More than 30 years after Canada’s military allowed women to serve in combat roles, it’s now specifically designing uniforms and body armour to fit their bodies.
For decades, female soldiers have been wearing uniforms designed primarily for men and some say it has made their jobs harder, contributed to injuries and hurt morale.
Retired major Sandra Perron became the country’s first female infantry officer in 1990 and remembers being handed an extra-small men’s uniform.
Her parachute, straps, uniform, helmet, boots — none of it fit, but she made it work, she said.
“It sends a message that you are an afterthought,” said Perron.
“It’s unfortunate because that means we’ve had a lot of injuries. We’ve had a lot of women who have left the military because of that.”
Now as the military tries to modernize and address its staffing shortage, its overhauling the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s combat clothing system with gendered cuts for the first time.
Officials hope this will help recruit and retain more women so they make up 25 per cent of the forces by 2026. Despite recruiting a decade-high number of women in 2024-25, the military also saw its highest female attrition rate in 10 years. Women that year made up almost 17 per cent of the military.
As part of this work, merino wool base layers are rolling out at all bases over the next year with contour cuts specifically designed for women and maternity wear.
New combat uniforms in camouflage are also expected to debut in 2027 with a straight cut based on men’s bodies and a contoured cut to fit women’s chests, shoulders, hips and waists.
The first body armour system with darting around the chest, shorter plates, and tapering for women is coming in 2026 for the army’s light forces. Plans are also underway, officials said, to procure more female-specific personal protective equipment.
Emma Moon, the human factors support cell lead at the Defence Department, said this initiative is the first time these items are being specifically designed from the start based on the morphology of women’s bodies.
“This is the first time this has happened for operational clothing,” said Moon. “It’s a huge statement of support. It’s a huge win.”
Moon said one female officer at CFB Petawawa was moved to tears that these changes are coming out in her service career after years struggling with the standard body armour.
But others argue it should have happened long ago.
“I think we should be ashamed of ourselves,” said Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, a military culture expert with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
She said research shows more women are leaving the military than men because of musculoskeletal injuries.
Senior military leadership have been aware of this fit issue for decades which has created barriers for women and put them at risk, she said.
“You end up with equipment that is less effective at protecting them against bullets and that can create a higher rate of casualties in combat,” Duval-Lantoine said.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said he’s told women serving it’s “unacceptable” they don’t have uniforms “appropriate to them.”
Defence Department officials said historically the combat uniforms were designed for a “relatively homogenous demographic” made up of body data from largely men. Officials say incremental sizing improvements were made over the years.
“It’s not as if we have been fielding modern equipment to soldiers and leaving women out,” said Moon.
“We haven’t modernized our body armour in decades so we’re doing it now very much so with an understanding that it needs to be done for everybody to the same degree.”
Moon toured CBC News through her lab where her team of defence and military personnel have spent the past five years figuring out what changes needed to be made to operational clothing.
They’ve surveyed army members, conducted body scans to build up a more diverse set of measurements and extensively tested prototypes in the lab and out in the field.
During focus groups, Moon said, women serving in combat roles told her they have to size up or down their tunics to fit their breasts and they end up being too tight or baggy in some places.
“So you leave these people at higher risk of fatigue because they’re having to dedicate extra resources to mitigating issues with their clothing and equipment,” she said.
A recent study found female military recruits faced significantly higher levels of knee stress when carrying heavy gear compared to their male counterparts.
A 2021 study that surveyed almost 100 Australian Defence Force female soldiers found 63 per cent reported breast discomfort while wearing body armour and 27 per cent reported a breast injury.
Former Air Force reservist Christine Woods said Canadians would be shocked to learn she received a lump sum disability payment from Veterans Affairs Canada for $38,000 for a foot injury she believes was most likely preventable.
Wood says she injured her feet in 2021 because her military boots didn’t fit right and her rucksack designed for men didn’t sit properly on her hips to disperse the weight evenly.
“By the end of basic training my feet were literally broken,” she said. “I had stress fractures in them.”
Serge Côte, the project manager for the Soldier Operational Clothing and Equipment Modernization initiative, said this summer it secured $440 million from the government over 10 years for this project. The initiative also includes modernizing flight clothing for air crew, ballistic protection equipment, and load carriage equipment for soldiers to fit everyone better, he said.
Science evolving and women serving on the front lines in Ukraine, Côte said, has been a “catalyst” for countries to move ahead on gendered cuts.
Canada is now seen as a leader among allies considering following suit, he said.
“From my work with the allies, nobody else has really those cuts that are gender-specific,” he said. “Sure some Nordic nations have introduced base layers that are meant for men and women, but nobody has done the full extent for the full clothing system.”
Ukraine rolled out its first-ever combat uniforms for women in 2024. Belgium released a tailored cut in 2022 for its female soldiers with shorter sleeves and wider hips. The U.S. Army’s website says in 2012 it tested improvised outer tactical vests specifically shaped for women’s torsos.
Lt.-Col. Melanie Lake, a combat engineer officer who has deployed to Afghanistan and Ukraine, recently tried out the new army combat uniform and body armour carriage system while CBC News was filming.
In the past, she found the ballistic plates were too long for her torso, which restricted her motion.
Lake said the new system made it much easier to reach, twist and shoulder a rifle.
“There are people who will instantly jump to criticizing that this is just another woke initiative of the military,” said Lake who is the directorate of personnel management with the army.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. This isn’t a woke issue. This is a war-fighting issue. This is about our operational readiness, our operational effectiveness and making sure that we are ensuring the survivability of all of our service members.”
Logistik Unicorp, a Quebec-based company, is making the uniforms in Canada and already released naval enhanced combat uniforms with a close fit.
Karine Bibeau, the company’s vice-president of client experience, said the army and air force’s uniforms won’t start being released until 2027 because they’re making a full wardrobe, not just one item, and it all needs to be extensively tested.
“It’s not an off-the-shelf solution,” said Bibeau. “It’s a solution that’s manufactured, very complex and made personalized and tailored for each military member.”
Perron said it would be easy to say she wishes the army’s new uniforms would have been released during her time, but is glad it’s happening now to help recruit and retain more women.
“If you are designing equipment and ballistic protection for women, it says to them you’re part of the team, you’re important, you’re crucial, you’re part of our operational readiness,” said Perron, who is now the CEO of a retreat centre for women veterans called the Pepper Pod.
