Women in Combat Role

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  • Women comprise only 3.8% of the army - compared to 13% of the air force and (First time allow in Combat Role) 6% of the navy.
  • The Army, Air Force and Navy began inducting women as short-service commission (SSC) officers in 1992.
  • This was the first time when women were allowed to join the military outside the medical stream.
  • One of the turning points for women in the military came in 2015 when Indian Air Force (IAF) decided to induct them into the fighter stream.
  • In 2020, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the central government to grant permanent commission (PC) to women officers in the Army's non-combat support units on par with their male counterparts.
  • The SC had rejected the government’s stand of women officer’s physiological limitations as being based on "sex stereotypes" and "gender discrimination against women.
  • Women officers have been granted PC in the Indian Army in all the ten branches where women are inducted for SSC.
  • (Short Service Commission (SSC), in the Regular Army will be granted for 14 years i.e. for an initial period of 10 years, extendable by 4 years. After that he/she get VRS or Continue in Military (Permanent Commission). Before 2020 women are not recruitment as PC, In 2020. SC says recruitment of women in PC).
  • Women are now eligible to occupy all the command appointments, at par with male officers, which would open avenues for further promotions to higher ranks for them.
  • In early 2021, the Indian Navy deployed four women officers on warships after a gap of almost 25 years.
  • India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and fleet tanker INS Shakti are the warships that have been assigned their first women crews since the late 1990s.
  • In May 2021, the Army inducted the first batch of women into the Corps of Military Police, the first time that women joined the military in the non-officer cadre.
  • However, Women are still not allowed in combat arms like Infantry and Armored Corps.
  • Increasing gender Representation, Empowerment.
  • Increase in Military Capacity.
  • Effectiveness: Wide talent pool → possibility of effective officers.
  • Career advancement: As combat duty is usually regarded as necessary for promotion to senior officer positions, denying female personnel this experience ensures that very few will ever reach the highest reaches of the military.
  • Technology advancement: Landscape of modern warfare has changed with more sophisticated weapons, greater focus on intelligence gathering and emergence of cyberspace as arena of combat. Brute force, often a reason for non-inclusion of women, is less necessary.
Concerns
  • Military Conditions – Rugged & Harsh; Women have concessions in physical standards.
  • Physical Requirement; Hygiene & Privacy issues.
  • Military Readiness affected – Maternity times.
  • Abuse by Enemy: Both male and female prisoners are at risk of torture and rape, but misogynistic societies may be more willing to abuse women prisoners.
  • Gender Stereotypes of Military officers – Disobedience by subordinates.
Way Forward
  • The United States, Israel, North Korea, France, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and Canada are among the global militaries that employ women in front-line combat positions.
  • It is the right of every woman to pursue a career of her choice and reach the top since Equality is a constitutional guarantee. 

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