Nationwide, 81% of women in the U.S. report experiencing some form of harassment or assault in their lifetime (compared to 43% of men). A recent women Veterans study found that some women have reported being harassed while on VA grounds, a place where all Veterans deserve respectful and safe care.
These experiences send a negative message to the Veterans VA serves. For women Veterans, harassment in a health care setting can bring up earlier military sexual trauma. This is not acceptable.
What harassment looks like
For women Veterans, harassment can take many forms, including:
- Being called inappropriate names like “sweetheart” or “baby.”
- Enduring catcalling, staring or leering.
- Receiving intrusive questions such as, “Are you single?”
- Being told, “You don’t look like you belong here.”
- Getting unwanted comments about appearance or clothing.
- Experiencing invasive actions like being touched, followed or photographed without permission.
- Being repeatedly referred to as Mister when called for appointments.
These behaviors aren’t just uncomfortable, they can also remind the Veteran of past traumatic experiences. Some Veterans may avoid, miss or delay important health care appointments as a result.
What VA is doing and what you can do
VA is actively working to eliminate all forms of harassment in its facilities. Here’s how:
- Zero-tolerance policy: No form of harassment is acceptable. Ever.
- Ongoing education: Staff, patients and visitors are learning to identify and intervene in harassment through public messaging and training.
- Support systems: Veterans can report harassment anonymously and receive follow-up support, counseling and investigation.
If you see or experience harassment at a VA facility, report it. There are several ways you can report harassment, including the following:
- VA Police or security.
- A patient advocate.
- A Women Veterans Program Manager.
- Your health care provider, nurse or any VA staff member.
- The Women Veterans Call Center at 855-829-6636 (many of the call center staff are women Veterans themselves).
- VA customer service at 800-698-2411 (option 9) for 24/7 confidential support.
VA staff will take you seriously, ensure your safety and guide you through your options, whether you want to give your name or remain anonymous.
What happens when you make a report
When you report harassment, VA follows a structured, supportive process to ensure your safety, document the incident and take action. We inspect every report—even if you don’t have all the details. Here’s what you can expect:
- Ensure your safety: If you’ve been assaulted or feel unsafe, VA staff will act immediately to protect your physical and emotional well-being. They may contact VA security or local law enforcement if needed.
- Provide information: VA staff will listen to what happened and may ask for details such as your name or contact info (you can report anonymously), location and date/time of incident, description of what occurred, who was involved (if known), any witnesses and supporting materials (such as images).
- Conduct an inquiry: All reports are reviewed within one business day. A fair, thorough inquiry may include speaking with you and any witnesses, reviewing submitted materials and determining appropriate next steps.
- Take action: VA will take steps to stop the harassment, hold those responsible accountable and prevent future incidents. This may involve disciplinary action, training or other corrective measures.
- Receive ongoing support: You’ll receive updates once the inquiry is complete, along with information about counseling and mental health resources. VA staff will remain available to support you throughout the process.
To Women Veterans: VA has your back
Women Veterans belong at VA. We are committed to making sure you feel safe, comfortable and respected every time you seek care here. If someone makes you feel disrespected or unsafe, it’s not “just a comment” or “no big deal.” It’s harassment, and it’s not acceptable. We will support you, and we will take action.
To everyone who enters a VA facility
Most people don’t intend to harass others, but sometimes they witness it and don’t know what to do. Others may make a comment without thinking twice about how it could make someone else feel. VA encourages everyone—Veterans, staff, family members and visitors—to learn more about bystander intervention to learn how to safely and effectively intervene when harassment occurs. However, the best thing you can do to help is to report the incident. A single action can stop an incident, support a sister Veteran and set a new standard of respect.
Let’s continue building a VA culture that respects every Veteran’s service and ensures that no one is ever made to feel like they don’t belong. VA will take every report seriously, act swiftly to ensure safety, investigate thoroughly and provide follow-up support.
Visit the VA Report Harassment page to learn more or call, text or chat with the Women Veterans Call Center. To learn more about how VA is building a culture of respect for women Veterans, visit our Women’s Health Culture of Respect page.
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First off military sexual trauma is a system failure and what’s even worse. If you make it through the claims maze I have conducted over 500 searches every day on over 25 different search engines in AI military, sexual trauma resources and help and alcohol comes up with the same result VA cares about you MST coordinators and various residential programs that are not equipped to handle MST again please create a board of victims and staff from the VA you will find out what’s wrong with your programs and what needs to be fixed.
Women of the military deserve honor just as well as men. Men that dishonor women should be held accountable for the actions.
The Women who serviced in the service, should have respect. That is no way to treat a follow service person (just because she is female).
These servicemen disrespect females. They have done alot for the servicemen, saved their lifes, they should respect that. God Bless the women in our service.
I agree, whether your male or female when you give an oath, many of us are willing to sacrifice up to, including our lives many of us take this very serious and as a system failure, there is no place for this in the military. We are supposed to be one unit one military . It starts with highest level of command.
All those things are routine, and nothing is ever done. Worse, it took months to get gender appropriate care, during ehich time I was in agony. Quit putting out propaganda, and make real changes.
