Only the non-playing entities (politicians, activists and the media) keep
claiming that women are equal to men to demand more positions for
women in the Services. However, it is the top brass of the Services that
is to be blamed for the present mess as it lacks spine to resist pressures.
Earlier, entry of women in the Indian Armed
Forces was limited to the Army Medical Corps,
the Army Dental Corps and the Military
Nursing Service. It was in 1990 that a decision
was taken to grant Short Service Commission (SSC) to
Service Officers Strength in 2016 Year-wise Induction of Women Officers
women in some select non-combat branches in the three
Services. The first batch joined in 1992. The decision
was neither need-based nor well thought-through.
Resultantly, the Armed Forces are still grappling with the
issues that keep cropping up with worrisome regularity.
Many weak-kneed
commanders succumb to the
political pressure and accede
to demands which are not in
the interests of the Services.
In the early 2014, the then Air
Chief had publicly declared
that women by nature were
not physically suited for flying
fighter planes for long hours.
In October 2015, in a complete
turnaround, he announced
the decision to induct women
into the fighter stream
“to meet the aspirations
of young women of India”.
Interestingly, he continued
to entertain doubts regarding
the role to be assigned to
women fighter pilots.
Unit And Formation
Commanders
All commanders consider
women to be a liability as
considerable resources have
to be diverted to ensure their
comfort, dignity and safety,
without commensurate
advantages. They prefer to do
with the shortage of officers
rather than have women
under their command. Women join the military on
the plank of equality of sexes but this plank
vanishes the day they join the training academy.
Thereafter, they again become the weaker sex and
demand special dispensation. Commanders are hard
pressed to satisfy them.
As women cannot be employed on all tasks, flexibility
available to the commander gets restricted. For example,
every officer is detailed as the duty officer by rotation
and has to visit the Quarter Guard and all sentry posts
at midnight to ensure their alertness. Unit commanders
rue the fact that women cannot be assigned such duties
and male officers have to undertake additional work
load, which they resent.
Reality Check
Standards of physical fitness for women have been
pegged at appallingly low levels. Even then, most women
fail to achieve them. As women are anatomically weak,
they cannot withstand prolonged physical stress and
are prone to serious injuries like slipped discs, shoulder
dislocations, stress fractures, infections of the womb
and pelvic organ prolapsed. Therefore, they cannot be
exposed even to routine unit regime.
Whereas male officers take pride in leading their units
from the front, women officers cannot even keep pace
with the troops. Unlike the male officers, women do not
train and exercise with the troops. As they cannot be
detailed on patrolling and route marches, commanders
are forced to employ them on office duties.
As can be seen from the above table, strength of
women varies from 3.7 per cent for the Army to 13.2 per
cent for the Air Force. Although their presence in the
Services has ceased to raise eyebrows, the issue of their
contribution continues to evoke extreme reactions.
Two and a half decades is a long enough period for
the Army to carry out an objective appraisal. For
that, it is essential that a feedback be obtained from
the environment.
Ignorant And Clueless Crusaders
Unfortunately, the Indian media (both print and
electronic) is populated by the reporters who know
little about national security imperatives and military
matters. They thrive by blazoning hyperbolic and
embellished headlines. To them, presence of women in
the Services symbolises ‘grand display of Nari Shakti’.
They get overwhelmed by the sight of women marching
on the Rajpath and construe it as a testimony of women’s
prowess to defend the borders.
Pro-women activists are equally vocal in their misplaced
zeal for the ‘equality of sexes’ which makes them look at all
issues with blinkered views. For them, entry of women in
the Services is a case of ‘women empowerment’, ‘conquest
of the last male bastion’, ‘gender equality’ and ‘women’s
liberation’. According to them, it is a fundamental right of
women to serve in the military to satisfy their vocational
aspirations. They are least concerned about the fighting
potential of the Services.
To buttress their stand for increased induction of
women, examples of the United States and Israel are
often cited. As their knowledge is pitiably shallow, a
number of myths get created, thereby clouding the true
facts. Neither the US nor the Israeli forces allow women
in direct combat.
As in other countries, it is the political leadership that
is driving the Indian Armed Forces to open all positions
to women. It is quite understandable. For politicians,
nothing matters more than expediency of vote-bank
chemistry. Through open support for gender equality in
the Services, they want to demonstrate their pro-women
outlook and earn plaudits by appearing to be progressive.
Tokenism
Tokenism is the policy and practice of making a
perfunctory and symbolic gesture towards the inclusion
of members of minority groups. As a matter of political
tokenism, the government ordered that the Guard
of Honour for President Obama be commanded by a
woman officer and that the Republic Day Parade should
include a women’s contingent. Both the decisions lacked
substance and were purely of symbolic value. The
decision to induct women as fighter pilots also smacks
on tokenism of reckless nature.
