A group of female veterans are to undergo five to seven days of reservist training starting on May 8, a military source said on Sunday.
They will be the first female group to be asked to report to an undisclosed “strategic location” in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德) for the five or seven days of training, depending on their military rank upon discharge, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The reservists are to undergo the same training as their male counterparts, but their dormitories and bathrooms will be separate from that of the men, the source said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The source did not disclose the exact number of female reservists who would participate in the training nor the exact location for security reasons.
The Ministry of National Defense in January announced that it would start asking female reservists to complete the same required reservists training as their male counterparts later this year.
The military previously said that only male reservists are being trained because it did not have sufficient capacity to accommodate both men and women. Some reservist training participants have complained for decades that this was a form of gender discrimination.
While men are required to take part in compulsory military conscription and reservist training, women are not, but they can join the armed forces voluntarily.
The ministry did not say whether it is requiring military training for female reservists because of an increased risk of war with China. It said it is doing so because all veterans, regardless of their gender, should have the same responsibility.
As of 2021, a total of 8,915 women were listed as reservists. In addition to the reservists, 15 percent of Taiwan’s 180,000 active military personnel are women, military figures showed.
The ministry said it would ask a total of 220 female reservists to undergo reservist training this year.
It did not say whether the approximately 8,700 other reservists will also be required to undergo training in the coming years.
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