Nearly one in 10 women serving in the British military have been subjected to an assault or other non-consensual sexual activity in the past year, according to the first official survey of sexual harassment across the armed forces.<\/p>\n
A third said they had been groped or touched in a way that made them feel uncomfortable, according to<\/a> the Ministry of Defence, and two-thirds reported at least one form of sexual harassment or sexualised behaviour \u2013 proportions significantly higher than among their male counterparts across the army, navy and air force.<\/p>\n Louise Sandher-Jones, the minister for people at the Ministry of Defence, said the results were \u201cwholly unacceptable\u201d and would act as a \u201cbaseline to fully confront and address the root causes of this issue\u201d.<\/p>\n Specialist teams will now be deployed at the army training garrison in Catterick, North Yorkshire, and at the Plymouth naval base to tackle unacceptable sexual behaviours. Similar intervention schemes are planned for other military locations, including the Akrotiri base in Cyprus, from next year.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s military has been hit by a string of rape, assault and sexual harassment scandals in recent years, including in the Royal Navy\u2019s submarine service, the RAF\u2019s Red Arrows display team and in multiple units of the British army<\/a>.<\/p>\n A former army sergeant major was sentenced to six months<\/a> in jail in October for sexually assaulting Jaysley Beck, a 19-year-old soldier, in July 2021. Beck killed herself after senior officers failed to properly investigate the attack.<\/p>\n Across the regular forces, 67% of women serving reported experiencing at least one form of sexual harassment or sexualised behaviour in the past 12 months. That compared with 34% of men, with gaps in all 19 sub-categories surveyed.<\/p>\n In all, 8% of female personnel said they had been \u201csubjected to sexual activity which [they] did not consent to\u201d in the past year, compared with 1% of men. That could include rape or serious sexual assault, but the MoD said the intention of the question was to capture the experience or perception rather than record criminality.<\/p>\n A total of 32% of women were \u201ctouched in a way that made [them] feel uncomfortable\u201d, compared with 5% of their male counterparts. Among female personnel, 21% said they had been sent unprompted sexual messages, compared with 6% of men, while 42% reported they had been \u201cstared or leered at\u201d, against 9% of men.<\/p>\n Emma Norton, the director of the Centre for Military<\/a> Justice, said the research \u201csadly reflects what all our female clients would say, which is that they are experiencing wholly disproportionate levels of sexual harassment\u201d.<\/p>\n The lawyer also highlighted that \u201cdespite experiencing all these behaviours, hardly any women actually reported or formally complained about their situation\u201d, citing some of the survey evidence<\/a> that accompanied the MoD report.<\/p>\n A minority of female personnel who said they had been affected made some sort of complaint: 12% said they had done so formally, while 20% had used an informal route. Ten per cent said they had gone to the police.<\/p>\n In 18% of cases the perpetrators of sexual harassment against women were \u201csenior officers\u201d, the survey found, compared with 13% of those who harassed men. Around half of perpetrators \u2013 52% for women and 50% for men \u2013 came from the junior ranks, the research concluded.<\/p>\n There are 16,300 women serving across the armed forces, 11.9% of the total force. The Ministry of Defence has said it has an ambition to increase the level of female new recruits to 30% by the end of the decade to help stamp out sexual harassment and illegal behaviour, but few experts believe that is achievable.<\/p>\n