[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF WOMEN VETERANS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 10, 2019
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Serial No. 116-24
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via http://govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-853 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
MARK TAKANO, California, Chairman
JULIA BROWNLEY, California DAVID P. ROE, Tenessee, Ranking
KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York Member
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania, Vice- GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida
Chairman AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN,
MIKE LEVIN, California American Samoa
MAX ROSE, New York MIKE BOST, Illinois
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire NEAL P. DUNN, Florida
ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
SUSIE LEE, Nevada JIM BANKS, Indiana
JOE CUNNINGHAM, South Carolina ANDY BARR, Kentucky
GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR., DANIEL MEUSER, Pennsylvania
California STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota CHIP ROY, Texas
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida
Northern Mariana Islands
COLIN Z. ALLRED, Texas
LAUREN UNDERWOOD, Illinois
ANTHONY BRINDISI, New York
Ray Kelley, Democratic Staff Director
Jon Towers, Republican Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
MIKE LEVIN, California, Chairman
KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida Ranking
ANTHONY BRINDISI, New York Member
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia JIM BANKS, Indiana
SUSIE LEE, Nevada ANDY BARR, Kentucky
JOE CUNNINGHAM, South Carolina DANIEL MEUSER, Pennsylvania
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the
official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare
both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process
of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the
current publication process and should diminish as the process is
further refined.
C O N T E N T S
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JULY 10, 2019
Page
ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF WOMEN VETERANS............................ 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Honorable Mike Levin, Chairman................................... 1
Honorable Gus M. Bilirakis, Ranking Member....................... 2
Honorable Julia Brownley......................................... 16
Honorable Jack Bergman........................................... 17
Honorable Kathleen M. Rice....................................... 18
Honorable Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen.......................... 20
Honorable Anthony Brindisi....................................... 22
Honorable Daniel Meuser.......................................... 24
Honorable Susie Lee.............................................. 25
Honorable Andy Barr.............................................. 27
WITNESSES
Ms. Lauren Augustine, Vice President of Government Affairs,
Student Veterans of America.................................... 4
Ms. Maureen Casey, J.D., Chief Operating Officer, Institute for
Veterans and Military Families................................. 6
Ms. Jas Boothe, Founder, Final Salute, Inc....................... 8
Ms. Christine Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer, Service to
School......................................................... 9
Ms. Jodie Grenier, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for Women
Warriors....................................................... 11
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements of Witness
Ms. Lauren Augustine Prepared Statement.......................... 33
Ms. Maureen Casey Prepared Statement............................. 42
Ms. Jas Boothe Prepared Statement................................ 55
Ms. Christine Schwartz Prepared Statement........................ 65
Ms. Jodie Grenier Prepared Statement............................. 66
Submission For The Record
Ms. Joy J. Ilem, National Legislative Director, Disabled American
Veterans (DAV)................................................. 73
ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF WOMEN VETERANS
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Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in
room 210, House Visitors Center, Hon. Mike Levin(chairman of
the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Levin, Rice, Brindisi, Pappas,
Lee, Cunningham, Bilirakis, Bergman, Banks, Barr, and Meuser.
Also present: Representative Brownley and Representative
Radewagen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MIKE LEVIN, CHAIRMAN
Mr. Levin. I call this hearing to order.
I request unanimous consent that the chair is authorized to
declare a recess at any time. Hearing no objection, I want to
welcome everyone to today's joint hearing with the Economic
Opportunity Subcommittee and Women Veterans Task Force on the
``Economic Well-Being of Women Veterans.''
With that said, I would like to request unanimous consent
that Congresswoman Brownley, as well as Congresswoman
Radewagen, join us at the dais for this hearing. Hearing no
objection, today, we will examine the State of women veterans
in the economy and how Congress can continue to support these
brave women.
As always, I am pleased by the bipartisan work of the
Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on this issue and on many
issues, and I thank my friend, the ranking member, Mr.
Bilirakis for that.
I also would like to thank the staff for helping us put
together this hearing and these witnesses together in a
bipartisan fashion. I wish all of Congress operated in a
similar bipartisan fashion.
I am excited for the five panelists we have joining us. And
I would like to note, for procedure's sake, that in accordance
with committee rules the committee minority was offered the
opportunity to invite a witness.
For far too long; Congress and the Department of Veterans
Affairs have overlooked the unique barriers that women veterans
face after leaving military service. The Women Veterans Task
Force, chaired by Congresswoman Julia Brownley, seeks to
increase the visibility of the 2 million women who have served
in the U.S. military, and promote inclusivity and equitable
access to comprehensive health care, benefits, education, and
economic opportunity and other Federal resources, particularly
at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Thanks to the Women Veterans Task Force and several pieces
of legislation introduced by our members, Congress is starting
to address hurdles that impede the economic mobility of women
veterans, but we still have much longer to go.
Women veterans comprise the fastest-growing demographic in
the veterans community. With an average of 18,000 new women
veterans per year, women veterans will make up over 10 percent
of the veterans population by 2020 and close to 15 percent by
2035. We can and, in fact, we must start prioritizing the brave
women of our Nation, which is why we are here today.
Congress must have a better understanding of the barriers
that women veterans face in accessing their VA benefits,
enrolling in institutions of higher learning, and securing
meaningful employment with a livable wage.
It is also important that we recognize the many ways in
which women veterans thrive. We know that women veterans have
been over-represented in the otherwise under-utilized
Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Program; we know that a
higher percentage of women veterans have Bachelor's degrees
when compared to non-veteran women; and we know that the wage
gap decreases if a woman is a veteran, especially if she is a
minority veteran.
Most economic indicators find that women veterans,
particularly younger women veterans, are outperforming some
male veterans and many women civilians, but somehow women
veterans are also the fastest-growing population of homeless
veterans. The population of homeless women veterans has more
than doubled since 2006. Think of that, more than doubled since
2006; unacceptable. It is obvious that the numbers do not paint
a comprehensive picture of women veterans, and it is also
painfully obvious that Congress can and must do more. That is
why our work today here is so important.
With that, I would like to recognize my friend Ranking
Member Bilirakis for 5 minutes for any opening remarks that he
may wish to make.
OPENING STATEMENT OF GUS BILIRAKIS, RANKING MEMBER
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it
very much.
Mr. Chairman, before I begin my question, I would like to
clock--well, I just wanted a parliamentary inquiry as to what--
as far as the witnesses are concerned, if you can give me a
little clarification. You pointed out that the minority did not
have a witness today. That is something new and I wanted to get
some clarification on that, because obviously, in the future,
we plan to bring in minority witnesses.
Mr. Levin. Well, Mr. Ranking Member, we certainly intend to
work on a bipartisan basis, as we have and will continue to,
and I would suggest that after the hearing today our respective
staffs can get together and ensure that we always have fair
representation from the witnesses that we both feel best
represent the topics that we choose to cover in these hearings.
So----
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
Mr. Levin.--we absolutely want to work with you.
Mr. Bilirakis. And, you know, so far, and I expect this to
continue, we have had bipartisan hearings and these witnesses
in most cases are speaking for the veteran, whether, you know,
minority or majority. I appreciate that very much. Thank you
for working with me, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank all of you for joining us today in the
subcommittee hearing. Today's hearing topic is of great
importance. Women make up 10 percent of America's veteran
population and are the fastest--as the chairman says, the
fastest-growing segment of the veteran population; we must do
everything we can to ensure that they are being given the same
opportunities to succeed and prosper in civilian life as their
male counterparts.
It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of women veterans,
especially single mothers with families, who fall into extreme
poverty and homelessness after separating from the military.
Again, as the chairman said, this is unacceptable. No one who
has served this country should struggle to provide food and
shelter for themselves or their families.
I am interested in hearing from our panel today about ways
that we can help women veterans thrive by using their hard-
earned housing, education, and employment benefits after
separation from the military.
Mr. Chairman, we should focus today's discussion on
addressing challenges that are specific to women veterans, as
you agree. In written statements provided to the committee,
many of our witnesses reference childcare needs as a barrier to
women veterans. While this may be the case and, again, it is
worth future discussion, absolutely, I think it is fair to
include men as well veterans who are raising their children.
And, you know, I know of many examples of that in my district,
so I appreciate that.
Congress has the responsibility to ensure that women
veterans receive the same amount of care and benefits as male
veterans. We also need to ensure that our goal of providing
more care and services doesn't have the unintended effect of
isolating them from the rest of the veteran population.
Since 2010, there has been a 49-percent decrease in veteran
homelessness, with over 700,000 veterans and their families
being permanently housed or prevented from becoming homeless.
Again, we have really made a huge dent in that figure, but we
have got much more to do. Again, with that being said, I am
interested to hear from the panel why women veteran
homelessness has increased, as well as ways that Congress can
help eliminate this increase and begin decreasing women
veterans homelessness nationwide.
We have also seen recent success with the Veterans Affairs
Air Force Women's Health Transition Training Pilot, which
focuses on giving women veterans a better chance at successful
reintegration into civilian life by providing them information
about enrolling and using VA health care. I hope today we hear
ways that this program can be improved in and, if necessary,
expanded, as well as other ways we can improve the transition
process for women veterans.
We are facing some major challenges in helping our women
veterans reintegrate back into civilian life and I hope that
today's hearing sheds light on ways Congress can help solve
these problems facing our brave female servicemembers.
Finally, I want to recognize some of the active women
veterans in my district, constituent advocates, who have done a
tremendous amount of work for our veteran community in the
Tampa Bay area and many of whom serve on my Veterans Advisory
Council. This includes Julie Daniels, Maryann Keckler, Ruth
Rymal, Jennifer Smith, Lauren Price, Kathleen Vanek, Kari
Kirkpatrick, and Patricia Young. I thank these women for their
service, and more women in my district, veteran women, that do
an outstanding job for our community and they serve our
country, and for their continued input into how we can continue
to improve the lives of our veterans in the community and
across the country.
I want to thank our panel. Thank you for giving me the
extra time, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member. I appreciate your
comments.
We have a great panel joining us today and I thank you all
again for coming. We have Ms. Lauren Augustine, Vice President
at the Student Veterans of America; Ms. Maureen Casey, the
Chief Operating Officer for the Institute for Veterans and
Military Families at Syracuse University; Ms. Jas Boothe, the
Founder of Final Salute, Incorporated; Ms. Christine Schwartz,
Chief Executive Officer at Service to School; and Ms. Jodie
Grenier, Chief Executive Officer at Foundation for Women
Warriors, a Southern California nonprofit that serves women
veterans in my district in Southern California.
Your insight is crucial to ensuring that the work we do
today and in the weeks and months ahead is most effective, so I
am very grateful that you are all here. With that, I would like
to recognize Ms. Augustine for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LAUREN AUGUSTINE
Ms. Augustine. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis,
and members of the subcommittee, good morning and thank you for
inviting Student Veterans of America to submit our testimony on
the impact of higher education and the GI Bill on women
veterans' economic well-being.
Established in 2008, SVA is a national higher education
nonprofit founded to empower student veterans to, through, and
beyond their higher education journey. With over 1500 campus
chapters across the United States and in four countries
overseas, serving over 750,000 student veterans, SVA maintains
a life-long commitment to each student's success, from campus
life to employment.
Through research like our National Veterans Education
Success Tracker and SVA Census, we are able to look at the
population of student veterans as a whole to better understand
their successes and opportunities for additional support.
For women veterans and higher education, the research
broadly illustrates a good-news story. First, women veterans
are over-represented in higher education when compared to the
overall percentage of women veterans in America. Women veterans
pursuing higher education comprise 26 percent of all student
veterans, compared to comprising about 10 percent of the
overall veteran population and about 17 percent of the post-9/
11 (September 11, 2001) veteran population.
Second, women veterans not only have a propensity to seek
out higher education, but to also succeed.
In its first 6 years, the post-9/11 GI Bill enabled over
346,000 veterans to complete a post-secondary degree or
certificate, 23 percent of whom are women. Additionally, women
veterans consistently earned degrees at higher levels than
their civilian peers, solidifying that these students are worth
the investment America is making in them.
