Denmark to push for ‘gender equality’ in military service

Copenhagen intends to pass a bill to extend and equalise conscription to have more women conscripted in the military, as part of a plan to strengthen the Danish defence, the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Wednesday (13 March).

Currently, in Denmark, women can join the armed forces voluntarily but are not subject to conscription.

“Protecting your country is one of the most honourable things you can do. That’s why the government is today proposing that we extend conscription, make the responsibility greater and the tasks more numerous,” Frederiksen told reporters in Copenhagen.

“We propose full gender equality,” she added.

At present, all Danish men are obliged to attend a ‘Defence Day’ after turning 18, a compulsory exercise in which they undergo a series of tests to determine whether they are fit for military service.

If declared fit, potential conscripts must draw a lottery number. This determines whether they will be assigned a place of service, as the needs of the Danish Defence Forces or the Danish Emergency Management Agency are lower than the actual number of fit potential conscripts.

Danish women can exercise their right to conscription and thus be called up, but they do so under different conditions than men, as they can opt out during the process if they wish.

“We have no doubt that increased gender equality will create a more modern and more diverse defence that reflects the times we live in,” Frederiksen said.

Last year, about 4,700 Danes did military service – about a quarter of them women. With the new bill, the Danish government hopes to increase the number of conscripts to at least 5,000 per year.

In addition, the time served when selected in the lottery will be extended from around four months to up to 11 months, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. The first five months will be a basic course, while the last six months will be spent as part of the Danish Defence Forces in various specialisations.

According to Poulsen, the bill should be passed into law by 2025 at the latest and come into force as of 2026.

“This means that all young people – regardless of gender – will have to be called up for Defence Day and complete conscription on equal terms. In other words, conscription must be up to date – partly in relation to the fundamental values we have that reflect our society, but also in relation to the threat scenario we are facing,” he said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has significantly raised the threat level for the countries of Northern Europe and the Baltic. In response to this threat, Finland joined NATO in April last year, with Sweden following last week.

Conscripted women

Currently, no EU member state has compulsory military service for both men and women. Several EU member states, including Greece, Austria, Finland, Lithuania and Estonia maintain compulsory military service for men.

Norway and Sweden come closest to gender-neutral service as all citizens over a certain age must register and report for duty, but selection procedures often result in much fewer women than men being drafted.

Meanwhile, in Greece, the conservative government is mulling allowing voluntary service of women, for the first time.

Speaking on International Women’s Day, Minister of Defence Nikos Dendias said he would announce later this month a new plan modernising armed forces, inspired by the Finnish model.

According to the plan, women would initially serve as parole officers in specific specialisms before gradually taking up the same level of responsibility as male soldiers.

Reinforcing Danish defence

The announcements were made in the wider context of the strengthening of the Danish defence, announced by the Danish Prime Minister at the same press conference.

The Danish government plans to invest an extra DKK 40 billion (€5 billion) in Danish defence over the next five years to buy air defence systems, build a 6,000-strong brigade to be ready by 2028 and equip Danish frigates to hunt submarines.

These are all demands that NATO had for the Danish defence, which are currently not met.

According to Frederiksen, the government’s proposal will mean that Denmark will spend 2.4% of GDP on defence this year and next, including donations to Ukraine, thus complying with the NATO guideline of spending 2% of GDP on defence.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Alexandra Brzozowski]

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