‘A new foe’: Conscripting women in Denmark

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1:09I would run away, honestly. It should be a choice if you want to join it or not. I'm in a forest on the edge of Copenhagen. It's the Carousel Music Festival. Ravers are swaying and swirling as the sun goes down. We talk a lot about being equal here in Denmark. and right now, like, all the men had gold. So, yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea. So we'll be more equal, yeah. There are lights illuminating the trees in purple and red. Lasers projected onto the branches, dancing to the beat. But being forced to go to the military, I don't think it's good for anybody to be forced to do anything in the world.

1:55These are people in their 20s and 30s. they've heard about a new policy to boost the numbers here, signing up for military service. The most scary thing about it is that it's necessary to think in these military terms because of the unstable situation we have in the world, right? But beneath the pine trees, as the base pounds, war in Europe feels very far away. I'm Anna Holligan, and for assignment, I'm in Denmark.

2:27This summer, there was a stream of striking headlines. Things like Danish women to face conscription by lottery. And Denmark begins drafting women as Russian threat looms. Denmark isn't at war right now. But reading all the news, it really felt like all girls, as soon as they turn 18, would be sent to the front line somewhere. Is that really what's happening? That's what I'm here to find out.

3:01When you are 18, you have to come to one of the five recruitment offices we have in Denmark. That's Peter. He's a captain and one of the military recruiters here in Denmark. This recruitment center is a basic office building with a sandwich board outside that says Defenses Day. This is where all men, and now women, are ordered to come once they turn 18.

3:28Teenagers in baggy jeans, skinny t-shirts and hoodies are coming into a waiting room, signing in at a small podium-style reception, sitting slightly awkwardly in little clusters, munching on complimentary cereal bars. Right now, around 5 ,000 people are coming here every year, and that's only when the boys come here, and next year all the females will be here as well, and an estimate around 11 ,000 to 12 ,000. A year? A year, yeah, because the half year before you turn 18, then you will receive a letter telling you you will soon be drafted or called to the recruitment office. So it's like happy birthday, you're about to turn 18, come to these defensive days to see if you're fit for military service.

4:15Yes, and that's in the law. This stage of the process has been compulsory for boys for more than 175 years. And as of 2025, girls are also going to be forced to show up to one of these recruitment offices. These rules are enforced by fines and even the police if you keep failing to show up. We have a round couple of people every week that will be handed over by the police. and they're actually arrested until they turn up here. So they're escorted here by the police? Yes. Oh my goodness. This is so, it sounds so draconian and so far away from... Yeah, but it's because you are told mandatory by the law that you have to do this.

5:01And if you don't want to do this, then there is a consequence. There are 23 teenagers here today sitting on padded benches in this grey-carpeted, strip-lit office, decorated with a smattering of posters of soldiers in action. Nine of them are girls who volunteered to come. They're just old enough to have escaped the new law. Hello, BBC. My name is Sarah. I am 19 years old from Copenhagen, and I'm here at... Sarah might sound like she's from Ireland. That's her dad's influence. But she's lived here in Denmark all her life. So you're not bound to go to the military if you come here. So I thought I could come and hear about it and see if it's perhaps something I would like.

5:49I'm a little bit nervous and a little bit excited. Now it's going to be mandatory for women as well as men. Do you think that's a good thing for teenage girls in Denmark? I think it's nice that we get included in something that has primarily been looked at as something only men can do. Everyone's called into another room to take a cognitive ability test. We're not allowed to record in there because they repeat the same test every year. But we are allowed to take it. that was so intense it involves abstract reasoning logic lots of numbers and some danish and i'd like to say the fact that there's a lot of danish in there explains my score what score did you get that's the producer ellie house 27 i think that's good apparently it's a pass you passed?

6:49Well the young people have now got their results too and now they've moved next door and they're taking their shoes off, sitting down and waiting for the next stage of this recruitment process. So there is like a pre-medical check, they check your eyesight, your hearing, your height and your weight they put down and then they will do a more thorough exam where I believe they go to... We catch up with Sarah and another young woman, Molly. Very nervous. Very, very nervous. Which part are you nervous about? Everything. Like, getting tested and having to go into the medical room and sit and talk to a doctor in your underwear.

