I'll be missing you - Socio-economic factors driving female military turnover in the Swedish Armed Forces
Publish date: 2024-12-19
Report number: FOI-R--5670--SE
Pages: 42
Written in: Swedish
Keywords:
- Women
- the Swedish armed forces
- Armed forces
- retention
- socio-economic factors
- future career
Abstract
This report presents a study conducted by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces. The report aims to investigate the socioeconomic factors that drive women in the military to terminate their employment within the Swedish Armed Forces. The socio-economic factors analysed in this report include age, educational level, family members' military background, marital status and parenthood, and income. Additionally, the report examines the employment paths of women in the military after leaving the Armed Forces. The analysis reveals that higher education, family members with a military background, and higher income increase the likelihood that women in the military will leave the Armed Forces. In addition, the results show that the effect of family members' military background and income decreases with the duration of employment. Furthermore, the results indicate that the age at the time of employment influences women's risk of leaving the organization, with older recruits being less likely to leave. The study also demonstrates that the post-employment career paths of military women depend on their career phase at the time of leaving. However, a significant proportion, regardless of the career phase, chooses to leave their employment to pursue education. Finally, the results indicate that women who leave military employment most commonly transition to jobs in the service, healthcare, and security sectors. Those who opt for further studies tend to enrol in programs leading to female-dominated professions and roles with social commitment.