An Exploration of Female Veterans' Perception of Military Service in the Context of a Male-Dominated Environment

An Exploration of Female Veterans’ Perception of Military Service in the Context of a Male-Dominated Environment

Background and Purpose:

Since the establishment of the military as an all-volunteer force, women have been increasingly enlisting among both enlisted ranks and commissioned officers.  Recently announced is the opening of more previously male-dominated roles to women.  To-date, limited research has investigated female military personnel’s perceived experience of military service in terms of their integration into a male-dominated workforce.  Research that has been conducted tends to focus on issues such as health service availability and utilization, the incidence and impact of sexual trauma, and behavioral health among female veterans, and tends to lack an overall view of how women perceive their military experience.  Thus, there is a need for achieving a broader understanding of female experiences in the military and in the consequent veteran sphere.  This research aims to gain an experiential understanding of female veterans’ perceptions of their military service and transition to the civilian world in terms of their experiences in a gendered-environment.

Methods:

Three focus groups were conducted to gain experiential data regarding female veterans’ experiences of gender dynamics within the military and how this impacted their military experiences.  The three focus groups consisted of 21 female veteran participants in total.  Participants ranged in age from 27-68 years old and came from various racial backgrounds including White, African American, and Latino. Focus groups consisted of veterans from all military branches, pre 9/11 and post 9/11 eras, enlisted ranks and commissioned officers, as well as those who had deployed to combat areas.  Semi-structured interview schedules were used and asked open-ended questions about: transition to civilian life, combat exposure, employment, housing, veteran support service needs, mental and physical health, sexual harassment, and military sexual assault.  All focus groups lasted approximately one hour, were recorded using an electronic recording device, and transcribed by the lead author.  Thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus groups by three researchers.         

Results:

Thematic analysis of three focus groups with female veterans identified four master themes, which best represent their experiences of working in a gendered environment.  These were: discrimination (eg. promotion and demotion based on gender), negotiating multiple identities (eg. being a soldier, woman, veteran), sexual harassment (eg. female safety and lack of consequences for perpetrators), and female veteran status (eg. not being acknowledged as a veteran by civilians).   Each master theme was comprised of their own nuanced subthemes, further characterizing women’s unique experiences in a male-dominated working environment.  

Conclusion:

Overall, the majority of female veterans expressed positive perceptions of their military experience.  However, this is in the context of having to navigate and negotiate the unique challenges female military personnel and veterans face, which were identified within the four master themes.  An understanding of females’ experience can help to shape and inform female veteran specific services and care, and resources available for those currently serving.