The granting of a single bonus point to female applicants in the student selection for basic Border Guard training is justified (TAS 110/2022, issued on 1 September 2022)

The Ombudsman for Equality was asked to examine, whether the student selection process of the Border and Coast Guard Academy is in compliance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men, since one bonus point is granted to female applicants. 

In practice, women who have applied for basic Border Guard training have been granted a single bonus point since 2013 for having completed the voluntary military service for women. The completion of armed military service or women's voluntary military service is a statutory requirement for selection to basic Border Guard training and appointment to military office. The basis for the bonus point was changed to the applicant's gender in 2022 to reflect the actual basis for the bonus point.

The Border Guard justifies its practice with the fact that a border check may require a bodily search, for example, which is subject to both the Border Guard Act and the Coercive Measures Act. In other words, the performance of the Border Guard's statutory duties requires a sufficient number of both male and female employees. According to the Border Guard, the practice constitutes a temporary, special action based on a plan, as referred to in the Act on Equality between Women and Men and aimed at implementing the objectives of the Act. The special treatment of women will be discontinued once the percentage of female border guards has reached the target.

In practice, the percentage of female border guards can only be influenced in connection with student selection, because the Border and Coast Guard Academy is the only path to permanent office in the Border Guard. Only 8 per cent of border and coast guards and 3 per cent of their officers are women. The proportion of women in military office has increased by one percentage point from 2018. 

The bonus point granted to female applicants is based on a temporary plan of the Border and Coast Guard Academy, which is based on the objective of promoting equality between the genders, but also on the appropriate performance of the Border Guard's statutory duties. The Ombudsman for Equality found that granting a bonus point based on gender is thus justified in terms of the Act on Equality between Women and Men.  

30.09.2022