Women get an advantage in the army: a job and promotion faster | Inland

Defense does not set itself a hard quota, but a ‘target figure’ of 30 percent women in the armed forces. “The defense needs more people: the pool of potential candidates must be broader,” said State Secretary Christophe van der Maat (Defence). According to the highest military officer, Commander of the Armed Forces Onno Eichelsheim, ‘diversely composed teams perform better’.

The desire to get more women into the army had been in the air for some time. Former defense minister Henk Kamp said in an interview with De Telegraaf last year that ‘it is not appropriate in today’s society that you have such a low percentage of women’. Only 11 percent of military personnel are women, while the figure for civilian personnel is 26 percent: an average of 16 percent of defense personnel is women.

Recruitment

State Secretary Van der Maat acknowledges that it will be quite a challenge to recruit more women. Although the target must be achieved by 2030, it already seems certain that this will not be possible for some combat units. At the Marine Corps, in the Land Forces and in technical positions, ‘working with target figures comes too early and is not yet feasible’, Van der Maat reports to the House of Representatives.

He is now going to introduce a ‘preference policy’. This means that a woman is given preference for equal suitability, both in job applications and promotions. In addition, women are assessed more quickly when they apply for a position in the armed forces. This also applies to top positions, for example at the Ministry of Defense in The Hague.

Sensitive

The fact that women are now given an edge in promotions is very sensitive within the army. “Someone who has been ready for promotion for four years may let you overtake by a woman who is just getting there,” says Boudewijn Boots, deputy Commander of the Armed Forces, in NRC. “But it has to happen to increase the number of women at the top.”

Van der Maat also expects this to lead to resistance. “We recognize that these measures evoke different sentiments within the organization, with the concern that adjusting requirements will lead to lowering them,” he said. But according to him, the requirements remain the same. “We are not compromising on quality, but we are going to broaden, accelerate and differentiate where necessary.”

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