The recent history of changes in women's roles includes having women in the military. Every country in the world permits the participation of women in the military, in one form or another. In 2018, only two countries conscripted women and men on the same formal conditions: Norway and Sweden, joined by Denmark in 2025. A few other countries have laws conscripting women into their armed forces, however with some difference such as service exemptions, length of service, and more. Some countries do not have conscription, but men and women may serve on a voluntary basis under equal conditions. Alenka Ermenc was the first female head of armed forces in any of the NATO member states, having served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces between 2018 and 2020.

Africa Algeria The presence of female soldiers in the Algerian army was of crucial importance during the Algerian revolution against colonial France; some of the most prominent figures and symbols of the National Liberation Front were female combatants. However, of all women who participated in the war, over 80% worked in menial support jobs, while only 2% were active combatants. After the war, neither of these groups of women participating in it received benefits.Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck: Women in the men's house: the road to equality in the Algerian military, Published in the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, November 2015.

Women were first allowed as members of the regular armed forces of Algeria after president Houari Boumédiène signed an according decree in January 1978. Providing for and retaining the female personnel proved more difficult than first anticipated, and in 1986, female recruitment was suspended for over a decade until it was resumed again in 2001. Since 2005, Bouteflika has been under pressure to enact more changes in favor of women's rights.

Fatima Zohra Ardjoune, director general of the Ain Naâdja military hospital, was promoted to general, the first woman in the Algerian People's National Army (PNA)—and in the Arab world—to reach this rank. Three years later, Fatima Boudouani became the second woman to be promoted to the rank of general in the PNA, and she was followed by three more women in 2015, therefore making Algeria the Arab country with the biggest number of high-ranking female army commanders. Four generals were also promoted to the rank of major-general.

Ardjoune's promotion reflects a growing trend of Algerian women taking more prominent positions in the workforce, most notably in the police and military. Algeria boasts the largest number of female police officers in the Muslim world. The status of women in the military had been made legally equal to that of men in an ordinance on 28 February 2006, and the military's promotions of women from 2009 to 2015 broke an apparent taboo. The army has since put in place a formal policy framework for equal opportunities, and efforts have been made to apply it.

Despite some women being promoted to high offices and the official decrees of equalization, the Algerian military still makes a sharp distinction between its male and female members: While men may serve combat roles and regularly gain high ranks, as of 2015 women were mostly excluded from those and even from a harder training regimen, as they were included in the armed forces to run health departments, do communications and data entry, and fill administration and teaching positions. This left the gender integration largely unfinished.

Eritrea Female soldiers in Eritrea played a major role in both the war, the Eritrean independence and the border dispute with Ethiopia. During the Eritrean war of independence more than 30% of the Eritrean military were women. They served in direct combat operations.

Eritrea is one of the few nations in the world where women fight side by side with men. Both men and women are required to participate in national service, which includes six months of military training. Living side by side in military camps, men and women learn to handle weapons and study military tactics and survival techniques.

The Gambia The Gambia Armed Forces have no gender conscription and women are free to volunteer for the armed forces. In 2011 the first female army general was decorated in the Gambia. Accessed 29 June 2008

Libya Libya has female soldiers serving in the armed forces. Female conscription is also followed. A 200-strong unit was Muammar al-Gaddafi's personal bodyguard and is called variously the "Green Nuns" and the "Amazonian Guard", or more commonly in Libya, "The Revolutionary Nuns" ().TimesOnline: Adieu, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, a tricky guest Accessed 29 June 2008

Mali

Women participate in the military in Mali.

Mauritania

Women have served in the military in Mauritania since 11 July 2007.

Somalia

Women have served in the Somali military in measurable numbers since at least 2014, following an increase in recruitment after the loss of al‑Shabaab control of Mogadishu in 2011–2012. However, women have long played roles in armed conflict in Somalia, including in clan‑based militias and Islamist‑aligned groups. In 2025, Somalia graduated its first group of female military cadets from the Türkiye‑Somalia military academy, marking the first time women became commissioned officers in the Somali Army, Navy, and Air Force.

South Africa

South African women have a long history of service in the South African Defence Force (SADF) and in the modern South African National Defence Force (SANDF). In World War I and World War II women served in auxiliary roles in the South African Defence Force and were assigned to non-combat active roles after 1970. In 1914 a volunteer nursing service was established by the army and 328 nurses to serve with South African troops in Europe and East Africa in World War I. The Women's Auxiliary Army Service began accepting women recruits in 1916. Officials estimated that women volunteers relieved 12,000 men for combat in World War I by assuming clerical and other duties. During World War II, South Africa had five service organizations for women—the South African Military Nursing Service, and women's auxiliaries attached to the army, the navy, the air force, and the military police.

