WIF0005

Note for readers: The Committee team has applied redactions to ensure the anonymity of the contributor, as indicated in this file. 

Written evidence submitted by [Information Redacted]

I think in the last year there has been a drive to raise awareness for female related issues like menopause, breast feeding etc and this has been positively welcomed across the board. Let’s hope it continues. There is a generational mindset change that needs to take place and unacceptable comments made by men still need to be addressed. This, I feel, may only change when the older generation within the armed forces moves on. This is also true for the senior ranks and a wider female representation at the higher level. Time will change the look of a male dominated hierarchy.

Within [Information Redacted] workplace there is also now a BDH weekly forum where personnel can go free of rank to ask for advice and guidance, this is a huge positive, but it’s rare that people use it. There is still a very true fear of formally reporting someone for unacceptable behaviour with multiple reasons behind this for example fear of repercussions from peers and being known as the person who complains about people, the length of time it takes for a complaint to be investigated, the process is not transparent and there is a lack of understanding of what happens in the process.

The introduction of wrap around childcare has been greatly received by many struggling families, with the cost of living on the increase, it has been a great bonus to staying in the military.

The uniform debacle continues on a wide scale, even with the publication and demonstration of the new RAF uniform that didn’t take into account females may like to wear skirts and shirts that were fitted rather than baggy and unprofessional in appearance. Can you imagine the impression it gave to female aviators who were asked what they thought of the potential new uniform and there were no skirts or dresses! 

Within the current uniform standards female’s have constantly expressed concern over the trousers they are issued being ill fitted and embarrassing to wear. The skirts are very unforgiving to the female form, a female’s body shape changes throughout the month, not to mention going through menopause. I think some thought should be given to allowing females the option of a dress, similar to the current maternity dress, which is far more forgiving and can be loosened to fit your tummy depending on who they are feeling/what their bodies are going through.

Something highlighted as an issue in the 2021 report which I still think is a huge thing now is a females career in the armed forces is limited by the decision to have a family. The implications of that are huge, not just in the promotion sense but in the after care once the service woman becomes a mother. The RAF should be able to support a mother’s desire not deploy but still be employed and not lose years of experience and knowledge just because she no longer want’s deploy. I wonder if the numbers of personnel who have applied for Flexible Service (FS) have been monitored to see if the majority are female? I also think in line with this that they shouldn’t have their pay impacted when they are applying for Restricted Separation (RS) as it’s not normally their choice more of a forced decision in order to provide stability. For all FS and RS have been a great move forward in providing options for personnel I wonder if it is being predominantly used by females as a stop gap before they inevitably PVR due to family circumstances. Retention of personnel is a huge issue for the RAF and short-sighted thinking of just recruit more will not fix long term knowledge gaps and experience. 

7 October 2022