7:35Molly is 20 and she doesn't look like someone who's being assessed. She's slouched nonchalantly in a baggy, off-the-shoulder Speedway T-shirt with tattoos and piercings. and as with most people here in Denmark, she speaks perfect English. But I've always wanted to go to the military. I've always found it interesting and scary and fun. If I do pass all the tests, I'm definitely going in and then staying for a couple of years. And did you get the impression today that you're being, if you joined up, prepared to fight in wars? For me, I think it's definitely more about getting some discipline. I didn't think about it as, oh, I'm going here because I'm being sent to war, but more as like an interesting opportunity to get to know yourself a little bit better.

8:30Of course it would scare me. It still scares me. But I think that that's kind of what you signed up for. You have to be prepared for that. They say they've been following global news on their social media feeds.

9:09rather than just watch from the sidelines since it's so close to home. 100%. And I think everyone will join the military. Everyone will do something and not just sit still and feel helpless. While the girls wait for their medical assessments, we speak to Senior Navy Commander Sun Lund, who's head of recruitment. By making conscription service mandatory for all genders, We are enhancing the pool of able bodies that can come in and do service in the military. For the first time in a long while, we again have war on this continent. We have a foe that is challenging the whole of Europe and, of course, NATO.

9:55And Denmark wants to pull its weight. The new law doesn't just make these recruitment days compulsory for women as well as men. it also more than doubles the amount of time that the new conscripts will serve from four to 11 months. Since 2012, we have had an all-volunteer conscription force. So people sign up voluntarily, but in the case that we don't have enough to fill the ranks, we are then able to call in according to our ballot number. So it's a lottery system? It is a lottery system in order to have a backup if we are not able to secure enough volunteers. Producer Ellie jumps in with a question.

10:40I was quite confused when I first started doing this because in English, conscript and conscription means mandatory. So if someone is conscripted, that is not voluntary, but you have voluntary conscription. So essentially, when you refer to conscription, you're talking about a kind of national service. Yes, so we have our national service law, which states that everybody who turns 18 is a conscript in sense of the law. So the compulsory bit is showing up to one of these recruitment days. Whether these young people will be forced to actually serve in the military depends on whether there are enough volunteers to fill the ranks first.

11:21Every year we're going to end up by calling in 6 ,500 conscripts, where we expect most of it, not all, will be people who are voluntarily signing up for the conscription service. So you're essentially tripling the capacity? Yes, correct. We are tripling the capacity and the number of conscripts overall. Those who are conscripted, they will be like a third rung of defence. They will be called upon before women in society who haven't gone through this training. Yes, so if we enter a crisis, our conscripts that have served and been discharged can be called upon up to five years after their conscription service.

12:02And that's for all genders. If people refuse the military draft, they can register as a conscientious objector and serve their time in a civilian service. So responding to emergencies like fires or earthquakes. We go into a small office room with Peter, who's running today's recruitment. Now, we'd heard the Danish conscription was partly based on a lottery, but we weren't expecting an actual raffle-style tombola drum. It looks like an antique. It's a metal barrel where you put your hand in, and then there's a lottery ticket inside the barrel, and then the conscript will take out a number, and that ends up with telling if he's or her.

12:47She is getting conscripted. I'm rifling around, and the lower the number I get, the more chance I have of being conscripted. It seems kind of crazy that a teenager's future is partly determined by pulling out a lottery ticket. OK, here it goes. On the slip of paper is a little strip of plastic which you have to peel off to reveal your lottery number, as if you're finding out the pin for a new bank card.

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14:10I'm Anna Holligan, on assignment in Denmark. I've been to the recruitment day, sat the test, pulled out a lottery number. What next? For those who decide to become a conscript, or if there aren't enough volunteers, are forced, what do the next 11 months of national service look like?

14:35we've travelled out of the city now because we've been granted rare access to a military base on the outskirts of Copenhagen to see some of the most recent recruits in action so we're walking down some metal tanks through a field and we can see a group of people in combat gear holding rifles, wearing helmets, and the recognisable camouflage print. Every now and then you hear that sound of fire in the distance. So what's happening is that one man is going to establish security while the sergeant will bring the group back. And when they're in position, he will give the command for them to open fire.

