WASHINGTON - California House Democrats are paving the way for equal rights for military women. They’re launching a bipartisan Women’s Veteran’s Task Force which they say will find out why female vets aren’t receiving the resources they should be.

“My job was to keep American sailors safe,” said Andrea Goldstein, a female Navy veteran.

Women, like Goldstein, are a limited commodity in the military.

“I was frequently the only woman in the room where life and death decisions were made,” said Goldstein.

Now, the women veteran population is increasing rapidly throughout the nation, especially in California. It’s the fastest growing demographic in the state, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But with that growth, comes challenges. 

“Some teammates who were supposed to guard my life, sexually harassed me or belittled me because of my gender,” Goldstein said.

The Pentagon dropped a shocking report recently, revealing there was a nearly 38 percent spike in sexual assaults by service members in 2018 compared to 2016. Thats more than 20,000 instances of “unwanted sexual contact,” 13,000 of them, reported by women. 

“A whole host of issues of which we really do need to focus on,” said Representative Julia Brownley, California Democrat.

Brownley has been tracking the problems service woman face in and out of the military. 

“Well, it’s already affecting my district,” said Brownley. “And so it’s something that we absolutely need to work on.”

This month, Brownley decided to launch a new Bipartisan Women’s Veterans Task Force to drill down on how women in the military are being treated. 

“When they go into the military, they are very visible because they’re a small population so they really pop out, they’re really quite visible,” said Brownley. “They leave the military and they’re invisible.”

Brownley hopes to foster safe environments for everyone in the military and in the VA by looking into “cultural issues.” 

She teamed up with California Congressman Mark Takano. 

“Together by working with the women veterans task force we can produce legislation to improve the lives of women veterans,” said Takano. “I look forward to supporting their efforts.”

Goldstein, who served in the navy, says she’s eager to start working alongside lawmakers. 

“I can confidentially say that our visions align,” said Goldstein. “And that we are eager to mitigate the barriers that women face when pursuing the resources, benefits, and healthcare that they have earned through their selfless service.”

Rep. Brownley announced the 64 members and participants and a handful of them were Republican.