Why Canada's military is nowhere near meeting its decade-old female recruitment target

The armed services commander overseeing enlisting said the canadian river Armed Forces is nowhere close get together a target set a decade ago for women to make up 25 per cent of the Forces by 2026 — and at the current rate, reaching that goal is impossible.

Lt.-Gen. Erick Simoneau, chief of military personnel, said Canada's military is still struggling to attract and keep enough women in uniform. 

"We're having great difficulties because the bulk of our occupations and positions that we have to offer to the Canadian population is in the combat arms in the army," said Simoneau. "So until we can convince women to join the army and then the combat arms, I'm very pessimistic about meeting the 25 per cent target."

An auditor general’s report last year found the military prioritizes women during the recruitment selection process, but fewer women apply because they’re worried about meeting requirements, the dangers of combat service, and their mental health. 

Canada's former chief of defence, retired general Jonathan Vance, mandated the military in 2016 to increase the number of women serving by one per cent per year, aiming to hit 25 per cent by this year. His order was enshrined in Canada’s defence policy in 2017. 

The directive came down after a milestone report by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps found a hostile, sexualized culture with endemic problems that senior military leadership tolerated. Vance was later embroiled in the military's sexual misconduct crisis, and acknowledged a relationship with a subordinate after first denying the allegations.

Back in 2016, 15 per cent of the primary and reserve Forces were women. Despite the mandate, a decade later that number had only risen to 16.7 per cent — an increase of less than two per cent — according to the latest data from the Department of National Defence (DND).

Simoneau said the military has no shot at hitting the target unless it suddenly starts almost doubling its current enrolment rate. The military announced on Monday that it has had a milestone recruitment year including 17 per cent women, but that’s still not enough. 

"It's not enough to reach our target of 25 per cent," Simoneau told a parliamentary committee on Monday. "We should be recruiting in a 30 per cent zone."

A DND study came to that same conclusion in 2020. The report warned targeted recruitment campaigns focusing on addressing a lack of family support and sexual misconduct wasn’t enough. 

Canadian military reaches recruitment high, falls short of personnel goal

Prime Minister Mark Carney boosted defence spending to $63 billion this fiscal year to hit a NATO benchmark after years of pressure from allies. Of that, $2 billion went toward boosting military members' pay and benefits, in part to retain more staff. 

Despite that pay bump, 1,070 women left the military in the 2025-26 fiscal year, the highest attrition rate in the past five years, according to DND figures. 

Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, an expert on military culture, says women are leaving the military for a series of reasons including family, injuries or because they've experienced misconduct. 

Duval-Lantoine, vice-president of Ottawa operations and a fellow at the Canadian Global Affiars Institute, said the military should be focusing on reducing barriers for women to serve and become fully integrated, rather than on hitting a specific number.

"Not all bases right now have nursing rooms for women," she pointed out. "It’s only recently that we’ve introduced a uniform that could fit pregnant women."

More than 30 years after Canada’s military allowed women to serve in combat roles, it’s only now specifically designing uniforms and body armour to fit their bodies. 

Canada's military is designing combat uniforms for women

Right now, about half of the women serving are concentrated in only eight trades and are not spread out across the military. 

More than 600 women are serving in combat arms, representing only 4.4 per cent of the military members in that trade, according to 2025 statistics.

The highest number of women are working in health services, technical roles, logistics and operations, according to DND data.

Simoneau said the military is "applying a lot of energy" right now to deploy women in combat roles to recruitment centres to tell their stories and try to attract other women to join. 

He pointed to Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan as an example of the stories Canadians need to hear. 

"She’s a great champion and a showcase of what women in the combat arms can be," he said. 

Gen. Jennie Carignan becomes first female chief of defence staff

Carignan was one of the first Canadian women to enter combat arms and specialized as a military engineer. Her more than 35-year career includes commanding Task Force Kandahar Engineer Regiment in Afghanistan, leading a multinational NATO training mission in Iraq and leading efforts to try to change the military's culture, before rising to the top job in the military. 

DND also said it has expanded parental leave, created a women’s mentorship network and health directorate to try to keep more women from leaving. 

Senior reporter

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