JOIN USA month after granting permanent commission to women in the Indian Army, the Supreme Court has ruled that women in the Navy are also entitled to the same right. This is another landmark order which recognises equal status of women in the armed forces, as in other careers and walks of life, and rejects as unacceptable all the arguments put forward by the government and the top brass of the forces to deny that status. The court has rejected those arguments as "specious reasons’’ and "101 excuses’’ and said that "women officers can sail as efficiently as men’’. The Navy had as early as in 1992 inducted women into the service but has been unwilling to follow it up with equal treatment as officers. It granted permanent commission to women in certain streams like education and engineering but was not ready to go the whole hog. It was even argued that the ships did not have the facilities needed for women. All these could only have been lame excuses.
Women officers of the Navy had received a favourable order from the Delhi High Court but the Navy went in appeal against it. The Supreme Court’s ruling has now settled the matter. Women officers are now eligible for permanent commission on par with their male colleagues in all streams of the force. Short Service Commission officers, including those who joined before 2008, will be treated equally and retired officers will be eligible to pension. The opposition has actually been to having women in combat roles which were not considered suitable for them. But this has been proved to be a misconception. Women have proved themselves to be capable and responsible and have not been known to shy away from any task in the course of their military duties. The Indian Air Force has inducted women as fighter pilots.
In the Navy also, they have proved that they can cope with the most difficult demands that go with a life in the sea. Two years ago, six women officers demonstrated that by circumnavigating the globe for six months in INS Tarini, and it was an extraordinary testimonial to their physical and mental fitness. Navies of many other countries have women serving in combat roles. The bias and discrimination against women in the armed forces is a reflection of the attitudes that prevail in the wider society. They only are stronger in the forces because they are totally dominated by men and have strict organisational rules and longstanding traditions centred on male supremacy. The Supreme Court judgement has opened the doors but it will take some time for the mindset to change and for women to secure complete equality.