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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 was provided to the
Defence Committee on 14 November 2023. Notable recent progress includes:</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> </p><p>The
requested information on the number and proportion of women recruited to the Armed
Forces is published in the UK Armed Forces Biannual Diversity Statistics: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Fuk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index&data=05%7C01%7CMatthew.Aves243%40mod.gov.uk%7Cf835b6013be44c937fe008dbf59d8a96%7Cbe7760ed5953484bae95d0a16dfa09e5%7C0%7C0%7C638373829205763448%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OzMOvn58tCP4OQyYK7fAnd1x0qwq%2Bfxq6Ba6xO9mjLc%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index</a>.
Specifically, tables 7 and 23 of the supporting datasheets provide information on
intake by gender to, respectively, UK Regulars and Future Reserves 2020.</p>
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