15:33Those recruits are crawling through the forest. Commander style. Carry their rifles. There's a small hill which they're now taking position behind. The enemy is the other side and they are about to take part in some kind of shooting exercise.

15:59They're taking these war games seriously. The atmosphere is surprisingly tense. The sharp, acrid scent of gunpowder with hints of sulphur from the dummy rounds hangs in the air.

16:16The recruits wrap up their morning training and take a lunch break. sat in a semicircle on rolled-up mats, perched on their big rucksacks. It's very fun, and it's like your adrenaline is spiking, and you have a high pulse, and you're just running around and shooting. We speak to Catherine, a conscript in the Danish Royal Lifeguards, who did this camp just a few months ago. Now that women are also going to be subject to mandatory conscription, how do you think that's going to change? Well, I think it might have been a bit of a scary decision for some, because obviously not everyone wants to join the military.

16:55But I think, personally, most people would benefit from it. You earn a new skill set, and you earn so many friendships, and you just learn a lot about yourself. So it's life skills? Yeah, well, at least personally for me, that's what I think I've been taught here. This feels quite removed from the battlefield. would you be prepared? Do you see a time in the future where you would be prepared to go to war? It's a training situation and I think for many it doesn't really feel real. But I think if you are considering continuing in the military it's something you have to be prepared for that one day it can be real.

17:34And does it feel any different being a woman in the military here in Denmark? It's not something I think about on a day-to-day basis because most of the time we just recruit every one of us or guardsmen or soldiers. And then obviously there are a few situations where something might be a bit different for a woman. Maybe something is a bit heavier or you need a bit more time for your toilet break. But then those are really the only situations where I think about it. And how are you treated by the other recruits? Well, especially because we live in rooms that are mixed between the genders. and it's a bit eye-opening to live with so many young men.

18:16They have a bit of a different tone amongst each other but you get used to it very quickly and then you just tell them off if you need to. It's not that bad. But sometimes you do need to tell them to turn off the charm of it. Turn off the charm. Yeah. But that's hard to avoid when you're 400 young people together. and so a few women, I think.

18:43This new conscription policy is widely seen as a response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Denmark, a NATO country, is relatively far away and it doesn't seem like anyone here is anticipating Vladimir Putin's tanks rolling into Copenhagen anytime soon. My name is Peter Viggo-Jarovs and I work at the Royal Danish Defence College. I've come to a grand red brick building to ask Peter, an associate professor with a supercharged energy, why Denmark's making these changes to its conscription law now. We find ourselves in a new security environment where we face more of a military threat from Russia.

19:23But we also face a new situation with our main ally, the United States, where we're actually quite unsure as to whether the US is willing to honour its security guarantee in NATO if something bad happens with the Russians. So the really big unknown is actually not the Russians, it's the US. To what extent is it symbolic, given Denmark's size? And is this partly about sending a message to the US and to NATO that, look, we're doing our bit? I think it's a combination of both. Of course, it's sending a message. But it's also because for Denmark to be able to meet our requirements and the things that we are supposed to do to help our allies to deter the Russians from ever launching an attack in the Baltic countries or somewhere else, we need much higher numbers and we need more of everything.

20:10Because obviously Denmark doesn't have a land frontier with Russia, but there is the Baltic Sea, which goes all the way up to St. Petersburg. What is the potential threat there? If things go haywire in the Baltic Sea, there will be fighting in the Baltic countries. It's better from our perspective to do the fighting in the Baltic states than in Denmark. It's about solidarity, but it's also about forward defence, meaning that you want to stop the Russians at the Baltic border. You don't want them any closer than that. So like a Baltic buffer then? Yeah, to some extent, but we are well aware that we are within range of Russian missiles.

