The Brigadier General of the Timorese Armed Forces F-FDTL Filomeno Paixão said 9 percent or 228 out of a total 2,257 military personnel are women and he believes the number can be higher because the army is open to both genders.
He added there is no discrimination between women and men in the armed forces when it comes to work and access to rank promotion, including also field operations.
“We have 9% women’s participation in the F-FDTL and we hope this percentage will increase. There are many administrative posts that could be filled with women,” said BG Paixão at the Ministry of Defence, in Fatuhada, Dili.
He said also that even though some women think army life is too heavy for them that there are many brave women conducting forest operations, serving as driver and pilots; as such women can make a positive contribution to the institution.
He urged Timorese women to aim for senior posts through capacity building.
Meanwhile the Minister of Defence, Cirilo Cristovao said it will be difficult to increase the number of women in the armed forces because it is a hard environment and the training is heavy; nonetheless Timor-Leste already has more women in the military than some other countries in South East Asia.
“The job environment is hard and many women give up during the recruitment phase because of training,” said also the Minister.
He added priority will be given to women to join the army in particular in its special forces because this unit does not yet have many women in its ranks.
According to F-FDTL data the total number of active military personnel stands at 2,257; with 228 women, out of which six (6) are officers, one (1) is a sergeant, 48 second sergeants, 29 are corporals and 144 are soldiers.
The Secretary of State for the Promotion of the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women (SEM) Veneranda Lemos acknowledged that military life is tough so it will be a challenge to boost women numbers in its ranks but most important is the fact women are able to join if they wish to.
“The military is not only for men but for women as well. During the struggle [for independence] the women demonstrated through their participation how important they were. We also want women though to be able to contribute to decision making,” said SE Lemos.
She added SEM will continue to work with UN Women to provide training to women about leadership, public speaking and will provide language courses for women leaders across all the institutions of the State including the armed forces.
