Head of armed forces General Sir Peter Wall says move would make services look 'more normal to society'

The British army must seriously consider allowing women to serve in close-combat roles in the near future, the head of the armed forces has said.

General Sir Peter Wall said that such a move would make the armed services "look more normal to society" and demonstrate that there were equal opportunities within the organisation, boosting recruitment of women to all roles.

British women are excluded from ground close-combat roles, which are officially defined as "roles that are primarily intended and designed with the purpose of requiring individuals on the ground to close with and kill the enemy".

Official figures show that there were 16,450 women serving in the UK regular armed forces on 1 July last year, accounting for 10% of the total staff. Of those women, 3,630 were officers.

But as other countries including the US, Australia, France and Germany have opened close-combat roles to women, the door has remained shut to British women.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) review in 2010 said there was no doubt women were "physically and psychologically" capable of the job, but concluded that the effects of "gender-mixing" on team cohesion were unknown and could have "far-reaching and grave consequences".

The MoD is obliged to review the ban by 2018 under EU equality laws but Wall said Britain, which he described as being in a minority, needed to take a view on the matter "fairly soon".

"It's definitely something that we need to be considering seriously but we need to go about this with great care, especially with all the other changes going on," he told the British army's Soldier magazine.

"This isn't just about getting more females into the 30% of roles that are combat trades but getting more of them into the army per se. I want every woman in the country to know the service is open to them and we need to make sure we get that message across.

"Women need to see they have equal opportunities right throughout the organisation. Allowing them to be combat troops would make us look more normal to society but there will always be people who say the close battle is no place for female soldiers."

Despite British women not serving in close-combat roles, seven have been killed in action in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wall also said the army needed to make it easier for women to have a family and sustain a career in the armed forces. He envisaged a blurring of lines between reserves – whose numbers are being boosted as army numbers are being cut – and regular forces.

"We will allow much more flexibility for individuals to dip in and out of army careers and that would be particularly important for females who want to take a break to have families, for example," he said.

The US military lifted a ban on female soldiers serving in combat roles in January last year.