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SAPR

Show us Where Action is Needed: Take the Workplace and Gender Relations Survey

by Andrea N. Goldstein, Assistant Director of Force Resiliency at the Department of the Navy | 11 February 2022

by Andrea N. Goldstein, Assistant Director of Force Resiliency at the Department of the Navy | 11 February 2022

Sailors and Marines,

The DoD is actively reforming its approach to sexual violence in the military cultural change starts with each individual Sailor, Marine, and civilian.

The Department of the Navy needs your participation in the Workplace and Gender Relations Survey (WGR) of Military Members to know where the department needs to focus attention and take action to combat sexual assault and harassment.

I encourage Sailors and Marines to take this opportunity to voice the issues directly affecting them. As a drilling reservist, I take the survey every time it’s offered. The WGR survey is available at www.dodsurveys.mil and is voluntary, confidential, and can be taken during the workday from any internet-enabled device.

The data collected in this survey is how you can impact necessary change. While social media can be an effective tool to highlight issues that require rapid response, and is a forum for survivors to be heard and support one another, social media anecdotes do not show decision-makers wider trends or context.

Social media is filled with anecdotes and shared experiences about instances of sexism, discrimination, accessing help, and reporting and seeking justice for sexual harassment and sexual assault. It’s clear there are challenges that must be overcome for meaningful change.

The DoN is committed to preventing sexual harassment and assault before they occur, including addressing inappropriate, harmful behaviors that run counter to good order and discipline and tarnish our core values.

Your input will help us create healthier command climates. By taking the survey, you are leading change from within.

From research-based on previous iterations of this survey, the DoN learned that harmful behaviors in a unit increase the risk that someone will also experience sexual assault.

The 2018 WGR survey identified five harmful behaviors — workplace hostility, lack of respect and responsibility, lack of unit cohesion, gender discrimination, and sexual harassment — which create environments that are permissive of sexual assault. While many service members might already know this intuitively, having the data makes it irrefutable. Help make the Navy and Marine Corps better. Share your thoughts today at www.dodsurveys.mil.

Andrea Goldstein is the Assistant Director of Force Resiliency at the Department of the Navy. She has served in the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer in both active and reserve components. As a congressional staffer, she was instrumental in the passage of the Deborah Sampson Act, the most consequential legislation supporting women veterans in more than a decade.

 

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