Learn about the types of people who become special forces officers. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a special forces officer. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming special forces officers at a ratio of 4.76 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
3% of special forces officers are female and 97% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a special forces officer and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a special forces officer and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more women interested in becoming a special forces officer than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of special forces officers are White, making up 73% of the population. The next highest segments are South Asian and Other, making up 9% and 9% respectively.