I am very pleased to say that after a long wait the Defence Select Committee have now launched the sub-committee that Sarah Atherton MP will Chair called Women in the Armed Forces: From Recruitment to Civilian Life.
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In November 2020, Sarah did a piece for the Telegraph which announced that the Secretary of State for Defence has lifted the ban on serving personnel speaking to parliamentarians. You can read the article on Sarah's website. This is great news and means that the committee can hear from serving women without their identity being compromised. The MOD do not see any of the submissions and all information can be kept anonymised.
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Opportunities to take part:
Anyone can take part - men, women, family members, civil servants serving in defence and of course serving and veteran women. There is a survey now posted by the Defence Select Committee, which is for serving & veteran women only, but all other options are open to all. Some charities and individuals including myself have been invited to submit a collective report, with anonymised data and common themes.
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For all the women and a few men who have already contributed to my research, you can either contribute directly to the defence select committee or via my shared report. A few individuals did mention they have found the Defence Select Committee survey a little daunting - this has been fed back to the Inquiry team. I am including an option below for any who would prefer to submit via my website.