The question has once again popped whether or not women should be assigned combat roles in the Armed Forces. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Empowerment of Women is currently on a tour of the State to conduct a hearing on service conditions of women officers. Its assignment covers para-military forces as well. A questionnaire has already been circulated to conduct a survey in pursuance of its mission. Women officers have been asked to candidly rate and measure their working conditions. They have been asked to explain the kind of responsibilities given, conditions in workplace, treatment meted out by colleagues and superiors, satisfaction levels in performing duties and their military experience.

The stated mission of the Parliamentary panel is to improve the lot of women in services and ensure they get their due work, respect and work conditions so as to empower them. There is a long-pending demand of women that they should be permitted to figure in direct fights on the border. The Army continues to recruit women in non-combat services such as Signals, Intelligence, Ordnance, Legal Service and Education, apart from the Medical Corps where women officers have risen to become Generals. The Air Force allows women officers to fly transport aircraft and helicopters but not fighters. The Navy, on its part, dissuades women officers from sailing on warships. Perhaps nothing better could have been expected in view of the advice of the Chiefs of Staff Committee to the Government against enlisting women in combat as chances of physical contact with enemy were high.

Strange though it may appear the same reasons are advanced globally for keeping women out of combat. One argument is that on average women soldiers are not as physically strong as men and, hence, they will be at a disadvantage when fighting males. The other is that romantic relationships between opposite sexes can dent an army unit’s fighting capability. In this country we don’t have practical basis to approve or disapprove of any of these theories. However, as we have a close look at other armies, we find that none of these assumptions can hold ground. For the United States the women are doing a great job in Iraq.

By using new methods of physical training, women can be built up to the same levels of physical fitness as men of the same size and build. The plea that the women are prone to exploitation does not make sense if one goes by the experience of male Prisoners of War in Iraq who have been subjected to all sorts of abuses as their painful photographs have depicted. Proponents of women for combat perception make two other points. One is that by sidelining them an important source of soldiers for combat is left untapped. The other is that it is the last bastion of sex discrimination and should go lock, stock and barrel.

The debate is likely to go on in our country for some more time. We are slow in acknowledging the part women play or capable of playing in our dispensation. Thus while men might be able to be programmed to kill, it’s not as easy to program men to neglect women. The question nevertheless arises if women are doing well in other wings of the Armed Forces why they can’t fare equally well in direct contact with opponents.