Just in time for me to read an article about the Navy considering allowing women to serve on submarine vessels, I receive the IAVA’s newest report on women veterans and soldiers: Women Warriors: Supporting "She Who Has Born the Battle." If you don’t know about it already, hop over there and read it — you probably knew that women have a high risk of sexual harassment while in service, but there are several things I was surprised to learn.

One (unrelated line) stuck out to me in particular:

And unlike in the civilian world, female troops receive equal pay for equal service.

I snooped around to see if this is true, and apparently it is. Military pay is determined by rank and years of service, mostly. Here’s a handy pay estimator from the Department of Defense, in case you’re curious.

Despite the touting of equal compensation, however, women are underrepresented in higher ranks and have lower promotion rates and rates of extending their military careers. There are many reasons for this, starting with what we all know about women: they are usually taking care of somebody. According to the report, more than 40% of active-duty women have children, and they are increasingly single mothers. And over 30,000 single mothers have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan as of March, 2009. As a Navy brat, my family was supported by my dad’s service, but he was gone for most of my early childhood. What if my mother hadn’t been there? What would he have done? Where would I have gone?

Another point that struck me was about healthcare: active duty women are more likely to report that they do not get enough time or are not treated with the proper respect by their doctors. Now, I’ve never served in the military, but I’ve had TRICARE, and it’s pretty effing hard to get some proper medical attention on a military base. Granted, I was a dependent civilian, but I saw the system firsthand at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. And for a woman it’s quite frankly not that different from regular care. Not only is it hard to get appointments, but I’ve been sexually harassed in a doctor’s office by a male doctor WHILE only wearing a dressing gown and during a gynecology appointment. Talk about degrading. Although I now have the luxury of being able to choose a female doctor, I can’t imagine what it might be like on a military base in the middle of the desert. Just think: limited access to routine health care or medical supplies while deployed, no privacy, limited access to hygiene products or birth control and commanders who don’t understand or care about women’s healthcare needs OR allow female service members the time to take care of those needs. Awesome.

I started this piece talking about sexual harassment and assault, and, as expected, the rates are mindboggling. In 2008 there were almost 3,000 reports of sexual assault involving service members — up 9% from ’07 — and 163 reports in war zones. Half of all sexual assaults go unreported (not surprising at all — ever been to college?), yet nearly 1/3 of female service members say they have been assaulted or raped while serving. AND the majority of assailants are older and of higher rank. Say your ranking officer assaults you one night. Imagine waking up the next morning and serving alongside him — trusting him with your safety and your life — and being expected to perform your duties competently. Want a rape kit or Plan B? Good luck.

Only 8% of sexual assailants were court-martialed in ’07, yet almost 15% of female Iraq and Afghanistan veterans (who have gone to the VA for care) have screened positive for Military Sexual Trauma (MST). This combined with high rates of mental health injuries — many women have seen combat and suffer from PTSD and depression — make women more likely to seek treatment and more likely to do so via the VA. Yet the issue of how to change this typically male-dominated healthcare system is an important one. The rates of female veterans looking to the VA for healthcare are going up (44% of Iraq and Afghanistan vets seek care and remain in the system), yet women often don’t know what care they are eligible for or are made to feel unwelcome. And their accessibility is limited: in 2003, it was "made mandatory" to provide a minimum level of women’s health services, but only "where feasible." Care is fragmented, which means that some women are forced to travel more than 2 hours to receive routine care through this system. Routine care like, you know, a PAP or a mammogram.

Although female vets can expect to earn more in the civilian workforce than those women who have not served, they will still earn less than their male counterparts. And, to top it all off, rates of homeless veterans are going up. What can we do?  

Collectively, bold steps must be taken to improve healthcare for female troops and veterans — taking their unique health care needs into account — and expand existing support services and transitional resources. Female veterans should no longer have to choose between a homeless shelter and the streets at night. The military must also work aggressively to eliminate sexual assault and harassment from within its ranks, and widen career opportunities for women. This will make our military stronger and our country more secure.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the IAVA, just launched Week of the Women Warriors and their Women Warrior Center, and you can read his HuffPost piece on it here. Want to take action? Do what I did: sign the open letter encouraging Congress to help female veterans and:

•    Provide comprehensive VA health care and transitional resources for female veterans.

•    Aggressively address female veterans’ mental health injuries.

•    Improve counseling for veterans who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST).

•    Expand programs for homeless female veterans.

 It’s the least we can do.