We all talk of giving women equal rights, and efforts have been made on that front to allow women to compete with men. In many areas women given the opportunity have made good progress and have broken through the ‘glass ceiling’. But in many areas they still face the problem and defence is one such area.
While in many western countries women have reached top position in defence forces commanding thousands of troops, squadrons, battle ships, in India it’s still a problem and women who are in defence services have to face a lot of hardships in order to reach a top position or even so get respect as a leading officer or commander of a unit traditionally dominated by men. Cases of sexual harassment and asking for sexual favors from female counterparts by male seniors, has not helped their case either. While women in India have
served in medical branch since long; only now they are being given permanent commissionthat too only in law and other non-combat areas.
Despite the fact that the most emphatic victory, Indian armed forces gained was in 1971 under the leadership of Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, a women and the current supreme commander of Indian armed forces is Pratibha Patel, a women the percentage of women in armed forces is really abysmal. Even after Short Service Commission was started for women in defence they have been discriminated a lot.
The policy makers must know that it’s discriminatory to ban females from performing certain duties in armed forces. They should be tried on their individual merits and have themselves suitability evaluated and compared to other male candidates and limiting their career in armed forces to maximum of 15 years is not acceptable just for the fact that when they become pregnant after marriage they take break from performing their duties or opt for soft positions.
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excellent, hats off..
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