Call of duty: the ethical imperative to increase the participation of women in UK military research

• Published in: BMJ military health Vol. 169; no. 1; p. 102
• Main Authors: Kolstoe, Simon E, Affleck, P, Cons, J, Davis, M C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 01.02.2023; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Armed forces; Committees; Defense research; Ethics; ETHICS (see Medical Ethics); Female; Funding; Health policy; Humans; Letter; MEDICAL ETHICS; Military Personnel; Physiology; Research ethics; Researchers; United Kingdom; Women; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; MEDICAL ETHICS; ETHICS (see Medical Ethics); Health policy
• ISSN: 2633-3767; 2633-3775
• DOI: 10.1136/military-2022-002168

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee (MODREC)1, is an independent committee of academic and lay members constituted to provide ethical accountability for human participant research. Committee members have struggled to support this view and are concerned that women in particular are routinely and unfairly overlooked in many research programmes. Since UK ground close combat roles were opened to women in 2016, MODREC has reviewed a series of well-designed studies (e.g., by Army Health and Performance Research) that ethically address specific challenges, risks and/or mitigations relevant to women in the Armed Forces.2 However, while useful knowledge is being generated by some research teams, MODREC has noted a more general, persistent, pattern of women being excluded from research. Similar views have been echoed in this journal, noting the under-representation of women in interventional research in particular.3 The lower number of women in the Armed Forces makes recruitment, and the generation of adequate statistical power, challenging for researchers.