USA/Sunday Feature—
By Kathryn Carley, producer, Main News Service, bureau of Public News Service.
With the recent observance of Veterans Day, women veterans are calling for greater female representation within the military. They want more efforts to address the high rate of sexual assaults and lack of adequate mental health care.
Under the Trump administration, the Pentagon has removed several high-ranking female military officers and blocked the promotions of dozens more.
What is needed
Rebecca Cornell du Houx is executive director of the Sisters in Arms Center in Augusta, Maine. The center offers emergency shelter to women veterans and their children.
“It is really necessary that we create a culture where sexual assault, harassment isn’t permitted, and it goes back to ensuring that we have women in leadership positions,” Cornell du Houx asserted.
One in three active-duty service members reported incidents of unwanted sexual contact or sexual assault to the Department of War last year. Up from one in four in 2023. Cornell du Houx noted many assaults still go unreported. Military sexual trauma significantly increases the risk of suicide and homelessness for women veterans, who now make up 10% of the overall homeless veteran population.
The Sisters in Arms Center offers them a temporary safe haven, counseling, access to services, and help finding an affordable home. Cornell du Houx has been working with state lawmakers to ensure the center receives adequate funding but noted another sexual trauma counselor is needed. She added based on what women veterans have given to their country, they deserve greater support.
“Women have incredible determination and because they’ve had to climb the ladder and do everything to prove themselves over and over again that they have incredible endurance and strength,” Cornell du Houx emphasized.
She said that during her most recent overseas deployment, women service members often oversaw active military operations while arranging childcare back home. She stressed that women veterans at the Sisters in Arms Center are grateful for financial donations and for people who drop off essential living or cleaning supplies—small gestures that make a difference on their path to recovery.
