“Customary military titles will be kept”
The Bundeswehr is becoming more feminine, but military titles will not be changed.
The German armed forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, possibly the biggest logistical challenge in the Bundeswehr’s history, is the responsibility of a woman. Gabriele Voyé is one of the highest ranking women in the German army. The lieutenant colonel is deputy head of Department J4 at Bundeswehr Operations Command in Potsdam and therefore the person responsible for logistics. All careers in the Bundeswehr have been open to women since 2001. Before that they could only join the medical corps or play in a military band. Some 18,500 women are now serving in the Bundeswehr, 10% of all the soldiers.
Voyé admits that there was some confusion at first – for example, with military ranks and forms of address, which have masculine gender in the German language: “I can see that these titles have evolved historically, so I’m happy to keep to the masculine form,” she says. Everything else is up for scrutiny. A cultural change has begun since a woman, Ursula von der Leyen, became Federal Defence Minister. “The Bundeswehr is an army of volunteers. That means it is competing with civilian companies, so it has to be an attractive employer,” the Federal Minister explains. One recent addition has been childcare facilities.
