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<p>The Armed Forces are committed to attracting, retaining and developing the best
talent from the broadest diversity of skills and background, to reflect the society
we serve. Women are an integral part of our Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence
is taking action to ensure the Armed Forces support women to have full and thriving
military careers - including reaching the very top ranks.</p><p> </p><p>A Level of
Ambition of 30% inflow of women by 2030 was announced in 2021, building on the content
of the previously published Defence Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2018-2030. This
is both "<em>stretching and challenging</em>" and a clear statement that
Defence wants to improve, recognises the mission critical value women bring and is
creating conversations and driving improvement activities.</p><p> </p><p>Defence has
adopted almost all the recommendations from the Defence Committee’s 2021 report into
Women in the Armed Forces, having tested them with the Service Women’s Networks –
and in many cases taking them further. A further progress update will be provided
to the Defence Committee on 14 November 2023. Notable recent progress includes:</p><p>
</p><ul><li>In summer and autumn 2022, new Armed Forces policies were released on
sexual exploitation and abuse, a ban on relationships between instructors and trainees,
a zero-tolerance approach to sexual offending, and introducing additional levers to
discharge those in the Armed Forces found guilty of unacceptable sexual behaviour.</li><li>Equipment
and uniform improvements across the Services, including improved fit combat clothing
and the provision of sports bras to all those who require breast support in initial
training.</li><li>A range of health information products that support Servicewomen,
including menopause and breastfeeding policies, a Servicewomen’s Health Handbook and
a reviewed sanitary product provision and disposal system.</li></ul><p>In terms of
the civilian workforce, a range of creative materials have been developed to advertise
all the opportunities within the Defence Civil Service workforce. Products include
real life experiences of our employees, , who work in roles across the Defence Estate,
to showcase the diversity and inclusive nature of Defence. Recently, these products
have been used to advertise National Inclusion Week specially for the Engineering
Profession.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of Civil Service roles are advertised offering
flexible working opportunities, including job share. We operate an anonymous sift
approach so that identifying characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and age are
not available to be seen by the selection panel at the sift stage.</p>
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