Denmark expands military service to include women
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Volunteers in the Danish Royal Life Guards rest during a training exercise in Hovelte, Denmark, on June 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
COPENHAGEN - Denmark on July 1 expanded its military service to include women, as the Nordic country seeks to recruit more soldiers and strengthen its defences
Under a law passed by Denmark's parliament in June 2023, Denmark will require women turning 18 after July 1, 2025, to register for assessment days for potential military conscription, aligning with measures already in place for men.
Until now, women, who in 2024 made up around 24 per cent of all recruits, had been allowed to join the military on a voluntary basis.
“In the world situation we’re in right now, it’s necessary to have more conscripts, and I think that women should contribute to that equally, as men do,” Ms Katrine, a recruit in the Danish Royal Life Guard, told Reuters without giving her last name.
In Denmark, volunteers are signed up first for conscription, while the remaining numbers are drawn up in a lottery system.
The armed forces are in the process of making adjustments in barracks and equipment better suited for women.
"There are different things that they need to improve, especially in terms of equipment. Right now, it's made for men, so perhaps the rucksacks are a bit too large and the uniforms are large as well," said Ms Katrine.
Denmark, which together with Nato allies last week agreed to boost defence spending, plans to gradually increase the duration of the conscription period from four months to 11 months in 2026 and raise the number of recruits doing military service from around 5,000 now to 7,500 in 2033. REUTERS
