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Women veteran’s issues on the table for panel of trailblazers

Boston Herald - 3/30/2022

A group of glass ceiling-breaking women met in Mattapan Tuesday for the the city’s first Women Veterans Roundtable, hosted by UMass Boston.

Mayor Michelle Wu, the first woman elected to the seat in the city’s history, was the keynote speaker for the event at American Legion Post 16, which aimed to foster a discussion of health, wellness and education among women veterans.

She was joined by Cmdr. Billie Farrell, the first woman to command the U.S.S. Constitution, Lt. Col. Natasha Sunday Clark, the first woman to command the U.S. Army’s New England Recruiting Battalion, and a panel of six other women veterans with connections to veterans programs and organizations.

“You are an inspiration – your service continues to set a standard for what it means to be a part of our city, our country,” Wu told the group.

“I’m very privileged and honored that I get to represent (women in service), and sit on this panel of amazing women that came before me and paved the way so that I can do this job,” Farrell told the audience of mostly women, many of whom were also veterans.

UMass Boston Professor and Veterans Coordinator Lovelle Seymore, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, served as moderator. She began the panel by noting that while all veterans have needs after service, women veterans in particular have specific needs that, in part due to their smaller numbers, are often overlooked.

Women comprise 10 percent of the veteran population nationally, and Boston Veterans Commissioner Robert Santiago said that number is closer to 7 percent in the city.

“We have an amazing kaleidoscope of women veterans who were here before us and who represent us now and together we are paving the way for our future,” Seymore said.

Questions posed to the panel ranged from fitness routines post service and advice on education to specific challenges women face in service. Sexual assault and discrimination was a problem echoed by several.

“Military sexual trauma is still underreported,” Lynette Gabrila, Veteran Agent for the Town of Gardner told the panel, after relating the story of her own assault while serving.

“One of the biggest challenges I had was sexual harassment,” said Christine Tron, Veteran of Foreign Wars state Aide-de-Camp. “As I rose through the ranks I always heard that I didn’t earn it. That I was being promoted because I was a woman.”

Seymore said she plans to host more of the panels going forward.

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