Content warning: mentions of sexual violence
With Veterans Day coming up Thursday, the Boston City Council met with Veterans’ Services officials and local veterans to discuss improving services for women veterans specifically during a virtual meeting Tuesday morning.
The meeting was sponsored by Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards and Councilor Ed Flynn, who chairs the Veterans and Military Affairs committee.
Nearly 7% of veterans in Massachusetts are female, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics.
“Although women currently comprise of nearly 20% of serving military personnel and 10% of the veteran population, many women veterans do not receive proper recognition for their services and face a host of issues when they re-enter civilian life,” the docket reads.
Municipal officials and women who served in the armed forces shared their experiences in the military and the difficulties of transitioning from active duty to civilian life as public testimony.
At the meeting, Edwards shared that the conversation “means so much” because she grew up on military bases, as her own mother is an Air Force veteran.
“There’s something very unique about the families and military base life and a special kind of bond that you have with everybody who’s grown up there,” Edwards said. “But there’s also something especially bonding for those of us who were children of mothers in the military.”
Deputy Commissioner at the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Services Robert Santiago said it “speaks volumes” that every woman who served in the military did so voluntarily.
“They have given their blood, sweat and tears and even their lives to protect our freedoms and our way of life,” he said. “When there was a need they answered the call, now it is incumbent upon us to return the call in their time of need.”
One-fourth of women veterans experience military sexual trauma during service, according to City of Boston data. Women are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to male veterans.
Roseann Trionfi-Mazzuchelli, Massachusetts Veterans’ Service Officers Association President and Director of the Veteran Services Department for the town of Winthrop, said she experienced MST during her service in the United States Army and now hopes to bring more awareness to the needs of female military vets.
“I had a bad experience with my MST claim. I haven’t been able to sit down and redo it because I was told I was law enforcement and I should’ve known better,” she said. “That hit me hard.”
Massachusetts Women’s Veterans Steering Committee member and veteran Marydith Tuitt spoke on the difficulties of finding a job after leaving service during the council hearing.
Tuitt said employers would either tell her she was underqualified for a job without a college degree, despite her experience as a jet mechanic in the military.
“I was treated differently because I was a woman of color. I was treated differently because I was a woman. So that’s two hits right there,” Tuitt said. “I had to prove myself over other women that were in my shop.”
Even as a veteran, Tuitt said she faced discrimination because of her race and gender, and she was often not recognized as a service member.
“I think we should have something that says ‘proudly she served’ because I have a veteran plate and when I park my car and get out of my car, people say ‘Tell your husband thank you for his service,’” Tuitt said.
Years after coming out of active service, Trionfi-Mazzuchelli said in an interview she still struggles with her transition from a strict, regimented environment into civilian life.
“There are times that my kids still tell me that ‘You’re not in the army anymore, Mom,’ and I have to take a step back because I expect things done a certain way and in a certain timeframe,” she said. “When things don’t happen that way, it’s very frustrating.”
National consultant with the Women’s Veterans Network Carole Corchado — who was not a participant in the council meeting — said it’s harder for women veterans to utilize their network because they often have to take care of their homes and families when they re-enter civilian life.
“When you get out, you’re so involved with all the things like trying to get your resume, get a job that by the time you realize that you’ve fallen into that rabbit hole, it’s been a year and then you’re thinking ‘Wow, what’s happened? Where are my sister veterans?,’” Corchado said.
Corchado said she thinks the VA should improve outreach to women veterans.
Carolyn Mason Wholley, woman veterans program manager for Veteran Affairs Boston, said at the meeting her office works to provide comprehensive services such as gynecology, mammography and other radiology care to over 4,000 women veterans a year.
Boston’s VA office has been working to reform the perception that women are not veterans over the last 10 years, Mason Wholley said in an interview.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on culture change, which means really trying to change the perception of who is a veteran, who served, who deserves what resources, what benefits,” she said. “I tend to have more difficulty convincing a woman veteran that she is eligible and worthy of benefits that are out there.”
Housing for homeless women veterans can be less attainable, while Mason Wholley said more women are showing up to shelters with their children.
To better recognize their service and offer more resources, Edwards said at the hearing the City will continue listening and meeting with women veterans.
“I think the greatest thing we can do is acknowledge the patriotism, the bravery of all of our soldiers and I think as a City of Boston, we’re going to lead and we’re going to do just that,” Edwards said. “That means also dealing with the harder truths of what it means to serve.”