Last, when we look internal to SVA chapters, women veterans
are, quite frankly, crushing it as leaders on their campuses.
Women make up nearly half of all of our chapter leaders and
have comprised nearly half of all of our student veterans of
the year. These are student leaders like Alex Sawin, SVA's
current Student Veteran of the Year and former chapter leader
at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition to leading the
Rebel Vets at UNLV, Alex helped organize the first Operation
Battle Born Ruck March in Nevada, which brought together
student veterans and supporters to carry close to 7,000 dog
tags through Nevada in honor of the post-9/11 servicemembers
killed in action over Memorial Day last year.
These women leaders bring traits from military service such
as persistence, resiliency, the ability to work as a member of
a team, and to commitment to service that help enhance their
campuses and chapters. That leadership on campus leads to
leadership in careers and communities, and promotes a holistic
well-being for a lifetime.
While women veterans are doing markedly well in higher
education, there are of course opportunities to better empower
and support them, and their nontraditional student peers.
Access to childcare is consistently a top concern from chapters
and women student veterans, which makes sense given 46 percent
of student veterans have children and 14 percent of those
parents are single parents.
In addition to concerns around access to childcare in
general, students also express a concern around needing
childcare during off hours, on weekends, or during exam study
times that do not always align with traditional childcare
options. Examining ways to help alleviate these concerns, which
admittedly goes beyond just the student veteran population,
will help empower these students to succeed.
Supporting women veterans and, again, their nontraditional
student peers, pursuing STEM degrees is also an opportunity for
further review and analysis. While women veterans work in STEM
occupations at twice the rate of non-veteran women and STEM
degrees are in the top three types of degrees earned by student
veterans as a whole, examining things like attending school
part-time, heavy course loads, and time-intensive laboratory
work, and how those might interact with students balancing
additional work and family obligations, could show interesting
opportunities to better support STEM degree-seeking women.
Additional opportunities for support include encouraging
schools to better utilize tools like prior learning assessments
and flexible course sequencing, ensuring VA has what it needs
to provide timely and accurate GI Bill payments to schools and
student veterans, and maintaining key student protections.
Chairman, Ranking Member, and the subcommittee, thank you
for your time and attention and devotion to the cause of women
and all veterans in higher education. I look forward to your
questions.
[The Prepared Statement of Lauren Augustine Appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Augustine. I appreciate your
testimony.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Casey for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MAUREEN CASEY
Ms. Casey. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis, and
members of the subcommittee, thank you for your work on behalf
of veterans and their families, and for the opportunity to
address you today.
Today, I represent Syracuse University's Institute for
Veterans and Military Families, the only academic institute of
its kind in the Nation, focused exclusively on enhancing the
post-service lives of veterans and their military-connected
families. More than 120,000 servicemembers and veterans have
participated in the IVMF's programs to date, and an ever-
increasing number of them are women.
While, as a community, we have made significant progress to
better understand and address the needs of women veterans, more
remains to be done. I say this because one of the most
consistent findings stemming from our work and scholarship is
the powerful and enduring link between the lived experience of
transition from military service and the financial health and
overall well-being of our women veterans.
Getting their transition right is core to ensuring long-
term employability and financial independence. Alternatively, a
negative transition experience is likely to position a woman
veteran--and, by extension, her family--on a trajectory of
compromised financial stability, from which our experience
suggests it is often exceedingly difficult to recover.
We know from our work and research that the point of
transition from the military to civilian life is a challenge.
The number one reason women leave the military is significantly
different from men; 41 percent of women transition out due to
family reasons. Additionally, women on average leave the
military sooner, also likely for the same reason, given that
women are more likely to be both servicemember and spouse, and
therefore potentially shouldering added family and work
responsibilities.
The challenges women veterans often face as they transition
to civilian life have the potential to impact their financial
stability for months and years after taking off the uniform.
Two thirds of women veterans find their financial transition
from the military difficult, compared to 47 percent of men.
Similarly, more than one third of women veterans cite loss of
income as a key transition challenge, compared to a rate that
is lower for men.
In addition, women veterans take 3 months longer, on
average, to find civilian employment compared to male veterans.
Finally, consistent with the general population, women veterans
earn less than male veterans, despite having the same skills
enhanced by their military service. At the IVMF, we have seen
the impact that an employment program tailored specifically for
women veterans can have on their financial well-being post-
service.
Our V-WISE program provides small business training
specifically to women veterans. The success of the program
speaks for itself. Of the more than 3,000 graduates, over 65
percent of these women have started their own business and, of
those, more than 90 percent are still in operation today.
Tailored employment programs for women veterans alone are
not sufficient to tackle their economic well-being. Access and
navigation of community-based care, services, and resources is
the most commonly cited challenge associated with military
transition.
Further, the IVMF recently published a journal article
reviewing over 60 needs assessments in communities across the
country. Unfortunately, it found that many localities are not
sufficiently aware of the many specific needs our women
veterans face. To address this, the IVMF launched
AmericaServes, an innovative community care coordination
program now operating in 16 U.S. communities. Its premise is a
simple one: getting the veteran and their family to the right
services in the least amount of time.
Leveraging a unique technology platform and a person-
centered local coordination center, Serves' networks have
addresses more than 55,000 unique service requests for more
than 26,000 individuals. Of note, women veterans are seeking
assistance from our Serves networks at rates higher than their
representation in the veteran population.
Our data also tells us that employment support is the
second most commonly requested service behind housing.
Therefore, based both on our practical experience and
academic research, it is clear that if we are going to have a
meaningful impact on the economic well-being of our women
veterans, the public and private sectors must collaborate in
two key ways: first, we must design and deliver new and
innovative employment-related programs that are purpose-built
to address the unique needs of women veterans, whether at the
point of transition or as the need arises post-service; and we
must work together to identify means and methods to support
care coordination and social service navigation within and
across communities our women veterans call home.
On behalf of the veterans and military-connected families
the IVMF serves in partnership with this committee, thank you
very much for the opportunity to provide testimony today and I
look forward to answering your questions.
[The Prepared Statement of Maureen Casey Appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Casey, and thank you for all the
good work you are doing at Syracuse.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Boothe for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JAS BOOTHE
Ms. Boothe. Thank you, Chairman Levin, Ranking Member
Bilirakis, and the rest of the committee members for this
opportunity to speak to you today.
Historically, women veterans and their children who
experience unstable housing or homelessness have faced
difficulty being acknowledged and recognized by the findings of
the research conducted by various governmental organizations in
the United States, thus limiting their access to the support
and resources they desperately need. This vulnerable population
is further marginalized by the underestimation in the research
of how many homeless women veterans there are overall, and
various definitions of homelessness that fail to capture women
veterans who are precariously housed.
Currently, the Federal definition of homelessness does not
take into account women veterans who couch-surf. That is
primarily how women veterans keep them and their children
together. Currently, the point-in-time count, which takes into
account HUD's definition and the VA's definition of who is
homeless, does not take in women veterans who couch-surf. And
this count is conducted in January, on one of the arguably
coldest nights of the year. You are not going to find women
veterans and their children on the streets on a cold night in
January, and possibly any other night or day, any other day of
the year, because if you see a woman and her children out on
the streets, they are probably going to lose them.
When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 on my way to Iraq,
I had also lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. So it left me
unable to deploy and it left me unstable housing. And, luckily,
my aunt had a couch for me and my son to sleep on, because I
myself was turned away from the VA as a single mother. More
than 70 percent of the women that kind to Final Salute for
supportive services are single mothers.
Overall, the two biggest glaring issues, adding to
insufficient count and reporting of the point-in-time count, an
overlook causality, specifically in veteran unemployment and
how it relates to homelessness. So I was very excited that you
guys were putting them in the same group, because they are in
fact related.
When I first started looking at causality in 2015, I
noticed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had reported that
there were 455,000 veterans that were unemployed; of that
number, 23,000 were women. In the same year, HUD reported that
there were 4300 women veterans who were homeless. So, from that
number, that leaves 18,600 women that are unemployed, but are
presumed to be not homeless and able to take care of themselves
and their children without any income.
We have to look at how the numbers relate to each other.
Overall, if we have 400-and-something-thousand veterans and
only 40 that are reported being homeless on the street, that is
problematic in itself again relating to causality.
Women veterans who are doubling up due to low income,
unemployment, or other cause are likely to be functionally
homeless. I find that word, ``functionally homeless,'' to be
problematic in itself, because there is no function in being
homeless, and no one who has served their country should ever
have to be precariously housed, doubled up, or even living on
the street.
Gender difference in accommodations among homeless women
are among their more important findings. A report I read in
Metro that stated males were the minority of individuals, 62
percent housed in shelters, and women, single mothers with
children, were the majority. 93 percent of those who were
homeless as far as families, but only 38 percent were able to
be housed. That leaves 50 percent of women and children not
able to be housed.
I am an Army veteran, my husband is a Marine combat
veteran, and my oldest son just recently returned to
Afghanistan, and I would think that these women would agree
that, while we are here representing women veterans, we are not
against our brothers. We are here just to be treated and
supported equally in resources and also in recognition.
I last want to show you two pictures of women, because I
often get questioned about, you know, what women are just now
serving in combat are not really serving in combat positions,
and so why are they just as deserving as male veterans? This is
a good friend of mine named Marissa Strock. She is from New
York and she was 21 years old when she was deployed to
Afghanistan in 2005. She was serving as an MP and lost both of
her legs to an IED attack. Again, this woman was 21 years old.
And although she wasn't infantry, Special Forces, she was right
there in the danger with her brothers, and when she comes back
to her country she should be treated as equally.
The last picture is of Master Sergeant Tara Jacobs Brown.
There is a street named after Tara in Daytona, Florida. In
April 2011, she was deployed with seven of her brothers and was
killed by a green-on-green attack by an Afghan pilot. Tara was
not excused from the room or from the attack because she was a
woman. She was 33 years old at the time. I wanted to point out
specifically Tara in 2011, because the Government
Accountability Report of 2011 pointed out that neither the HUD
or VA uniquely tracked women veterans as a population until
2011.
Thank you.
[The Prepared Statement of Jas Boothe Appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Boothe, for your story, for your
courage, for your service. We greatly appreciate your testimony
and we will be following up with questions.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Schwartz for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF CHRISTINE SCHWARTZ
Ms. Schwartz. Good morning. First, thank you, Chairman
Levin and Ranking Member Bilirakis, for the invitation to be
here and testify before you today.
I am Christine Schwartz and I am the CEO (Chief Executive
Officer) of Service to School, a veterans service organization
that works with transitioning servicemembers and veterans to
ensure they have the access and ability to attend our country's
best colleges and grad schools.
My connection to the military runs deep. As a fifth
generation Army Officer, I served 5 years on active duty and an
additional 2 in the Army Reserves; I am the spouse of an active
duty Green Beret; and I believe in service to our Nation, as
well as supporting the servicemembers and veterans that
willingly choose to do so.
In pursuit of that support, I have the privilege of running
an organization that ensures our country's veterans have the
opportunity to attend colleges that place them on a pathway for
continued success. Through our work, the veterans we work with
go on to enroll at colleges with high graduation rates, great
career services, and alumni networks that will support them
throughout their lives. These are colleges like Yale, Stanford,
Amherst, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Virginia Tech, University of
San Diego, Princeton, and the list goes on. This is great news
for veterans who are often taken advantage of by for-profit
universities or less-than-reputable colleges, and we at Service
to School have worked hard to create success for veterans in
higher ed. However, I would be wrong if I led you to believe
that we serve male and female servicemembers at equal rates.
In fact, last year, only 14 percent of the veterans we
assisted were women. This statistic does not align with the
national average that 26 percent of student veterans are women.
So, if a quarter of the users of GI Bill are women, then why
aren't they signing up with Service to School, whose reputation
is to get you into the best college possible and, ideally, your
dream school? If you are using the GI Bill, wouldn't you want
to use it at your dream school? Why are 86 percent of the
veterans that we help apply and then enroll at, quote-end
quote, ``elite colleges'' male?
I can't provide all the answers, but I will offer a glimpse
into why women veterans are struggling to enroll at similar
colleges and grad programs as their male counterparts.
