One in Three Women in Air Force, Space Force Have Experienced Sexual Harassment – By Tara Copp (Government Executive) / Sept 10 2021
Inspector general investigation into gender, race disparities also found minorities, women far less likely to hold leadership posts.
One out of every three women in the Air Force or Space Force who responded to a wide-ranging inspector general investigation reported experiencing sexual harassment during their military career, according to a report released Thursday.
The report is the second Air Force deep dive into years’ worth of disciplinary, promotion, and retention data of its minority airmen and Guardians, as part of a servicewide look at race and gender inequality in its ranks. Conclusions are based on more than 100,000 survey responses from airmen and Guardians, and follow-up discussion sessions across the force.
“1 out of every 3 female military respondents and 1 out of every 4 female civilian respondents stated they experienced sexual harassment during their Air Force career,” the Air Force Inspector General found.
“For women, the most serious identified type of harassment was sexual jokes that make them feel uncomfortable, followed by repeated attempts to establish an unwanted sexual or romantic relationship and sexual comments about their appearance or body,” the report found. “Women reported the most common negative responses to a sexual harassment complaint was being treated worse or being blamed by coworkers (43%) and being encouraged to drop the issue (38%). Approximately 22% of women were satisfied with the complaint process overall.”
