Five years after a landmark report warned that women in the armed forces were at “greater risk of harm” from ill-fitting uniform and equipment, servicewomen say they are still being issued kit that does not fit properly.
The 2021 Atherton report ordered the Ministry of Defence to roll out safer, more appropriate kit for female personnel by the end of 2022. While improvements have been made, women have told the BBC that shortages of smaller sizes have resulted in “competition” among troops, and body armour still fails to account for breasts.
“Five years after Atherton report, female troops still face ill-fitting kit and body armour shortages.”
“I never felt that I was neat, tidy, presentable, or in the uniform that I was meant to be in,” said veteran Rhian Brown, who left the Army Reserve in 2024 after seven years as an infantry platoon commander. “I never really felt that it protected me or entirely fulfilled the purpose that it was meant to.”
Following the Atherton report, the MoD introduced a new version of its body armour in 2022, the Virtus Scalable Tactical Vest, which has adjustable straps and smaller flat plates. Brown wore it in training and on deployments.
She says the newer version was an improvement, feeling “tight and secure” and looking smarter, “but, ultimately, it still wasn’t designed to fit me”.
“Women are not flat, we have breasts and curves,” Brown continued. “The plates are flat, it doesn’t fit, it is not flexible – fit isn’t about vanity, it’s about safety.”
Brown recalled one occasion when the person issuing body armour told her: “You’re probably a small... but we don’t have any smalls so here, take this medium.”
Meanwhile, the MoD has paid for the supply of 2,000 sets of new curved body armour plates for women in the Ukrainian armed forces. The UK government said it spent £4.5bn on military support to Ukraine last year. The contract with NP Aerospace, based in Coventry, was in response to a specific operational need and sat outside the UK’s wider equipment programmes.
The MoD said it ensured everyone had access to the “best equipment they need to protect themselves in combat”.