Ashley is an Army Captain who served in the Special
Operations community and was denied admittance to almost all of
the MBA (Master of Business Administration) programs she
applied to. When Ashley asked the admissions committees'
feedback on why she wasn't offered admission, they cited her
GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score, which was
reasonably in range with the other military members who applied
to similar programs. In talking with Ashley, she felt that her
applications were viewed differently than her male
counterparts, and there was a disbelief that her work in the
Special Operations community was comparable to her male peers
and, therefore, her service was not as prestigious as theirs
and could not be valued as highly.
While Ashley held the same rank, position, and went
through the same training as her male peers, her service was
undervalued because admissions committees could not understand
it in the same context as a male.
This story aligns with research from the Servicewomen's
Action Network that found the majority of active duty and
veteran women face respect issues and a lack of recognition of
their service from the public.
Then there is Janine, an Air Force NCO who received her
Bachelor's degree from UMUC (University of Maryland, University
College) while on active duty. Janine dreamed of going back to
grad school and specifically researched and networked with MBA
programs, where she was met with the disappointing news that,
since she had received her undergrad degree online, it was
highly unlikely she would be accepted to one of her top-choice
MBA programs. Janine is a single mom balancing two young
children and a job, and, when I first met her, she was working
numerous jobs to make ends meet. I can guarantee you, if anyone
could succeed at an MBA program, it would be Janine.
Interestingly enough, I met an Air Force NCO last year. He
too received his Bachelor's degree online while on active duty
in the Air Force. Assumption would say that he, like Janine,
wouldn't be able to get into a top MBA program seeing as his
degree was also online. This is the interesting part: he got
into and is now attending the University of Chicago's Booth
School of Business, undoubtedly one of the best business
schools in the world.
Janine has yet to go back to grad school.
Universities, just like many systems, are creating barriers
for these female veterans by failing to understand, appreciate,
and accommodate for female military service, and have continued
to perpetuate our invisible service.
Thank you to the chairman, ranking member, and the
subcommittee members for your time and commitment to veterans,
and specifically outcome for women veterans. I look forward to
continuing to work with this committee and answering your
questions.
[The Prepared Statement of Christine Schwartz Appears in
the Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Schwartz. We appreciate your
testimony.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Grenier for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JODIE GRENIER
Ms. Grenier. Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis,
distinguished members of the subcommittee, I would like to
thank the subcommittee for your commitment to ensuring veterans
receive the resources they so deserve, and for inviting
Foundation for Women Warriors to testify today.
My name is Jodie Grenier; I am a Marine Corps veteran. I
served from 2000 to 2005 as an Intelligence Analyst and I
deployed twice to Iraq. I hold a Bachelor's in psychology and a
Masters in nonprofit leadership and management from the
University of San Diego.
Since 2016, I have served as the Chief Executive Officer of
Foundation for Women Warriors, a nonprofit organization solely
dedicated to honoring and empowering women veterans through
transition services.
Our organization was originally founded in 1920 to provide
housing to widows under the name California Soldiers' Widows
Housing Association. Our organization is a testament to women's
history. It demonstrates the financial inequity experienced by
women, the inaccurate historical categorization of women
veterans and spouses, and the constant fight to be heard by the
very country and institutions in which women have honorably
served to protect. Though I am grateful to have your audience
today, I must say, it is long overdue.
At Foundation for Women Warriors, we characterize economic
well-being as having control over one's finances while being
able to consistently meet basic needs such as food, housing,
utilities, and childcare. We aim for women veterans to feel
secure, prepared to make economic choices, able to absorb
unexpected financial shock, and plan for their future. From our
position, the economic well-being of women veterans is at risk.
Women are the fastest-growing segment of homeless veterans.
In California, 60 percent of the state's women veterans
reported experiencing some form of housing instability. Women
veterans are reported as having a higher unemployment rate,
lower median income, and more likely to live below the poverty
threshold when compared to their male counterparts.
Additionally, women veterans are more likely to be single
parents, they are less likely to have the same support networks
as their male counterparts, and of course they experience
additional barriers to receiving the standard veteran benefits.
There are many issues that impact all veterans' economic
well-being, such as limited financial knowledge, barriers in
accessing benefits, education level at transition,
unemployment, the loss of a support network, as well as the
various emotional challenges associated with reintegrating into
civilian society.
The reality is, these issues, compounded with the unique
transition experience of women, cultural stereotypes, higher
rate of single parenting, and the gender pay gap result in
greater economic risk for women.
Our programs directly address these concerns by providing
financial stipends for basic needs and childcare, as well as
professional development. These stipends help women maintain
safe and affordable housing, and it allows them to attain or
maintain employment, pursue their degrees, and provides
stability for their children; in essence, the American dream.
Historically, hitting rock bottom has been the standard for
receiving assistance. While it is imperative to assist our most
vulnerable communities, it is just as important to invest in
the prevention of becoming the most vulnerable.
Our organization redefines ``at risk'' as unable to meet
financial obligations. We re-frame assistance as a hand up, and
we invest in the critical areas to empower independence and
goal attainability among women veterans.
Our programs have shown great success; however, our
capacity is limited by our funding and our visibility is often
overshadowed by organizations that cater to the male
experience. While services for women veterans have shown
improvement, they are not currently on track to keep pace with
the need. That is why today our organization is asking your
subcommittee to consider the following five recommendations:
fund research on reintegration; increase funding for women
veteran-specific preventative services; expand strategic
collaboration between the Department of Labor; and eliminate
financial vulnerabilities by increasing funding for, and access
to, effective financial literacy. Also, research the childcare
needs of students veterans and determine the feasibility of a
childcare stipend.
Thank you.
[The Prepared Statement of Jodie Grenier Appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Grenier.
With that, I recognize myself for 5 minutes to begin the
question portion of the hearing.
Thank you, all of you, for very powerful and compelling
testimony. Veteran homelessness is very prevalent, many of you
spoke about it, it is prevalent in my district and throughout
the greater San Diego area. I have all of North County, San
Diego. There are about 1300 homeless veterans throughout the
county, an alarming number of them are women veterans, and I
want to do all I can as a Member of Congress to try to address
it.
I introduced the Housing For Women Veterans Act, it is one
of the bipartisan measures that we have introduced in the
Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I wanted to ask some questions
related to that.
One of you mentioned the point-in-time count and, in 2018,
approximately 8.5 percent of homeless veterans across the
country were women. As has been said, some researchers believe
that is a low estimate, things like couch-surfing not included.
Ms. Boothe and Ms. Grenier, what are the typical reasons
why women do not self-report if they are homeless or at risk of
becoming homeless, and how can we address them?
Ms. Boothe. Thank you for the question, Chairman. Well, for
me personally, when I went and I told them, yes, I am homeless,
I need a place to stay and I have a kid, the first thing they
said was, ``Are you on the street? If so, we need to report you
to Child Protective Services.''If that is--if that is the first
question that comes to you, you are going to think that I can't
tell them that I am homeless, because I am going to lose my
child.
That is a bigger--one of the biggest barriers is, you know,
being afraid to come forward and self-identify, because you
don't know, you know, what is going to happen in the next few
minutes. It also has happened to women who have come to us who
have said they had went and reported they were homeless, and
have had their children stripped from their arms, stripped from
their arms right in a welfare office.
So we have to create an environment where they don't fear
that they are going to have their children ripped away from
them or they are going to be treated like a bad mother because
of the circumstances of it could be their--it could be trauma,
it could be PTSD, it could be domestic violence, it could be
employment, it could run a gamut. We need to create safe spaces
and, not only safe spaces, but ample resources, and so they
don't have the fear of reporting because I am not going to
perpetually stay in a transitory place.
Mr. Levin. Same question, Ms. Grenier, if you have anything
to add.
Ms. Grenier. I echo that sentiment. Women veterans do not
want to lose their children, they want to provide for their
children, and so having a risk of having their children taken
away from them would only just further their situation.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
I wanted to ask about the risk factors as well that lead to
homelessness. There hasn't been enough research into this. From
your experiences, what are the top factors that lead to
homelessness for women veterans and how do we prevent those
factors from resulting in homelessness?
Ms. Boothe. Well, I always say that people say, well, what
is the root, what is the key to ending homelessness, is it more
homes? And I said, no, it is less homeless veterans. And so
you--again, you have to look at causality from most top-five
reasons being unemployment, lack of VA benefits, less than--I
mean, I'm sorry, 88 percent of women veterans who do not go to
the VA for health care. Also, some are not aware that they have
a veteran status because they didn't deploy and have the--are
eligible for VA benefits. Domestic violence is a huge
prevalence in the women veteran community, as well as being a
single mom.
When I looked at the 2011 GAO report that was done, it was
found that a lot of the government-funded programs, over 60
percent, did not take in women; those that did take in women,
didn't take in children or they had restrictions on the number
of children you could be bring to the shelter, or restrictions
on the ages and gender of the children. So children in the
family dynamic seem to compound the homeless dynamic for women
veterans and other veterans, I would assume, that have
families.
Mr. Levin. Anyone else have any additional comments on
that?
Ms. Grenier. I think financial insecurity starts on active
duty or beforehand, or at least the financial literacy lack
thereof. You have 60 percent of junior enlisted within the
military today are recognized as being low income by HUD
standards. There is also a severe issue with food instability.
These issues, while not tackled during service, continue to
perpetuate after service. Then you have childcare costs that go
from being subsidized while you are on active duty. A Corporal
or an E4 would pay $60 a week as a single mother, when she gets
out of service that jumps to $211 a week. So, if she is
unemployed or in school, she is not making enough money to
provide for her child.
Mr. Levin. Well, I am out of time, but I hope that one or
more of my colleagues asks how the VA can do a better job of
addressing women veterans, particularly with that 80 percent
number that you just gave, that is truly stunning. And I thank
you all again for your leadership and the work that you are all
doing, and for being with us today. And I hope it is the
beginning of a dialog with this subcommittee, with the
individual members, so that we can get to work on addressing
some of these issues.
With that, I would like to recognize the ranking member for
5 minutes for questions.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate it.
And, again, I want to thank you for holding this very important
hearing and focusing on women veterans, it is certainly needed.
In any case, I do want to ask one quick question before I
get into the prepared questions. With regard to women's
facilities in VA Centers and outpatient clinics, CBOCs, what
have you, are we doing a better job accommodating women?
So who would like to address that question? How much work
do we have to be done--that has to be done?
Ms. Boothe. Sir, I would say that it is a yes-and-no
response. Yes, some VAs are doing better, but VAs across the
country do not have the same standards of care; you can't get a
mammogram in every VA, you can't get other reproductive
services in every VA across the country. Until that is uniform,
we still have a long way to go. If she is in California and I
am in a Virginia or DC VA medical facility, we should have the
same standards of care, but we don't. So that in itself is a
problem. It should be uniform, just like the medical care we
got across the board when we were in the military.
Mr. Bilirakis. Yes, I am also concerned about the privacy
issue as well. Has that been addressed satisfactorily?
Ms. Boothe. Again, yes and no. Some centers are doing a
better job and so, you know, I never want to say, well, I go to
the--my VA is doing great, you know, and her VA isn't doing
great. There are some VAs that do have private interests, but I
have noticed, I go into the DC VA Medical Center there is one
interest and there we have a high prevalence of male veterans
that are catcalling to women veterans as they go in there to
get treated. Some of them just turn around and leave back out,
because you shouldn't have to go through a gauntlet of un-
professionalism while you are trying to get medical treatment,
and I would assume that that is probably harder for women who
have experienced military sexual trauma.
Mr. Bilirakis. Well, thank you very much for that question
and we will follow up. We have got to get this right for women
veterans.
My staff has recently been briefed--and this is for the
entire panel--my staff has recently been briefed on the success
of the Veterans Affairs Air Force Women's Health Transition
Training Pilot program run jointly by DOD and VA. This program
is designed to provide information to participants about health
care and services that are available to eligible women, our
veterans, through the Veterans Health Administration.
Apart from expansion, what changes or suggestions do you
have in making this program more successful? I understand it
has been successful and we can use it as a model. But what
suggestions do you have? Let's start from over here, if that's
OK.
