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Wednesday 22 March 2017

MUST READ -NOT PALATABLE BUT TRUE -Feedback On Women In The Army: Asset Or Liability? MAJ GEN SUMAN


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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