How Female Service Members Experience and Cope With Harassment in the U.S. Military

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Workplace Experiences

Abstract

Studies of women in the military suggest that there are high levels of harassment towards U.S. service women. Prior research finds that the prevalence of stereotypes not only exists but that it is an accepted and expected part of the female military experience. Through data that emerged from semi-structured in-depth interviews, this paper finds that instead of challenging stereotypes, female service members try to mitigate their saliency for their own individual experiences within the military. Additionally, prior research suggests that there are significant barriers to reporting harassment in the military. This study argues that not only are there administrative barriers to reporting, but that in cases of harassment women are intentionally blocked from accessing reporting procedures. Not only are women restricted from using the administrative system that could help them report and punish harassment they experience—they are often sanctioned through that system by higher ranking officers for attempting to use it. I argue that this constitutes an additional form of harassment—bureaucratic harassment. The women in this study report experiences with bureaucratic harassment and administrative intimidation that serve as additional barriers to reporting. This leaves many women to either cope with or develop creative strategies to manage the harassment they experience. At times, these strategies include women exiting the military all together. Not only is this an unsatisfying result for the individual service woman, but it contributes to the problem of few female leaders and high ranking officers in the U.S. Military.

Author

• Stephanie Bonnes, University of Colorado-Boulder