Defense & Security

SDF to End Limits on Women’s Roles, Allowing Them to Work in Contaminated Areas

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Defense Ministry is seen in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:17 JST, July 26, 2025

The last remaining limits on women’s duties in the Self-Defense Forces will soon be removed to ensure diversity in staffing, the Defense Ministry has announced.

Previously, women were not allowed to work in two divisions of the Ground Self-Defense Force: the units for defending against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the chemical protection units. This was meant to safeguard women’s ability to bear children.

But as the units’ protective gear and vehicles have improved, the ministry decided it was now possible to ensure the safety of female staff and chose to allow women into these teams.

In 1993, the Defense Agency, the predecessor to the Defense Ministry, began opening up many duties in the SDF, including jobs in combat units, to female staff.

Since then, the SDF has improved its workplaces for women, such as by providing women-only living spaces and toilets.

The SDF also has gradually expanded the range of units that female staff can join, allowing them to serve on destroyer vessels, in fighter jets and on submarines.