Women Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police: A scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: This scoping review charts academic literature and government documents about women Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The current review is unique because the scope is limited to Canadian women Veterans, and the author incorporates non-academic literature and information about RCMP women Veterans, and reviews literature about women Veterans as a whole rather than focusing on a specific issue. Methods: The author included research in this review if it substantively mentioned women Veterans of the CAF or RCMP, used Canadian data disaggregated by sex or gender, came to novel conclusions, and was published before Dec. 31, 2020. Grounded theory was used for analysis. Results: Canadian women Veterans appear to face different mental and physical issues than their male counterparts and women in the Canadian general population (CGP), but these gendered issues are understudied. Women CAF Veterans also earn less after release and are more likely to have a difficult transition out of the military than men CAF Veterans. Little is known about RCMP women Veterans. Discussion: Gaps in the literature include a lack of original qualitative research, insufficient inclusion of women Veterans, and particularly women RCMP Veterans, in population studies of Veterans, not enough comparative research of women Veterans and women in the CGP, and a lack of data about women Veterans' service use and needs.