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Debates on the representativeness of bureaucracies with regard to various measures of the national population first came to the fore in English-speaking countries. This article's intent is to identify the causes or reasons that may turn it into a lively issue in France when it comes to the armed services, compared where relevant with the U.S. and British militaries. To that end, it succinctly reviews the relevant literature, and specifies the concept's two (early and late modern) interpretations. Having detailed the measures to which they give rise and the kinds of problems raised by their uneasy coexistence, the article then examines, based on studies published in the last decade, the aspects that (as suggested by U.S. and British realities and studies) best lend themselves to a hypothetically heightened interest in, and sharper debates on, that issue in France: the armed forces' social composition, servicewomen, and visible minorities. It concludes on a cautious, nuanced note : despite evidence of numbers and developments that point in the direction conjectured, and the continued dominance of early- over late-modern outlooks, a series of factors – notably the absence of intractable problems in the French all-volunteer force, strong adherence to institutional values inside the services, and lack of interest in the military from activists on the outside – have so far inhibited serious concerns of that type. Yet, it does not exclude the possibility of change due to a projected drawdown, and potential contagion from other sectors of French society (the media, elected officials or party leadership, corporate board members, the grandes écoles and their prep schools) where representativeness is already an issue.