Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand has served as a United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. Gillibrand led the charge with Rep. Jackie Speier to protect women in the military from sexual assault.

Military Rape Report Card: Still Failing

The latest annual study on military sexual assault from the Department of Defense (DOD) shows that reports of such assault rose 8 percent since 2013. Perhaps even more striking, however, is that the incidence of retribution against those who report sex crimes is a stunning 62 percent. That means service members who came forward with […]

Feminist Heroes of 2013

It’s hard to not get discouraged at a time when women are still fighting for the right to control their bodies, same-sex relations are criminalized in 76 countries, rape culture and victim-blaming run rampant and women are still trafficked for sex and slave labor around the globe. However, it’s important to take a moment to […]

NEWSFLASH: Sen. Levin Weakens Military Sex Assault Bill

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) announced on Tuesday he is replacing a measure proposed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that would have removed military sexual assault crimes from being handled within the military chain of command. Levin’s replacement measure would keep authority on major military crimes with senior officers. Gillibrand’s measure, part of a defense spending bill, was […]

Number of Military Sexual Assaults Are Way Up

A report released this week by the Department of Defense shows the estimated number of sexual assaults in the military increased from  19,300 to 26,000 from the 2010 to the 2012 fiscal year—a 34.7 percent increase. The number of reported assaults also went up in that time period, but only by 5.7 percent. And still […]

Senate Hearing Brings Military Sexual Assault Out of the Shadows

Last week, the U.S. Senate held a subcommittee panel on sexual assault in the military, its first in over a decade. Three former service members testified before the panel about “a pervasive culture of harassment and danger in which victims had little or no redress.” The subcommittee’s hearing comes as senators expressed outrage over a […]

Gillibrand Proposes Gender Equality in Combat

In February, the Department of Defense announced it would loosen its restrictions on women in military combat roles, allowing them to “co-locate” closer to the front lines with ground combat troops. It would also open up 14,000 new job opportunities for women soldiers. That new policy took effect this past Monday. But DoD still hasn’t take the […]