A new report released by Disabled American Veterans revealed that while nearly 300,000 women served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, many are still being neglected by the government systems meant to care for veterans.
“There’s no doubt that the VA was originally geared toward serving men, but the population has really been growing, and we have been actively working to transform the care for women’s veterans,” Sally Haskell, deputy chief consultant for women’s health at VA, said in an interview with the Washington Post.
In order to foster a cultural change within the Department of Veterans Affairs, hospitals are putting up posters with phrases such as, “Not every GI is a Joe.” The VA is also hiring more female veteran program managers and requiring their staff to take cultural awareness training.