Lithuania eyes military growth with greater inclusion of women

Lithuania must increase women’s participation in national defence if it hopes to grow its armed forces significantly in the coming decade, Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said on June 13.

Speaking at a parliamentary press conference titled Women in Total Defence: A Burden or a Guarantee of Success?, Šakalienė stressed the need to fully tap into the potential of the country’s population, Caliber.Az reports, citing Lithuanian media.

“If we want to have more troops in the next 5 to 10 years, we will have to increase the role of women in defence. The first thing we must do is make full use of our own society’s capacity,” she stated.

Highlighting Lithuania’s commitment to a total defence strategy, she argued: “Total defence does not come with an asterisk in the constitution saying ‘except for women’. If the whole society is needed for defence, then the role of women is not supplementary – it is essential.”

Currently, women make up around 10% of the Lithuanian military, in line with NATO averages. Šakalienė noted, however, that female involvement in cyber defence, logistics, and strategic communications is growing quickly.

She cited Ukraine’s military as a benchmark, where approximately 60,000 women were serving as of 2023. “They became an inspiration to many. Was it easy? Were some of them professional soldiers before? No. But they showed they are capable of extraordinary things,” she said.

Šakalienė also praised Sweden’s decision to reinstate conscription for both genders in 2018, which she said boosted readiness and public trust. She referenced research indicating that gender-diverse military teams often perform better thanks to stronger communication and empathy.

Acknowledging societal challenges, Šakalienė said: “We are still a fairly patriarchal and stereotype-driven society. Greater visibility of women can help awaken some people to reality. We’re in a situation where all of us must take on responsibilities that we might not have even considered two or three years ago.” She added that more flexible service options now allow participation regardless of gender or health status.

Earlier in June, Lithuania’s parliament approved a set of military reforms to restructure the armed forces and increase personnel numbers. The plan includes expanding the number of professional soldiers to 20,000, volunteer troops to 6,800, and cadets to 600.

These changes align with the State Defence Council’s April decision to aim for a 20,000-strong force by 2038.

Despite the broader push, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas emphasised on June 13 that compulsory conscription should remain limited to men. “Women are capable of absolutely everything. If they want to serve, they must be given the opportunity... However, the obligation to be conscripted should apply primarily to men,” he told reporters.

By Tamilla Hasanova