As per a parliamentary report, almost two-thirds of women in the armed forces have experienced bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination during their careers.
This manifests that the UK military is failing to protect its female recruits. This report on the treatment of women in the armed forces remains one of the most vital in its history.
The defence subcommittee said 62 per cent of the 4,106 veterans and current female personnel who gave testimony had either witnessed or received unacceptable behaviour.
There were shocking examples of accounts that included gang rape, sex for promotion or advancement, and trophies or contests to bag the women on camp or on ships.
The committee’s survey on women in the UK military is the first of its kind. This comes after the Ministry of Defence lifted the usual restrictions preventing service personnel from contributing to such inquiries.
Around one in 10 serving women gave testimony telling abominable stories of their torture and agony around the mess hall culture and sexualised behaviour.
In addition, 11 per cent of women revealed that they had experienced sexual harassment over the past 12 months – compared with less than 1 per cent of men.
Moreover, the parliamentary report advocates removing the chain of command from dealing with complaints of a sexual nature. It calls for replacing the chain of command with a new authority.
Not only this, it also urges the MoD to transfer cases of rape and sexual assault from the military justice system to the civilian court system.
The report also cites other issues including stories of armoured plates restricting movement, oversized helmets restricting vision, and servicewomen deliberately dehydrating themselves due to limited systems for female urination.
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