Around the Table: How Women Veterans’ Voices Drive Advocacy

Women have served throughout the history of America’s armed forces, taking on an expanding range of roles and responsibilities and contributing meaningfully to mission success. Yet, for many women veterans, the transition out of uniform brings distinct challenges — from accessing the right health care and benefits to receiving recognition and maintaining connection and a sense of belonging after service.  

Addressing these challenges begins with listening.  

At Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP), that commitment to listening is a foundation for advocacy. By creating an intentional space for women veterans to share their experiences and connect with one another, WWP® turns individual stories into collective insight. This insight shapes advocacy efforts, informs policy priorities, and helps ensure the systems meant to support women veterans reflect their realities.  

WWP’s Women Warriors Initiative Roundtable Series 

In 2026, WWP is hosting a series of national Women Warriors Initiative Roundtables. These events will bring together women veterans in 10 cities across the country, including Nashville, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia, to hear directly from women warriors about their lived experiences and unique issues. These discussions serve as listening forums where women warriors speak openly about life after service and identify gaps in care, policy, and support. 

Insights gathered throughout the series will inform WWP’s advocacy efforts and policy direction. The roundtables also serve as an opportunity for women warriors to connect and strengthen ties to their peers. 

“When women veterans come together and share their experiences, it brings clarity to challenges that aren’t always visible in the data,” said WWP Chief Program Officer Jen Silva. “Those conversations are what help us push for solutions that are both practical and meaningful.” 

What Women Warriors Are Sharing 

While each roundtable will reflect the unique experiences of the women veterans who participate, these conversations provide space to discuss a range of issues that women warriors often identify as important. This year’s roundtables will focus on four themes from the WWP’s most recent Women Warriors Report, including:  

• Gender-based barriers to service connection when applying for benefits. 
• Gender-specific health care needs. 
• Economic empowerment and stability. 
• Connection and recognition after service. 

Together, these discussions build understanding around where women veterans experience barriers or challenges and what additional attention or support may be needed. 

One Woman’s Experience 

For Christina Krych, service has never been a single chapter. She served 23 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 2012. Her decision to join the military, she said, was “not a snap decision,” but “more an evolution,” shaped by curiosity about the wider world and a desire to push herself beyond her comfort zone. 

That path led her to a career blending diplomacy and defense. “I ended up becoming a political military officer for the Army,” she stated, a role that drew on her international studies background.  

Like many veterans, Christina found that leaving the military also meant redefining purpose.  

“The military has built-in purpose,” she said. “When [veterans] get out, they have to discover what their new purpose is.”  

For Christina, that purpose remained rooted in service.  

“One of my values is service … I’ve discovered through transition that I need to continue to serve. I need to be mission-focused, and I need to continue to serve.” 

When Service Takes a New Form 

For Christina, showing up to listen was a natural extension of the values that shaped her military career. 

“The very first Wounded Warrior Project event I went to was a Women Warriors’ Initiative roundtable in Colorado Springs in 2025,” she said. “That’s what pulled me in … I thought, they’re interested in hearing from women veterans.”  

What she heard during that roundtable reshaped her understanding of the challenges women veterans face.  

“The struggle post-transition” stood out, she continued. Health concerns were a major topic, and she also heard firsthand how widespread sexual harassment and assault can be within military environments.  Listening to others’ experiences, she added, “it opened my eyes.” 

From Listening to Leadership 

Christina’s involvement eventually extended beyond the roundtable to engaging directly with lawmakers.  

When she was invited to participate in the 2025 Women Warriors Summit and speak with members of Congress and their staff, she said she felt privileged. She saw it as a responsibility bigger than any single story.: “I felt like I was amplifying tens of thousands of voices.” 

By continuing to listen and elevate women warriors’ voices, WWP helps ensure women veterans remain central to conversations about the systems designed to serve them. The goal is not only better understanding, but stronger support. 

For Christina, her goals are both practical and deeply personal. She wants women veterans to build lives of health, connection, and meaning. She hopes women veterans can “move forward and continue to write their hero story.”  

Throughout the 2026 series of Women Warrior Roundtables, WWP will feature other women warriors, their stories, and what they gained from speaking with other women veterans in their community.  

“At the end of the day, this work is about making sure women veterans feel seen, supported, and reflected in the systems designed to serve them,” said Silva. “Listening is the starting point, but the goal is lasting change.” 

Find out more about how WWP supports women warriors. 

Contact: Michael Nilsen, Deputy Director, Advocacy Communications, mnilsen@woundedwarriorproject.org.  

About Wounded Warrior Project: Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is the nation’s leading veterans service organization, focused on the total well-being of post-9/11 veterans, active-duty service members, and their families. Our programs, advocacy, and awareness efforts help warriors thrive, provide essential lifelines to families and caregivers, and prevent veteran suicides. Learn more about Wounded Warrior Project.