During the late 1970s and 1980s, women were active in civil defence organizations and were being trained as part of the country's general mobilization against possible attacks. In 1989, for example, the Johannesburg Civil Defence Program provided training for 800 civil defense volunteers, about one-half of whom were women. These classes included such subjects as weapons training for self-defense, antiriot procedures, traffic and crowd control, first aid, and fire-fighting. An unreported number of women also received instruction in counterinsurgency techniques and commando operations. Women also served in military elements of liberation militias in the 1970s and the 1980s, and women were accepted into the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, also known as Umkhonto—MK), throughout the anti-apartheid struggle.

In 1995 women of all races were being incorporated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), and a woman officer, Brigadier Jackie Sedibe, was appointed to oversee the implementation of new SANDF policies concerning the treatment of women. Women had been promoted as high as warrant officers and brigadiers in the Permanent Force by the early 1990s, but only ten women were SADF colonels in 1994. In 1996 Brigadier Sedibe became the first woman in the military to be promoted to the rank of major general. Widespread cultural attitudes in the 1990s still oppose the idea of women in combat, but officials are debating ways to assign women an equitable share of the leadership positions in the military. In 2011 almost 26.6% of the uniformed servicemembers, or a bit over a quarter of the South African National Defence Force was female.

South Sudan

Women participate in the military in South Sudan. Some women in the South Sudanese military have risen to the rank of Colonel, and have served 25 years or more.

Asia and Oceania Australia

All roles in the Australian Defence Force are open to women. The first women became involved with the Australian armed forces with the creation of the Army Nursing Service in 1899. On 30 June 2017, women were found to make up 16.5% of the Australian Defence Force (with 20.6% in the Royal Australian Air Force, 20.4% in the Royal Australian Navy and 13.2% in the Australian Army).Annual Reports Australian Government. Defence However, up until 2016, only 74% of the total number of available roles in the Australian armed forces were available to women. Despite this, using 1998-99 figures, the ADF had the highest percentage of women in its employ in the world. In 1998, Australia became the fourth nation in the world for women to serve on submarines.

Australia was the fourth country to permit female crew on submarines, doing so in June 1998 on board Collins class submarines. Australia's first deployment of female sailors in a combat zone was aboard HMAS Westralia in the Persian Gulf during the 1991 Gulf War.

On 27 September 2011, Defence Minister Stephen Smith announced that women will be allowed to serve in frontline combat roles by 2016.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Army started recruiting female officers in non-medical roles in 2001. Female soldiers were inducted for the first time in 2015.Serve with professionalism . daily-sun.com. 30 January 2015.

China

Women comprise 4.5% of the People's Liberation Army.

India

The Indian Military Nursing Service was formed in 1888 when India was colonialised by Britain and used in world war. Many nurses served in World War I and II where 350 Indian Army nurses either died or were taken prisoner of war or declared missing in action, this includes nurses who died when SS Kuala was sunk by Japanese bombers in 1942.Indian Army must stop its discrimination against military nurses , Hindustan Times, 13 December 2017. In 1992, the Indian Army began inducting women officers in non-medical roles. On 19 January 2007, the United Nations first all female peacekeeping force made up of 105 Indian policewomen was deployed to Liberia. In 2014, India's army had 3% women, the Navy 2.8% and the Air Force performed highest with 8.5% women. In 2015 India opened new combat air force roles for women as fighter pilots, adding to their role as helicopter pilots in the Indian Air Force. In 2020 The Supreme Court delivered the judgement in favor of the women officers. Similar opportunities to the women officers who fulfill the identical criteria as their male counterparts do in Indian Army. The judgement came on a nearly 10-year-old appeal, to grant SSC women officers permanent commission .

Indonesia

Iran During and before the Iranian revolution, females were used in service. After the 1979 revolution, women were used in Islamic republic military for different wars, for example Women in the Iran–Iraq War. Armed forces also used women in quelling 2023 protests deployed as female special forces. Basij of IRGC also recruit females. In March 2023, Iran is in the process of allowing women to fully enlist in the military for the first time since the White Revolution.

Iraq The Iraqi constitution stipulates that a half of the government should be made up of women.

In the 1950s it became the first Arab country to have a female minister and a law that gave women the ability to seek divorce. In 1980, women gained the right to vote and run for public office. Under Saddam Hussein, women in government received one year of maternity leave.

Israel