There are 800,000 veterans in Pennsylvania, 60,000 of them are women. The state wants to make sure it’s equipped to help them handle the unique challenges they face, but first it needs to know what those challenges are.

Jodi Zucco spent years in the Army. She joined right out of law school. She now serves as the Attorney-in-charge of Military and Veterans Affairs for The Office of the Attorney General. She works with veterans on a daily basis, investigating issues directly affecting them. She knows with more women in the military, more help will be needed for them once they get out of the service.

“Historically women have served in small smaller numbers, but those numbers are starting to rise,” said Zucco, “Meaning they need more access to whatever they are seeking than they needed previously.”

That’s why Zucco’s leading a committee to find out what concerns female veterans may be dealing with. She says many of the issues are the same for men and women, like education, health care, and jobs. But there could be others they don’t even realize. There’s no data they can use to figure it out, because it hasn’t largely been studied here in Pennsylvania.

So, they’ve come up with a survey. It asks basic questions, but also leaves room for individual comments. That way the state will get a more accurate picture of what issues these women are facing. The ultimate goal being to improve state services and improve the quality of life for both men and women who have served our country.

“One of the things we’re hearing about potentially as an issue is that they don’t have a sense of community, they don’t feel like they’re part of something,” said Zucco, “This is just one way potentially of bringing us all together and develop those relationships further and build on the organizations that exist and get this conversation started.”

The committee wants to hear from all women veterans across the state. The survey runs through June 18th. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PADMVAWomenVeteransSurvey.