An armed forces platoon of 40 troops, all-women apart from two. A unique situation in Sweden, where the newest conscript training group of the helicopter unit is almost entirely female. The recruits were selected based on their qualities, according to the Swedish armed forces, making the constellation of the platoon a noteworthy coincidence.
Swedish national broadcasting service SVT published a short story with video of the platoon in the forest. Seven years after Sweden reintroduced partial conscription back into its armed forces structure – this time for both men and women – the Helikopterflottiljen is making good progress in closing the gender gap. In total, 58 of the 150 conscripts (38.6%) of the unit this season are female. The unit is based in Linköping, Luleå och Ronneby.
For the armed forces overall, 16% for all 6750 conscripts this season are female. Most of the young recruits have been drafted for the army (4460), with the air force and navy each having between 1100 and 1200 conscripts. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo: an archive photo of a female Swedish conscript, taken in 2022 (Press photo: Försvarsmakten)