Would you change your heels for combat boots?

Have you ever wondered how a country can protect itself and why mostly only men serve as our protectors in the military? Don‘t we live in a world where genders should be treated equally? Let me tell you about the situation in my home country Switzerland. At the age of 18 every swiss man is obligated to serve in the military service, the so-called compulsory military service. This has been anchored in the swiss constitution since the founding of Switzerland in 1848 modelled on the militia system. Currently there are 158’435 people serving in the swiss military. There have already been many discussions about the necessity and purpose of the swiss military. In 2013, a vote took place on the abolition of compulsory military service, which the people rejected with over 73%. This shows that the military service still has a very important position for the swiss population.

But one thing that hasn’t been discussed yet, is why the military service is mandatory for men but not for women. At the moment there are roughly 1000 women serving in the swiss military. The army benefits too little from the potential of women. If we extend our view to Europe, there are only two countries, Norway and Israel, where women and men are treated equally when it comes to military service. Since 2016 Norway implemented the new system of the gender-neutral conscription. This makes the Scandinavian country the only Nato country that obliges women to do military service. I talked to Aida, a 20-year-old Norwegian girl from Bergen, and she told me more details about the military system in Norway. One of my first questions was if she was serving in the military as well. She told me that she was very motivated to serve in the military at first. So basically, the whole process has two sessions and the first one is mandatory for everyone who reaches the age of 19. In the first session you have to answer a questionnaire where there are questions about yourself, your health, why you want or don’t want to serve in the military, your motivation and so on. After the first session they decide whether someone is qualified to get into the military or not. In other words, they only want to recruit people who really want to. The second session contains physical tests to see if the person has what it takes. Aida told me that after the first session she was accepted to do the second session, but they were pretty far apart in time, so by the time she actually went into session two, she changed her mind again. At the moment approximately 10 % of the soldiers in Norway are female, the goal is to reach 50% so there is still a long way to go. Compared to Switzerland the Norwegian army with 18’000 soldiers is quite small.

In Switzerland however, women can still decide if they want to join the military, habing had this possibility since 1939. I got the chance to talk to a girl, who is serving in the swiss military. Her name is Isa and she’s 23 years old and has been serving in the army for 5 years. When I asked her about her motivation she told me that one of her life goals is working for the police in the future, so looks at the military as a good prerequisite. She also mentioned that she thought about doing something new, exciting and she wanted to reach her limits. She was one of the only women in the company and was well received from all the female soldiers. She soon got to understand that it is quite important to prove oneself in order to be taken seriously from all the men. Her family and friends always supported her decision, just some of her male friends couldn’t understand why someone would want to serve in the military of one’s own free will. Once you decide to join the army as a woman you’re committed to stay there and do all the things they ask of you. They make you do things like getting up at 3 am or having to march with a bag that weighs over 20kg or even sleeping outside with a temperature under five degrees celcius. In her opinion making the military compulsory for all genders would be a bad idea because girls would make excuses to not participate in the program and would want to be treated specially and it shouldn’t be like that, either you’re 100% in or not at all. Statistics show that the military is becoming a lot more attractive for women, so more women are willing to join the army on a voluntary level. Who knows where this will lead to… Maybe it won’t even be necessary to make the military compulsory for women. But one thing is certain: Once you’re in the military you get to know so many other people very well because you spend so much time with them and you go through everything together as a team. You’re not only one team during the service but you also make friends for the rest of your life.