Ms. Augustine. Yes, sir, absolutely. So one of the things,
that particular program is health care-focused, which is
generally a bit outside the lane of SVA. However, one of the
things that we have talked about relevant to TAP in general is
that it should be viewed more as an orientation. It is a 1-week
program that is quite intensive on the amount of information
that is given and what is thrown at you in terms of the breadth
and depth of benefits available. What that Air Force program
does is allow for a much more localized and intensive
understanding of specific benefits that we think could be
successful when applied to other types of things; for example,
the GI Bill. If you are taken to a college campus and shown
around, or given some sort of in-depth, individualized
counseling on how to access college, not just the GI Bill
benefits, but how to choose a college, what is a quality
college, what is the total cost of college, we think we could
see similar success across the board.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you.
Yes, please.
Ms. Casey. Thank you. I think that for us, while I am less
familiar with the Air Force specific program, I think what we
have found generally is that the primary goal for our
Transition Assistance Program across all of the service
branches is to make every transitioning servicemember an
informed consumer. So----
Mr. Levin. Ms. Casey, would you mind turning on your
microphone?
Ms. Casey. Oh, I'm sorry.
Mr. Levin. Just so that we get you on the record. I can
hear you, though.
Ms. Casey. My apologies.
Mr. Levin. Thank you. I do it too.
Ms. Casey. What I was going to say is, while I am less
familiar with the Air Force-specific program, I think what our
research and our experience has taught us is that the goal of
the transition program across all of the service branches
should be to make every transitioning servicemember an informed
consumer about all of the benefits and services that are
available to them.
For example, the most recent change that is about to come
into play with regard to making the what is now voluntary or
optional, the follow-on programs that are part of the
Transition Assistance Program around entrepreneurship training,
education, and employment, making those mandatory is a great
first step, so that we can ensure that they are informed
consumers across all of their options.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you very much. In the interest of
time, Mr. Chairman, I am going to yield back and I will submit
the rest of the questions for the record. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
I would now like to recognize someone who is a true leader
in this area, the chairwoman of the Women Veterans Task Force,
also the chair of the Health Subcommittee of the Veterans'
Affairs Committee, Chairwoman Julia Brownley.
Thank you for all your good work, and I would like to
recognize you for 5 minutes for questions.
Ms. Brownley. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I actually
have another meeting to return to, so I am not going to ask a
question, but I really wanted to be here to hear each and every
one of you and hear your testimony.
Mr. Chairman, thank you, and Ranking Member Bilirakis, too,
for having this very important hearing in collaboration with
Womens Veterans Task Force.
I have often said that when women serve in the military,
they are a visible minority, and when they leave, women
veterans often become invisible. The Womens Veterans Task Force
is working very, very hard to change that, and the task force
really aims to promote inclusivity and equitable access to
resources, benefits, and healthcare for women veterans.
It is very encouraging that each subcommittee of the VA
committee is having a hearing on issues that impact women
veterans. The Womens Veterans Task Force is--we now have 72
members and we are growing each and every day and we are really
committed to addressing the unique issues and challenges that
women veterans face. So, together, we are working to achieve
equity for the two million women who answer the call to serve
in the United States military.
It is already very, very clear from this morning's
testimony, that there are numerous opportunities to support our
Nation's warriors--our nation's women warriors to it thrive
economically. I just want to say to the women veterans who have
testified here today, you have all made yourself very visible,
and we thank you for your service and we thank you for your
continued service, as civilians, in terms of what you are
doing, and we are all motivated, extremely motivated, to really
achieve the equity of access that we are all striving for.
I hope that I can meet with each of you individually and
really look forward to working with you and thank you, again,
for all you are doing to lift up our brave women who serve our
country. Thank you very much.
Thank you, again, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Chair Brownley. And just a fantastic
job, getting 72 of our colleagues on the task force. We needs
the other 350. So, if there are people here who are not on the
Womens Veterans Task Force, I hope they sign up. Thank you for
your leadership.
With that, I would like to recognize Mr. Bergman for 5
minutes.
Mr. Bergman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of
you on the panel for being here today, and also thanks to
Representative Brownley for leading the task force. I am a
proud member of that task force and I echo the chairman's
comments about getting more of our colleagues involved.
A couple of questions, not specifically directed to any one
of you as individuals, so whoever wants to answer--great. If
nobody wants to answer--OK. I understand.
When we talk about women veterans, any distinctions,
differences, data points among women veterans who are active
component, Reserve, our National Guard? The reason I ask the
question is that in the Guard and reserve, one of the factors
leading to, whether it be tough times, homelessness, whatever
it happens to be--the isolation that sometimes members of the
reserve and National Guard go back to after deployment.
Would anybody like to make any comments, in your data, with
regards to the active Reserve and Guard.
Ms. Boothe. Yes, sir. We have, Final Salute has housed
women veterans who are continuing in the active Guard and the
Reserve, and they have deployed from our homeless facility into
combat zones, and have come back from combat zones and come
into our homeless facility.
The reason being is a lot of the military relief programs
do not support Guard and Reserve. They don't even qualify for
them because they do not have active service. They basically
have to come and get in the same lines that veterans do, but
these are uniformed servicemembers. So, I think that is the
biggest thing that we have seen.
Even you saw with our Coast Guardians that fell into the
government shutdown, a lot of their relief programs were not
available to them during the shutdown. They were not able to
get paid. That is the biggest thing that I have seen, is that
the relief associates do not support Guardsmen and Reservists.
Mr. Bergman. Said in a different way--and I am not trying
to lead you down the road or anything--but we have too many
silos to service that potentially--not on purpose--but
accidentally keep women veterans from getting support and
getting services that they legitimately rate. In fact, that
very gray area within the Reserve component where a young man
or woman leaves there in 4 years of honorable active service,
and then they have 4 years of IRR. They are out there. They are
obligated, but sometimes they are not oh there is not much
outreach made to them, and they could--they are basically the
population that you are talking about who got right off of
active-duty, but they are still under that 8-year contract.
Ms. Casey, you referenced, basically, care in the
community, I believe in your comments. We just rolled out--the
VA just rolled out the MISSION Act that we passed a year ago,
you know, Mission 2.0 or whatever you want to call it, but is
there a plan from Syracuse's standpoint to evaluate the new
program and how that care in the community is going to improve
based upon the fact that--I mean, do you guys have any data
points that you are going to look to, to stay close to.
Ms. Casey. Thank you very much. While we don't have a plan
specifically to look at the MISSION Act, but certainly could
down the road, what we have been focused on right now is our
work with the AmericaServes program and other community-based
efforts.
We know that the solution for coordinated care in our
communities, lies in the services that are there. The challenge
is access and navigation. What we have been focused on is
looking at how we do that outreach in the communities where we
currently are in 16 across the country, and then networking
with existing service providers, and then also following up on
what kind of services are being provided, how they are being
provided and what that positive resolution rate.
I think another----
Mr. Bergman. I hate to cut you off. You are an attorney,
right?
Ms. Casey. Yes, I am.
Mr. Bergman. Now, that is a good thing, because you bring
perspective here that some of us who have not gone to law
school, so the point is, I have to ask my questions quickly.
Ms. Casey. Sure.
Mr. Bergman. We need to make sure that the MISSION Act is
successful and the input of all of you as the VA moves forward
with these new changes, because we have oversight here. We are
trying to do the right thing through the VA. We are going to
need your help as partners.
And I would suggest to you that we have opportunity with--
in my case, Iron Mountain VA Hospital--small hospital, not full
service--but they have a County hospital down the road, for us
to be able to combine women services that may not be offered at
that VA hospital, but that are combined literally right down
the road, we are looking at MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding)
that what can be possible, and we need your input.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I see my time is over and I yield
back.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Bergman. I appreciate your
questions.
Now, I would like to recognize Ms. Rice for 5 minutes.
Ms. Rice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to start with Ms. Grenier. You made a comment
about how the instability that leads to either homelessness or
lack of employment opportunities begins when women are still in
active-duty. Can you just talk about that a little bit more,
because it seems to me that there is a window of time that we
need to be better at preparing people for their separation from
active-duty, whether it is male or female, but for these
purposes, if you could just speak to the womens issues that you
mentioned, that you are seeing signs of this while they are
still in active-duty.
Ms. Grenier. I want to be clear that it is not gender
specific. This instability within active-duty is, you know,
both men and women; however, when women exit the service, most
of them are--you have a majority that fall into single
parenthood, then they fall into a wage gap that is not seen
while you are in the military.
I think that there is definitely some room in the military
from point of entry for financial education to milestones--when
you either get married, have a child, or attain a certain
rank--that there should be some comprehensive and effective
financial literacy to ensure that this is--this affects our
combat effectiveness as a Nation.
Without our troops, active-duty, having financial literacy,
it puts them at further risk. Then all the gender-specific
issues, for women, only compound their vulnerability once they
exit the service.
Ms. Rice. During a recent roundtable event that was hosted
by the Womens Veterans Task Force, an issue was raised about
women veterans being more likely to enter a civilian career
that is different from their military occupational specialty.
Why do you think that is the case and how do misperceptions
about women's roles in the military impact their educational
and employment opportunities?
Ms. Grenier. From my experience--and I don't have data to
speculate--but I think from my experience, when you choose a
job at 18 years old, that is something that is, you know,
fleeting, you know, in terms of your trajectory. It might be
something that you like while you serve in the military and
then when you get out, you say, You know what? I did logistics.
I no longer want to do that any more. I want to look somewhere
else. Or maybe it was taxing on the person's ability to have a
family or their time. I think that is something that is not
necessarily gender-specific; I think it is militarywide.
But I would say women are trying to have families and
trying to live a civilian life that maybe at 18 years old, they
really didn't necessarily plan for.
Ms. Rice. Ms. Boothe, can I ask you to address that issue,
and also, you mentioned military sexual trauma. How much of
that women--maybe not coming forward or feeling comfortable
talking about that, is a barrier to their economic opportunity?
Ms. Boothe. Yes, well, I am--Ms. Rice, I am not an expert
on military sexual trauma. I just noticed from the intake of
the women that we take into our transitional housing facility,
and also women who apply for other services that we offer, do
list a high rate of military sexual trauma as adding to their
inability to not only gain employment, but also have long-term
employment because of the inability to get timely and gender-
specific care at VA or other medical centers. So it creates a
barrier.
I know we put a lot of emphasis on employment, but if you
are not mentally and physically and emotionally right, you
know, nobody is going to care how many deployments you had or
how many, you know, racks you have. If you aren't able to
perform for the organization, nobody is going to care whether
you are a veteran or not.
We have to work from the inside out and focus on the root
causes and the unique needs as opposed to just give this person
a job and they will be OK, because that is not the answer, but
I do feel like we are putting the cart before the horse in that
situation.
Just to piggyback on what Ms. Grenier mentioned earlier, a
lot of us, as women, also were not given those opportunities
while we were in service to switch jobs or to have leadership
or management positions or do that thing that we wanted to do,
and we come to find ourselves able to do that once we
transition out of civilian life.
Some of it is opportunities and some of it is just needing
a change and there is also a family dynamic put into that.
Ms. Rice. Well, I think at the heart of this is that women
need to be seen on an equal level as men. And when you have a
motto that only talks about to care for him, who shall have
borne the battle and for his widow and for his orphan, I mean
right there, women are starting at a disadvantage. I just
wanted to throw that in there.
Thank you all very much.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Rice.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Radewagen for 5 minutes.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Chairman, and Ranking Member for
holding this very important meeting.
My question is for the whole panel. In what ways do you
believe that we can encourage educational institutions to view
women veterans the same way as male veterans, when looking at
program admissions?
Mr. Grenier, do you want to start?
Ms. Grenier. To clarify your question was, how can we
encourage----
Ms. Radewagen. Encourage educational institutions to look
at women veterans the same way they look at men veterans when
it comes to program admissions.
Ms. Grenier. Well, I mean there is a myriad of ways to make
an organization look at women. One is diversity and inclusion
initiatives among schools. Maybe if we had reintegration
studies and research on the asset women veterans would be to
their recruiting campaigns.
