Women are increasingly working on radar, air defence and anti-drone systems, as well as managing projects in the defence sector. The number of women studying at technical universities is growing, although their share remains clearly lower than that of men, at less than 33% of all students. Encouraging women to pursue careers in defence appears increasingly necessary, especially as many areas already face shortages of experts.
“More and more women are earning engineering degrees and completing technical PhDs. In my environment, I meet women every day — in the defence industry, in fields related to anti-aircraft and radar systems. These are women who work on system implementation, in IT and in testing. Previously, my work involved managing naval shipbuilding projects, where I also met women at the level of automation specialists, managers and technologists. More and more women are graduating in fields related to engineering and technology, so I hope there will be more and more of us. Already today, we can see that there are many of us,” Joanna Ryngwelska from Advanced Protection Systems told Newseria.
Data from the report Women at Technical Universities 2026 show that, despite visible changes and the growing number of women at technical universities, gender equality is still far away. According to the publication by the Perspektywy Educational Foundation and the National Information Processing Institute, the overall feminisation rate of technical universities in the 2024/2025 academic year was 32.4%. Gender balance is generally considered to exist when the share of either women or men falls within the range of 40–60%. In fields related to new technologies at public technical universities, women accounted for 15.4% of students. In computer science-related fields, the average share was 16.2%, although at some institutions women already outnumber men in selected programmes, including at Lodz University of Technology and Częstochowa University of Technology.
According to the expert, women are attracted to the defence industry by the challenges associated with the sector.
“Women do not choose an easy path. If we have full support — from both women and men — we are able to overcome very significant barriers and complete excellent PhDs. We are scientists, we manage large defence projects. Throughout my career path, I have felt that without the support of both women and men, I probably would not have taken on many challenges today. We also choose these professions because they are available to us and because they represent a challenge. We can prove to the world that we can do a lot, and even more,” Ryngwelska emphasised.
Encouraging women to develop careers in the defence industry and related sectors appears to be an urgent challenge, as many areas already lack experts.
“It is worth talking about cooperation between the private and public sectors. This dialogue is necessary to build the resilience of our infrastructure and the civil resilience of people living in Poland. It is needed, among other reasons, because today we still have too few experts in anti-drone protection. As a private company, we are ready for such dialogue and we are happy to participate in all meetings when we are invited. Unfortunately, it seems there are still too few of them, while the need is growing. We are able to help, build and design appropriate solutions,” said the APS expert.
Advanced Protection Systems develops Polish technology for detecting and neutralising drones. Its solutions include the SKYctrl system, which has been deployed by the Polish Armed Forces. APS solutions are also used during the war in Ukraine, where they detect Russian reconnaissance drones.
“Anti-drone defence systems build civil resilience in a straightforward way, if only because we support the security of critical infrastructure in our country. All the directives we encounter — both CER, meaning Critical Entities Resilience, which concerns strengthening the physical resilience of critical infrastructure in key sectors, and NIS2, concerning cybersecurity, as well as short-range air defence systems such as the SAN programme in which we participate — all build civil defence. Today, the word ‘drone’ is being used in every possible context, so it is worth knowing how to protect yourself,” the expert said.
Women are also increasingly present in the Polish Armed Forces. Around 37,000 women serve in the Polish Army, including more than 4,000 officers, almost 8,000 non-commissioned officers and nearly 25,000 privates. In 2015, more than 4,000 women served as professional soldiers in the Polish Armed Forces. Women now serve in all branches of the armed forces and personnel corps. Today, they pilot aircraft and helicopters, serve on ships, operate missile systems and work in special units. They also hold responsible positions, including directors of centres, team leaders, chiefs of staff, battalion commanders and group commanders. As the Polish Armed Forces emphasised in a statement, the growing number of women represents a real strengthening of the state’s defence potential and the ability of the Polish Armed Forces to operate in every dimension of the modern battlefield.
