Defence Forces launch campaign to recruit women
For the first time, they have sent female members of the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps into schools to specifically target young women in order to bolster their representation in the armed forces.
Senior officers are also using social media as part of their campaign, and visits to schools are set to intensify next year.
Commandant Jayne Lawlor, the Defence Forces’ gender, equality, and diversity officer, said other policies are being looked at to help women balance a career with family life.
She said overseas trips are traditionally six months’ long. However, in the case of women with young families, they are looking at job-sharing initiatives which would cut such trips in half.
Some full-time career courses can last up to nine months at The Curragh and, to make life easier for mothers, they are proposing to split them up into a number of short modules.
The Government is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for men and women throughout the Defence Forces and to the full participation by women in all aspects its activities.
The Army’s total strength is 7,364, while the Naval Service has 1,006 personnel, and the Air Corps 762.
The Army has the highest percentage of women at 6.3%, followed by the Naval Service with 6.1%, and the Air Corps at 4.7%.
While Cmdt Lawlor said it was not envisaged that the gender balance would ever be equal, she hopes the initiatives will significantly bolster female representation.
“The response was very good and we hope these initiatives will have a positive effect in the next few years,” said Cmdt Lawlor, who is a married mother of four.
Female Defence Forces personnel visited 140 schools and colleges, which each had more than 200-plus female pupils, in an effort to sell military careers.
“We focussed on sixth years and we will keep the momentum going with further visits to schools next year to target fifth-year and transition-year students,” said Cmdt Lawlor.
While there are few women in the Defence Forces, women are well represented in the senior ranks.
The most senior woman in the Army holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, and there are four women in the Naval Service, who are lieutenant commanders and have captained ships. The highest rank achieved in the Air Corps is captain.
Women have a stronger representation in the Reserve Defence Forces.
There are 2,188 Army reserves, of which 15.4% are women, and number nearly a quarter of the 138 in the Naval Service reserves.
The highest rank a woman has achieved in the Army reserves is captain, and in the Naval reserves is sub-lieutenant.
