Sexual Harassment in the Military

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the Defense Manpower Data Center conducted sexual harassment surveys of active-duty military members in both 1988 and 1995. It looks at how since the release of the initial survey findings, considerable additional research has been conducted. It provides historical background information on the Department of Defense (DoD) sexual harassment survey efforts, including recent initiatives to standardize sexual harassment methods across DoD-wide and armed-services-specific surveys. It also highlights salient findings from the additional research reported in this special issue and identifies fertile areas for future research.

From the Paper:

"The use of a survey behavioral list enabled the USMSPB to calculate incidence rates on the percentage of federal workers who indicated experiencing one or more of the behaviors. As the survey was administered periodically, and the behavioral list remained essentially unchanged, the data were used over time for trend analysis. For example, 42% of women in the federal workforce, in both 1980 and 1987, reported experiencing one or more unwelcome sexual behaviors in the 24 months prior to filling out the survey. That figure rose slightly to 44% in 1994 (USMSPB, 1981, 1988, 1995). In 1988, the first DoD-wide survey results indicated that 64% of active-duty military women experienced one or more unwelcome sexual behaviors in the 12 months prior to filling out the survey (Martindale, 1990)."

More papers on Sexual Harassment in the Military:

• Essay # 28493 : "Rape in the Military"
• Persuasive Essay # 101836 : "Homosexuals in the Military"
• Research Proposal # 93089 : "Sexual Harassment"

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