The UK defense subcommittee, which described its inquiry into the treatment of women in the military as “one of the most important” in its history, said that 62% of respondents said they had experienced some form of bullying, harassment or discrimination while serving.
More than 4,100 women testified for the report, including staff and veterans.
The testimonies, given in confidential and public evidence, include gang-rape, sexual assault by drugs, sexual exploitation of under-18s and “trophies” or contests to “bag the women” on camp or on ships.
Some women also claimed they were bullied for refusing sexual advances and witnessed groups of men attacking their friends but were “too afraid to report it.”
“The military has come a long way in recent years… However, it is clear to us that the military is, in many ways, a man’s world,” Sarah Atherton, chair of the subcommittee on women in the Armed Forces, said in a statement.
She added that “the Complaints system, as it stands, is…