Female Service Leavers and Employment

Abstract: This report examines the transition that female Service Leavers (SLs) make from the Armed Forces into civilian paid employment. Despite the fact that anecdotal evidence suggests that female SLs are highly valued by civilian employers, they have a lower employment rate (69 per cent) than male SLs (81 per cent), and a higher economic inactivity rate (20 per cent compared with 9 per cent for males), while their employment outcomes are mixed; higher proportions of female SLs, for example, enter professional occupations and caring, leisure and other service occupations. As the reasons behind this discrepancy were not known, the Forces in Mind Trust commissioned Cranfield University and the Institute for Employment Studies to carry out research to understand why economic inactivity is lower, and employment outcomes are currently less successful, for female compared to male SLs. This report presents the findings from the research study, along with conclusions and recommendations.