Recruting and Retaining Women in Armed Forces

The Norwegian Armed Forces objective for 2020 is that women make up 20 percent of the total force. This goal seems difficult to reach due to a minimal increase of women over the past years. This is a comparative study of Canada, Sweden and Norway and measures taken to recruit and retain women in the various forces. It looks at whether the measures have had the desired effect as well as whether any of the measures deals with masculinity cultures that exists within the military. Various theoretical perspectives are used to guide the analysis and to explain the empirical findings. The empirical findings show similar measures in many areas within all three countries. These measures seem to vary in terms of width and depth however. Whether the military practice conscription or all-professional forces where men and women apply equally, also seem to contribute to the military's ability to attract women. Findings further indicate that societal factors like the military organizations' position in the labor market matters, as well as the time elapsed since action was first taken.