Stories of compulsory military conscription and service are infamous surrounding the World Wars, but what if I told you this practice has not been left in the past? The UK may have abolished the institution in 1963, but other countries were not so quick to remove it. France and Belgium followed in the UK’s footsteps in the 1990s, but Germany only dissolved it in 2011. By now you are probably wondering why this is at all relevant to the present day’s news. This is because the practice is making a revival.
On Friday 7th March 2025, Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, announced that the government was creating plans that would entail all adult men to undergo military training and serve in the nation’s armed forces. This comes as Poland also ramps up their spending towards defence to 4.7% of their economy, in response to Russia’s invasion of and attack on Ukraine. Unsurprisingly, this event made all world leaders hyper vigilant towards potential threats, and as a neighbour of the warfare, Poland is taking the threat very seriously. Tusk is hoping to increase Poland’s army from around 200,000 to 500,000 men.
The idea of compulsory military service is topical enough, but what has really arisen from this is a question over gender equality.
Poland’s decision will not apply to women, at least not yet. Tusk stated in relation to this choice that “war, is still to a greater extent the domain of men”. Poland is not alone in this regard. Finland also has compulsory military service for men only. Whilst women’s participation is purely voluntary, military service for men aged between 18 and 60 is compulsory for up to 347 days.
The 21st Century has seen a continuance of equality movements and feminism, which begs to question whether women should be under the same regulations as men?
Norway was the first country to make a step towards equality by requiring women to be eligible for military service from 2015. Similarly, Denmark announced on the 1st of July 2025 that its conscription will be gender neutral, becoming the tenth country to do so.
When looking towards this question in South Korea, where all men are required to serve at least 18 months, attitudes have been diverse. Not surprisingly, many men resentment towards the fact that only they were forced to serve militarily. However, women are less receptive towards this proposed change. Han Ye-jung, a lawyer based in Seoul, stated that “This is a male-dominated society, where men are the priority and enjoy all the privileges simply because they are men, for me, the price that they have to pay for that privilege is the time they have to serve in the military”.
Whilst one cannot argue that societies across the globe remain favourable towards men, surely if women want to be treated equally, we must be willing to accept equal responsibility for our countries’ protection? Or should the terms of equal eligibility for conscription come upon achieving universal gender equality?
What is most interesting is the gender divide along this question. In a 2016 Rasmussen Poll, 61% of men favoured female drafting, whereas only 38% of women did. This divide is starkly shown in the different of stances from the ‘National Board of the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights’ and the National Coalition for Men’.
The ‘National Board of the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights’ put forward three arguments against female conscription in 2013. Firstly, that incorporating women into the draft is a “misconceived equality”. Economic and social gender gaps are still wide, and this conscription would, in their view, worsen it. Secondly, that militarising women does not legitimise the practice of conscription. Conscription has its own problems that need to be resolved without bringing in a new group to be subject to it. The military would still be male dominated regardless of if more women were involved, this needs to be solved before women can be brought into it by force. Thirdly, they argue in favour of non-violence. They believe that disarmament for both men and women is a more crucial goal than increasing those militarised by including women.
Conversely, the ‘National Coalition for Men’ in the US argued in favour of conscription. Firstly, they argued that to not would perpetuate double standards towards men. An article on their website stated that the “People who say, “men make war” are the same ones who find it sexist to say men make science”. And secondly, that if women are part of the population supporting wars, they should fight in it as well. In citing the Gulf War, they stated that although 86% of men supported a military attack on Kuwait, but so did 76% of women.
Whether you are pro-female conscription or not, or even whether you agree with the idea of conscription, it is a becoming an alarmingly important topic. The idea of conscription to those in the UK may seem like an irrelevant concept that lives in history books or dystopian novels, the terrifying fact is that the process may not be as far off as we hope. If Poland’s response to the Ukrainian invasion is anything to go by, it would not be inconceivable for the question of equal conscription to be at the forefront of future elections.
Title Quote: Herodotus
Featured Image: damopabe from Flickr