Women shun career with Defence Forces
Only 33 female recruits stay the distance over last four years despite €1m drive for personnel
JUST 33 women have joined and stayed with the Defence Forces in the past four years, in spite of a massive recruitment drive and a spend of more than €1m.
Figures obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday show that there are now just 596 women within its ranks, among a total of 8,847 personnel.
The number of women enlisted represents 6.7% – a rise of just 0.6% since December 2014 but well below the target of 10% target set out in a 2015 White Paper.
The low representation of women in the Defence Forces is most acute in the Air Corps, where they account for 4.5% of staff. In both the Army and Navy, women account for a slightly above average 6.9%.
Derek Priestley, deputy general secretary of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco), told the MoS: ‘The number of women who want to join and stay with the Defence Forces is disappointing. Since the 1980s, there have only been two female pilots within the Air Corps, and currently, out of 76 pilots with us, none are women.
‘Again and again, we have said that we can’t recruit our way out of this crisis. Recruitment is not the real problem, it’s retention, and the drive to recruit people is like filling a leaky bucket.
‘We are taking in hundreds of people every year, and each year hundreds of people – both men and women – leave for better-paid positions in the private sector, with better conditions. We are awaiting the pay report in midMay and we wait with bated breath, but our expectations are low,’ he told the MoS. Figures provided by Minister of State Paul Kehoe, with responsibility for Defence, in the Dáil detail that of the 95 inductions to the Defence Forces so far this year just five are women, representing 5.2%. This follows a major recruitment drive and spend by the Defence Forces to bolster the number of women joining its ranks in recent years. From 2013 to 2017, a total of €919,423 was spent on PR and advertising for recruitment purposes. The number of women in the Irish Defence Forces is way below international norms. The figure for women in the US is 16%; New Zealand, 17%; Canada, 15%, and Britain, 9%.
In 2018, 612 personnel were inducted into the Defence Forces, and hundreds more are due to be recruited again this year.
A Defence Forces spokesman told the MoS: ‘All roles are open to women and men on an equal-opportunities basis. Óglaigh na hÉireann also employs military gender advisers to provide education on gender perspective and awareness of gender-based violence in conflict and other settings.
‘It remains a priority for Óglaigh na hÉireann to increase female participation as per the 2015 White Paper. To facilitate this, recruitment campaigns in recent years have utilised a variety of methods to encourage female applicants for a career in Óglaigh na hÉireann.
‘Examples of these include female-specific advertising content and dedicated funding towards female-specific targeting on traditional, digital and social media. In 2018 Óglaigh na hÉireann inducted 612 personnel, of which 50 were female.’
Figures obtained by the MoS show that in 2017 there were 751 inductions to the three arms of the Defence Forces, but that same year 742 people also left, including more than 200 trainees.
Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell said: ‘Right now our Defence Forces are falling apart before the Taoiseach’s very eyes.
‘This month, 166 officers, noncommissioned officers and men will leave the Defence Forces. They will leave because they cannot afford to stay.
‘I appreciate that the pay commission is soon due to report but if remedial action is not taken urgently there will be no soldiers, airmen and sailors left.’
Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin said: ‘The current strength is approximately 8,800, which does not take into account 670 members overseas or 450 in full-time training. There has been a blind reliance by the Government on recruitment over retention and on recruiting its way out of the crisis. Recruitment on its own, however, has had no impact on the strength of the Defence Forces in recent years, and the cost-benefit of retention over recruitment is indisputable.’
‘No women at all among a total of 76 pilots’ ‘There will be no soldiers, sailors or airmen left’