The latest complaint, compiled by 60 senior civilians in the department, includes a list of allegations so comprehensive it gives the impression its culture of sexism is institutionalised.
There is a "senior civil servant" who groped a female colleague at a Christmas party, but she was advised not to talk about it. There are the group of "junior military officers" who kept an Excel spreadsheet of whom they rated most attractive and "what they thought they'd be like in bed".
Everyday sexism is reported to be pervasive at the heart of defence culture. "I avoid walking through the Pillared Hall alone," says one, referring to the vast atrium at the heart of the MoD's Main Building in Whitehall. "The groups of men staring is horrible," she says, while another account refers to "eyes tracking me".
Nominally, 39.8% of MoD civilian personnel are women. But among the military, the figure is far lower, 11.4%, and in Whitehall the cultures blend in favour of male domination. Another woman reports that she tallied in her notebook the number of women in senior policy meetings.
This story is from the November 17, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the November 17, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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