The top brass of the services is totally aware of the
damage being inflicted on the organisation but lack
moral courage to admit it openly. It is considered
politically incorrect to oppose induction of women, more
so after the flak received by a previous Vice Chief for
his innocuous and honest remarks. Talk to any top
commander in private and he will readily concede that
the decision to induct women was slapdash and hasty.
Many consider grant of SSC for ten years to be an
ill-conceived initiative. Women normally become officers
at the age of 23 to 25 years. Within two to three years
of their commission, they get married. Every pregnancy
means three yearss of exemption from physical activities
– one year pre-natal and two years post-delivery. With
the standard two-child norm, a women officer remains
physically inactive for close to six years. In the absence
of officers, collective field training of the units suffers.
Unit Personnel
The Service officers take pride in the fact that they earn
the right to command by being better than the troops,
both physically and professionally. They feel that the
entry of women has lowered their standing. By having
women only as officers, an impression gets conveyed to
the environment that officers’ duties are soft and even
women can perform them.
The argument that women make up shortage of male
officers is always scoffed at for its speciousness. There
is no shortage of suitable male volunteers to join the
Services. It is just that the Services seek very exacting
standards for males while women are accepted with
abysmally laughable standards. For that matter, there
are no standards for women.
In the Army, there is a concept of field and peace
postings by rotation. Every officer looks forward to a
good peace posting to be with his family and to sort out
family issues. But most of the junior and middle level
appointments in peace stations are invariably held by
women officers on compassionate grounds. Male officers
thus get deprived of their due share and are made to
suffer prolonged field tenures. It has become a sore
point with many.
Many male officers feel that the presence of women
amongst them tends to make the environment ‘formal
and stiff’. They miss their light hearted banter which all
militaries consider essential to release work tensions
and promote group cohesion. In some establishments,
mutual comfort level between men and women colleagues
has been found to be low.
Most Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and
soldiers consider women’s induction to be a political
gimmick that warrants no serious attention. Their
response varies between outright disapproval to
nonchalant dismissal of the issue.
As per an informal survey, 81 per cent of the troops
were convinced that women officers could never lead
them in war efficiently. The balance 19 per cent were
unsure of their response. “How can the government
be naïve enough to think that a leader who cannot
run, train and exercise with troops and lacks required
physical fitness be capable of leading us in war?” the
respondents queried. “Instead of women officers leading
us, we would be carrying their personal weapons and
equipment. Even then, they will be laggards and a drag,”
was a common refrain of the soldiers.
Women Officers
As in all militaries the world over, women in India are also
confronted with social, behavioural and psychological
challenges at all levels. According to many surveys
carried out, most women get disillusioned with the ethos
of military profession.
As most women opting for a career in the Services
belong to families where their upbringing had been in a
highly sheltered environment, life in the military comes
as a big shock to them. While some adapt to it well, most
find the task to be too daunting.
A handful of women officers are certainly mentally
robust and highly motivated. They resent preferential
treatment and do not want to be treated as weaklings
as it offends their sensitivities and self-respect. They
take exception to some women seeking kid-glove
treatment to escape hardships. Such women are
miniscule in number while a vast majority seeks special
dispensation. They avoid field exercises on some pretext
or the other – either they are not well or the kids are
small or children have school tests.
Finally
To date, no one has been able to justify the decision to
induct women in the Indian Armed Forces. In what way
have the services benefited? As the feedback reveals,
women suffer from low acceptance and are considered a
burdensome trouble by all the stakeholders – neither the
commanders nor the male colleagues nor do the soldiers
find them suitable for the Services. Interestingly, even
most women officers admit their inability to cope up
with the demands of the military career.
Only the non-playing entities (politicians, activists and
the media) keep claiming that women are equal to men
to demand more positions for women in the Services.
However, it is the top brass of the Services that is to
be blamed for the present mess as it lacks spine to
resist pressures.
The military exists to win wars, not to serve as an equal
opportunity employer. Howsoever righteous and morally
upright the principle of equality of sexes may be; national
security imperatives should never be compromised at
the altar of political expediency and populism. It can
prove disastrous for the nation in the long run.
Finally, ‘le jury est en’ and the verdict is unanimous –
women in the Services are a liability; they lack physical
strength; their employability is highly restricted; seek
softer appointments; consume considerable resources
for comfort and safety; degrade combat potential; and
contribute little to the organisational efficiency.
In the early 90s, when asked about the induction of
women, a senior JCO termed the move to be totally
unwise and bereft of any sound logic. Ominously, he
predicted that the Services would end up rueing the
decision. Events of the last few years have proved his
apprehensions to be prophetic.
All commanders consider
women to be a liability as
considerable resources have to
be diverted to ensure their
comfort, dignity and safety
gender disparity
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