Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet has approved a series of measures aimed at increasing equal opportunities in the military. The changes are aimed at streamlining procedures in the Bundeswehr - Germany's armed forces.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet has approved a series of measures to increase equal opportunities in the military. Photo: dpa
“Women are still not fully represented in the Bundeswehr,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters on Wednesday.
According to the German government, that is when the female presence ratio needs to exceed 20%. Defense officials want women to make up at least half of the medical force.
The reforms focus primarily on pay, both for active duty and for those in the reserves. The government also seeks to improve childcare support and care for the elderly and sick in military families.
If better pay and services relieve women of the domestic chores they traditionally shoulder, the government hopes that will create opportunities or incentives for women to join the military.
Germany is hardly alone in its problem with female soldiers. In most countries, including Germany's closest allies, the military "remains a man's world," as a 2021 British parliamentary report found.
At the time, women made up 11% of the UK's regular forces. That was an all-time high, according to the Ministry of Defence, but it fell short of the target of 15%. That figure is set to rise to 30% by 2030.
Mai Anh (according to DW)
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