Women in the Armed Forces, Veterans and Women At Sea in the United Kingdom are an invisible, marginalised and frequently ignored population within the community.
Salute Her UK is a strong voice advocating for a holistic, compassionate continuum of services, treatment and care for our women in the Armed Forces, Veterans, Women At Sea, families, care givers and care providers.
Salute Her UK works to improve the lives of UK women in the Armed Forces, Veterans and Women At Sea by addressing the distinct and intersectional needs of women. We highlight the unique and often unrecognised challenges facing women in the Armed Forces, Veterans and Women At Sea both during and after service. For example, issues regarding gender, age, social class, race, disability and sexual orientation.
Research Insights
In 2021, there were 16,740 women serving in the UK Armed Forces. This equates to approximately 11% of the serving population. Yet, UK women veterans remain a hidden, invisible and marginalised population.
Salute Her UK research has shown that many do not identify with the term ‘veteran’ and are often overlooked by the public and media when it comes to celebrating or recognising their service, contribution, or sacrifice.
In partnership with Baseline Research, the newly formed team trained a core group of women veterans in the principles of ethnographic research. Over the course of 12 months, 100 women were interviewed by their peers and all shared their lived experience before, during and after military service. The reports can be downloaded below. The findings were both alarming and shocking. Some 52% of the 100 women interviewed reported they had been sexually assaulted whist serving. This came as a surprise, as we surmised that any identified trauma would be connected to service-related experiences incurred during active service in places like Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Research in the USA also indicated that nearly 12% of women veterans experience PTSD — almost double the rate of their male counterparts. Women also have higher rates of depression and eating disorders. In 2018, the suicide rate for women veterans was almost twice that of women who did not serve (RAND Corporation).
Some 52% of the 100 women interviewed reported they had been sexually assaulted whist serving.
Research in the USA also indicated that nearly 12% of women veterans experience PTSD — almost double the rate of their male counterparts
Obstacles Women Face
Below are two info-graphs that highlight the numerous obstacles facing women veterans as they transition back to civilian life especially those with lived experience of in-service sexual assault and trauma.
8 out of 10 perpetrators are men and 98% perpetrators are known to the victim.
Parliamentary Questions
Throughout 2020 and well before the COVID-19 lockdown, the Women Veterans Task Force had been actively campaigning for change. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Patron, Sarah Atherton, former Conservative MP, who was the only female former regular member of the Armed Forces in the House of Commons. Sarah continues to support Salute Her UK.
Sarah set up a sub-group of the Defence Select Committee to take evidence from women serving in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The forum provides the opportunity for personnel to talk, with the assurance of anonymity, about their experiences of bullying, harassment and sexual abuse in the forces. It comes amid concerns that the conviction rate for rape in the military justice system is up to six times worse than in civilian courts. Women are also significantly overrepresented, compared with men, in the proportion of complaints submitted annually within the Armed Forces. Female personnel comprise 12 per cent of the military, but submitted 23 per cent of complaints in 2019.
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