2023-12-21 09:48:53
Tampons and sanitary towels in each toilet, a well-stocked reserve stocked on demand… In Karlskrona, as in the whole of Sweden, all conscripts benefit from free periodic protection. Motivated by the ambition of equal treatment of men and women in the army, the initiative also makes it possible to fight against menstrual poverty.
“We wanted to allow the conscripts to have at their disposal all the equipment they need in all circumstances,” explains a head of the general staff, Per Öster. Along with Norway and Israel, Sweden is one of the few Western countries where military service is in principle compulsory for both women and men, and the first to offer free pads and tampons.
An “egalitarian” army
“Previously, the only place where women could have hygienic protection [gratuites] in the army, it was when they were bedridden in the infirmary,” recalls Per Öster. ” It’s crazy ! » Introduced in the fall of 2020, the measure dusts off the image of the army, showing it as a modern and equal workplace. Bet won according to Maria Juvel, conscripted for three months.
“I don’t feel any different from what the boys feel, I think. It’s exactly the same for everyone, it’s equal,” she assures. “No one looks down on you and it’s not harder because you’re a woman,” says the young girl, who believes that everything is done for parity. Abolished in 2010 in Sweden, military service was reinstated there in 2017 amid an increase in Russian military activities in the region, becoming compulsory for both women and men.
Soon protections for all women in the army?
According to the company commander, mentalities have evolved enormously since the 1990s, when women were allowed to do military service. “When I did my military service there were around 800 of us and the number of girls I can almost count on one hand,” says Carl Gustav Gonzalez. “We didn’t think [aux protections hygiéniques] at the time, it must be said that it was a while ago, fortunately, we have improved and we think differently,” says the 45-year-old officer.
In principle compulsory, Swedish military service, lasting six to 15 months, is in practice selective. In the Scandinavian country of 10.5 million inhabitants, it is attracting more and more young people and 5,475 were selected in 2022, or 46% more than four years previously. In Karlskrona, a town in the south of the country located on the shores of the Baltic, the rooms are mixed, and among the 165 conscripts per year, two out of five are women, a proportion well above the national average of 24% women. . At the national level, some 740,000 protections were purchased in 2022. The general staff plans to extend the measure to all permanent personnel of the armed forces, as is the case in certain regiments in the United States.
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