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Women In Security, Defence, And Medicine
- WISDAM -
Our Mission
WISDAM has been set up for a very simple reason: we will make things happen. Born out of the experience of the Defence Women’s Action Board - we now know what we need to do and our mission.
Women make up around 51% of the population, but nowhere near 51% of our Armed Forces, police and fire services, or many of the organisations and industries that support our National Security and Defence.
For us, that isn't just a representation issue. It is an operational one.
National Security and Defence needs the best talent for operational success. We need to recruit, train, and retain this talent to deliver operational effectiveness and mission success for our security and defence capabilities. Where there are unnecessary barriers, systemic issues, procedures, and policy that prevent women from joining and staying, progressing or performing at their best, then we are reducing the level of effectiveness for our National Security and Defence.
WISDAM is set up as a not-for-profit foundation to identify those barriers, tear them down and replace them with systems and outcomes that benefit everyone.
Our aim is to raise and direct funding into work that makes a genuine difference across Security, Defence and Medicine. Some of that work will be big and strategic. Some of it will be very small and very personal. Both are equally important.
We will fund research that provides the evidence needed to change policy across Defence. We will fund scholarships and help develop new qualifications. Equally, we will buy someone a laptop, pay for a medical appointment, or cover the cost of travelling to a course where that intervention will make a genuine difference.
The important question for us is always the same: Will this make a difference?
If the answer is yes, we will find a way to make it happen.
Three Colours. Three Mission Areas.
We have deliberately taken the three colours of the Suffragist movement as the basis for WISDAM: Green, Purple and White.
Each has its original meaning, but each also represents one of the three areas where WISDAM is focussing its work.
Hope = Education
Green represented Hope. For WISDAM, that means Education.
Education has always been one of the most effective ways of opening doors and creating opportunities, regardless of someone's background or starting point.
At the strategic level, we will fund research, scholarships, qualifications and programmes that help more women and girls access opportunities across Security, Defence and Medicine.
We are also looking at where the gaps are: what stops girls considering these careers, where we are losing women, whether the right qualifications are available, and what skills will our Defence and National Security need in two, ten or twenty years' time.
At the tactical level, things can be much simpler. Someone might need a laptop for access to study. They might need help with course fees. A girl might have the opportunity to attend an event that could open opportunities of what she can do, but her family cannot afford the travel.
These are not necessarily expensive problems to solve. We will solve the ones we can.
Dignity = Health
Purple represented Dignity, Loyalty, and Freedom. For us, that means Health.
If we ask people to serve, whether in the Armed Forces, policing, the emergency services or across the wider National Security and Defence community, we should understand what they need to be able to do that effectively. There are still significant gaps in our understanding of women's health and how it affects recruitment, training, deployment, retention and working life. Those gaps have operational consequences.
At the strategic level, WISDAM will fund research into the medical, physiological, occupational, and policy issues affecting women entering service, women currently serving, veterans and women working in the industries that support them. We will fund work that helps us understand what to do about the problems, not simply describe them.
At the tactical level, we will support women who need help now. That might mean paying for an appointment with an endometriosis specialist rather than waiting months to be seen. It might be practical support during pregnancy or after having a baby. It might be funding treatment or another relatively small intervention that allows somebody to get on with their life and their career.
Changing large organisations and policies takes time. That doesn't mean an individual woman should always have to wait.
Purity = Law
White represented Purity. For WISDAM, it represents Law and purity of cause.
There is little point having legislation, policies, and protections if they don't work in practice.
At the strategic level, we will fund work that looks properly at existing and proposed legislation and policy. We will examine what proposed changes will actually mean for women working in Defence, Security or Medicine, identify unintended consequences, and look at whether existing policies and protections are being applied properly. Where there is a gap in the evidence, we will help fund the work needed to fill it.
At the tactical level, there will be occasions when an individual or organisation needs access to legal advice or representation and cannot afford it. Where a case genuinely fits the purpose of WISDAM, we will be in a position to help.
This isn't about looking for fights or encouraging litigation. It is about making sure people can access the protections that already exist and, where something clearly isn't working, helping to get it changed.
Why this matters to National Security and Defence
WISDAM is focused on women, but our purpose is wider than women. The end goal is better National Security and Defence.If we lose a trained and experienced woman because of a problem that could have been fixed, we have lost capability.If equipment doesn't work properly for part of the workforce, that is a capability problem.
If a health issue prevents somebody training or deploying and we haven't invested in understanding it, that can become an operational problem. If talented girls never consider careers in National Security and Defence because they don't know those careers exist, we have lost potential before they even reach the recruitment process. If policies unintentionally drive good people out of organisations, we need to understand why.
If we repeatedly identify the same problems without doing anything about them, we shouldn't be surprised when nothing changes.
WISDAM is doing something about it.
Working with what already exists
We already know, and work with, some excellent women's networks, charities, professional organisations, researchers, and support groups working in this area. We have no intention of trying to replace them.
WISDAM will become a place where those organisations can find each other, share what they know and, importantly, find funding and support.
We are building a hub for knowledge, funding, and action, not just in the UK, but internationally. If somebody elsewhere has already solved a problem we are looking at in the UK, we should know about it and build on it rather than fund duplicate work. If a university has already done the research, let's use it. If another charity already provides exactly the support someone needs, we will send them there rather than create the same service. If somebody has money available for a particular issue, we will help connect that funding with the people who can use it.
WISDAM does not need its name on every solution. We care far more about something getting done than about who gets the credit for doing it.
Strategic change. Practical help.
One of the things that will make WISDAM different is that we aren't going to limit ourselves to either large strategic programmes or small individual grants. We need both.
We will fund the £100,000 research project that could change policy. But we will also fund the £100 train ticket that gets someone to an opportunity they otherwise couldn't take.
One doesn't matter more than the other. They are simply different ways of achieving impact. That flexibility matters because sometimes the answer to a problem is complicated. And sometimes it really isn't.
Let's get **it done!
WISDAM needs funding.
We are looking for support from Defence and security companies, government, public bodies, foundations, major donors and individuals. Ruddy Nice and DSET Ltd are the first contributors to include a research tech lab and home to WISDAM. Ruddy Nice has already match-funded in hours the research undertaken by SONAC in 2025 to examine strategic decision making by women.
Support doesn't always have to mean funding – but that is the easiest! Companies can provide equipment. Universities can contribute research. Clinicians and lawyers can provide expertise. Organisations can offer places on courses or qualifications. People can make introductions, share data, provide facilities or tell us about work that we should know about.
There has been enough discussion about many of these issues. We are now doing something about them.
What success looks like
We don't intend to measure WISDAM's success by the number of meetings we hold, the size of our mailing list or the number of reports we publish.
We will measure what happened as a result.
Did somebody get the qualification? Did the research change something? Did a woman get the treatment she needed? Did somebody stay in service who might otherwise have left? Did a policy improve? Did we connect a problem with the person who could solve it? Did an organisation get the evidence it needed to make a better decision?
Did it make a difference?
If it did, WISDAM is doing its job.
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This logo was created by a Ukrainian artist to celebrate the women that work in the security, defence, and healthcare sectors.
The design incorporates the colours of the Suffragist/Suffragette movements, recognising the remarkable contributions women have made over generations and the progress they have driven across society. It serves as a reminder of the legacy built by those who came before us, while inspiring us to create new opportunities and a lasting impact for future generations.