Women in the military: No-Women's Land

Improving the experience of women in the military

The additional pressure on women in the military, and their difficulties in transitioning to civilian life, are poorly understood and managed. Suicide rates for female veterans are 107 per cent higher than in the normal population, higher than for men who served.

Within the dominant masculine military culture women are both extremely visible and marginalised. Yet when they leave, they are largely invisible and face significant additional struggles with recognition as veterans, transition to civilian life, and health and social care system responses not tailored to women who served.

Our project, funded by The Hospital Research Foundation, aims to improve the overall experience for women in the military and reduce rates of suicide and distress by undertaking research that will better inform the management and support of women whilst in military service, and after.

As part of this project, we interviewed women veterans about how they managed their identity within the male military culture and recording negative gender-based experiences including discrimination, sexual harassment and military sexual trauma (MST). Women were also asked how the system met or failed their specific health and other needs during service, separation and transition. We examined the existing international evidence on group programs for women veterans, and also ran focus groups with women veterans to discover how the existing GEARS (Group Emotional and Relationship Skills) program could better be tailored to their needs. GEARS is an Australian adaptation of the US STAIR program, and the findings will be internationally shared.