The Army chief’s recent statement that the Army is in the process of inducting women in combat roles seems to have been given without much thought. It appears to be more of a copycat syndrome than the result of any need for women in combat roles. The Indian Air Force had last year inducted three women in fighter squadrons and the Navy too is thinking along the same lines by allowing women on board ships.
General Bipin Rawat is keen to emulate countries like the US, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Norway and Finland. But these countries need the women in their forces genuinely—they do not have enough people for their armed forces, unlike India. They don’t recruit women just for empowerment.
Is there a genuine need for India to increase the strength of women in the forces? Driven by the euphoria of women empowerment, the powers that be espouse the induction of more women in the forces without actually going into the nitty-gritty of such initiatives.
By virtue of their not being familiar with the ethos and environment of the services, the politicians can be exculpated but definitely not the top brass of the forces.
In the three defence services, viz. the Army, Air Force and the Navy, women have been serving in medical and administrative roles in the ordinance, education, signals and legal branches and as air traffic controllers.
Last year, the floodgates were thrown open for women to venture into combat roles in the Air Force thereby opening a Pandora’s box for women to claim their right to combat roles in all the three services. Three women pilots opted to be fighter pilots. Why did the then Air Chief, Marshal Arup Raha push forward the proposal to induct women in combat stream? Of course, to his credit, he would figure in the annals of history of being the first air chief to induct women in combat roles. Fortunately and rightly so, none of the women pilots from the subsequent three batches at the Air Force Academy opted to be fighters, as there is a possibility of them being captured.
On the initiative of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, an all-women Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was raised in 1986. The experiment proved successful. More battalions were added. The CRPF now boasts of five battalions comprising 5,850 women.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has 4,815 women largely for frisking female passengers in airports and metro stations. The Border Security Force (BSF) has 1,648 women for patrolling the Indo-Pak borders, with the first woman combat officer having passed out recently from the BSF Academy in Tekanpur as an assistant commandant.
Headed by a woman IPS officer, Archana Ramasundaram, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has 1,126 women guarding Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders while 780 women of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) guard the Indo-China borders.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced last year that 33 per cent vacancies stand reserved for women in the CRPF and CISF and 15 per cent in the BSF, ITBP and SSB.
This, on the recommendation of the Committee on Empowerment of Women, which emphasised the urgent need to provide adequate representation to women in the paramilitary forces. The logic behind fixing the quota in the forces is beyond one’s understanding. Not ground requirement but “adequate representation” has been the guiding factor.
The heavy burden it would impose on the exchequer has been ignored.
When more women are inducted into the forces, the major problems that will arise largely relate to the number of leaves of absence and a rise in sexual harassment cases. Women employees are entitled to 730 days of child care leave and another 360 days of maternity leave for two children. Women can take maternity leave in all fields but taking such a long leave of absence in the armed forces has a different impact—they would lose touch with their organisations. A sort of disconnect sets in and the element of esprit de corps, which is essential in armed forces, is lost. Denial of leave of absence or promotion despite a long break could lead to litigations and unpleasant environment.
Complaints of sexual harassment could increase. Again, sexual harassment might happen at all workplaces. Genuine cases of sexual harassment cases have to be dealt with seriously, but in the armed forces, where discipline is prioritised, there is a possibility of women filing a complaint against an officer who she feels is too harsh on her. False allegations of sexual harassment have reportedly been used to defame officers, thus affecting their careers. Twelve complaints of sexual harassment were registered, six of them in Army in last two years. With just 3,578 women and 66,044 male officers, the matter calls for some serious thinking.
In 1999, 365 cases of sexual harassment were reported in Israel Defense Forces. Fifty-four male officers were sacked on charges of sexual harassment while many were demoted or imprisoned. In 2004, it was reported that one in every five women soldiers suffered sexual harassment in the Israel Army. A study carried out by the United States Marine Corps in 2015 stated that women officers are “weaker, more prone to injury, less adept at shooting weapons accurately, and their presence was a potential catastrophe for unit morale” and added that the very idea of women in combat is a “disaster waiting to happen.” According to another Pentagon report, in 2014 alone, as many as 20,000 women in defence services were either raped or sexually assaulted.
National security cannot be sacrificed at the altar of women’s empowerment. There are avenues galore for women in other sectors. Let us not play to the galleries, dear Chiefs.
M P Nathanael
Inspector General of Police (Retd), CRPF
Email: paulnathanael@hotmail.com