Peering across a dense stretch of woodland outside of Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, with camouflage paint smeared across her face, 20-year-old Katrine scans the horizon for approaching threats.
After nearly four months of military training, the young soldier and the rest of her unit earlier this month completed their final exercises near the Danish army’s barracks in Hovelte, 25km north of Copenhagen.
Katrine and other female soldiers, who spoke on the condition that only their first names be used because of operational security, volunteered for military service earlier this year. Until now, that was the only way for women to be part of the armed forces.
Photo: AP
The Scandinavian country is seeking to increase the number of young people in the military by extending compulsory enlistment to women for the first time. Men and women can still volunteer, and the remaining places would be filled by a gender-neutral draft lottery.
“In the situation the world is in now, it’s needed,” Katrine said. “I think it’s only fair and right that women participate equally with men.”
Under new rules passed by Denmark’s parliament earlier this month, Danish women who turn 18 after today would be entered into the lottery system, on equal footing with their male compatriots. The change comes against a backdrop of Russian aggression and growing military investment across NATO countries.
Even from the relative safety of Denmark, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 casts its shadow. Lessons from the Ukrainian battlefields have even filtered down into their training.
“That makes it very real,” Katrine said.
Denmark’s gender-parity reforms were originally outlined last year as part of a major defense agreement. The program was originally expected to be implemented by early 2027, but has been brought forward to this year.
Colonel and head of the conscription program Kenneth Strom said the move is based on “the current security situation.”
“They could take part in NATO collective deterrence,” Strom said. “Raising the number of conscripts would simply lead to more combat power.”
Denmark, a nation of 6 million people, has about 9,000 professional troops. The new arrangement is expected to bring up to 6,500 annual conscripts by 2033, up from 4,700 last year.
Under Danish law, all physically fit men aged 18 and older are called up for military service, but because there are usually enough volunteers, there is a lottery system, so not all young men serve.
By contrast, women could only volunteer previously, making up about one-quarter of last year’s cohort.
The duration of service is also being extended from four to 11 months. Conscripts would first spend five months in basic training, followed by six months of operational service, plus additional lessons.
The move is part of a broader military buildup by the Nordic nation.
In February, Denmark’s government announced plans to bolster its military by setting up a US$7 billion fund that it said would raise the country’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP this year.
Parts of the conscript program are being financed by the so-called Acceleration Fund.
“We see a sharpened security situation in Europe. We have the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We have focus on the Baltic countries, where Denmark is contributing a lot of soldiers. So, I think it’s a general effort to strengthen the Danish defense,” Royal Danish Defense College researcher Rikke Haugegaard said.
However, Haugegaard said that there are many challenges, from ill-fitting equipment and a lack of additional barracks, to potential cases of sexual harassment.
“For the next year or two, we will be building a lot of new buildings to accommodate all these people. So, it will be a gradual process,” she said.
In 2017, neighboring Sweden instituted a military draft for men and women after its government spoke of a deteriorating security environment in Europe.
Norway introduced its own law applying military conscription to both sexes in 2013.
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