Yesterday during the discussion of the programming statements in parliament Panos Kammenos expressed his intention to propose to the government to introduce voluntary military service for women. Although this proposal of the Minister of Defence is based on the relevant studies and reports of the General Staff of National Defence, it is not well accepted by SYRIZA at least for the time being. Military service for women has always been a taboo for the traditional left and for the feminist movement. Immediate was the reaction of Rena Svingou who is in charge of the press centre of SYRIZA and who wrote on twitter, "SYRIZA opposes the proposal for voluntary military service for women."
Panos Kammenos raised the issue of the voluntary service for women for the first time in Tripoli in July, where he attended the oath taking ceremony of recruits.
However, the General Staff of National Defence had submitted this proposal at the time when Dimitris Avramopoulos was Minister of Defence in the government of Lucas Papademos (2011-2012). Based on the relevant research, the possibility was considered of giving bonuses in the form of points in the competitions in the public sector to women who would choose to serve in the army. It was also considered to give another incentive to these women, namely to consider for retirement purposes the time of service that would be 12 months and longer, and therefore to pay them full social securities.
The Ministry of Defence believes that in view of the high youth unemployment rate it is normal for young women to show interest in being enrolled in the army, even without a salary. Moreover, the General Staff are hoping that the process of women joining the army will bring some relief and fill some of the gaps in the recruitment of staff for the units, which are due to the low birth rates. According to the Staff representatives, women may cover all offices in Athens and other major urban canters, which will relieve from duties a large number of personnel that will be sent to the border divisions, where actually there is a shortage of people.
The General Staff’s proposal of the voluntary military recruitment of women is associated with the compulsory military service for men aged over 18 years. The proposal was also submitted by former chief of staff Michail Kostarakos before Antonis Samarakis and Alexis Tsipras, but neither of them showed enthusiasm. The most likely reason was the potential political cost that the implementation of such a proposal would imply.
The General Staff have periodically requested an extension of the military service to 18 months but no government has responded to it, also in view of the current economic crisis. The reason is that the financial burden for families who have a son in the army is significant, as military service costs a family up to 3,000 euro.
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