Forgotten Women Veterans: Hidden Narratives From The UK Criminal Justice System 2023

Labour Friends of the Forces thanks Forward Assist and Salute Her UK for producing the Forgotten Women Veterans report, and Community for funding it. We also thank all the women veterans who gave their time to share their experiences with the research team at Salute Her UK; your contributions will help improve the lives of other women veterans across the UK. Conducting the research and analysis that went into this report has highlighted a shortage of existing UK specific research into the experiences of women veterans, particularly when compared to the research picture in North America. This is a gap we hope future projects will address. Notwithstanding these gaps, this report contains useful and important lessons for, among others, UK and devolved administrations, police forces and the criminal justice system. We hope it is widely read.  

Toby Dickinson, Co-Chair Labour Friends of the Forces

Jessie Owen, Director at The Office for Veterans’ Affairs Visits Forward Assist HQ

We were delighted to welcome Jessie Owen to the Forward Assist & Salute Her UK HQ, and talk about the services we offer to veterans accessing our services. After a tour of the Forward Assist Health & Wellbeing Hub in North Tyneside she travelled to Newcastle to meet with a group of women veterans accessing the support of Salute Her UK.

Women Veterans Are Invisible!

Check out CEO Tony Wright’s article on UK Women Veterans in the Wavell Rooms https://wavellroom.com/

On return to civilian life, women report that they feel that their service does not matter and their contribution and sacrifice is not recognised by society. These issues are further exacerbated for women from minority groups such as the BAME and LGBTQ+ communities. Many report feeling overlooked, abandoned and discriminated against when not wearing uniform. We feel that we all have a collective responsibility to embrace, understand and promote diversity, especially intersectionality and women veteran narratives.

Read the full article here: Women Veterans are Invisible » Wavell Room

Under The Radar ...

It is one of the strange anomalies of life that we know more about the moon than the lived experience of the UK’s women veterans as they transition from military service to civilian life. It is also remarkable, and a cause for concern, that the needs of women who served in our armed forces have been completely overlooked by parliamentarians, academics and service charities since the end of the second world war. Read More: https://fabians.org.uk/under-the-radar/

'Salute Her UK' Mentioned In Parliament by Sarah Atherton MP

On 3rd November in House of Commons, Patron Sarah Atherton MP kindly talked of the ground breaking work of Forward Assist and Salute Her UK. You can watch the clip here: https://twitter.com/i/status/1323959599863574529 We look forward to meeting up with Sarah in 2021. (Covid-19 Permitting )

WCMT Activate Award Winner Tony Wright: Supporting Women Veterans Into Civilian Life

Veterans champion Tony Wright has been given a grant from the Activate Fund to develop a gender specific charity and dedicated support service, for women veterans transitioning back to civilian life. The grant will allow him to champion the rights of women veterans by creating a dedicated women-only charity aiming to raise awareness of the long term impact caused by service-related trauma. He will also develop practical information and training materials and share these with other services and organisations. Finally, Tony is planning an international women veterans conference to showcase best practice from around the world.

"The Activate Fund will allow us to open up a new front in gender specific support and we look forward to recognising and celebrating the contribution of women service personnel, past and present" - Tony Wright     

Salute Her Transatlantic Research Trip

In October 2019, Salute Her Women Veteran’s Lead, Paula Edwards, visited the USA to find out about how the Americans care for their women veterans.

Salute Her Women Veteran's Ethnographic Research Project

A copy of the groundbreaking ‘No Mans Land’ research document can be downloaded at https://www.forward-assist.com/salute-her-research

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this research or access help with any of the issues raised please contact the Salute Her team via paula@forward-assist.com