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. A third said they had been groped or touched in a way that made them feel uncomfortable, and two-thirds reported at least one form of sexual harassment or sexualised behaviour.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) survey found that 67% of female personnel experienced at least one form of sexual harassment or sexualised behaviour in the past 12 months, compared with 34% of men. Among women, 8% said they had been subjected to non-consensual sexual activity, 32% were touched in a way that made them uncomfortable, and 42% reported being stared or leered at.
Louise Sandher-Jones, the minister for people at the MoD, described the results as “wholly unacceptable” and said they would act as a “baseline to fully confront and address the root causes of this issue”. Specialist teams will be deployed at Catterick army training garrison and Plymouth naval base to tackle unacceptable sexual behaviours, with similar schemes planned for other locations including Akrotiri base in Cyprus.
The survey also revealed that only a minority of affected women made complaints: 12% formally, 20% informally, and 10% to the police. In 18% of cases, perpetrators were senior officers. Emma Norton, director of the Centre for Military Justice, said the findings “sadly reflect what all our female clients would say”.
The British military has faced a series of rape, assault and harassment scandals in recent years. A former army sergeant major was jailed in October for sexually assaulting 19-year-old soldier Jaysley Beck, who later killed herself after senior officers failed to properly investigate the attack.
The MoD aims to increase female new recruits to 30% by 2030 to help change culture, but experts doubt this is achievable. A report by Professor Anthony King concluded the army is “coded male” and needs reform to become a “hyper-professional force”. Air Chief Marshal Rich Knighton said it is necessary to “actively root out unacceptable behaviours”.
