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Divorce Rate Triple for U.S. Female Soldiers, Report Finds

by generaldecay | October 16, 2009 at 12:40 am

159 views | 28 Recommendations | 9 comments

More than 30,000 single mothers have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army, the most heavily deployed branch of the military, gives women just four months to stay stateside with their newborns before deploying to the war zone, leaving them little time to bond with or nurse their infants.

These are immensely unfortunate statistics. Basically, the report - by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America - suggests that the family life and circumstances of women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan fare much worse than that of men.

Divorce rates are higher for deployed women, for example.

The divorce rate for female soldiers is nearly triple that of the men who wear the same uniform.

And the differences don't stop when the women come home.

Conditions do not improve after female soldiers leave the military and become veterans. IAVA’s report found that, on average, female veterans earn almost $10,000 less than male veterans and often struggle to find jobs that pay as well as their military careers did. Women veterans are up to four times more likely to be homeless than women who have never served in the military. Of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, almost 10 percent are women, and many of them have families, but only a dozen homeless shelters for veterans accept women.

The piece doesn't give any indication of why these differences exist but there are likely explanations in the report itself.

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158

at 07:14 on October 16th, 2009

Good story.

This is not surprising. All soldiers are expected to go where assigned and that means going to war when necessary. There is no exception for mothers or fathers. It is something for a mother to consider if she is considering the army. An d this moving around can cause martial problems. Sad, but a fact of life,

generaldecay

at 11:03 on October 22nd, 2009

158, that is sadly the case indeed. Thanks for the comment.

Nauman Umair Khan

at 08:27 on October 16th, 2009

Sad story, sad indeed...

Amy Judd

at 08:39 on October 16th, 2009

It is very sad, but they must have known that circumstances would be different when they joined the army versus working in an office for instance; I'm not saying they deserve it then by any means but they should have some awareness of it.

generaldecay

at 11:05 on October 22nd, 2009

I guess it's about the information they receive beforehand. I have read before that the length of time before deployment is often shortened, for example, which is something that cannot necessarily be prepared for. Also I wonder if joining the army/ military is a 'last stop shop' for some people. That is, they don't enlist completely willingly, eployment is even harsher in those circumstances. Not sure...

Thanks for the recommendation and comment.

Hugh Askew

at 08:41 on October 16th, 2009

Not surprising. Yet, even with facts in hand, were one to say that perhaps we would be better served, were women barred from extended tour, the charges of misogyny would rain down upon ones head.

generaldecay

at 11:06 on October 22nd, 2009

Hugh, you make a good point there. I suppose it's about finding a middle ground between that position and the other of taking mothers away from very young babies too soon.

Thanks for the comment.