In America, The Department of Veterans Affairs has pledged to divert more resources towards women veterans. Currently some service clinics do not even have separate toilets for women and men, due to the low number of women represented in the forces.
Women currently make up 8% of America veterans, of which about half enrol for VA care. The percentage of women veterans seeking health care jumped 20% in 2009 as a result of the economic crisis. These women have distinct medical needs from their male colleagues including treatment for high rates of sexual assault.
$217 million has been pledged for gender-specific programmes in the next fiscal year, a 21% increase from 2009.This change in focus will be increasingly relevant as women are meant to make up 16% of all veterans within a decade.
Read on in the Washington Post.
