The government has “no illusions” over the level of interest which will be shown by women in the offer of voluntary military service in the National Guard, Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas said on Wednesday.

“We have no illusions that there will be a lot of interest, but our priority this year at least was to provide the opportunity through legislation for women, if they wish, to enlist, and this creates better conditions for gender equality,” he said after cabinet approved the decree to open the way to allow women to serve voluntarily from this autumn.

Despite this, he said, the move to allow women to voluntarily list “signals a new era for the National Guard”, with women set to be enlisted on October 30 and October 31.

Registration will be open to women who left high school between 2017 and 2025, with Palmas saying an announcement “with all the details of the procedure”, including the dates on which expressions of interest must be submitted, will be made soon.

“Defence and security are collective matters, to which every citizen must have and has the right to contribute equally,” he said, adding that the decision to allow women to enlist “recognises the role and the right of women to actively participate in the defence of the Republic of Cyprus”.

Additionally, he said, it “highlights that the real strength of the National Guard stems from the professionalism and the abilities of all those who choose to serve in it”, before outlining the process of the women’s entry into the National Guard.

“Every woman who wishes to enlist will have the opportunity to be trained and enlisted at the Limassol basic training centre, which we considered to be the most suitable place for them to enlist. From there, each woman will express her interest and join whichever unit she wishes,” he said.

He said women who enlist will serve between six and 14 months, with six months’ service the minimum amount for it to be considered that one has “completed” her military service.

On the matter of how much interest there may be, he said that while he has “no illusions” over the number of women who will enlist, there will be no special incentives provided to drive up female participation.

He explained that while the government did consider the matter of possible incentives, it was eventually decided that offering incentives to women and not to men could “create a problem of equality” between the two sexes.

“If, for example, we decided that women would have an allowance of €500 per month, while men would receive €150, another inequality would be created. Therefore, at this stage, we should leave the law as simple as it is and see along the way whether there can be some changes and some amendments to improve it,” he said.

This equality, he added, will stretch to the training the women receive, which will be the same as that given to male conscripts.

The initial bill to allow women to serve voluntarily in the National Guard was approved by cabinet in February, before being passed into law by parliament in April.

President Nikos Christodoulides hailed the idea in February, describing it as a “pivotal moment” for both the National Guard and for Cyprus at large.

“This decision enhances the readiness of the National Guard while granting women the same right to serve in military service, reinforcing the idea that the responsibility for the country’s security is collective,” he said.

Not everyone was convinced by the idea, however, with Skevi Koukouma, leader of women’s organisation Pogo, telling the Cyprus Mail that the move “smacks of warmongering” and is “odd”.

“The army is the last place where equality can be enforced,” she said, arguing that women can contribute to society in other ways than joining the armed forces.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Dogus Derya said women should be invited to sit at the Cyprus problem negotiating table, not to join the armed forces.

“Cypriot women have been striving for equal and effective female participation in the negotiating process since the beginning of the 2000s. If Christodoulides wants women to contribute to their country more equally, he should invite our Greek Cypriot sisters to the negotiating table, not the army,” she said.

Women have been allowed to take up employment in the National Guard as contracted officers since 1990, with these female officers being recruited after being accepted into military school in Greece without serving as conscripts.