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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s blocking of promotions for high-ranking women in the military has contributed to the lowest percentage of such nominations for women in at least 25 years, according to a New York Times analysis. Eight of 201 candidates for high-ranking posts this year have been women, or 4 percent — less than half the average percentage of the past 10 years. More women could still be promoted this year. And the number of women nominated for promotion in any year is relatively small, so the percentages can fluctuate based on a few individual officers. In 2012, for example, the percentage of high-ranking nominations going to women also fell below 5 percent. But the proportion of female nominees would be higher in 2026 if not for Mr. Hegseth’s actions. He has blocked at least 40 high-ranking promotions from reaching the Senate in recent months — some for white men, but about half for women and people of color, The Times has reported. It’s a substantial drop from 2025, when women reached the highest percentage of nominees on record during Mr. Hegseth’s first year as defense secretary. Mr. Hegseth has not disclosed his reasons for blocking promotions, but he has argued that the Pentagon’s past diversity efforts have degraded the military. “For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniform leaders for the wrong reasons,” he said in a speech to military leaders last September. “Based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts.” These high-level promotions, however, are extremely competitive. For one- and two-star ranks, selection boards across branches conduct an in-depth review to vet a candidate’s experience and record, in addition to the needs of the military at the time. Some of the would-be nominees blocked by Mr. Hegseth had spoken publicly about the importance of diversity. The decline in women’s nominations to high-ranking jobs, including general and admiral, stands in contrast to nominations for lower-level posts, including captain and major, which number in the thousands each year. Roughly 23 percent of those have gone to women, higher than in any other year in the Times analysis. This reflects the increasingly central role that women have come to play across the force over the last decade