Women in armed forces: new strides, miles to go

Women in armed forces: new strides, miles to go

Context:

• The Indian Navy announced selection of two women officers as Observers in the helicopter stream, making them first women airborne combatants who would be operating from warships.
• In another significant development in March, the Supreme Court had upheld that the women Short Service Commission officers in the Navy were eligible for Permanent Commission.
• The Navy had also inducted the first woman pilot in December last year.
• Earlier women were not allowed in the Permanent Commission, which had created a glass ceiling. That ceiling has now been shattered with a Supreme Court ruling allowing permanent commission for women.

Women in Indian Navy:

• Prior to 1992, women officers were inducted in the Navy only in the medical stream from the Armed Forces Medical Service.
• From July 1992, the Navy started inducting women, initially through a special entry scheme and later through the Short Service Commission, in only select branches of the Navy.
• It needs to be noted like in the Army and the Air Force, women are currently only inducted as Commissioned Officers and not in Other Ranks which are of categories of Junior Commissioned Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers.
• In the early 2000s women officers from the Medical and Logistics stream were deployed on board Naval ships.
• While these deployments went on only for four-five years, they were discontinued for various reasons.
• In terms of various challenges towards deployment of women on board warships, the logistics part is not as challenging as one would imagine, especially as most of the large warships of the Navy do have basic living arrangements that can be allocated for women.

Women officers in new streams:

• Last December, the Navy announced the induction of a woman officer as pilot of Dornier aircraft, which are fixed wing aircraft operating from ashore establishments.
• Now, the Navy announced induction of two women officers as observers for the helicopter stream. Observers are airborne tacticians who fly on board helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft operated by the Navy.
• Till now women were inducted as observers for fixed wing aircraft which take off and land ashore. Entry in the helicopter stream means that women officers can now be deployed on frontline warships from which helicopters can operate.
• The question of mindset and gender sensitization, on the other hand, is something many believe would require concerted efforts, and concrete steps are being taken in that direction.
• Serving and retired women officers from Armed forces in general and Navy in particular, sound a precautionary note against the celebrations about latest developments.
• They believe that the developments will have to actually result in more women coming into operational streams and new streams being opened for women in coming days.
• Some are also concerned that too much media and public attention on these new entrants can put unwanted pressure on them.
• While women officers appreciate the support of many male military leaders in these processes, they also highlight the resistance from the system as a whole.

Gender equality without adhering to any bias:

• The spirit of the order is the principle of non-discrimination. According to Article 16, Gender only cannot serve as the basis for inequitable and unequal treatment in any sphere, including in defence forces.
• It also held that right to equality under Article 14 needs to be prescribed by a right to rationality that forbids any “blanket” and “absolute” prohibition.
• There are examples of women soldiers in combat roles like in Israel, Germany, US and Australia.
• This gender equality can be achieved by establishing professional standards and adhering to them without any bias.
• The framework for the induction of women should be incorporated into a policy. As for the concern of preserving the female officers’ modesty and dignity, there should be elaborate codes of conduct to ensure no adverse incident occurs.

Permanent Commission

• In yet another milestone for women in the Navy, the Supreme Court in March this year upheld the right of serving women officers from the Short Service Commission in the Navy to be eligible for the getting permanent commission (PC).
• Short service Commission tenures in the Armed forces are of 10 years, extendable by four years after which officers can be eligible for permanent commission.
• In the said ruling in the matter of case Union of India & Others Vs Annie Nagaraja & Others, Apex Court bench have said, The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind.
• History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law and the right to fair and equal treatment in the workplace.
• In the context of the Armed Forces, specious reasons have been advanced by decision makers and administrators. They range from physiology, motherhood and physical attributes to the male dominated hierarchies.
• A level playing field ensures that women have the opportunity to overcome their histories of discrimination with the surest of responses based on their competence, ability and performance.

Way forward:

• Women officers hope that these developments would result in them being posted at commanding positions on the ships which are a key for career advancements in the operational streams and also someday lead to women being deployed for most challenging of the deployments including that in the submarines.
• Along with the commanding role, women should also be provided with the same level of training which male officers get.
• Induction of more women in command force will require updating infrastructure especially in the case of Navy and Army. In naval ship space is limited and currently, Indian Naval Ships are designed to accommodate male personnel only.
• A woman should be equally equipped to handle the extraneous psychological and physical process which a male officer goes through.