20-year naval reserve veteran honoured for her work fighting for equality

With 20 years of experience in the reserve forces and five kids at home, veteran Rachel McCarthy knows a thing or two about being a woman who is also a leader.

Now the P.E.I. resident has received a commendation for her work advocating for gender equality in the military.

"It was a wonderful surprise," said McCarthy, who lives in Kensington and serves as the operations chief and chair of the diversity and inclusion command advisory team at HMCS Queen Charlotte in Charlottetown.

McCarthy is one of seven women on the Women Veterans Council Assessment Board who received this commendation for their contributions to bettering the Canadian forces.

McCarthy joined the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve on a whim, while she was playing soccer for the University of Prince Edward Island varsity team. Her teammates suggested it as a way to make some cash during the summer while staying in shape.

She figured that once the fall semester rolled around, she would return to studying full-time. Little did she know how much she would love the reserve life. 

"It becomes a part of you and who you are," she said. 

McCarthy said she has been able to have a wide variety of experiences while still enjoying her civilian life. She has travelled, continued playing soccer, worked as a teacher, and built a family — all while being an ally to other female veterans. 

In the spring of 2024, she was recruited to be a member of the assessment board for the Women Veterans Council. 

"Our role was to help choose veterans, women who were military and RCMP, to be the representative of the first-ever Women Veterans Council," McCarthy said. 

Different needs from male veterans

She said Veterans Affairs Canada decided to create the council because they were hearing from women in the service that women's diverse needs were not being met. 

"There is compounding empirical evidence that women's experiences within the RCMP and military — and how that affects us and our bodies — is very different from our male counterparts," she said. 

There is just such a variety of experiences that women have had to overcome to be able to be considered at the same level [as] their male counterparts.— Rachel McCarthy

As well, she said she had noticed that women would often have to work harder to stand out, compared to men working in the forces.

"You can sense that an individual being male would be kind of the default choice for a position — and if you want to be able to get that position, you do have to shine a little brighter," she said. 

"There is just such a variety of experiences that women have had to overcome to be able to be considered at the same level [as] their male counterparts." 

McCarthy feels strongly that a person's gender should not determine which jobs they can do and how they are treated. 

"I'm really glad that the awareness of that, and other women speaking to feeling that same way, is becoming more known, and there is action being taken to be able to help change that narrative," she said.