Armed Forces: Equality

The Ministry of Defence believes that a more diverse force improves operational effectiveness and better reflects the society it serves. Women now make up a growing but still minority proportion of UK Regular Forces and people with ethnic minority backgrounds have also increased as a share of the Forces. We have made progress but, recognise that there is more to do.

Defence assesses trends in diversity and inclusion among Service Personnel through a range of activity including the Defence Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2018–2030, the Defence Levels of Ambition, Official Statistics, and the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey. Together, these monitor representation, retention, culture, behaviours and lived experience, identifying areas where further improvement is required. Attributing changes to specific interventions can be challenging in a large and complex organisation, where a range of factors may influence outcomes. We therefore continue to strengthen our people analytics capability to support the evaluation of policies and programmes and improve the evidence base for decision-making.