The Swedish Armed Forces has an expressed ambition to recruit more women. One component in this has been the establishment of special enlistment days for women. The expectations of the Armed Forces for this form of enlistment were both quantitative and qualitative. Firstly, more women would attend the tests and enlist as conscripts, and secondly, this form of enlistment would better prepare women for their service. The expectation that more women would enlist has already proven correct. The central question in this study is whether the special enlistment for women did in fact render the women better prepared for their service. The study was conducted using a questionnaire. The group studied comprised 320 women, of which about half attended the special enlistment for women and the rest ”ordinary” enlistment, i.e. together with men.
The results of the study show that those women who underwent the special enlistment for women is basically satisfied with this form of enlistment. Most positive was to meet and get information from female officers and conscripts. The results also indicate that the special enlistment strengthens women on the personal level. For instance, the group of women who underwent separate enlistment report less sexual harassment during their service. The reason for this could be that after having spoken to women with experience of the military, they have more insight into the importance of ”setting boundaries” and ”opportunities to report”, etc. Thus, the question posed at the outset, whether the special enlistment for women provides a better preparation than ”ordinary” enlistment, can be answered in the affirmative.