Young Danish women will be obligated to report for service in the armed forces starting in 2026.
Women have had a ‘conscription right’—a right to voluntarily serve in the military—since 1998 in Denmark, and those who volunteer have served under different terms from men. That is now about to change.
Currently, all able-bodied Danish men over 18 are required to report for military service on ‘Defense Day’—a day of evaluation and exercises to determine who is fit to serve. Under the proposed law, women would have to report to be evaluated alongside men for placement in the services, and have to adhere to the same rules. All conscripts would participate in a training course that is to be extended from the current four to 11 months; five months of basic training and six months to prepare conscripts for serving in the armed forces.
Bjørg Hjorth Nørgaard, a young woman who has volunteered for service, told Danmarks Radio that it’s a “natural development” and “necessary”:
It is a duty we have to our society. The fact that women have not had it before, that is not equality in a way.
The extension of training time gives her pause, however. “I think it’s a long time. If you also have other things you want to do, it’s a long time to take out of your gap year and your years of education,” she said.
Denmark—a country of 5.8 million people—last year had 4,700 people conscripted for military service. About 25% of those were women volunteers. The Danish defense forces count somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000 professional troops, as well as conscripts in training and reservists who can be called up.
To increase the number of servicemen, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen aims to conscript about 5,000 new Danes per year.
“This entails that all young people—regardless of gender—will have to be called up for the Defense Day and complete military service on equal terms. In other words, conscription should be contemporary—partly in relation to the fundamental values we have that reflect our society, but also in relation to the threat picture we see ahead,” the defense minister said at a press conference.
In addition to adding new conscripts, Defense Minister Lund Poulsen presented plans to implement ground-based air defense systems, add armored vehicles, and expand the capability of the Danish Navy’s Absalon-class frigates. The expansion would require an increase in defense spending by €5 billion, bringing it from 1.4% of GDP last year to 2.4% which would meet NATO requirements.
At the press conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized that the strengthening of the Danish defense is not an offensive, but a defensive move: “We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it.”
Neighboring countries Norway and Sweden also require women to register for general defense service, but no EU countries currently have mandatory military service for women.
