On April 22nd, Minister of Defense Klaudia Tanner and Minister of Women’s Affairs Susanne Raab kicked off the Armed Forces’ new women’s recruitment campaign on Girls’ Day 2021. The aim is to further increase the proportion of women in the Armed Forces with a wide range of measures. The women’s recruitment campaign will be launched throughout Austria on April 23, in addition to the Armed Forces’ digital Girls’ Day. This year, it will take place digitally for the first time due to Covid-19.
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner remains committed to the projects established by the Ministry of Defense to increase the proportion of women. “It is important that we continuously and sustainably increase the number of female soldiers in the armed forces with our measures and advertising campaigns. We are still a long way from a presentable proportion of women. That is why Women’s Affairs Minister Susanne Raab and I have put together a strong joint package of measures to take the right steps here,” said Tanner. Minister Raab welcomes the commitment to make the armed forces more attractive for female soldiers and to take the necessary measures for women. “It is particularly important to me that we show young girls how they can realize themselves in a wide variety of professional fields and what doors are open to them, especially in areas that are still rather male-dominated such as the armed forces. It is particularly important here to raise awareness of the diverse areas of responsibility and also to break down fears of contact. In order for young women to have the confidence to work in this sector, which is still rather untypical for them, more female role models are needed to help break down the traditional role models and change the way society thinks. That is why I am so grateful to Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner that we are working together to promote women in the armed forces. The package of measures presented today is a particularly important initiative for the empowerment of women,” emphasizes Raab.
In coordination with the Ministry of Defense’s plan for the advancement of women, the joint package of measures is intended to recruit women and female soldiers for training as information officers and help with recruitment measures. In addition, information officers are to appeal more to women. In order to support the fitness of interested women before, during and after their training, a fitness app is to be developed in addition to the further development of the existing “Fit for the Army” program to prepare them for the demanding sports tests. A total of 55 female mentors have been trained in the Austrian Armed Forces to date. In order to promote and support young female soldiers, these and more are to be implemented in the armed forces with a special mentoring program: “newcomers” are to be accompanied by an experienced female comrade during their training. Furthermore, a new department will be created within the ministry to focus exclusively on increasing the proportion of female soldiers in the armed forces. In addition, a stronger focus is to be placed on the media presence of women in advertising work in the future. As of April, there are currently 666 female soldiers in the Austrian Armed Forces. Of these, 640 women are serving, 22 are in training and four are on deployment abroad or preparing for deployment. Most of the women, 294 in total, are non-commissioned officers; 93 are officers. The Federal Ministry of Defense (BMLV) currently employs a total of 2,307 civilian women (as of April), of which 66 are administrative trainees and 74 are female apprentices.
