The EPIGN is the French Gendarmerie's Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale or Parachute Squadron of the Gendarmerie. It has several roles among which body guarding and support unit of the GIGN.

After having had to rely on the "lease" of female Gendarmes from territorial units for years, the GOR (Observation and Research Group of the French Gendarmerie's Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) has admitted two women in its ranks.

A first selection process held a couple of years ago had left no female survivors; the selection process which led to the incorporation of those two female Gendarmes in the EPIGN has not been released even though it is reported these two women had to follow the same process as their male counterparts.

They are especially useful for some of its covert surveillance and tracking tasks.

Original article in French

http://www.gign.org/unites-francaises/epign-femmes.php










The organization of the EPIGN