Women in Armed Forces ‘feel unsafe’ after Grant Shapps comments

13 Feb 2024

Paula Edwards, the chief executive of Salute Her UK, a charity for female military personnel who have experienced sexual assault and rape, said: “The women who access Salute Her UK are fearful that the Defence Secretary’s crack down on wokeness will mean that the policies that have been put in place to protect them will cease to exist.

“The military will become an even more toxic and insidious place for women to serve.”

Ms Edwards called on the military to do more “to understand why young people are not joining the military”.

“I would argue that one of the deterrents to joining is maybe the large amounts of reported sexual assault and rape cases,” she said.