Despite a year of preparation, government promotion and a unanimous vote in Parliament, only two women applied to join the National Guard under the new voluntary-service scheme. CIReN (Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network) reviewed the President’s statements against the policy’s stated aims and outcomes and issued a verdict: false.
After Parliament approved the legal changes on 3 April 2025, President Nicos Christodoulides said the reform was an important step for equality and for strengthening defence, since it would allow any woman to serve if she wished.
What was promised
The government framed voluntary enlistment for women as part of gender-equality actions in the National Guard and as a contribution to defence readiness. The Defence Ministry opened applications on 12 September 2025 with a 24 October deadline.
Four days before the deadline, the Defence Minister told the House Defence Committee the effort had failed. Only two women applied and only one presented at camp. No extension was granted and there was no clarity on a relaunch.
How CIReN assessed the claim
CIReN compared the President’s stated objectives with measurable outcomes, reviewed the legislative process and official announcements, considered parliamentary evidence and the application data and tested the equality and defence arguments against expert views and recent staffing realities in the National Guard.
Key findings
- No measurable targets: Public messaging referred vaguely to “dozens” of initial volunteers. There were no immediate, medium-term or long-term targets to judge progress.
- Weak policy design and incentives: Opposition parties that abstained cited concerns about incomplete preparation. Even supporters later noted the lack of strong incentives, a clear framework and serious groundwork.
- Gender-equality priority miscast: Independent gender-equality actors in Cyprus prioritise issues such as workplace discrimination, pay gaps, progression, and gender-based violence. Women’s voluntary conscription has not been a core demand.
- Representation gap persists: Cyprus significantly lags EU norms in women’s representation in senior decision-making, including the Council of Ministers and Parliament.
- Defence reality overlooked: Modern EU and NATO trends emphasise professional forces. Cyprus already struggles to staff its contract-soldier scheme (SY.OP.), which is open to women and offers stronger incentives than the voluntary six-month service. Those lessons were not integrated.
The Director of the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies told CIReN the initiative was a fragmented, symbolic policy introduced without mapping women’s needs and barriers in the National Guard. Rather than building the conditions for meaningful inclusion first, the reform was presented as a decisive step without the foundations to make it work.
Verdict
False. Two applications cannot credibly be called a significant step toward gender equality or a stronger defence posture. The Defence Minister himself acknowledged failure. With no targets, no follow-through and unresolved structural issues in both equality and staffing, the outcome does not support the President’s claim.
Labelling symbolic measures as equality advances risks diverting attention from the structural problems women face in Cyprus and from the National Guard’s real staffing needs. Effective policy requires evidence-based design, clear targets, credible incentives and transparency on results.
Read the CIReN report here
