter, take the ASVAB, complete medical processing, and start taking PSTs with a local SEAL mentor. From first recruiter contact to shipping out for boot camp can take several months.
Officers usually come through the Naval Academy, NROTC, or Officer Candidate School and must attend SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, a roughly three-week evaluation run by active-duty SEALs. Only about 50 to 70 officer slots open each year. Finishing SOAS does not guarantee a contract; a board of SEAL officers still has to select you based on PST scores, SOAS performance, and the overall application.6UT – Austin Naval Science. SEALs
The Training Pipeline
Full training runs well over a year of continuous work, with identical standards for every candidate.
Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School
After boot camp, candidates report to NSW Prep School in Great Lakes, Illinois, for about two months. The focus is building the physical base needed to survive BUD/S. Another PST is administered here, and candidates who fall short get dropped before reaching Coronado.
BUD/S
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training is a 24-week course in Coronado, California, split into three phases.7MyNavyHR. SEAL Community Management The first phase is physical conditioning and contains Hell Week: five and a half days on fewer than four total hours of sleep, spent running, swimming, paddling inflatable boats, carrying logs, doing surf passage in cold Pacific water, and rolling through mud and sand. Most candidates quit here. Anyone who wants out rings a brass bell three times and walks away.
The second phase covers combat diving. The third moves to land warfare: small-unit tactics, weapons, explosives, and reconnaissance. Average attrition since 1998 has been about 68 percent, and the Navy’s stated goal is an 80 percent attrition rate.
SEAL Qualification Training
Survivors of BUD/S move into 26 weeks of SQT, covering close-quarters combat, weapons proficiency, land navigation, maritime operations, and small-unit mission planning. Completing SQT earns the Navy SEAL Trident.7MyNavyHR. SEAL Community Management
What Happens If You Don’t Make It
Most people who enter BUD/S don’t finish, and how you leave shapes what comes next. Candidates exit through one of three doors: a voluntary drop on request, a performance-based removal, or a medical roll.8PMC (NCBI). Psychological and Physiological Changes during Basic, Underwater, Demolition/SEAL Training
A medical roll is the most forgiving. You heal, then join a later class and resume from where you left off. A drop on request or a performance removal ends your SEAL shot for that enlistment cycle. You stay in the Navy either way, but the service reassigns you to another rating based on fleet needs, and you usually don’t have much say in what that new job is. Worth thinking about before signing the contract.