British Army video aimed at recruiting Muslim women widely scorned

A video from the BBC’s Asian Network highlighting the lack of Muslim women in the British Army has been met with scorn from social media users.

The video, published on the platform’s Twitter account on Wednesday, showcases activity days from around the UK, designed to encourage Muslim women to join the army. 

The video shows three women from Bradford taking part in different activities, from climbing to assault courses. However, online, social media users criticised the message in the video, with many voicing their concerns about joining the British military. 

Some also questioned why the BBC’s Asian Network was promoting the video and the army-led taster days.

One account asked why the BBC was running propaganda for the British Army, while another said: "Going overseas to kill other Muslim families and you wonder why the number of Muslims joining are low"?

Major Kate Hannaford, from the Royal Artillery, says in the video that the British Army is eager to recruit a diverse range of people. 

“It’s really, really important to get different people in because we need different people that think in different ways, so that actually, we can be the army of the future,” she says.

According to the UK's Ministry of Defence, there are only around 450 Muslims serving in the British Army, and an even smaller number are women. 

Another social media user condemned the video, saying that the Asian Network was being exploited. 

“This is grim - and shame on the BBC Asian Network for allowing their radio station to be cynically exploited in this way,” they tweeted. 

In the video, the women speak about their positive experiences at the army activity days, and say that it made them more aware of the career opportunities available in the military. 

The video states that more boot camp style training is being planned over the coming months, in an effort to encourage more Muslim women to join the military.