Perhaps considering there is no private groups for veterans issues like MST system failure Veteran Affairs care perhaps when we get sick and tired of this we start our own group. We start our own legislation there could be 50 disabled veterans in one room and the sad reality is most of us will never speak up. It’s just who we are but sometimes we don’t have a voice. Let’s create one.
My name is Glenn Whaley, I’m disabled veteran from the 60’s and in the last 34 years, have been publishing medical content about the violence, abuse against women and children to include sexual assault. Here is link to our medical content,… I have close to 100 medical books with over 4,000 medical images, and have been trying to help with prevention, especially with sexual assault, but very few potential customers of the VA or Government will raise their hands.
My purpose is to help the many VA Nurses and their many hospitals as well as others. Again, Here is my Website: with some of our medical images, I’m 84 years young, and it would be wonderful to meet with the VA and discuss possible work together. Thanks, Glenn Whaley, and my cell number is:
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Hi. I am not sure why you bring VA nurses into this thread. They are employees, and have a full menu of benefits plus their own organization to support them. Many do not even render patient care. Do you offer any help to women veteran patients?
Thank you for sharing this thoughtful overview of the initiative and for highlighting such a vital cause. It’s deeply inspiring to learn that Councilman Jeffrey Young, through his contributions during Women’s History Month, is amplifying the message that women veterans deserve nothing less than unwavering respect. See video on “Women Veterans are Leaders and Deserve Respect” March 2025
Particularly striking is the emphasis on how women veterans, often bearing the dual burdens of racial discrimination and gender bias, face unique challenges that demand both recognition and systemic change.
The integration of Intersectionality Theory into the study of veteran healthcare barriers and challenges illuminates how overlapping identities—such as race, gender, and veteran status—create compound disadvantages. By ensuring that the research outcomes offer an honest depiction of these experiences, your work not only validates the struggles that many face but also lays the foundation for actionable change. This kind of rigorous, context-aware analysis can be transformative when informing policy reforms and service improvements, ensuring that the voices of all women veterans are heard and acted upon.
Your initiative, as showcased on the National Alliance of Women Veterans website and through the recorded March event, serves as a poignant reminder that respect isn’t a privilege—it’s a right. Advocacy efforts like these help to reshape the narrative around veteran care, ensuring that every woman who has served is recognized as a leader and honored for her dedication and resilience.
Given the critical role of intersectional analysis in dismantling systemic barriers, it might be fruitful to explore further how these insights could drive broader changes in policy and practice. For example, discussing potential frameworks for integrating intersectionality into veteran health programs or exploring storytelling techniques that powerfully humanize these challenges could spark new ideas for advocacy and reform.
How do you envision the next steps in leveraging these research insights to influence policy or public perception? There’s a rich conversation to be had about how narratives—whether through legislative action, community engagement, or media—can further elevate the status and support for women veterans beyond traditional frameworks. I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on these opportunities and any additional challenges you hope to address in the future.
http://www.nawvinc.org
Health Staff hiring at the VA is designed to give the female veterans the most possible respect. The male veteran should be equally respected. Even in Urology, the VA tries not to hire men. When I make an appointment in urology for a painfufl and exposed procedure, I ask for male technicians and nurses, which they agree to. Upon my arrival it is an all female staff and I am told there are no men on staff. This is the VA Ambush. This has happened three times with prostate biopsy and once with cystoscope. The VA Ambush is actually a VA Policy. This demonstrates casual contemp for the male patient. This contemp turns into casual cruelty if the male patient asks for respect equal to what the women already have. The male veterans build and sustain the VA with our insurance, we should get equal health care and respect. It is a question of valueing the patient. The male patient should be valued equal to the female patien. The male veteran should be valued equal to the female veteran.
Hi, I am a woman veteran, and can tell you what you see is mostly PR. Sorry that you have to put up with similar treatment. I have a two track healthcare system, snd use many outside providers. If you get any Social Sevurity, you can get Medicare and Medicare supplement
I don’t need a video. I need my VA pharmacy to stop running out of tamoxifen. Which I take as a preventative. Nobody at the VA ever assessed my risk; an outside MD did, and teferred me to an oncologist. I need topical estrogen for vaginal atropy. That has not even been sent to the pharmacy after weeks.
I was harassed by another veteran in a VA clinic. He was an older veteran and obviously thought it was ok the way he was talking to me. It shook me up and I reported it to the provider I was there to see. She called station police who came and talked to me and took my report. I did not know the man’s name but gave them a description of him and who had called him in for his appointment and what time he was called in. They checked and found out who it was and spoke to him about it, which was all they could do. The whole process was very quick. I was commended for reporting it as that was helpful in putting a stop to his inappropriate behavior towards women. If any other woman is harassed at her VA regardless of whether it is a provider or another veteran, file a complaint. Women are real veterans and not second class people to be mistreated this way.
It took me 40 years to get into the VA . I kept being told women don’t quailify for VA benefits. I’m in the system now , but it was a struggle to get in. DId any other women vets have that issue? It was in Arizona they kept telling me. Just wondering.
It took a long time to get into the VA. It still is not adequate for me as a woman, so I mostly use Medicare.
I’m so sorry you went through this as a male who’s been through what you’ve been through little bit shorter time roughly 30+ years I wish there was more of us and more of an avenue for us to talk. Maybe we can find a solution