Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Can women be equal to men?' that was published in Newsband

Can women be equal to men?

Delhi High Court ruled that the Indian Navy must grant permanent commission to women as well, as the Army and the Air Force had to do following a 2010 order by a different bench of the same court. Following the latest ruling, women who qualify for permanent commission will be able to work until the age of 54, as their male counterparts do. Grant of permanent commission would allow women to rise in rank along with the men, and gain pay parity.

It's a good idea to move on and provide our women equal opportunity to serve our country with more command. But the junior officers from rural areas would not be willing to accept a woman as a leader in frontline situations since that society is not yet willing to accept women in combat roles. That’s the reason why the proportion of women in India’s armed forces and the police forces is low in terms of global comparative figures,

Gender equality "in all aspects" is always appreciable as long as it is taken literally. But many women do not seem to be getting enough support in coping with the dual tasks of handling work and family life. All those who create this tremendous hue and cry for gender equality based on the awaited equal benefits should also be ready to face any hard situation without any preferential treatment. Nowadays it has become an inseparable part of fashion to speak in favour of gender equality be it viable or not in a particular set of services. Women in civil service object and oppose transfer to other cities or towns more on ground of gender related problems. So can the women in army perform their duty with the same intrepidity, zeal and discipline as their male counterparts without raising a war cry of "gender discrimination" or "sexual harassment"?

Some women’s argument is that if our country needs caste based reservations for almost 70 years to lift out the oppressed section of the society, so do our country needs favorable discrimination in case of women who are the most oppressed section of the society. Women have been discriminated since time immemorial, even before the time when caste based discrimination started.

Women in the West can be seen as driving heavy vehicles and in combat roles in the defence services. But we as a society have to come out of our mindset and pre-conceived notions.

The argument in favour of ending discrimination is quite in order. But the ground reality too has to be considered. To have women in combat situations in difficult terrains has its practical constraints which cannot be overlooked. We have example of women IPS officers. Most state governments are reluctant to put them in fields. So while pleading the case for women in armed forces one must properly evaluate all pros and cons relevant to the matter.

Anyway, after a long battle women have succeeded in achieving gender parity in the national 'battle-ground', kudos for their valour! They have proved that they can be at the forefront in defending nation at all levels and at all times equally with their male counterparts. Hopefully, more and more women would join armed forces and defend our country internally and externally in the times of necessity.