91传媒

Making women veterans visible

It was 1977 in La Grande, and Elizabeth Estabrooks, 鈥�01, hadn鈥檛 really planned on joining the U.S. Army. She had just accepted a higher paying job and bought a new Nova SS, but the job fell through and a friend talked her into going down to the recruiters鈥� office together.

鈥淎t the time, women had to give up custody of children to join the Army鈥攎en didn鈥檛, but women did,鈥� Estabrooks said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have kids at the time, but my friend did. She didn鈥檛 join the Army that day, but I did.鈥�

Estabrooks has burnished the resilience and intelligence she had then. She now serves as Deputy Director of the Center for Women Veterans in Washington, D.C., ensuring women veterans across the
country have equal access to benefits and services from Veterans Affairs (VA).

91传媒 12 years after leaving the Army, she embarked on a career in social work and assisted people who had experienced domestic violence or sexual assault. She eventually enrolled at 91传媒 as an online student to earn a degree in Liberal Studies, and later received a Master鈥檚 of Social Work from Columbia.

鈥淚 use what I learned in the Army and at 91传媒 and in my career,鈥� Estabrooks said. 鈥淎ll of those experiences combined have brought me here and allowed me to help women veterans and women in general.鈥�

At 91传媒, she focused on political science and gender studies, and became one of the first graduates with that concentration. Estabrooks was a single parent when she was taking classes online from Baker City. Her daughter was 17 and her son was 5 when they watched her walk across the stage in Community Stadium.

She attended some weekend classes, but primarily interacted with faculty and peers through the then-new online classroom.

鈥�91传媒 was doing a lot of work to make sure people could get their college education in a legitimate way from home, and showing that a quality university could provide a quality degree to students who weren鈥檛 sitting in their chairs in that town,鈥� she said.

A degree from 91传媒 equipped her to pursue larger roles in a field she had long been interested in exploring.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been a feminist,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always understood that women are disenfranchised and there鈥檚 a need to acknowledge that in anything you approach. [My degree] put a finer point to that and gave me an academic lens to look through.鈥�

“I’ve always understood that women are disenfranchised and that there’s a need to acknowledge that in anything you approach.”

– Elizabeth Estabrooks

Serving in the Army in the late 鈥�70s affirmed her feminist stance.

The Women鈥檚 Army Corps had just been dismantled and leaders were working to integrate women into the Army. Estabrooks went through basic training with the second group of women to ever complete the course alongside men.

鈥淲e did everything they did. We threw hand grenades, ran the same distance, fired the same weapons,鈥� she said.

She scored highly on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), but was shuttled into the supply field with a mass of recruits.

At that time, thousands of Army jobs were still closed to women. Estabrooks wanted to be a Ranger, but a sergeant told her, 鈥済irls can鈥檛 be Rangers.鈥� She finished the 12-week course in half the time and requested to join the 82nd Airborne. A different sergeant gave her a familiar answer, 鈥済irls can鈥檛 be Airborne.鈥�

鈥淎s a woman in the Army, it didn鈥檛 go well for me鈥攄iscrimination, sexual harassment and no bonuses, so I left when my three years were up,鈥� Estabrooks said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hate the Army, but discrimination was embedded in every structure, and I hated that.鈥�

Since May 2020, she鈥檚 helped lead the Center for Women Veterans and worked to dismantle some of the structures that pushed her out of the military decades ago.

There are two million women veterans, but only 800,000 are en- rolled in the VA and just 500,000 use VA-provided healthcare.

鈥淥ne of the biggest barriers is being recognized as veterans,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople assume men are veterans and they assume women are not. I鈥檝e seen it over and over again.鈥�

This basic acknowledgement has big implications. Being recognized as veterans has the power to tangibly improve women鈥檚 lives and quality of care, Estabrooks said.

鈥淲omen have served in the military and in combat in this country since the Revolutionary War, and the fact that they鈥檙e not acknowledged is shameful,鈥� Estabrooks said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a shift that needs to happen because it matters how women see themselves, too. Those barriers are so real.鈥�

She cited statistics that men tend to talk about their service more than women do. That internalized divide, corroborated by popular culture, can stand between women veterans and benefits, healthcare or policy change.

鈥淚 met a woman who鈥檇 been a Marine for 13 years, but she told me she鈥檚 not a veteran. For years I said, 鈥業鈥檓 just a girl who was in the Army, I鈥檓 not a veteran,鈥欌�� Estabrooks said. 鈥淚t sounds simple, but not applying that word to yourself gets in the way of the things you deserve.鈥�

When women don鈥檛 self-identify as veterans, there鈥檚 less data about their needs or the ways current policy overlooks specific issues. Estabrooks said women veterans are the fastest growing group of homeless veterans.

鈥淲hen they don鈥檛 say 鈥榮he鈥� on Veterans Day or have women standing up there, they鈥檙e leaving out what we鈥檝e done, our experiences and our honor,鈥� she said.

Her own negative experiences have fueled a lifetime of work toward honoring other women.

鈥淧eople hear so much about military sexual trauma, and I always point out that even with the negative experiences, women veterans are resilient,鈥� she said. 鈥淩esilience is a big piece of the character of women veterans. We鈥檙e not defined by the bad things that happen to us. We鈥檙e defined by the strength and resilience that we as veterans have gained.鈥