Since the government announced the extension of mandatory military service to one year, I have been explaining the new plan in high schools. A female student in her third year asked me: “Can women be conscripted?”
As a female reservist who served in the armed forces for more than 30 years, and after learning that women in at least five countries must serve in the military, I believe that women should be conscripted in Taiwan.
Many have argued that women should not be forced to serve in the military, but they should, for three simple reasons.
First, in addition to gender equality, the issue should be considered part of a citizen’s civic duty. If women are not required to complete mandatory military service, men would see their counterparts as having more privilege.
Second, regardless of gender differences, it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the nation.
Third, although most women cannot undertake some physically demanding work, many can certainly carry out tasks that require careful thinking and attention to detail.
Some female officers, after proper training, are more than capable of driving armored vehicles and flying aircraft at high g-force. As for other female soldiers, they can be assigned to areas including human resource management, intelligence assessment, logistics, electronic communications, information gathering, political warfare — such as propaganda, journalism and psychological operations — and medicine.
Judging from the performance of female officers, women are competent in carrying out all kinds of tasks. Some women perform even better as combat soldiers than some men. In this regard, nothing is impossible and everything can be done.
Until the law is amended to allow women to be conscripted, there are a few problems that the armed forces must deal with. In terms of hardware, it would be extremely difficult to plan and organize barracks and facilities to accommodate a great number of female conscripts. Dormitories and toilets need to be expanded and redesigned.
Without a new budget allocated to achieve such changes, facilities for female soldiers and officers could only be renovated from the ones currently used by men. It could take years to complete the construction and renovation.
Another serious problem is the organization of labor and resources. As mandatory military service is extended to one year, the capacity of the military’s educational resources must be re-evaluated.
Although it might already be adequate for incoming male conscripts, it might not be enough if women are also conscripted. It is likely that the armed forces would not be prepared to train female conscripts in less than a year.
The government and the military could learn from how Finland restored its conscription, or refer to how France planned the incremental implementation of universal conscription. Their examples could provide a way to transition to a new system smoothly and successfully, achieving the goal of “every citizen a soldier.”
Chang Ling-ling is a colonel in the armed forces reserves.
Translated by Liu Yi-hung
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