I am not going to pretend that I am an expert to answer how
they can market. I think it is also providing education to
schools on cultural sensitivity, on how to accurately honor the
service of women. I mean every school in the U.S. should be at
the tip of the spear, in terms of inclusivity and diversity.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you.
Ms. Schwartz.
Ms. Schwartz. Thank you. I think there is a couple of ways.
One is going to look at universities' transfer policies, as
most veterans in the undergrad community, end up being transfer
students. They, perhaps, went to a community college and are
now transfing to a 4-year school; they took online classes
while they were in the military, so forth and so on, and many
top-Tier, or just better universities have very stringent
policies that place veterans in a position where they aren't
even able to apply. That isn't gender-specific, but that is an
issue.
As far as women go, you know, I think everybody touched on
it. Childcare is an issue. Being a single Mother is an issue.
Being a military spouse is an issue.
I am a military spouse. I haven't been able to finish my
grad degree because we moved three times in 3 years. If I
wanted to go to the local school and get it any grad degree,
sure, I could do that, but that is not what I want to do with
my G.I. Bill.
Women and female veterans are always just kind of at
every--I feel like at every turn we hit a barrier. Apply to
Duke. Oh, wait, you don't live in North Carolina. What are you
going do, move your kids there without your husband and he
might be deployed?
There are a lot of complications and I think Lauren would
have some insight, as well.
Ms. Radewagen. Ms. Boothe?
Ms. Boothe. I think the biggest thing is just to make--
ensure women veterans feel welcome. Ensure women veterans, you
know, feel valued.
You and we often look at, you know, when you even look at a
lot of the media, they talk about, you know, the men out there
fighting and, you know, those types of things, and we have
plenty of women who are, you know, on the frontline.
You know, although some of our job-specific, you know,
infantry training might be different, we all go to the same
leadership schools, academies and, you know, that soldier and
other, you know, branch-type training.
I am 41 years old. I just had my first two knee
replacements. I have had spinal fusion surgery already. So, I
ran and jumped just like the men do, but we are not looked at
in the same capacity.
So, I would say, you know, treat every DD214 the same that
comes across your desk--their admissions platform.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you. We are running short on time.
Ms. Casey.
Ms. Casey. Yes, ma'am. I would echo what is been said
already, but I would also suggest that we hold university
leadership accountable. You know, I think admissions policies
start at the top in terms of what is important and what
chancellors and presidents find important is interesting how it
is reflected in the diversity and inclusion in both, reciting
and admissions policies.
And so, I think there is an opportunity for us here to hold
university leadership accountable.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you.
Ms. Augustine.
Ms. Augustine. Yes, I will try to be quick. From my point
of view, there are three things that I think we can be doing
better across higher education to encourage more admissions of
veterans.
The first is to recognize that this is a larger issue than
just a women's issue. We have a need to have a business case
for veterans across the top 150 U.S. news and world report
schools in general. Veterans are undepresented there, and when
we make the business case showing that they bring in about $12
billion to higher education each year, similar to what exchange
students bring into the higher-education space, universities
are quick to want to have a larger conversation.
I also think that that applies to the non-traditional
student conversation; again, not just specific to women
veterans, but how can universities better recruit and retain
non-traditional students, which are becoming the majority of
students.
Second, this is a very large conversation, but, in general,
we have a civilian military divide conversation that needs to
happen, not just on campuses, but certainly on campuses, as
well. Specific to campuses, we would encourage university
leadership to work with their student veteran chapters or their
student veteran affiliation chapters, to better understand
their needs and their experience, and that is true for men and
women.
We also encourage them to view veterans as part of the
inclusivity conversation. As soon as we talk about that and
making sure that their campus is better inclusive, university
presidents and provosts sort of get it. That is a term that
they are used to and that they are comfortable with. And so, I
would encourage us all to encourage schools to be veteran-
inclusive.
And last, the thing that we can do is support peer-support
networks on campus. We know that students succeed when they are
around people that are like them. So, if we encourage women
veterans to connect with their local student veteran chapter,
they will more likely be more likely to succeed and feel
welcomed and inclusive on campus.
Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Levin. Thank you.
And I now would like to recognized Mr. Brindisi for 5
minutes.
Mr. Brindisi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to all
of our witnesses who are here today, especially Ms. Casey, who
is from my neck of the Woods in UpState New York--thank you for
being here.
I do want to ask you, Ms. Casey, about Syracuse's Institute
for veterans and military families. I understand it is a
wonderful program and you are doing incredible work, really, to
help transition individuals from military service to civilian
life. I wanted to talk a little bit about a couple of the
programs that you offer, like Onward to Opportunity and the
Veterans Career Transition Program.
Can you speak to the interconnectedness of these programs
and what the data is showing regarding these programs'
effectiveness, specifically for women veterans.
Ms. Casey. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for that question.
Our onwards to opportunity program is the only one of its
kind that is being offered. It is offered both, on installation
and online. It is the only end-to-end kind of transition
employment training program where we are offering industry-
recognized training and credentialing exams and then,
ultimately connecting those participants to a network of more
than 1,000 employers.
We are seeing higher than average completion rates. We are
seeing very successful employment-connection rates. And more
significantly for employers, we are seeing higher than average
retention rates at the 6 month and 1 year points, post
employment.
Specifically, with respect to women veterans, we are seeing
that women veterans that complete these programs are earning
more money than their non-veteran counterparts. We are seeing
more women veterans entering STEM. We are seeing that there is
more positive outcomes for those women, but we certainly have
more work to be done in the research in that regard.
Mr. Brindisi. Can you tell me, what role, if any, do these
programs have with the VA? Does VA collaborate with you at all?
Ms. Casey. Well, the VA isn't necessarily collaborating
with us in Onward to Opportunity, but they certainly have been
working with us in our AmericaServes work in communities across
the country.
We have an MOU with the VA that allows local VA facilities
to participate in our service networks, but I would also say
that we are working with the DoD and the branches of military
service, with regard to Onward to Opportunity. We are also
working with the Department of Labor on many of our research
initiatives, so--and with the SBA on our entrepreneurship
training programs.
We are deeply engaged with the Federal Government. I think
there is opportunity for, certainly, more of that, but we are
trying to create those touchpoints across all of our portfolio
programs.
Mr. Brindisi. OK. And I want to ask--so, I represent a very
large, rural district in UpState New York--and this question is
really for any of the witnesses--because I know access to
primary care is very challenging in rural areas and access to
care for women veterans in rural areas is also very
challenging.
What is the VA doing--how is the VA doing, trying to get
care into rural areas, and, specifically, when it comes to
women veterans?
Ms. Augustine. I am happy to start with that. So, I know
that there has been a considerable effort by the VA to use
things like telemedicine to reach rural areas, and that is
something that we think could also be utilized to reach rural
campuses and to better integrity recently transitioned veterans
who are using their G.I. Bill right after service to help them
be familiar with VA care, to access VA care where they are in a
rural setting and an easy-to-use setting.
They seem to be doing well and we are here to work with
them to make sure that they can continue to do better with that
and to allow them to better integrate with those that are
recently transitioned on campus.
Mr. Brindisi. Any other witnesses?
Ms. Boothe. Yes, sir. I would definitely say that the use
of a Choice Program has definitely worked great for me,
personally, you know, being able to--and it is not just, you
know, I know there is a lot of influence on veterans in rural
areas, because they can't get to it, but there are also
veterans who have disabilities that are not able to travel
great distances. You know, it could be, I live in Haymarket,
Virginia, so I'm going to the D.C. VA Medical Center, and
traffic is a great distance for me.
And so, I just think that--I know that they are on the
right track with, you know, more use of the Choice Program and
granting that permission to go use, you know, doctors that you
pick and you are comfortable with, is a definitely great avenue
of approach and it should be continued to be supported.
Mr. Brindisi. And just a quick question on higher
education. Perhaps, Ms. Schwartz can answer the question.
On average, women veterans typically utilize their VA
educational benefits early in their career and before men. What
are the reasons for this trend?
Ms. Schwartz. I am not an expert in this statistics area.
Lauren might be better equipped to answer that.
Mr. Brindisi. Go ahead.
Ms. Augustine. Sure. I think in you look at some of the
research that has come out from IVMF that has shown that some
of the stressors that women veterans face at higher rates than
men, things like financial stability and wanting to provide for
their families. Education is a natural choice we are you are
looking at long-term life earnings and wanting to make sure
that you can provide for yourself or over a lifetime.
Mr. Brindisi. OK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back my
time.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Brindisi.
I would like to now recognize Mr. Meuser for 5 minutes.
Mr. Meuser. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to this
committee, and thank you to all of you very, very much. We
appreciate you being here and thank you for your service and
your family service while you were serving you our Nation and
then the work that you are doing now.
We in Congress, and particularly part of this committee,
also feel that we are part of serving veterans. So, we are very
much on the same team and I appreciate very much this hearing.
Women veterans, by definition, are exceptional, right? I
mean, they had the courage to join. They are patriots. They are
selfless. They made it through boot camp. They were serving for
years, away from their families and often in combat, overcoming
fear and danger for the greater good, for all of us.
These are great Americans that we are talking about, and so
I certainly feel giving the right, fair opportunities, we--they
will do terrific. So, this is what we need to work on.
In addition, they face the same issues that many veterans
sadly face--PTSD and other inflictions from being in combat--
so, there are some very important issues here, such as--and I
did put them in somewhat order, and this may not be the right
order, but women veterans homelessness, food, availability,
childcare, employment, and education opportunities.
Just to start with women veterans homelessness, which is a
tragedy, Ms. Boothe, you had some interesting comments there.
Can you elaborate a further on some ideas for solutions?
Ms. Boothe. Well, sir, I think the biggest hurdle is that
the Federal definition of homelessness needs to be changed,
because it is exclusionary to women veterans and those with
families, by design. Again, you aren't going to find women
veterans and their children out on the street in the coldest
night of January when the government counts them that year,
because that number becomes the gospel, and people look at that
number is, Oh, there is only 3,000; it is not the bigger
problem. So they don't put a lot of funding, a lot of resources
and effort into women veterans homelessness, because, again,
3,000 is a very small number. It doesn't look like a big deal.
I think that is the first hurdle that we have to get over,
because at the end, it is exclusionary, and it also makes this
very small population even more invisible by one definition
that is used to allocate much-needed resources across the
spectrum for veteran opportunities and resources.
Mr. Meuser. OK. Do your local VAs provide any advocacy for
those that are homeless, do you find?
Ms. Boothe. They do provide advocacy, but I would say,
although we are not funded by the VA, over 80 percent of our
referrals come from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Meuser. OK. Great.
Related to food, there is an organization in my district
known as the Keystone Military Families. A woman by the name of
Kyle Lord founded it and is the director of it today. It is
right outside of Hamburg and Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania.
They do incredible work. I have been in there a few times
watching families come in--women--men and women--parents.
Do your areas, do you find that you have such outlets and
organizations that are helpful, I will ask you, Ms. Casey?
Ms. Casey. Yes, thank you. We do have a number of
organizations locally, in and around the Greater Syracuse area
that create environments very similar to what you described.
One, in particular, is called Clear Path for Veterans. It does
create a holistic environment, offers training programs,
locations where families can come, training referrals for
resources.
I think the goal, though, should be to ensure that all
kinds of service providers are culturally competent to deal
with veterans and their families as they come in for different
kinds of services.
While we are very fortunate to have a veteran-specific
veteran servicing organization in our area, there are many
areas that don't necessarily have that range of services, and
that is why we found for example, that our Serves networks and
communities are very good. There are many organizations that
are good at dealing with homelessness that aren't necessarily
veteran-specific.
We need to ensure that they are culturally competent in
terms of the work and the services they offer.
Mr. Meuser. All right. We, thank you.
I really have a few more questions I would like to ask.
Maybe we can do that later.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Meuser.
I would like to now recognize Ms. Lee for 5 minutes.
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, to having this important
hearing and continuing to shed light on women veterans issues
and thank you, all the panelists for being here.
