No women in combat duty : Army

New Delhi: The Women's Day has brought a bad piece of news for Indian women who are in or aspiring to be in the defence services as the three defence chiefs have advised against induction of women in combat roles.

While women officers are already being inducted in some arms and services duties in the Army — like Army Air Defence, Corps of Signals and Corps of Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps etc — a study on all aspects related to women officers in Armed Forces has recommended the exclusion of women officers from combat duty for the present.

The study conducted under the supervision of the country’s three defence chiefs says in combat duty, the chances of physical contact with the enemy are high and hence it is not advisable to include women officers in combat roles.

This was revealed by Defence Minister AK Antony in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while he was replying to a question by Ravula Chandra Sekar Reddy. The study on the induction of women in combat roles was conducted under the aegis of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, he said.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee is India’s most powerful military organisation, which counts the three defence chiefs among its members.

There are women officers in most of the Army services today. They are there in both Permanent Commission as well as Short Service Commission. In fact, women officers perform key duties in Army Education Corps, Judge Advocate General Department, Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Intelligence Corps and various wings of medical services.

Women activists have, however, slammed the findings of the study as the height of male chauvinism.

Colonel Lakshmi Sahgal, one of the last Indian women to see active combat in the 1940s, said the decision “reflects the mindsets of the military top brass”. Sahgal was with the Indian National Army of Subhash Chandra Bose.

Sahgal told the DNA newspaper that she was convinced, and has witnessed herself, that women are “fit for combat duty”. Compared to women who join the army today, the INA women, who fought the British, had “very low nutritional standards”, she said. "Yet they fought bravely, and on many occasions better than men, even in the face of heavy aerial bombing."

"It speaks of their prejudice," says Sahgal’s daughter and senior communist leader Subhasini Ali. Describing the recommendation as "anachronistic", Ali asks: "Would they say that a way to stop rapes is to prevent girl children from being born?”