Women serve across Estonian armed forces as demographics shift raise their importance
Women serve in a wide range of units in the Estonian Defense Forces, and falling birth rates may make their role in the wartime reserve more important. The head of the Defense Resources Agency says filling conscript ranks without women will be difficult after 2035.
Women can serve in any unit of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), and demographic change is making their role in the country's wartime reserve increasingly important. That is according to Anu Rannaveski, director general of the Defense Resources Agency (KRA), speaking to ERR News.
Conscription and national defense obligations in Estonia still apply only to men. Rannaveski stressed, however, that women are not confined to support roles. As conscripts they serve in units with greater mental and physical demands, including the Special Operations Forces (ESTSOF) and the Engineer Battalion, as well as in military intelligence.
Numbers and trends
About 50 women volunteer for conscription each year, a figure that has stayed steady throughout the 13 years women have been allowed to serve. In some years, half of the women who finish conscription have gone on to military careers. Around 250 women are currently on active duty in the EDF.
Demographics are set to change the picture. Some 8,000 young men reach conscription age every year, but annual births of boys have recently dropped to 4,000–5,000. The country needs roughly 4,100 conscripts a year to maintain its wartime reserve. "From 2035 onward, filling conscript ranks without women will become quite difficult," Rannaveski acknowledged.
Same standards
Women are held to the same standards as men. "Sometimes on marches, women will even carry the gear of weaker men," the agency head said. The one accommodation is that the agency generally tries to place women volunteers in the unit they choose. The exceptions are units with their own selection process, such as ESTSOF and Cyber Command, where placement depends on a candidate's overall ranking.
Young men in Estonia are liable for conscription between the ages of 18 and 27, while national defense obligations apply to all men up to age 61. The next conscription intake is scheduled for February.