Ms. Schwartz, I would like to chat with you a little bit
about service to school, and, you know, we have talked about
childcare as a barrier to veterans seeking care at the VA and
also some of them foregoing mental health treatment or other
physical therapy because they can't afford childcare.
I wanted to ask you--and if there is other panelists that
want to chime in, I would welcome that, as well--but what are
the barriers that exist for single-women veterans with children
at the educational setting and what can the VA do to better
provide for these veteran mothers?
Ms. Schwartz. Sure. I going to provide anecdotal
information. Childcare is absolutely and issue for, I think any
woman, female veteran, aside, if you are a working woman or you
are in school, it is an issue.
But you think through a veteran and, specifically, an
enlisted veteran who has gotten out and is maybe working part-
time, not making a ton of money and she wants go back to
school, how can she pay for all of her bills, classes, and
childcare, and successfully be able to attend all of those
different things, graduate, and go on to get a job. I mean, it
is just--let's lean in and do it all--I mean we can't.
If there were better services--and this goes for
everything, not just education--while you were seeking
employment, and then as you begin your first job, helping you
transition to a place where you are at a point where you make
enough money to pay for decent childcare for your children,
providing things like that. Providing childcare while you go to
VA appointments. All of that is very necessary. So, yes,
definitely and issue, and then I forget your second point.
Ms. Lee. Just what we can do better--the VA could do
better, and if anyone else wants to--Ms. Casey, if you wanted
to chime in----
Ms. Schwartz. Thank you. Yes, I think the other point I
would offer with regard to higher education is offering the
flexibility in terms of the programs that are offered to the
non-traditional students. So, for example, we, at Syracuse
University have made a dedicated effort to opening up many of
our programs online, offering stackable credentials, those
kinds of things, so that we can create the flexibility and
those learning opportunities for not just women veterans, but
also the non-traditional student, I had spoken to earlier.
Ms. Lee. Great. Thank you.
Ms. Augustine, is there anything you see colleges doing to
assist with childcare needs of women veterans on campuses?
Ms. Augustine. Sure. And much to the point that is been
made, this is an issue that goes beyond the confines of the
veterans status or even in the womens' status. It is a national
conversation that better having, even outside the confines of
campuses, much like the conversations around provider shortage
for healthcare out of VA specific, there is a childcare
conversation that is happening around America. It is
particularly around affordable and equitable access to
childcare that is a larger conversation.
We have some universities who have opened up their
subsidized childcare centers to veterans and to students who
needs access to that. That is a welcomed conversation. We hope
to see other universities consider that.
We have also seen some increased funding from the Federal
level for some other childcare programs, and we have called
both in, in our policy priority testimony back in March, and
then, again, in this testimony, for consideration of a pilot
program, similar to what was done for VA healthcare
appointments at the university level, to examine ways we can
help women veterans and, really, all student veterans have more
access to childcare options.
Ms. Lee. Great. Thank you.
Thank you, all. I am actually beginning a veterans
education caucus and, obviously, making sure that we are doing
as much as we possibly can, not just for women veterans, but
for all veterans. So, hopefully, we can continue to have that
conversation.
I yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Ms. Lee, and thank you for your
leadership on that veterans education caucus, I look forward to
working with you on that, as well.
And I would like to now recognize Mr. Barr for 5 minutes.
Mr. Barr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of our
witnesses for your advocacy on behalf of our veterans, and in
particular, our women veterans.
You know, in this country right now, there is actually a
labor-supply shortage. There is a real crisis in our economy,
with respect to inadequate labor supply. You know, I think the
statistic now is 1.5 million job openings, more than unemployed
Americans right now.
When you look at the veterans population, and in
particular, women veterans, it is a tremendous opportunity
both, for women veterans to achieve their potential in the
labor market, but it is also a huge potential advantage for the
employer community in this country to take advantage of the
tremendous talents and skills and background and commitment,
the ethic of putting a cause greater than oneself that women
veterans bring to the labor market.
I just came from a financial services committee hearing
with the chairman of the Federal Reserve. And if there is one
thing that is holding our economy back, it is the lack of
skilled talent.
Well, women veterans come into the labor market or come out
of the military, go to school, and then come out of that
experience with tremendous contribution capabilities. So my
question to any of you is, is it your experience in advocating
for women veterans that there is more challenges that women
veterans have than the overall veterans community, in terms of
communicating the opportunities for employers to tap into this
great potential labor force?
Ms. Casey. If I may, sir, that is a great question and a
great observation.
What we have seen is an issue for both, men and women
coming out of the military to adequately describe their skills
and talents. I think one of the things that we have seen
through our Onward to Opportunity program, though, is that
while they have this great experience, they need to have a
particular training or credential in order to qualify for that
civilian-sector job.
As you point out, given the labor market conditions, what
we are trying to do is introduce different training and
credentialing programs to give them that certification and,
more significantly, to directly connect them to employer to a
network of more than 1,000 employers to create that
opportunity. I think that is really been one of the other
challenges is making that meaningful connection as you
transition out, to a meaningful employment opportunity, long-
term.
While there is a challenge for women veterans, it is a
challenge across the veteran community.
Mr. Barr. Well, thanks for your great work on that.
As a followup question, again to anyone, does the employer
community or maybe the chambers of commerce around the country,
do we need to do a better job educating those--that community
about the women veteran community as a potential source of
applicants?
Ms. Casey. If I might, sir, before joining the IVMF, I
worked for JP Morgan Chase that started the Veterans Job
Mission, which is now a coalition of more than 250 employers
focused solely on hiring veterans and military spouses. I think
there has been a great deal of progress made to educate
employers on the value of hiring veteran talent and what it
brings to the workforce. I think it is a constant educational
process.
I think that we get lulled into a sense of complacency when
we look at the unemployment rates for our veterans and I think
we can't let that happen. We have to stay focused on this as an
ongoing effort.
Mr. Barr. Does anyone else want to comment on those topics?
Ms. Boothe. Yes, sir. I also think that--again, there are
lots of initiatives, and I see all types of job fairs that say,
Hey, veterans, come to job fairs--but I do know that I don't
see a lot of statistics that come back on those job fairs
referencing who was actually hired, but with the demographics
that were hired. And I also know that mostly male veterans are
targeted during those types of job fairs.
So, although the need may be there and the students may be
there, they are not specifically, from my experience, targeting
women veterans for those positions.
Mr. Barr. Well, we need to get the word out, because boy oh
boy, what a tremendous opportunity for everyone involved.
Final question, and it has to do with women veterans
homelessness. Since 2010, veteran homelessness has gone down 49
percent, but women veterans homelessness has actually
increased, sadly, by 7 percent.
My hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, has been confirmed by
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and HUD and
the VA, as a community, that it had effectively ended veteran
Homelessness.
My question is, why has veteran homelessness increased
nationwide and what can we do to address that particular issue?
Ms. Boothe. You mentioned a statistic that was given out in
2010 and why it increased. The Government Accountability Office
report in 2011 showed that VA didn't track women veterans until
2011. So, I suspect that they were out there and just not
tracked.
I think they are making strides toward tracking them, but
the methods being used, again, are kind of faulted by that
Federal definition. Our organization, who has a transitional
housing facility, the only one in the D.C. Metro area for women
veterans and their children, we were told that they do not
count the women veterans in our transitional housing as
homeless, because they did not come out of a shelter or off the
streets.
Mr. Barr. Thank you. My time has expired.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Barr.
I appreciate all the questions from my colleagues, and,
again, I want to thank each of you for your testimony. We are
just bare little scratching the surface here today and we will
be following up. I know one area where I was particularly
struck was by your testimony, Ms. Boothe, with regard to why
mothers are afraid to self-report in the issue with Child
Protective Services.
I was actually speaking to our counsel during the
questioning and commit to you that we are going to followup and
understand the dynamics there and see what we can do to address
that, whether it is legislatively or otherwise, because that
is, obviously, a very difficult situation.
I want to thank the ranking member for his remarks and his
leadership. Ms. Brownley, who was here earlier, and her
leadership on the Womens Veterans Task Force and on the health
subcommittee.
We are going to continue to discuss this issue and the
greater issues that face our women veterans. I know I will,
representing an area with a ton of veterans in North San Diego
County, South Orange County, we just have a town hall over the
break with about 150 veterans, about 20 of whom were women
veterans with powerful and compelling stories.
I am truly grateful, again, to each of you.
I will remind my colleagues that all members have 5
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
additional materials.
Without objection, the subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:34 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
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Prepared Statements of Witnesses
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prepared statement of lauren augustine
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prepared statement of maureen e. casey
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis and Members of the
Committee, thank you for your work on behalf of America's veterans and
their families, and for the opportunity to address you today.
Women are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population.
More than 370,000 women serve on active duty or in the National Guard
and Reserves, and over 2 million make up 17 percent of the post 9/
11(September 11, 2001) veteran population. Given this growth, it is
increasingly important we pay close attention to the specific
experiences and needs of our women veterans.
Today, I represent Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and
Military Families, the only academic institute of its kind in the
Nation focused exclusively on enhancing the post-service lives of our
veterans and military-connected families. More than 120,000 service
members and veterans have participated in the IVMF's programs to date,
and an ever-increasing number of those we serve are women.
While, as a community, we have made significant progress to better
understand and address the needs of women veterans, more remains to be
done. I say this because one of the most consistent findings stemming
from our work and scholarship is the powerful and enduring link between
the lived experience of transition from military service, and the
financial health and overall well-being of our veterans.
`Getting their transition right' is core to ensuring long-term
employability and financial independence. Alternatively, a negative
transition experience is likely to position a woman veteran--and by
extension, her family--on a trajectory of compromised financial
stability, from which our experience suggests, it is often exceedingly
difficult to recover.
We know from our work and research that the point of transition
from the military to civilian life is a challenge. The number one
reason women leave the military is significantly different from men; 41
percent of women transition out due to family reasons. Additionally,
women on average leave the military sooner, also likely for the same
reason given that women are more likely to be both service member and
spouse; and, therefore, potentially shouldering added family and work
responsibilities.
The challenges women veterans often face as they transition to
civilian life have the potential to impact their financial stability
for months and years after taking off the uniform. Two-thirds of women
veterans find their financial transition from the military difficult,
compared to 47 percent of men. Similarly, more than one-third of women
veterans cite ``loss of income'' as a key transition challenge,
compared to a rate that is lower for men. In addition, women veterans
take three months longer, on average, to find civilian employment
compared to male veterans. Finally, consistent with the general
population, women veterans earn less than male veterans despite having
the same skills enhanced by their military service.
At the IVMF, we have seen the impact that an employment program
tailored specifically for women veterans can have on the financial
well-being of their post service lives. Our V-WISE program--Women
Veteran Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship--provides small
business training specifically to women veterans. The success of the
program speaks for itself. Of the more than 3000 graduates, over 65
percent of these women have started their own business and of those,
more than 90 percent are still in operation today.
The words of a recent program participant convey in ways data
cannot, the power of such a tailored program. After serving 12 years in
the U.S. Army, Glennett started two small businesses in Atlanta helping
homeless veterans. She participated in our most recent VWISE training
and said, ``The spirit of entrepreneurship has been ignited and the
fire will not go out; we are leaning in for each other! I'm forever
grateful to VWISE, its mission, and vision to empower women
veterans...We have not been forgotten!''
Tailored employment programs for women veterans alone are not
sufficient to tackle their economic well-being. Access and navigation
of community based care, services and resources is the most commonly
cited challenge associated with military transition. In addition, the
IVMF recently published a journal article reviewing over 60 needs
assessments in communities across the country; unfortunately, it found
that many localities are not sufficiently aware of the many specific
needs women veterans face.
To address this, the IVMF launched AmericaServes--an innovative
community care coordination program now operating in 16 U.S.
communities. Its premise is a simple one--getting the veteran and their
family to the right services and care in the least amount of time.
Leveraging a unique technology platform and a person-centered, local
coordination center, Serves networks have addressed more than 50,000
unique service requests from more than 25,000 individuals. Of note,
women veterans are seeking assistance from our Serves networks at rates
higher than their representation in the veteran population. Our data
also tells us that employment support is the second most commonly
requested service, only behind housing.
