Army sex pests are threat to national security, says report

A CULTURE of sexual harassment in the Army will harm the country’s ability to protect itself from attack, a government report has warned.

It says the problem is so bad that it will affect the Armed Forces’ “operational effectiveness”.

According to the report, entitled “Speak Out”, around 90 per cent of women in the Army have been in situa- tions where colleagues told “sexual jokes or stories”. Almost 40 per cent of servicewomen received unwanted comments about their looks or sexuality in the past year, it adds.

The study polled 7,000 soldiers and found that more than one in 10 women had suffered a “particularly upsetting experience”.

It also warned that the reputational damage done to the Army by allegations of sexual harassment could affect national security.

“Sexual harassment is likely to break [the] trust and respect between colleagues, severely impacting on the operational effectiveness of the Army,” the report states. “The damage that sexual harassment can cause to an organisation’s reputation is also not to be underestimated. A poor reputation will impact on every area of the Army, from procurement, recruitment and talent management to negotiating power, international presence and cooperation and national security goals.”

As of July 2014, there were 15,780 women serving in the Armed Forces, about 10 per cent of the total.

The latest survey found that they were more likely to suffer “unwanted, targeted sexualised behaviours” than male colleagues. Junior soldiers were four times more likely than senior officers to experience sexual harassment.