Denmark plans to enlist women and young people for military service by increasing service time from four to 11 months, the Danish government said on Wednesday.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is pushing for the move, which would make Denmark one of few countries to require women to serve in the armed forces.
The government wants ”full equality between the sexes,” Frederiksen said at a press conference. “We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it.”
Followed by Norway and Sweden, this move makes Denmark the third European country to enlist women in the military.
The Nordic country wants to boost its military conscripts from 4,700 to 5,000. The government itself already has 9,000 troops enlisted.
Denmark is a founding NATO member and a firm supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia. In 2023, it led efforts to train pilots and support staff, sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Although “Russia does not pose a threat to Denmark,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, “we will not bring ourselves to a place where they could come to do that.”
Although any man physically fit and 18 years of age is automatically enlisted in the military, many do not end up serving because the country has enough volunteers. The government wants to increase this number to promote gender equality. Out of the 4,717 conscripts, figures show that women make up 25.1% of the Danish military.
“More robust conscription, including full gender equality, must contribute to solving defense challenges, national mobilization and manning our armed forces,” Denmark’s Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.
Poulson also mentioned that this new system would change Denmark’s law, a lengthy process that will roll out in 2026. The training process for new enlistees will take 11 months total in basic and operational service with supplementary training.
In 2023, Denmark spent 1.4% of its GDP on defense, a Danish security and defense report shows.
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As an act to “promote gender equality,” Norway and Sweden are the only other two countries with the same enlisting terms for men and women.
North Korea, Israel, and a handful of countries in Africa also have a mandatory conscription for women.