20:45No one believes that if it goes bad, then you can keep the war localised to the Baltics. Then we know we're all part of it. And the young people we met, doing their short conscription service, could be part of it too. What we're doing is building a mobilisation force. So in the event of a crisis or war, we can call in troops and put them into units that should be capable of fighting within the shore. That's the whole point about the system we're now building up. Because there has to be a return for the military. The young people who we spoke to, they were enjoying themselves, having a gap year, shooting guns in the forest.

21:22But actually, in reality, the defence ministry isn't doing this for nothing. No, no, of course. The reason we're doing it is because we're looking into a security environment where war is, again, a possibility. Have you been surprised there isn't more opposition to the change in policy in Danish society? No, because how on earth can you be against equal rights for men and women? Indeed, criticisms of these far-reaching changes seem to be virtually non-existent. Or are they? As we wander the charming streets of Copenhagen, some murmuring signs of discontent begin to emerge. We've come to Freetown Christiania an intentional community an anarchist commune on one of Copenhagen's islands formed on an abandoned military base in the 1970s Producer Ellie and I pass a cosy square just off the Pusher Street famous for its stalls selling soft drugs People are sitting around on picnic benches chatting and swigging beer A weekly gospel choir has arrived.

22:36We've been handed an A4 sheet of lyrics and encouraged to join in.

22:46It was funny, when we came in, there was a big sign saying Christiania, lots of shops, it felt quite commercial, tourists taking photographs, bars, really buzzing vibe. but then as we're walking through, we've come to the other side, you notice a shift. There are posters up, anti-fascist posters. It feels very different, this side. Yeah, I feel like it's shifted from an almost performative anarchism to something that feels a little bit more genuine. Authentic, the original essence of Christiania. Yeah. This is interesting. I love signs. Look at that one. Oh, my goodness. No US troops in Denmark.

23:36That's interesting. I wonder when that's from. I wonder if we can ask these people. Excuse me. We meet Stephanie and Marias, out walking their Bichon-Fries dogs. It's not a conflict, it's just, we're generally... Generally, no US troops in Denmark. We don't want American soldiers on Danish land. I don't see the Americans as our friends. They're talking about a recent defense agreement which granted U.S. troops increased access to Danish military bases. They see this and the new conscription policy as a symbol of a broader shift in the country. Denmark was pacifist when I came here. We had an army, but it was almost just symbolic.

24:23Marios has been living here in Christiania since the 1980s. A lot of us had long hair and we're sort of the hippie movement and peace movement and all this. So when you guys, the original Christianians, hear about the Danish government bringing in mandatory conscription for 18-year-old girls, teenagers... I think they will try to get away with that. and if they get away with that, then they will push even further and further and eventually build up a bigger army. I think that nobody should join an army because that is just like telling people we want to go to war. We're getting more people in the army because we are making ready to be in a war.

25:12There is an argument to say there is a threat from Russia and that Denmark shouldn't just sit back and wait for things to happen, but should be prepared just in case. Well, the way I see it, there's a fire going on over there and our prime minister is fanning the fire. The war rhetoric is way ahead of the peace rhetoric. The Danish prime minister, Meta Fredriksen, has said she firmly supports maintaining and strengthening Denmark's military and defence capabilities.

25:47Marius takes us to meet his 14-year-old daughter Isabella. She has bouncing blonde curls and aspirations to study law when she's older. Isabella is part of the generation of girls that will be affected by Denmark's expanded conscription policy. I would be like sort of a military denier and try to take another community service instead of going to the military. Like yes, equality and stuff, feminism and blah blah blah. But, like, personally, I didn't like the idea of women going into the military. We've seen the process. The chances of you being forced to do military service are quite low. Yeah.

26:27Does that reassure you at all? Yeah, it makes me a bit more, like, calm. But I'm still a little bit worried about it. And, you know, just, like, the future stresses me and gives me a little bit of anxiety for, like, my future, you know? I do not want to die, and I do not want PTSD, and that's probably it. And also, I'm scared about life in the battlefield as a woman because I have really heavy periods, to be honest, and I don't know how to deal with that in the battlefield. Despite these challenges, the expansion of conscription here in Denmark remains a pretty uncontroversial policy. It's as though everyone accepts it as naturally as surrendering to the relentless rhythm of a midnight rave.