Despite expensive recruitment efforts, the German Bundeswehr still lags behind in attracting female soldiers. According to an internal list from the Ministry of Defence, published by the “Spiegel”, the proportion of female applicants in the past two years has continued to decline. In 2022, out of around 40,000 applicants, only 17.9% were women. The following year, the figure was 16.9% and in the previous year, it had dropped to 16.2%.
The Bundeswehr has been trying to increase the proportion of women in the military for years. Currently, there are 24,726 female soldiers, which is more than 13%. The “Task Force Personal”, established under Pistorius, launched a recruitment campaign in 2024 under the hashtag “voran”, aiming to increase the proportion of women in the military through the depiction of women in the military.
The Minister had, in November, for the first time appointed a woman, Nicole Schilling, as a three-star general, who is now the head of the Department of Readiness and Support of the Armed Forces. Women have been able to pursue all branches of the military since 2001.