What Recruiting Women In Denmark Military Means For Security Climate

For the first time, Denmark has plans to recruit women into the armed forces, reportedly as a response to the changing security climate in the world. The Scandinavian country has revised policies and boost the defence budget to increase the participation of young people into the military. According to a report in Al Jazeera, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the term of the conscriptshas been expanded to 11 months, compared with four months at the moment. Denmark hopes to bring positive change to the international security climate, Frederiksen said.

"We are not rearming because we want war, destruction, or suffering. We are rearming right now to avoid war and in a world where the international order is being challenged,” PM Frederiksen told Al Jazeera, indirectly referring to Russia’s military moves in recent years and months.

Denmark's New Military Policy

Denmark, a member of NATO, has plans to recruit more young persons, especially women, into the army in an effort to align with the world's changing geopolitics. While Denmark scaled back its military capabilities after the Cold War ended, the country has several revisions in the military sector, including boosting the budget and increasing the term of the conscripts.

Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen remarked, "[The situation in Europe] has become more and more serious, and we have to take that into account when we look at future defence. A broader basis for recruiting that includes all genders is needed,” he said, adding it will create “a more versatile and more complete defence”.

The budget for the military has been scaled up to 40.5 billion Danish crowns ($5.9bn) over the next five years. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that defence spending would amount to 2.4% of Denmark's gross domestic product (GDP) this year and in 2025, above NATO’s target for member states. Notably, Denmark currently has 9,000 soldiers along with 4,700 conscripts undergoing basic training. 

The Scandinavian country wants to increase the number of conscripts by 300 to reach a total of 5,000, according to the revised policies. Under the draft, conscripts will first spend five months in basic training, followed by six months in operational service along with supplementary training. The new system will require a change in the law, which Poulsen said would happen in 2025 and take effect in 2026.

These revisions come in view of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, burgeoning concerns about security on the continent. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country would send troops to its border with Finland, which joined NATO last year as a result of the Ukraine invasion, as Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo warned Moscow was gearing up for a “long conflict with the West."