Gender parity in Indian Army

One more glass ceiling has been broken with 12 women officers getting permanent commission in the Indian Army.
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One more glass ceiling has been broken with 12 women officers getting permanent commission in the Indian Army. They belong to the legal and education branches, chosen by the defence ministry for induction of such officers. Apart from those in the medical corps, women were given only a limited tenure extending from five to 14 years. In effect, however brilliant an officer might be, there was a limit to her growth in the army. Such a treatment militated against the concept of gender parity and acted as a dampener for women who wanted to pursue a military career. It is, therefore, not surprising that there are only 1,065 women among 35,377 officers in the army. That the army took over two years to implement defence minister A K Antony’s decision to grant permanent commission to certain categories of women officers is a pointer to the kind of resistance the proposal had evoked.

A study conducted three years ago by the Integrated Defence Staff had opposed granting of permanent commission to women on the specious plea that they sought “preferential treatment in matters of leave and appointments”. Incidentally, it was a court decision that enabled women officers in the Indian Air Force to serve their full term. The resistance to the idea of providing women a level-playing field can be explained in terms of historical evidence that war was, by and large, an occupation of men. Today, women officers performing even combat duties in American and Israeli armed forces are not considered an aberration. Given the induction of the 12, it will, now, be difficult for the defence ministry to oppose the demand for permanent commission to those who are already serving in the army and want it.

Similarly, the army will, sooner than later, have to consider induction of women in other corps like signals and engineering. In other words, it will not be long before demands will come to induct them in combat duties as well. This means the army will have to prepare itself to accommodate women officers by making necessary provisions that take care of their special needs. Needless to say, women have proved their competence in several fields like flying which were at one time considered the preserve of men. The art of fighting has undergone a sea-change with intelligence and control of machines mattering much more than mere physical prowess. Tomorrow’s wars will be fought with sophisticated weapons and equipment than by firing shoulder-held guns from trenches.

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