RUSI JournalVOLUME 170ISSUE 2

A Duty to Serve? Rethinking Women’s Military Conscription in Latvia

Andris Banka and Kaspars Zalāns
27 March 2025clockLong Read
Women taking part in the Independence Day military parade in Riga, Latvia, in November 2019. The rapidly changing security environment in Europe has fostered debates in Latvia about the necessity of adding women to the draft system. Courtesy of Xinhua/Alamy

Women taking part in the Independence Day military parade in Riga, Latvia, in November 2019. The rapidly changing security environment in Europe has fostered debates in Latvia about the necessity of adding women to the draft system. Courtesy of Xinhua/Ala

Latvia is one of several European countries where debates on integrating women in the armed forces is an important dimension of contemporary approaches to conscription.

Facing a volatile external environment, the Latvian government reintroduced conscription in 2023. Shortly thereafter, some within Latvian political and military elites recommended extending conscription to include women from 2028. Andris Banka and Kaspars Zalāns assess Latvia’s societal willingness and ability to follow in the footsteps of its Nordic neighbours and institute a gender-neutral conscription system. They argue that the country currently faces notable practical and ideational obstacles in implementing this military service system. However, if set as a long-term goal, the state will create a pathway for gradually shifting societal mindset on this issue.

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WRITTEN BY

Andris Banka

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Kaspars Zalāns

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