The Author of This Article is K P Aswanth Babu, A Second Semester B.Com LL.B[Hons] Student at Government Law College Ernakulam. His Areas of Interest Include Human Rights, Public Policy and Environmental Law.

“HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR US TO RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE OUR HEROES AND SHE-ROES!”

-MAYA ANGELOU

INTRODUCTION

The empowerment of women has been a primary objective and debate in the recent past among academia and civil societies across the world. Women empowerment is the process of changing the system of society or any institution that positions women as subordinate to men. Sociologically affirmative actions are required for the upliftment of marginalized sections in society.

From the establishment of the Indian army in 1895 and even after being uplifted with statutory identity in 1950, women had been discriminated against in paper and practice by their male counterparts in the armed forces. They weren’t eligible for a Permanent Commission in the army until the Supreme Court verdict on February 17, 2020.[1] Eligibility for Permanent Commission would provide you with a career in the armed forces till retirement. The Constitution which is the law of the land provides us with article 33 which along with section 12 and section 10 of the army act, 1950 came under the scanner in The Secretary, Ministry of Defence V. Babita Puniya & Ors.[2]This judgment paved way for gender equality in the Armed forces by providing permanent commissions to female officers in the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy.

As of 2020, women are not allowed to serve in combat units such as Infantry, Mechanized infantry, Armored Corps, and Artillery. Indian Navy and Indian Air Force have traditionally recruited way more women than the Indian army. It is important to have a deeper look at the constitutional root of the lack of women officers in the Indian army, the reason for the unavailability of a permanent commission for women in the army till 2020, and the intricacies in the legal battle that finally forced the court to come up with a landmark judgment on 17^th February 2020 and how such affirmative actions would ultimately lead to women empowerment in the Defence force.

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE ARMED FORCES ACROSS THE GLOBE

There is a preconceived notion that men are the only ones supposed to safeguard the security and borders of the country. War and combats in the past have been associated with masculine values such as physical strength and courage. Women were looked down as weak and vulnerable. Traditionally women were excluded from direct combat roles. Therefore, women who joined the armed forces were faced with a milieu designed by and for men. Women are still undeniably in the minority and face many forms of discrimination in the defense sector. Let us look at the status of women’s participation in the armed forces in different nations.

U.S.A

In the U.S.A women have been officially serving in the military since 1901. The women of the U.S army have participated in both the world wars and the Vietnam war. There are approximately 2,00,000 American women on active duty in the U.S Armed Forces. They constitute nearly 20 percent of its strength.

AUSTRALIA

Country does not involve close combat roles for women, but in September 2009, 92% of the Australian Defense Force (ADF) jobs were open to women as well.

ISRAEL

Women have been working in the Israeli army since 1948 and like every other nation women were not recruited to combat roles. Women gradually found space in the Israeli army’s combat roles due to the feminist groups’ demand for the same. In 1995 High Court of Israel opened up combat roles in the army for women.

HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Before we examine the factors regarding the role of women in the Indian Armed forces, let us look at the history of women’s participation in defense services in India.

With the formation of the “Indian Military Nursing Service” in 1888, the role of women in the Indian armed forces began to take shape. The nurses of the Indian army fought in both the World Wars. The role of women in the armed forces was further expanded with the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps which allowed them to serve in non-combatant roles like communications, accounting, administration, etc. Although the British Indian army was limited to women in what were mainly non-combatant roles, it was not the case with Azad Hind Fauj founded by Subhash Chandra Bose. There was a women’s regiment named the Rani of Jhansi regiment which saw active combat when it fought along with the Imperial Japanese army in Burma.

Subhash Chandra Bose and Captain Lakshmi Sahgal with Rani of Jhansi Regiment.

The Army Act, of 1950 made women ineligible for regular commissions with certain exceptions specified by the central government. On 1^st November 1958 when the Army Medical Corps became the first Indian Army unit to award regular commissions to women. After that throughout the 80s and 90s, women were made eligible for Short Service Commission in the Indian Army.

LEGAL BATTLE FOR ADEQUATE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN ARMED FORCES

On 17^th February 2020, the Supreme Court of the country came with a judgment that was later regarded as the watershed moment in the history of the Indian Army. The order was related to the granting of Permanent Commission in ten non-combat service units at three months and held them to be eligible to hold command posts by enervating the existing ceiling. It also provided equal opportunity for women in the army by providing them with long-term job security.

Before jumping onto the cases, it would be wise enough to know about the provisions which prohibit female entry into certain sectors of the armed forces.

Under section 12 of the Army Act,1950 the recruitment of “Females” into the army is prohibited except and to extent that the Central government allows. Also, article 33 of the constitution provides the Parliament the power to enact laws restricting or abrogating the fundamental rights of the members of the armed forces, paramilitary forces, police forces, intelligence agencies, and analogous forces. This means that inadequate representation of women in the armed forces cannot be challenged on the ground of violation of Fundamental Rights.

In 1992, the government issued a notification allowing females to join certain cadres of the Army like induction in Short Service Commission (hereinafter SSC), Intelligence Corps, corps of signals, Regiment of Artillery, Army Service Corps, etc. Earlier women’s roles in the army were limited to medical, dental, and military nursing service.

In February 2003, Babita Puniya, a practicing advocate filed a writ petition like Public Intertest Litigation at Delhi High Court, seeking Permanent Commission for females recruited through SSC in the army at par with their male counterparts. Many other women officers separately filed a petition for the same. Their petitions were tagged with Babita’s petition.

