Defence Forces - Move to help close gender gap

THE path towards gender equality has been a long and tortuous one.

Yesterday Defence Minister Willie O’Dea announced new measures to increase the participation of women in the permanent Defence Forces.

Research has been commissioned to help increase the appeal of the Defence Forces for women, and the height requirement for both male and female applicants is being lowered from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 2 inches in order to ensure that more women are eligible for recruitment.