Therefore, based both on our practical experience and academic
research, it is clear that if we are going to have meaningful impact on
the economic well-being of our women veterans, the public and private
sectors must collaborate in two key areas:
1. We must design and deliver new and innovative employment
related programs that are purpose-built to address the unique
needs of women veterans--whether at the point of transition or
as the need arises post-service; and
2. We must work together to identify means and methods to
support care coordination and social service navigation within
and across the communities our women veterans call home.
On behalf of the veterans and military-connected families the IVMF
serves in partnership with this Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to provide testimony today.
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prepared statement of jas boothe
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prepared statement of christine schwartz
Good morning, I am Christine Schwartz and I am the CEO (Chief
Executive Officer) of Service to School a veteran service organization
that works with transitioning servicemembers and veterans to ensure
they have the access and ability to attend our country's best colleges
and grad schools. My connection to the military runs deep. As a fifth
generation Army Officer, I served five years on active duty and an
additional two in the Army Reserves, I am the spouse of an Active Duty
green beret, and I believe in service to our Nation as well as
supporting the servicemembers and veterans that willingly choose to do
so.
In pursuit of that support I have the privilege of running an
organization that ensures our country's veterans have the opportunity
to attend colleges that place them on a pathway for continued success.
Through our work the veterans we work with go on to enroll at colleges
with high graduation rates, great career services, and alumni networks
that will support them throughout their life. These are colleges like
Yale, Stanford, Amherst, UC-Berkley, UT-Austin, Virginia Tech,
University of Michigan, Princeton and the list goes on. This is great
news for veterans who are often taken advantage of by for-profit
universities or less than reputable colleges and we at Service to
School have worked hard to create success for veterans in higher-ed.
However, I would be wrong if I led you to believe that we serve
male and female servicemembers at equal rates. In fact last year, only
14 percent of the veterans we assisted were women. This statistic does
not align with the national average that 24 percent of student veterans
are women. So if a quarter of users of the GI Bill are women, then why
aren't they signing up with Service to School whose reputation is to
get you into the best college possible and ideally your dream school.
If you are using the GI bill wouldn't you want to use it at your dream
school? Why are 86 percent of the veterans that apply and then enroll
at quote unquote elite colleges male?
I cannot provide all the answers but I will offer a glimpse into
why women veterans are struggling to enroll at similar colleges and
grad programs as their male counterparts.
Ashley is an Army Captain who served in the Special Operations
community and was denied admittance to almost all of the MBA (Master of
Business Administration) programs she applied to. When Ashley asked the
admissions committee's feedback on why she wasn't offered admission
they cited her GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score which
was reasonably in range with the other military members who applied to
similar programs. In talking with Ashley, she felt that her
applications were viewed differently than her male counterparts and
there was a disbelief that her work in the special operations community
was comparable to her male peers, and therefore her service was not as
prestigious as theirs and could not be valued as highly. So while
Ashley held the same rank, position, and went through the same training
as her male peers, her service was undervalued because admissions
committees could not understand it in the same context as a male.
This story aligns with research from the Service Women's Action
Group that found the majority of active duty and veteran women face
respect issues and a lack of recognition of their service from the
public.
Then there's Janine, an Air Force NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer who
received her bachelors degree from UMUC (University of Maryland
University College) while on Active Duty. Janine dreamed of going back
to grad school and specifically researched and networked with MBA
programs where she was met with the disappointing news that since she
had received her undergrad degree online, it was highly unlikely she
would be accepted to one of her choice MBA programs. Janine is a single
mom balancing two young children and a job and when I first met her she
was working numerous jobs to make ends meet. I can guarantee you, if
anyone could handle the workload of an MBA program, it would be her.
Interestingly enough, I met a male Air Force NCO this past winter. He
too received his bachelors degree online while in the Air Force;
assumption would say that he like Janine wouldn't be able to get into a
top MBA program, seeing as his degree was online. But here is the
interesting part, Caleb got into and is now attending the University of
Chicago's Booth School of Business. Undoubtedly, one of the best
Business schools in the world and Janine has yet to go back to grad
school.
University's just like many systems are creating barriers for these
female veterans by failing to understand, appreciate, and accommodate
for female military service and have continued to perpetuate our
``invisible service''.
Thank you.
______
prepared statement of jodie m. grenier
Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Bilirakis and Members of the
Subcommittee:
Thank you for inviting Foundation for Women Warriors to testify
today at this oversight hearing on The Economic Well-Being of Women
Veterans. Foundation for Women Warriors is a non-profit organization
solely dedicated to serving women veterans. Our mission is to ensure
that women's next mission is clear and continues to impact the world.
Our priority is honoring the service of women veterans by strengthening
their future through programs that provide fiscal and personal
empowerment.
I would like to thank the Subcommittee for your commitment to
supporting policies that ensure veterans receive the resources they so
deserve.
First, understanding that the male veteran experience has been
prioritized over women throughout history is key. The same is true
regarding the transition experiences of women as seen in the
undepresentation of women veterans in reintegration studies. Women are
serving in the military in record numbers and represent 10 percent of
the veteran population. There are more than two million women veterans
in the U.S. today and according to VA (Veterans Administration) it
expects women will make up 18 percent of the veteran population by
2040.\1\
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\1\ Department of Veterans Affairs. Women Veterans' Health Care.
Women Veterans Today
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My story is illustrative both for the challenges I did and did not
face as a transitioning woman service member.
I served in the Marine Corps as an Intelligence Analyst from 2000-
2005 and completed two deployments to Iraq, first during the initial
invasion and then a deployment to Ramadi, Fallujah, and throughout the
West Al Anbar Province. My decision to join the military was an easy
one. As a child of a single parent, I lacked the resources to attend
college. My transition out of the service was wrought with frustration,
anger, and feeling generally misunderstood.
You see, I went from briefing unit commanders on potential courses
of action to mitigate imminent threats to our troops to waiting tables.
My transition support consisted of a lack luster transition class.
I navigated college, employment, and undiagnosed PTS alone. I enrolled
full time in a community college under the Montgomery GI bill, balanced
two jobs as a waitress and bartender, and lived with my mother because
I couldn't afford rent.
Later, I left college for a government job at the Space and Naval
Warfare Center. The difference between me and the women our
organization serves, is that I had two major advantages:
1. A marketable top-secret security clearance;
2. I did not have children. This is not the case for 69 percent
of the women veterans who seek help from our organization.
Today, I have a bachelor's in psychology and a masters in
nonprofit leadership and management. In my role as CEO for
Foundation for Women Warriors, I lead our mission to honor and
empower women veterans through transition services.
Our organization's story is truly a testament of women's history in
the US military and mirrors the shifting perspective by which our
Nation has cared for and served this population. Originally founded as
the California Soldier's Widows Housing Association in 1920, our
organization discovered that women veterans faced housing and financial
instability. In 2006, we began delivering short-term, high-impact,
stipends to Iraq and Afghanistan women veterans.
Recognizing the increasing needs of post 9/11 (September 11, 2001)
women veterans, we shifted and now our programs solely serve women and
their children.
Our organization is a living timeline that demonstrates the
financial inequity experienced by women and the constant fight to be
heard by the very country and institutions which women have honorably
served to protect.
Though I am grateful to have your audience today, it is long
overdue.
overview of economic well-being
Foundation for Women Warriors characterizes economic well-being as
having control over one's finances while consistently meeting basic
needs, including food, clothing, housing, utilities, health care,
transportation, education, and childcare. We aim for our clients to
feel secure and prepared to make economic choices for personal
fulfillment. This empowers women to absorb unexpected financial costs
and plan for their future and their children's.
The economic well-being of women veterans is at risk.
Women veterans are the fastest growing segment of
veterans yet are also the fastest growing segment of homeless veterans.
\2\
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\2\ 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
In California, 60 percent of the state's women veterans
reported experiencing some form of housing instability.\3\
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\3\ Housing Instability and Homelessness 2013 California Women
Veteran Survey. California Research Bureau, California
Women veterans have a higher unemployment rate, lower
median income, and are more likely to live below the poverty threshold
compared to their male counterparts.\4\
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\4\ Profile of Veterans: 2015 Data from the American Community
Survey. Prepared by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and
Statistics, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Women veterans are more likely to be single parents yet
are less likely to have the same support network as their male
counterparts while experiencing additional barriers to receiving and
utilizing standard veteran benefits.\5\
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\5\ 49. MacDermid-Wadsworth, S. (2014). Women in Combat. Presented
at Psychological & Social Aspects of Health & Wellbeing.
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issues impacting the economic well-being of women veterans
Many issues can impact the economic well-being of women veterans,
and these, among other gender-specific factors, also put women veterans
at significant risk for homelessness. Key issues impact all veterans'
economic well-being such as, limitedfinancial knowledge, barriers in
accessing benefits, education level at transition, unemployment, loss
of support network, and increasing housing cost as well as the various
emotional challenges associated with reintegrating into civilian
society. The reality is, these issues, compounded with the unique
transition experience of women veterans, cultural stereotypes, higher
rate of single parenting, and the gender pay gap, result in greater
economic risk for women.
During active duty, financial inexperience of youth, low wages,
family obligations, lack of financial education coupled with predatory
lending targeting junior enlisted military contributes to financial
vulnerability among veterans. Sadly, women have even less financial
education than their male peers. The mounting debt and lack of basic
financial skills while in service puts transitioning service members at
greater financial risk. Due to the higher rate of single parenting,
women become more vulnerable.
Transitioning veterans are eligible for various benefits, however
women face increased barriers. Many women who have pursued veterans'
benefits experienced bias, misogyny, and denied claims. Therefore,
women often elect to simply not seek VA benefits. Waiting periods
particularly impact single mothers: the average waiting period for VA
benefits is 123 days.\6\ GI Bill benefits take upwards of 2-3 months.
Additionally, the GI Bill Housing stipend is prorated based on the
number of school days each month.\7\ Housing stipend amounts decrease
during winter and summer breaks, further causing financial instability
for single mothers. In 2018, The VA System upgrade caused a backlog of
GI Bill payments and created a panic among student veterans.\8\ Our
survey found this payment delay caused significant financial stress
among the veterans we serve, especially single mothers.\9\
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\6\ Disability Advisor.com Waiting for Veteran Disability Benefits
Lisa Nuss
\7\ UTSA.edu Post 9/11 GI Bill Housing Allowances
\8\ https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/news.asp
\9\ FFWW 2018 GI Bill Backlog Impact Survey
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Reintegration for women carries stereotypes that men do not
experience. Because women serve with so few women, they lack a natural
peer network that can lead to feeling isolated during transition.\10\
Civilians often fail to recognize women as veterans, leading to
mistrust between women veterans and civilian counterparts. Lack of
social support is linked to depression and shown to increase the risk
of suicide, alcohol use, and various health conditions, hindering
securing employment.\11\
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\10\ https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2017-
demographics-report.pdf
\11\ Mushtaq, R., et. al, (2014). Relationship between loneliness,
psychiatric disorders and physical health. A review on the
psychological aspects of loneliness. Journal of clinical and diagnostic
research: JCDR, 8(9), WE01-WE4. doi:10.7860/JCDR/2014/10077.4828
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Women veterans in all age cohorts earn significantly less than male
veterans, a gap that generally increases with age.\12\ Women veterans
suffer from higher unemployment rates than their male counterparts,
especially post 9/11 women.\13\ We must acknowledge that programs
assisting veterans with civilian employment target men and are less
effective for women.
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\12\ Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for Veterans
Analysis and Statistics (2016). Profile of Women Veterans: 2014[https:/
/www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/SpecialReports/Women--Veterans--2016.pdf]
Washington, DC.
\13\ Data of female veterans used from Zoli, C., Maury, R., & Fay,
D. (2015, November). Missing perspectives: Servicemembers' transition
from service to civilian life-data-driven research to enact the promise
of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Syracuse, NY: Institute for Veterans and
Military Families, Syracuse University
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solutions
During my tenure, FFWW has created programs to help women veterans
remain in/obtain safe and affordable housing. This allows them to
attain or maintain employment, pursue a degree, and provide stability
for their children. It costs $406-$5,038 each month to support a
homeless person.\14\ FFWW housing subsidies save the community $4,722
to $58,000 annually per person served. Our Childcare Assistance,
Warrior Connect, and Connect with Community programs further support
women as they pursue their degree or dream career.
