Starting in 2026, Denmark's Military Will Conscript Woman As Well As Men

For many years, Denmark has required all able-bodied men over age 18 to report for potential military service on "Defense Day." On that day, the young men are evaluated for service, a determination is made whether they are fit to serve, and those who pass are conscripted for military training lasting from four months to a year.

Beginning in 2026, Danish women will be required to report along with the men.

Denmark—a country of 5.8 million people—last year had 4,700 people conscripted for military service. About 25% of those were women volunteers. The Danish defense forces count somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000 professional troops, as well as conscripts in training and reservists who can be called up.
To increase the number of servicemen, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen aims to conscript about 5,000 new Danes per year.
“This entails that all young people—regardless of gender—will have to be called up for the Defense Day and complete military service on equal terms. In other words, conscription should be contemporary—partly in relation to the fundamental values we have that reflect our society, but also in relation to the threat picture we see ahead,” the defense minister said at a press conference.

Frankly, this dash of sauce for the goose is as it should be. What government does for - or to - anyone, it must do for everyone, or it must do for no one. While it's not a good idea to place women in direct-combat roles except in the direst of circumstances (see: Stalingrad), there is a wide range of roles in any modern military that women can fill as well as men, and even some to which women may be better-suited, such as in medical units.

Denmark is also intending to up their defense posture with new equipment.

In addition to adding new conscripts, Defense Minister Lund Poulsen presented plans to implement ground-based air defense systems, add armored vehicles, and expand the capability of the Danish Navy’s Absalon-class frigates. The expansion would require an increase in defense spending by €5 billion, bringing it from 1.4% of GDP last year to 2.4% which would meet NATO requirements.
At the press conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized that the strengthening of the Danish defense is not an offensive, but a defensive move: “We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it.”

It's good to see a European nation dialing its armed forces in; at least someone is paying attention to the state of affairs in Eastern Europe right now. The Danes appear to be taking Roman scholar Publius Vegetius Renatus' warning to heart: Si vis pacem, para bellum, or "If you want peace, prepare for war."

The United States, sadly, seems to have forgotten that warning.

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With this move, Denmark will become the only European Union nation to conscript women.

I've never been a fan of conscription. I can remember when the United States still had a draft, although I wasn't old enough to have served at that time I can remember the discord the draft caused in the general population. I can also remember being part of the all-volunteer Army in the 1980s and hearing many of the older officers and NCOs telling us how much better things were when the Army consisted of soldiers who had chosen to join. Conscription reeks of involuntary servitude, and except, possibly, in times where national survival is at stake, is anathema to a nation that claims to value liberty.

That said, any nation that has conscription must apply it across the board to all able-bodied citizens, and in this, Denmark is correct. And if the United States ever faces such dire straits that a draft is necessary, then we too must include every deployable adult.

What government does to anyone, it must do to everyone, or it must do to no one.