Power of Women in the Indian Armed Forces
By R Anil Kumar
- 11,414 Women Serving in Three Services: Government Data
Bangalore, August 5. In recent times, the Indian Armed Forces has seen a surge in the participation of women.
In a major push to the women intake by the forces, the government has also taken significant steps to increase the percentage ratio of women officers and other ranks (ORs). Whether it’s women in combat roles or the medical services in Defence, it’s a significant push towards their empowerment.
Employment in Indian Armed Forces is gender neutral. There is no distinction in the deployment and working conditions of male and female soldiers in the arms and services in which they serve. The postings are as per organizational requirements and employment is as per qualifications and service qualitative requirements.
All wings of the Indian Armed Forces have women in combat roles. Women are allowed in combat services and supervisory roles as officers.
Training, postings, promotions, terms of engagement etc, are common for both women and men.
In the Indian Army, the grant of Permanent Commission to Women Officers (WOs), a gender-neutral career progression policy covering employment and promotional aspects was promulgated on 23.11.2021.
It provides equal opportunities to women officers in the Arms, Services where they are commissioned.
The rules regarding employability in Indian Armed Forces are gender neutral and provide equal opportunities to men and women.
Their medical fitness and medical conditions are also factored prior to their effective utilization.
Apart from that Indian Army, Indian Air force and Indian Navy are taking various initiatives to encourage women to join the forces.
A total of eleven thousand four hundred fourteen women personnel are serving in the three services with the Army having the maximum of 7,054 of them, government data placed before Lok Sabha showed on Friday. The total number includes officers, other ranks as well as those in medical, dental and nursing services.
The number of women personnel employed in the three services excluding those in medical, dental and nursing services comes to 4,948.
According to a Statement the Army has 1,733 women officers while 100 women personnel are employed in other ranks.
The data on women personnel in the Army is up to January 1.
In the Indian Air Force, the number of women officers is 1,654 while 155 are working as Airmen (AgniveerVayu) as on July 1.
In the Navy, 580 women are posted as officers while 726 are operating as sailors (Agniveers) as on July 26.
In the Army, 1,212 women are working in the Army Medical Corps, while the number in Army Dental Corps and Military Nursing Service is 168 and 3,841. In the Navy, 151 women are in the medical corps, 10 in dental corps and 380 in nursing service.In the Indian Air Force, 274 women are in the medical corps, five in the dental corps and 425 in military nursing service, according to the details.
As part of the Agnipath Scheme, women have been enrolled as Agniveers commencing from the first batch itself. They are subjected to the same training curriculum, professional courses and retention criteria as compared to their male counterparts.
