A bill for voluntary conscription of women into the national guard which is to be tabled in parliament after its approval by ministers, was criticised by women’s groups on Thursday.

The proposed bill, an initiative of President Nikos Christodoulides will allow the voluntary service of female conscripts for a minimum of six months and up to 14, with participation as reservists also in the works.

However, Skevi Koukouma head of the Cypriot association of women’s organisations (Pogo), claimed the move to entice women into the army smacks of war mongering and is odd, coming at a time when efforts towards rapprochement to end the island’s division are ongoing by the state.

Women already serve as contracted officers through legislative reform enacted in 1990. These female officers were recruited via their direct acceptance into military school in Greece, without serving as conscripts, the defence ministry clarified to the Cyprus Mail.

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The first group of women who entered the national guard under this legal framework numbered 125, according to retired officer and non-commissioned officers’ (NCO) association head Katerina Markoullidou in a 2012 article.

Exact figures are not publicised, however, around 20 per cent of upcoming NCO posts are anticipated to be filled by women, the ministry rep said.

Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas said that the new legal framework will give women the “right to contribute more equally” in the service of their country, following its approval on Wednesday.

Speaking to CyBC on Thursday, Palmas said incentives are being considered to make conscription appeal to girls, such as 50 per cent off private university tuition upon the completion of their service.

Women between the ages of 18 and 26 would be eligible to sign up, after graduating from lyceum, and would gain the opportunity to become contracted soldiers, he said.

Female conscripts would undergo basic training on an “equal basis” but “biological differences between the sexes” would be considered. The women would not be conscripted simultaneously with the men, he added.

As for facilities, adapting these would not be an issue as women are already present in the force.

However, the head of the women’s associations said that their induction into the army via conscription raises questions and concerns.

“The army is the last place where equality [of women] can be enforced,” Koukouma said. She went on to question what work roles would be assigned to women in the army environment and whether they would indeed be “equal” to those assigned to the men.

“The decision is touted as a ‘historical landmark’, with the year 2025 being declared ‘The Year of Women in the Army’, perhaps we will even hear bells ringing on March 8! [when the amendment is to go into effect],” she said, denouncing the state’s bombastic tone over the matter.

Koukouma took issue with wording that hinted at the army being a final breakthrough for women’s equality in Cyprus and a chance for women to “contribute equally to their homeland”.

Surely women contribute to society “equally” in countless other ways, Koukouma said. The crux of the matter in order to advance equality between the sexes, is not the induction of women into the army, but by addressing the multitude of systemic inequalities women face on the island, the women’s leader said.

Koukouma went on to express suspicions over the true “voluntary” nature of the proposed female conscription, in light of discussed incentives, which she said would target economically disadvantaged girls.

“Let’s first do away with the huge [inequalities] in daily professional and [other] areas and then we can induct women into the army,” she said.

Even the women who had served as NCOs had been obligated to fight for years, with the aid of Pogo, simply to gain equal status and pay, Koukouma recalled.

“Women are already enabled to enter the military, if they so wish,” she charged, and the newly amended legislation only makes sense when viewed through the lens of rising militarisation within the EU and worldwide.