Men and women are now conscripted into the Danish armed forces on an equal business, all having to enrol in the national service lottery after they turn 18 as the government responds to what it says is a worsening security picture in Europe.
Young women two turned 18 on or after Tuesday this week will receive an invitation to attend a military base on Denmark’s national ‘defence day’ for assessment of whether they are fit to be called up for training. Those who pass that sift are entered into a lottery, with those being drawn legally compelled to serve.
The extension of conscription to women is not the only change afoot in Denmark as it seeks to modernise and expand its armed forces. Certain health conditions including diabetes and asthma from now on no longer automatically disqualify conscripts from being enrolled, with individual health assessments and different health requirements depending on role within the military both acting to widen the potential pool of recruits.
The length of mandatory service is also more than doubling, and more people are going to be conscripted at once. In the coming months, the period of conscription will rise to 11 months, comprised of five months of training followed by six months serving in a unit.
The Danish Armed Forces Forsvaret said in a statement that conscripting women is a “historic change” and that the country must now “get used to the fact that every citizen capable of bearing arms, and not just men, is obligated to contribute to the defense of the fatherland.”
The national Chief of Defense, General Michael Wiggers Hyldgaard said the change “sends a clear signal that the Armed Forces are a modern community where everyone can contribute to the defense of the Kingdom of Denmark”.
Speaking at the time the change was first announced in 2024, Danish Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the European security situation “has become more and more serious, and we have to take that into account when we look at future defense… a broader basis for recruiting that includes all genders is needed.”
As previously reported of Europe’s swing back towards conscription, which in many cases was reduced or ended altogether at the end of the Cold War:
Although millions of people in Denmark are technically eligible to be conscripted, actually the nation’s military is one of the smallest in Europe and only around four thousand people are presently in mandatory service at any one time… Sweden, having abolished the draft in 2010 brought back conscription in 2017 and extended the callup to both men and women in response to growing Russian aggression.
Norway became the first NATO state to conscript women when it changed the law in 2013.
Other states abolished conscription but in the new world of worsening European security, are considering bringing it back. Germany ended conscription in 2011 but have since called that “a mistake”, and their defence minister has said he’s looking at the Swedish model — which is like the Danish — where all young people are eligible, but only a handful are called up a year…. The United Kingdom is also seriously struggling with military recruitment and has done for many years, leading to former Defence Minister Ben Wallace saying last year he was “envious” of Sweden, and would “love to have” such a conscription model.
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