How to Stop Sexual Harassment in the U.S Army

How a Good Old Boy Network Perpetuates Sexual Harassment in the Army
Many people in the public sector, especially women and minority members, who are faced with obstacles to their career success blame the so-called “good old boy” network that prevents these types of outsiders from gaining access to certain occupations, disciplines or political positions. These public sector good old boy networks pale in comparison, though, to the male-dominating culture that exists in organizations such as the U.S. Army. Although significant progress has been made in encouraging women to enlist in the U.S. Army and even serve in combat roles in recent years, the lingering effects of the good old boy network in the U.S. Army together with the prevalence of sexual harassment and the high-profile reports of these occurrences have discouraged many women from pursuing a military career. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the relevant literature to explain the Army’s sexual harassment problem and to identify some possible solutions. Following this review, a summary of the research and important findings concerning sexual harassment in the U.S. Army are provided in the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
Overview of demographic composition of the U.S. Army today
To their credit, the top leaders of the U.S. Army have made it a high priority to diversify the service’s demographic composition in order to attract and retain the high quality individuals that are needed in a modern military including aggressive efforts to enlist more women. While the Army has taken a number of steps to facilitate this diversity, one of the most significant reforms was the elimination of the restriction on women serving in combat roles which many women regarded as an unfair barrier to career advancement. Despite these efforts, women are still underrepresented in the U.S. Army today, most especially at the top leadership levels (Demographics of the U.S. military, 2020). Of the six U.S. armed forces (i.e., Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force), the U.S. Army is the largest service with approximately 35% of the total personnel serving in the armed forces today (Demographics of the U.S. military, 2020). In addition, the percentage of black women in the U.S. Army is substantially higher than the corresponding percentage in the civilian workforce (Demographics of the U.S. military, 2020).
It is especially noteworthy that the percentage of women serving in the U.S. Army has experienced some ebbs and flows over the past half century, and these percentages may be directly linked to employment opportunities in the civilian workforce. For example, in 1973, women only accounted for about 2% of the enlisted forces and 8% of the officer corps, but those percentages have increased to 16% an19%, respectively, at present (Demographics of the U.S. military, 2020). Regardless of their percentage representation, female soldiers enjoy the same legal protections from sexual harassment as their male counterparts. Beside the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, female soldiers are also protected by and held accountable to the gender-neutral provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
As can be seen from the trends depicted in Figure 1 below, the percentage of female enlisted recruits in the U.S. Army steadily increased during the period from 1973 (when the draft ended) through the mid-1990s (during the Great Recession) when enlistments tapered off, but still remained steady through 2018.

Figure 1. Percentage of female enlisted recruits: 1976 – 2018
Source: Council on Foreign Relations (2020) at https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ demographics-us-military
Against this backdrop, it is clear that there are now far more opportunities for male and female soldiers to interact than in the past so it is not surprising that the incidence of sexual harassment in the U.S. Army has also experienced an increase over this same time period and these issues are discussed further below.
Sexual harassment in the U.S. Army
One of the harsh realities of life in the modern United States is the fact that nearly half of all Americans have either been perpetrators or victims of some type of sexual harassment in their workplace at some point in their lives (Sexual assault/sexual harassment in the military, 2020). Consequently, most Americans likely recognize blatant sexual harassment practices today, but sexual harassment can assume a number of different forms that are not so easily discerned. For instance, according to the legal definition provided by Black’s Law Dictionary (1990), sexual harassment includes any type of “sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature prohibited by Title VII [of the 1964 Civil Rights Act] and commonly by state statutes” (p.1375).
Given the vital importance of the U.S. Army mission to defend the country from foreign adversaries and the atmosphere of mutual trust that it demands, it seems reasonable to suggest that female soldiers want, deserve and expect the same legal protections against sexual harassment that are afforded their civilian counterparts, but the unique aspects of military service frequently make this especially problematic. For instance, citing a sustained increase in sexual harassment cases in the U.S. Army since 2010, Ferguson (2015) concludes that, “The problem of sexual harassment and assault is not just a perception, it is a reality” (p. 27). Although the U.S. Department of Defense’s Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military does not break down sexual harassment and sexual assault cases by service branch, its consolidated findings underscore the severity of the problem for all branches of the armed forces:
· There were 7,623 reports of sexual assault involving service members as either victims or the subjects of criminal investigations in fiscal year 2018; 6,053 of these reports were made by service members.
· 6,676 reports involved service member victims. Approximately 9 percent of the reports were for incidents that occurred before the service member entered into military service.
· 932 formal complaints of sexual harassment were received, processed, and investigated by the military services and the National Guard Bureau in fiscal year 2018 (Sexual assault/sexual harassment in the military, 2020).
A growing body of scholarship has also confirmed that both victims and perpetrators of sexual harassment can suffer a wide range of health and psychological problems. Therefore, taken together, it is clear that sexual harassment represents a real and present danger to the combat readiness of the U.S. Army today that demands viable solutions and these are discussed below.
Possible solutions to sexual harassment in the U.S. Army
As shown above, the zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment that is in place in the U.S. Army at present has not stopped or appreciably decreased the numbers of sexual harassment cases that have been reported in recent years. Moreover, it is also reasonable to posit that far more cases go unreported due to fears on the part of the victims that their careers might be jeopardized if they violate the code of silence the permeates the military. Against this backdrop, it is also clear that more aggressive efforts are required in order to make a substantive difference (Ferguson, 2015).
Some of the initiatives that have been used in the past that have demonstrated good results include education and training programs that are designed to increase awareness about the problem of sexual harassment and what forms it can assume (Ferguson, 2015). One of the more innovation solutions that has been implemented in recent years include a video hologram of a sexual assault survivor developed by the Army Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Academy that was designed to enhance awareness of sexual assault by male soldiers; in addition, the U.S. Army also took part in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Male Sexual Assault Working Group and collaborated on the development of the Military Services sexual harassment communications plan (Stewart, 2019).
Conclusion
The research showed that sexual harassment in the U.S. Army remains a significant problem today despite broad-based efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense and Army leaders to address this issue for more than a half century. Old habits and good old boy networks, though, die hard and the fact that service in the military has traditionally connoted a sense of machismo and masculinity only further exacerbates the challenges that are involved in eliminating sexual harassment from the U.S. Army. Finally, the research showed that there are some possible solutions available for this purpose, including maintaining the current zero-tolerance policy as well as raising awareness of the problem among soldiers as well as the severe consequences, including dishonorable discharge and imprisonment, that will result for violators.
References
Black’s law dictionary. (1990). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
Demographics of the U.S. military. (2020, July 12). Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military.
Ferguson, K. H. (2015, March/April). Can trust be restored? Military Review, 95(2), 26-30
Sexual assault/sexual harassment in the military. (2020). Psychological Health Center of Excellence. Retrieved from https://www.pdhealth.mil/clinical-guidance/sexual-assaultsexual-harassment.
Stewart, J. N. (2019, April 26). Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2018 annual report on sexual assault in the military. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense. Retrieved from https://www.sapr.mil/sites/default/files/DoD_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf.