Sexual Harassment in the Army: Impact on Military Readiness
This paper examines the impact of sexual harassment on Army operations and military readiness. Drawing on Department of Defense survey data, Army policy, and academic research, it argues that sexual harassment undermines unit cohesion and mission effectiveness. The paper outlines a three-pronged prevention approach: strong leadership engagement to enforce the Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) policy, application of a social-ecological model to identify and reduce risk factors, and construction of a diversified prevention infrastructure encompassing policy, training, and human resources. Together, these elements are presented as essential to creating a culture of dignity and respect within the armed forces.
- Introduction: Sexual Harassment and Military Readiness: Military diversity and sexual harassment as operational risk
- Prevalence of Sexual Harassment and the Role of Leadership: DoD statistics and leadership enforcement of SHARP policy
- Using a Social-Ecological Model to Reduce Risk: Social-ecological model to identify harassment risk factors
- Building a Prevention Infrastructure: Policy, training, and HR systems to sustain prevention
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What makes this paper effective
- Uses concrete DoD survey statistics (e.g., 24% of women reporting harassment) to ground policy arguments in empirical evidence rather than assertion alone.
- Follows a logical three-part structure — leadership, risk identification, and infrastructure — that builds each recommendation on the previous one, creating a cumulative argument.
- Connects individual-level harm (psychological impact on a victim) directly to operational consequences (mission failure, loss of life), making the stakes vivid and relevant to the military context.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied policy argumentation: it anchors recommendations in an established theoretical framework (the social-ecological model) while tying each recommendation back to a specific, named policy (the Army SHARP policy). This technique — theory → evidence → policy recommendation — is characteristic of effective public administration and military studies writing at the undergraduate level.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with context on military diversity and frames sexual harassment as an operational risk. It then moves through three substantive paragraphs, each addressing one layer of a prevention strategy: (1) leadership enforcement, (2) risk-factor identification via a social-ecological model, and (3) a comprehensive prevention infrastructure. A brief references section closes the paper. The argument is linear and cumulative, with each section building directly on the last.
Introduction: Sexual Harassment and Military Readiness
As an American organization, the armed forces face many of the same distinct challenges that are prevalent within society overall. Issues related to leadership diversity, wages, benefits, and sexual harassment are all common within the military. The United States Armed Forces is a collection of distinguished and honorable personnel whose members vary in socioeconomic background, race, religion, and culture. It is this diversity that provides a competitive advantage for the country in defending its territory. The ability to leverage a diverse skill set allows innovative ideas to rise to the forefront — a quality that is particularly important as cybersecurity, chemical, and nuclear threats become more prevalent.
Although the military has expanded its diversity initiatives in recent years, a large proportion of its personnel are men. According to the Defense Department, women now make up 20 percent of the Air Force, 19 percent of the Navy, 15 percent of the Army, and almost 9 percent of the Marine Corps. As a result, a male-dominated environment could potentially lead to sexual harassment, both intentional and unintentional. As more women enter the armed forces, it is therefore imperative to properly train all individuals on the implications of sexual harassment.
A unit must act in a cohesive fashion. The military is highly coordinated and therefore requires the full attention of all members involved. All individuals must be mindful of how sexual harassment can impact the mental well-being of its victims. This matters because sexual harassment can directly and indirectly affect military readiness. A victim of sexual harassment may, for example, be unable to perform a mission-critical task due to prior incidents — an outcome that can ultimately compromise mission success and, at the extreme, cost lives. A properly developed training protocol, prevention plan, and remediation plan is therefore needed to mitigate the negative consequences of sexual harassment in the military (Department of the Army, 2012).
Prevalence of Sexual Harassment and the Role of Leadership
Sexual harassment and sexual assault are violations of the military's core values and must be punished accordingly. Unfortunately, sexual harassment has occurred all too frequently within the military. According to the 2018 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members, roughly 6.0% of men and over 24% of women reported experiencing incidents of sexual harassment across the Department of Defense in the preceding 12 months. This is a striking figure: nearly one in four women has experienced some form of harassment.
To create an environment of dignity and respect that supports the United States Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) policy, leaders must first champion it. Without the approval and active enforcement of leaders, the policy risks being ignored by subordinates. Leaders must demonstrate their commitment to the policy by thoroughly learning and understanding it — including what constitutes sexual harassment and what reporting mechanisms are available (Sadler, 2018). Once a report is made, leaders must act swiftly with appropriate disciplinary measures. All subordinates must understand that leaders within the organization take the policy seriously and will enforce it to the best of their ability. Leaders must be the force that initiates a cultural shift by clearly defining sexual harassment, communicating it openly and effectively, and modeling appropriate behavior (Malamuth, 1996).
References
Department of the Army. (2012). Army leadership (ADP 6-22). Retrieved from https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/adp6_22.pdf
Malamuth, N. M., Heavey, C. L., & Linz, D. (1996). The confluence model of sexual aggression: Combining hostile masculinity and impersonal sex. Sex Offender Treatment, 13–37.
Sadler, A. G., et al. (2018). The impact of leadership on sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military. Military Psychology, 30(3), 252–263.
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