No Women’s Land: Australian Women Veterans’ Experiences of the Culture of Military Service and Transition

Sharon Lawn (), Elaine Waddell, Louise Roberts, Pilar Rioseco, Tiffany Beks, Tiffany Sharp, Liz McNeill, David Everitt, Lee Bowes, Dylan Mordaunt, Amanda Tarrant, Miranda Van Hooff, Jonathan Lane and Ben Wadham
Additional contact information
Sharon Lawn: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Elaine Waddell: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Louise Roberts: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Pilar Rioseco: Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, VIC 3006, Australia
Tiffany Beks: Open Door Initiative, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Tiffany Sharp: Open Door Initiative, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Liz McNeill: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
David Everitt: Open Door Initiative, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Lee Bowes: Open Door Initiative, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Dylan Mordaunt: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Amanda Tarrant: Open Door Initiative, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
Miranda Van Hooff: Military and Services Health Australia (MESHA), Adelaide, SA 5011, Australia
Jonathan Lane: Department of Psychiatry, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7005, Australia
Ben Wadham: Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: Women’s experiences of military service and transition occur within a highly dominant masculinized culture. The vast majority of research on military veterans reflects men’s experiences and needs. Women veterans’ experiences, and therefore their transition support needs, are largely invisible. This study sought to understand the role and impact of gender in the context of the dominant masculinized culture on women veterans’ experiences of military service and transition to civilian life. In-depth qualitative interviews with 22 Australian women veterans elicited four themes: (1) Fitting in a managing identity with the military; (2) Gender-based challenges in conforming to a masculinized culture—proving worthiness, assimilation, and survival strategies within that culture; (3) Women are valued less than men—consequences for women veterans, including misogyny, sexual harassment and assault, and system failures to recognize women’s specific health needs and role as mothers; and (4) Separation and transition: being invisible as a woman veteran in the civilian world. Gendered military experiences can have long-term negative impacts on women veterans’ mental and physical health, relationships, and identity due to a pervasive masculinized culture in which they remain largely invisible. This can create significant gender-based barriers to services and support for women veterans during their service, and it can also impede their transition support needs.

Keywords: women; veterans; gender; transition; identity; culture; systems; military sexual trauma; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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