Unlike Indian Air Force, Navy Not To Offer Combat Positions To Women

The Indian Navy will soon announce increased role for women but unlike Indian Air Force it will not allow them in combat positions yet.

“All flying areas in the Navy will be opened for women except where it requires staying overnight on ships like carriers and so on,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said while interacting with the media after addressing the Naval Commanders Conference which began on Monday. “We want to give women equal status as long as there are no logistical, infrastructure and training issues.”

The Indian MoD last week has approved women as fighter pilots who will be inducted into the combat stream of the Indian Air Force from next year.

Since their induction into the transport and Helicopter streams of the IAF, the women’s performance has been ‘praiseworthy and on a par with their male counterparts,’ an MOD statement said last week.

Inducting women into the fighter stream would provide them with an equal opportunity to prove their mettle in combat roles as well, the statement said.

The navy will also challenge a recent order of the Delhi High Court which had reprimanded it over the issue of permanent commission for women in the force.

On the issue of Permanent Commission (PC) to women in the Navy, Parrikar observed that there was “no gender bias” in the Navy. Last month, in a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court granted PC for women and pulled up the Navy and the Defence Ministry for “sexist bias” to block women’s progress.

Clarifying that the 1991 Order on PC was gender neutral, Parrikar said that it only stated that there can be no PC for Short Service Commission (SSC) officers. He added that in 2008, PC was granted for women officers in three streams — education, law and construction.