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\14\ Economic Roundtable Study (2009) Where We Sleep. https://
economicrt.org/publication/where-we-sleep/
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The VA and DOD recently partnered to introduce a day of women-
specific training in the Transition Assistance Program. The pilot only
covers VA Healthcare and benefits and lacks a holistic approach to
transition.\15\ This effort must be expanded.
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\15\ https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/va-partners-army-
navy-marine-corps-military-women-transition-program
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Foundation for Women Warriors established a professional
development workshop to fill this market failure. We host daylong
women-focused workshops on reputable college campuses to introduce
women veterans and transitioning women service members to local
community members, build veteran and civilian support networks, provide
onsite career mentoring, anddeliver interactive learning. Attendees
choose our topics via surveys. Thus far we have provided 262 women
veterans and transitioning active duty members sessions on self-
leadership, career navigation, community resources, personal finance,
and networking. We also provide onsite childcare, removing a frequent
barrier to professional development for single mothers.
According to the National Coalition of Homelessness and California
Department of Veteran Affairs, the top 4 concerns of women veterans are
housing, employment, education, and childcare.\16\ Childcare costs are
a major obstacle for women veterans. Eleven percent of women service
members are single parents compared with 4 percent of men.\17\ After
surveying our clients and finding childcare is a top concern, we
launched our Childcare Assistance program, the only one we've found to
specifically offer working and student veteran mothers childcare
stipends to ensure family stability. Approximately 60 percent of the
women we serve are single parents, and 68.9 percent of them have minor
children living at home.
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\16\ http://www.nchv.org/images/uploads/HFV%20paper.pdf
\17\ U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014).
Employment Characteristics of Families Summary. Economic News Release,
Washington, DC. Accessed 14-08-22. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/
famee.nr0.htm
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While there are programs to subsidize childcare, often working
veteran moms do not qualify. The average weekly cost for an infant
child is $211 for a day-care center and $195 for a family care
center.\18\ In California, single moms spend 60 percent of their income
to care for their kids while working and attending college. The
disparity between subsidized in service and civilian childcare costs is
a major obstacle for veterans.\19\ Affordable, safe, and flexible
childcare is a major barrier in maintaining employment, career
advancement, and pursuing educational goals for 69 percent of the women
we serve.
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\18\ Cost of Care Survey (2018) www.care.com
\19\ https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/
appendices%2010.19.18.pdf
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Historically, hitting rock bottom--unemployed, homeless, with
substance abuse issues--has been the standard for receiving assistance.
While it is imperative to assist our most vulnerable communities, it is
just as important to invest in the prevention of becoming the most
vulnerable.
Foundation for Women Warriors redefines ``at risk'' as those who
are unable to their meet financial obligations, reframes assistance as
a hand up, and invests in the critical areas to empowering independence
and goal attainability. While services for women veterans have shown
improvement, they are not currently on track to keep pace with the
need. Our programs have shown great success in keeping women housed,
employed and on the path to completing their degrees, however our
capacity is limited by funding and our visibility is overshadowed by
organizations catering to the male experience.
That is why, today, FFWW is asking your subcommittee to fund
research into women's experiences with reintegration that expands
beyond women veterans utilizing the VA, consider expanding VA's
existing grant programs that serve homeless and at-risk veterans to
address priorities held by women veterans, and Congress should seek to
establish accessible and effective financial literacy within active
duty military.
To resolve the issues impacting women veterans' economic well-
being, Foundation for Women Warriors presents the following
recommendations for consideration:
1. Fund research on the reintegration experiences of women
veterans to better understand barriers to employment, wage gap,
and identify key shortfalls in transition assistance.
2. Increase funding for women veteran specific preventative
services through current VA grant programs to address women's
priorities such as childcare. This will enable expanded support
to include stipends for childcare to remove short-term
obstacles to long-term employment and housing stability.
3. Expand Strategic Collaboration between Department of Labor
and women's veteran organizations to understand and remove the
barriers to employment for women veterans.
4. Eliminate financial vulnerabilities by increase funding for,
and access to, effective financial literacy within active duty
military. Engage a non-DOD entity with the requisite expertise.
5. Research the childcare needs of student veterans (by race
and gender) and determine the feasibility of GI bill childcare
stipend to provide affordable and quality childcare.
In closing, I want to thank the Subcommittee for your interest in
improving economic well-being of our Nation's women veterans. If we are
to continue to move the needle forward with women's equity in this
country, we must first solve the issues impacting the women who so
valiantly volunteered to serve the same country that has historically
treated them as less than. Foundation for Women Warriors is eager to
assist you in your efforts any way we can. This completes my statement.
I am available to respond to any questions you may have.
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Additional Submissions for the Record
=======================================================================
Submission for the Record
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prepeared statement of joy j. ilem
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for holding this important oversight hearing on the
economic well-being of women veterans. As you know, DAV (Disabled
American Veterans) is a non-profit veterans service organization
comprised of more than one million wartime service-disabled veterans
that is dedicated to a single purpose: empowering veterans to lead
high-quality lives with respect and dignity. Given the continued
support for improving services for women veterans, we appreciate the
opportunity to provide comments on this issue.
DAV has published two comprehensive reports about women veterans.
Our first report, published in 2014, Women Veterans: The Long Journey
Home, concentrated on specific issues women veterans face as they
transition from service members to veterans. Briefly, it found that
women veterans have unique challenges to overcome as they reconnect
with their families and communities after deployment and resume their
roles as spouses, mothers and caregivers. It found that women veterans
often do not identify as veterans, may not be aware of the many Federal
programs available to serve them and may not understand their
eligibility for them. It also found that the cultures of both the
military and veterans' communities do not always embrace women veterans
or celebrate service women's military service and accomplishments.
Our second report, published in September 2018, Women Veterans: The
Journey Ahead, looked more generally at the effectiveness of Federal
programs and services for women veterans. It found that the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA), while making progress, is still struggling to
adapt its staffing needs, infrastructure and programs as well as
increased resources to meet the increasing numbers of women veterans
seeking care at VA.
Thankfully, significant efforts of VA's research community
interested in women veterans' health have established internal networks
to identify the unique needs of women veterans to change the culture
and effectiveness of VA's care and specialized services for women
veterans. Congress has supported this effort by conducting oversight
that keeps the spotlight on women veterans--who still represent a
small, but rapidly growing population within the military and veterans'
communities. Despite these efforts and the attention to the issue, we
have just begun to understand the challenges women veterans face in the
employment arena as well as the gender differences in treatment,
effectiveness and gender preferences.
employment and educational attainment
We know that women veterans generally fare the same or better than
civilian women in terms of being employed full time and having higher
median income. Women veterans are more likely to have higher
educational attainment (35.9 percent of the working aged veteran
population compared to 30.5 percent of non-veteran women) and less
likely to live in poverty (5.1 percent compared to 8.6 percent).\1\
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\1\ US Department of Commerce. Economic and Statistics
Administration. US Census Bureau. Characteristics of Female Veterans--
An Analytic View Across Age Cohorts: 2015. August 2017.
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However, a recent report from the Department of Labor shows
troublesome trends among women veterans in the workforce. According to
a July 5 news release, women veterans' unemployment rates have more
than doubled over the past year from two to 4.6 percent while male
veterans' unemployment has dropped from 3.5 to 3 percent between June
2018 and June 2019. The decrease in rates for men is found across
service eras while the uptick for women's unemployment also holds
across service eras. It is unclear what is causing this trend.
Two important factors distinguish women veterans from their non-
veteran peers--specifically, women veterans are far more likely to
marry (45.1 percent v. 29.6 percent) and have children (49.1 percent v.
33.4 percent) within the early career cohort compared to civilian women
who by mid and late career, are less likely to be married, but are
about equally likely to have children in the household.
A 2013 report found women veterans are ``ovepresented'' in Federal
employment (24 percent) in relation to their proportion of the
veterans' population (about six to 8 percent at the time of the
report). Compared to male veterans, women have higher educational
attainment, but lower median income. It is important to understand
which factors most significantly contribute to this difference and
address them.
homelessness
Women are also overrepresented in the homeless veterans' population
in comparison to their representation in the overall veterans'
community. They are two times as likely to be homeless as civilian
women and women veterans living in poverty are three times as likely to
lose housing.\2\ With higher educational attainment and median income
than civilian women, it is surprising that homelessness is a more
significant issue for women veterans.
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\2\ VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans (2016). Women
Veterans and Homelessness
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Family structure--the tendency for women veterans to marry and have
children early and dissolve marriages by the time they enter middle and
late career cohorts--may partially account for some of this tendency.
Women veterans likely are, or become, the single parents of dependent
children within the first decade post-deployment. Women may have
especially challenging paths reintegrating as parents and spouses after
deployment, especially if they were exposed to combat or other
traumatic events including sexual trauma. Rates of military sexual
trauma and harassment are extremely high: in 2018, 6 percent of female
service members reported assault and 24 percent reported harassment
within the past 12 months. About 12 percent of these women reported
exposure to both.\3\ About 25 percent of women using VA health care
report they had been exposed to sexual trauma in the military.
Additionally, a recent report found that one in four women reported
harassment from male veterans while seeking care at a VA facility.
Women veterans are also more likely than peers to be exposed to
intimate partner violence before or after deployment. Exposure to
sexual trauma may cause or exacerbate post-traumatic stress disorder,
depression or anxiety. There is also research suggesting intimate
partner violence leads to higher prevalence of traumatic brain injuries
in women veterans than non-veteran women.
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\3\ DOD SAPRO Report 2018.
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Women veterans' utilization of VA mental health and substance use
disorder services (about 40 percent used some service in Fiscal Year
2015 compared to 25 percent of men) is high compared to male peers.\4\
Women in the youngest age cohort make the most use (45 percent) of
these services. Additionally, women veterans use these services more
intensively than their male peers.
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\4\ Department of Veterans Affairs. Sourcebook: Vol. 4. P. 64.
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Finally, women who use VHA are also more likely to have service-
connected disabilities. In 2015, 63 percent of all women using VHA had
service-connected disabilities and women in the youngest cohort (18-44
years old) were most likely to have service-connected disabilities (73
percent).\5\
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\5\ Ibid, p. 35
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financial literacy
The 2018 CHALENG (Community Homeless Assessment, Local Education
and Networking Groups) report identifies credit problems among the
greatest needs for homeless male and female veterans. Veterans of both
sexes reported financial guardianship and credit counseling as two of
their greatest unmet needs. DAV is also aware that some veterans'
retreats offer a financial literature component, which may be an
important factor in the success of their readjustment. We have strongly
supported gender-exclusive retreats for recently separated veterans.
In conclusion, while there are some bright spots that show women
veterans are favorably positioned in terms of financial security
compared to non-veteran women there are a number of factors related to
military service that can act as a barrier for women veterans gaining
meaningful employment particularly for women veterans with disabilities
(service or nonservice connected). One study highligted that women
veterans reporting a disability are more likely to be unemployed than
non-veterans and had greater odds of being out of the labor force.\6\
These findings indicate that disability status needs to be considered
when discussing employment and earning possibilities for women
veterans.
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\6\ Prokos, A., Cabage, L.N. (2017). Women military veterans,
disability and employment. Armed Forces and Society 43(2): 346-7.
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Likewise, more research into the gender differences and factors
affecting a successful transition from military to veteran status for
women, such as increasing or higher rates of homelessness, suicide,
substance-use disorders, sexual trauma and harassment among this
subpopulation are warranted. Programs and services for women veterans
should be reviewed and adjusted to reflect the impact of military
service and their unique transition needs as well as tracking outcomes
in gainful employment.
Thank you for holding this important hearing today to examine the
financial well-being of women veterans and for inviting DAV to submit
testimony for the record. I will be happy to respond to any questions
you may have.
[all]