The women’s Union is calling for an expansion of the new armed‑services questionnaire and for it to be made compulsory for women as well. In a proposal aimed at the CDU national party convention, reported by the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” newspapers, the union’s female members urge the recently approved voluntary service model to be “immediately further developed” and to incorporate more women. They envision, in the long term, a mandatory service for both genders either in the military or in the social sector.
The proposal states that both women and men should be required to complete the questionnaire in view of the new letter from the German armed forces. It also calls for a broader scope: if someone answers that she or he does not wish to perform military service, the survey should then ask whether the individual would be willing to volunteer instead in the social sphere or in civil and disaster‑prevention work. The resulting data should be forwarded to charitable associations and civil‑disaster organisations such as the Technical Relief Service (THW) or the German Red Cross so that they can actively target interested people.
The CDU women also support a mandatory “society year” for all young people in Germany and propose a constitutional amendment to make this possible. The idea is that every cohort would have to carry out a compulsory year of service, either with the Bundeswehr or in the social sector. Currently, the constitution only allows conscription or civilian service for men.
Germany introduced a new, initially voluntary armed‑service on 1 January 2026. All men and women born in 2008 and younger are now being contacted and asked to fill out a suitability questionnaire for service in the armed forces. Men are required to respond; women are not yet. Should the new system fail to attract sufficient volunteers, the coalition government keeps the option open to re‑introduce a “need‑based conscription”.
With this in mind, the CDU women insist that incentives for the new armed‑service should also apply to alternative service. Under the current arrangement, the monthly gross pay for military service is €2,600, with possible subsidies for obtaining a driver’s licence.