In the ending months of 2005, the ministry of defense issued a notification extending the validity scheme of the appointment of the Indian Army for women officers. In 2006, a further notification was issued to SCC women officers to serve for a maximum of 14 years. Major Leena Gaurav filed a writ petition on October 16^th, 2006, primarily challenging the condition of service imposed by circulars previously in that year and also seeking the Permanent Commission for the women officers. In 2007, Lt Col Seema Singh moved to the court for the same issue.

Finally, in 2010, the Delhi High Court decided to club together all the petitions and directed the defense ministry to come up with Permanent Commission for women’s Air Force and Army. The matter reached the Supreme Court and finally led to a positive judgment.

CASE

The Secretary, Ministry of Defence V. Babita Puniya & Ors.

Underlying the statement that it is a “greater challenge” for women officers to meet the hazards of service “owing to their prolonged absence during pregnancy, motherhood and domestic obligations towards their children and families” is a strong stereotype that assumes that domestic obligations rest solely on women. The Supreme Court while taking a strong exception to the submissions made by the Union of India in the above-mentioned case said. Women officers must deal with pregnancy, motherhood and domestic obligation towards their children and families may not be well suited to the life of a soldier in the armed force. The submission made by the Union of India had points such as the above which forced the Court to say this- “Seventy years after the birth of a post-colonial independent state, there is still a need for change in attitudes and mindsets to recognize the commitment to the values of the Constitution. This is evident from the submissions which were placed as a part of the record of this Court”

The Supreme Court in the case granted permission for all SSC women officers to Permanent Commissions irrespective of any of them having crossed fourteen years, or as the case may be, twenty years of service. The issues related to the granting of Permanent Commissions for women weren’t going to stop there.

The division bench of Dr. D Y Chandrachud and Mr. Shah, the Court has held that the administrative requirement imposed by Indian Army authorities while considering the case of the Women Short Service Commissions Officers (WSSCO) for the grant of Permanent Commission, of benchmarking these officers with the officers lowest in merit in the corresponding male batch is arbitrary and irrational.[7] The Court hence directed that such requirement shall not be enforced while implementing the decision in The Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya & Ors.

We must not forget that those women officers who have remained in service are those with the tenacity to hold on and to meet the exacting standards of performance of which the Indian Army has made her citizens proud. (…) The WSSCOs before us is not just women who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Army but are women who have persevered through difficult conditions as they trudged along with lengthy litigation to avail the simplest of equality with their male counterparts. They do not come to the Court seeking charity or favor. They implore us for a restoration of their dignity when even strongly worded directions by the Court in Babita Puniya (supra) have not trickled down into a basic assessment of not subjecting unequal to supposedly neutral parameters.
The supreme court said while concluding the analysis on the case.

The developments after the decision in Babita Puniya’s case are a light of hope that there will be a day when the armed forces will have equity in terms of representation of the women in the armed forces. Combat roles must have more space for female representation making sure that more and more young girls of tomorrow will be more than willing to take up or look into the Armed Forces as a career prospect.

CONCLUSION

Women have been provided with Permanent Commission and there has been an increase in the intake of women candidates in the armed forces. Thus, it can be said that it is a way forward for the women who aspire to join defense services. Other than these benefits, women officers are given other additional facilities in the defense sector. Earlier, women were not allowed to leave travel concession during child care leave, but now women can avail the same during child care. The defense sector has been putting effort into providing a work-friendly environment by giving women freedom at the workplace. To prohibit any kind of harassment against women at the workplace, Vishaka Guidelines and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act,2013 have been implemented in all commands of the defense wings.

The upliftment of women has been one of the pertinent aims of every other nation in the current era. The development of any nation is undoubtedly linked to gender parity. Recognizing the importance of women’s empowerment and gender equality, women’s empowerment has been listed as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. It is also fundamental to all Social Development Goals. Over the past few decades, women have come a long way not only in military sectors but in other sectors such as politics and business as well. Women have reached great heights in almost all fields that were previously male-centric. There is a need for more policies and frameworks for the induction of women in combat roles as well as an equal number of recruitment of women in the Forces to achieve the principle of equality enshrined in the constitution.

While ensuring that women get their rightful place to serve in the armed forces before introducing any measure to improve gender equity, it should not weaken the fighting capabilities of the sword arms of national security. That is the bottom line.

Our armed forces should undertake an exercise to determine the physical fitness standards required for meeting the minimum operational standards required for each arm. The induction of women into combat positions should be based on their abilities and not based on their gender. The training for both men and women should be standardized to eliminate differentiation based on physical abilities.

SUGGESTIONS

Defense readiness is one major factor that is required to be borne in mind throughout while considering their employability options. The career aspects and opportunities for women need to be viewed holistically keeping the final aim in focus.

Patriarchy must not act as a barrier restricting young girls from achieving their dreams. Society should act in a supportive way so that one girl is ready to take up combat roles in the army in the future. As far as combatant roles are concerned, an all-women combat squadron should be designed. The physical training provided to men and women should be similar to eliminate differentiation based on physical standards. It is the responsibility of the government to create both administrative and social infrastructure for the easy induction of women into the Armed Forces. Administrative issues should not be cited as a barrier to women’s entry into the Armed Forces. The framework for the induction of women should be incorporated into a policy. Finally, no decision should be taken that affects the efficiency and effectiveness of the military. Concern for equality should not affect defense policies