Click to play videoVice-Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal PK Barbora, on Tuesday said women are a bad investment, a statement that perhaps reflects the dominant mindset of not just the Indian military but of Indian society in general.
It takes almost Rs 12 crore and many years to train a fighter pilot says Barbora, and if the pilot happens to be a woman she might get married and get pregnant. If women want to be fighter pilots they must give a guarantee that they will remain childless, he suggested.
The question being asked on CNN-IBN's show Face The Nation was: Are women unsuited for combat roles in the armed forces?
On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were former chief of Army staff, General Shankar Roychowdhury; former fighter pilot and defence analyst, Wing Commander Praful Bakshi; former cabinet secretary, T S R Subramaniam and Director of Center for Social Research, Ranjana Kumari.
At the beginning of the debate, 65 per cent agreed that women were in fact unsuited for combat roles, while 35 per cent disagreed.
IAF Being Sexist?
The armed forces of India may have their reasons for not commissioning women into combat roles, but no where in the world would such a sexist statement be made against women, a statement which Barbora openly made on Tuesday.
Bakshi kickstarted the debate by disagreeing with the fact that Barbora's statement was sexist. He advocated that the Vice-Chief of Air Staff was merely stating the operational requirement of the Indian Air Force.
"There are a certain number of pilots in a squadron. Say there are 13 pilots including five lady pilots. If the women start taking maternity leave then the efficiency of the squadron would go down," he said.
He further elaborated on his theory saying the issue was not political and the armed forces had to balance the security of the country.
Ranjana strongly disagreed with Bakshi. She said his statement represented the macho culture and just exposed how far behind the times the Indian armed forces' mindset was.
"It's certainly a sexist remark, which is unacceptable and it even violates India's Constitution. The Vice-Chief of Air Staff should know that the country's Constitution does not allow anyone to discriminate on any basis," she said.
Women Not Fit For Combat?
Ranjana stated that it was women who have the right over their bodies and it was in fact a woman's personal decision when she wanted to become a mother.
"Nobody can dictate when a woman should have a child. Also, if a woman wants to become a mother, India's law permits her to take a two-year leave from duty and the armed forces were not an exception to that law," she said.
Though Subramaniam agreed that the language used by Barbora had a sexist tone, he did not want to generalise on all wings of the armed forces and he certainly was not ready to tag them sexist.
"Though what he (Barbora) said was for operational reasons, but the way he put it was the worst way of putting it," he said.
Subramaniam decided to take a more neutral path by saying that though men and women are equal they were in fact different.
"You can't expect men to have children. Women on the other hand have been gifted with some divine qualities," he said.
Bakshi intervened here, defending Barbora's stance - that though women are a bad investment as far as combat roles were concerned, they did play an important role in the forces. "Air Force has women as transport pilots, helicopter pilots, missile operators and in many important roles," he said.
Armed Forces' Archaic Mentality
Many observers felt that since women are being utilised by the armed forces for aspects other than combat, the armed forces should then concede that military is only for men and not for women.
Roychowdhury disagreed by saying political correctness is not what the armed forces were striving for. He further added women played an important role in combat.
"Women are engaged in combat roles from electronic warfare, cyber warfare, information warfare and intelligence," he stated to further add to his point.
However, he also clarified that the sole reason for not deploying women in the frontline was the fear of them being taken prisoner and being mistreated.
"Please note that though we keep quoting the American and the British armies, it is a fact that in none of their forces women are put in the combat line," he said.
Women Inferior To Men?
The world is changing extremely fast, the fitness level of the young generation is far superior and one can't tell the difference between young men and women as far as the fitness level and alertness level. Commentators feel that keeping the changing times in mind, the armed forces should also change their mindset and give merit where it was due rather than constantly thinking in terms of gender.
However, Bakshi disagreed, saying that though women played an important role in combat, they should not be put in the frontline simply "because they aren't fit for it".
Ranjana intervened saying that globally women were becoming more and more fit and that foreign armies were giving opportunities to women to come into the frontline, the combat zone.
"The whole norm of physical fitness for women has changed and they are doing very well globally in the armed forces. The Chinese army and the Korean army are examples where women are taken on as fighter pilots. Why can't Indian women become fighter pilots?" she demanded to know.
Bakshi strongly disagreed with Ranjana that women biologically were fit to be fighter pilots. "An American and Russian report clearly states that women who go into fighter flying have problems which have medically proven," he repeated himself.
Roychowdhury interrupted at this point saying, "Why aren't you accepting cyber warfare, electronic warfare, missile gunner as all important combat roles? What is the argument about?" His point was that these were the combat zones that women were allotted and so it should not be thought that they were kept away from the frontline.
Ranajana responded that the argument was in fact about the mindset of the forces and the sexist statement made by Barbora - a very responsible officer of Air Force.
Bakshi intervened saying Barbora said it would be prudent in these circumstances if the Government of India decided to increase the number pilots in a squadron to 30 and then also cater to their leaves.
"Barbora only mentioned that in the circumstances that we are in today, the Air Force cannot afford to give maternity leave to pilots. But after that, the ball lies in the court of the Government and the financial director of the armed forces," he said.
Speaking in a neutral voice, Subramaniam said he found women more dedicated towards their work than men. But he agreed with Roychowdhury that he would not like women officers to be stationed in a tense area - like Naxal-infested areas.
Concluding the debate, Ranjana said women stand for peace but also have social responsibilities in life to play - that of a mother, a wife - and yet balance a career. However, she stated that this did not mean women are not competent enough to take up combat roles and perform them as well as men.
Final results of the SMS/Web poll: Are women unsuited for combat roles in the armed forces?
Yes: 59 per cent
No: 41 per cent
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.