Gender negotiations in the lives of female officers in the indian army

School of Public Policy and Governance Tata Institute of Social Science, Hyderabad STUDENT WORKING PAPER SERIES NO. 1, DECEMBER 2015

Gender Negotiations in the Lives of Female Officers in the Indian Army

Aswathy Chandragiri

 

School of Public Policy and Governance Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad Roda Mistry College of Social Work and Research Centre, Opposite Biodiversity Park, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana - 500008 Email : sppg-si@tiss.edu Website : http://goo.gl/mQGBpF

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About Student Working Paper Series The Student Working Paper Series, is an attempt by the School of Public Policy and Governance, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad to assimilate papers being worked upon the topics that will help enrich the public discourses by improving upon the clarity, accuracy and sophistication of discussions on the nation's Public Policy.

About School of Public Policy and Governance The School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG) is a novel research based teaching and training space designed to equip young professionals to contribute to the policy area research.

SPPG provides opportunities to its students to think beyond conventional models of growth and development, and encourages them to generate ideas for developing institutional frameworks for accountable governance and the establishment of a socially equitable society. Its programs and activities are designed to create an environment for the well-trained scholars to access and collect information about contemporary policies and activities surrounding them so that they can produce timely research and undertake analysis on key topics of Public Policy.

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Gender Negotiations in the Lives of Female Officers in the Indian Army - Aswathy Chandragiri1

Abstract Hypermasculinity, machismo and public patriarchy are some of the terms that go hand in hand with an institution like the armed forces. It is also an undeniable fact that there are many females serving in the armed forces of many countries including India. The aim of this paper is to examine the various gender negotiations female officers undergo to become a part and parcel of the Indian army. It looks at the culturally written and unwritten norms of behaviours and expectations within the institution and the Government policies that impact women in their professional work and family lives.

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Aswathy Chandragiri, M.A. Candidate in Sociology, South Asian University presented this paper at the Graduate Seminar on Well Being Growth and Development organised by the School of Public Policy and Governance from 27th 29th April, 2015.

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Introduction Time and again many researchers have tried to get to the basics of understanding gender. My research too is directed at analysing gender subjectivities within a certain organisational, cultural set up. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that this particular organisational set up has not been much researched upon. The research, therefore, is focused on exploring how female officers assert themselves and takes on the role of a leader in the Indian army.

Indian army, a colonial remnant operating in the postcolonial terrain, underwent various changes with time like any other institution to fit within the global and local context it serves. One such change is the induction of women into the armed forces. This was done on the one hand due to global trends and on the other within limits of local understandings of gender roles. “Female officers have been in the Armed Forces for about 80 years and served with competence and distinction. They were inducted in the Military Nursing Service in 1927 and in the Medical Officers Cadre since 1943. Following Cabinet approval, induction of lady officers in other branches in the three Services started in 1992� (Press Information Bureau, 2008).

The cabinet decision was to induct them into the noncombat wings of the armed forces as short-service commissioned officers with 14 years as the maximum period of recruitment. They are commissioned into combat support arms and services. The Government does not admit them in any direct combat duty. Neither can female officers fly fighters nor can they serve on warships or submarines. The Indian army accounts for 2.44 percent, the Indian Navy 3.0 percent and the Indian Air Force 6.7 percent women in its ranks. The Government approved permanent commission in the legal and educational wings of the three Services in 2008 (Bhattacharya, 2012: 318). The reasons for this limitation include, among others, unwillingness by Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and those of other ranks to accept women as leaders in combat situations where a high

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amount of trust is placed on the Commanding Officers (Singh, 2012). The population sex ratio in India is an unhealthy 940 females per thousand males and the sex ratio in the army is much worse. This data clearly shows that though women have started venturing into new arenas that were at one time controlled by the men folks single-handedly; their gendered construction is somehow preventing them from complete assimilation into the institution.

There are many unique problems that female officers face in the army. For instance, as an officer, she is expected to lead male troops. Jawans mostly come from villages where women are not expected to lead men. Consequently, taking orders from a female officer might be an experience of cultural aberration for them. Bonding with her troops is an important part of an officer’s job and here in the Indian army the troops are all men as females are commissioned only at the officer ranks and not below. So how does she bond with them, especially when everyone in her troop is a male? Female officers face problems such as these which their male counterparts do not.

Though women are slowly becoming an integral part of the army, they are not taken into the combat wings of the army. They even have to work twice as hard as men in order to prove their worth. “Acceptance among the male soldiers is low� (Bhattacharya, 2012: 319).

Research Methods I adopted qualitative research methods of data collection because depth and detail are two essential factors that are of utmost importance considering the topic of my research.

As I did not have much knowledge about the way of life of female officers within the army, I wanted to look at how women assert and negotiate their gender identity everyday by conducting in depth interviews of 10 female officers. By doing so, I collected firsthand information about their lives. I also conducted in depth interviews of 10 male officers so that I get more clarity and balance on the topic. I preferred to conduct semi structured interviews as it helped me collect as much information as possible about the

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whole setting. This helped me to locate women in this set up and view their perspectives about the issues they confront and also the men’s take on these issues and negotiations. I also used questionnaires to get answers for some particular topics. The questionnaires were distributed to 20 male officers of whom 18 responded and to 15 women officers of which 12 responded. I used the data from both: responses to questionnaires and formal and informal interviews of lady and male officers, to complete my research.

The interview questions majorly focused on the day to day interactions particularly between female officers and jawans, parity on matters between male and female officers, motivational factors for choosing and staying in this profession etc.

I took notes of the

conversations and prepared field notes about my visit to interview the officers to keep my data secure. The data was compared and analysed.

Research Site As the number of female officers in the army is very low and they are posted in different areas throughout the country, I did not adhere to a specific research site. The site varied depending on the availability of interviewees. However I received maximum of my respondents from cantonment areas in Delhi and Punjab. The time line for acquisitions started from mid-year of 2014 to 2015.

Leadership in the Indian Army Being a leader means different things to different people. Therefore, we have a multitude of definitions and a wide variety of literature stressing on its diverse aspects. Everybody leads or follows somebody at various points of life. Organisations especially, be it the military or otherwise, require leadership that is more structured and definite. Among organisations too, the leadership styles differ. Here the focus is on constructing the meaning of leadership as required and is practiced by defence establishments.

Lt Gen. H.B. Kala, Former Army Commander, Western Command and author of military books gives us the core ideas on which military leadership is built. A leader should be a man of character(honest, loyalty, selflessness etc.), courage( moral and physical), SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD

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competence, commitment, dynamism, decisiveness, magnanimity, accessibility, spirituality, transparency and both humanitarian and ruthless without overdoing both (H.B. Kala, 2003: 57-68). All the military academies look for officer like qualities while selecting the candidates and then they are grilled for some years through training to produce leaders.

Difference between Male and Female Leadership in the Military The essential understanding of military leadership or even leadership per se becomes more complex when gender dimensions come into play. As every officer is a leader and as Indian army has opened its door to women only at the officer level, it is important to find if there are any differences in their leadership styles that are affecting women positively or negatively within the institution. There is one set of literature which supports the idea that leadership patterns differ between men and women and another set which debunks these variations. “Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, and van Engen’s (2003)metaanalysis revealed that, compared with

male leaders, female leaders were (a) more

transformational (significant in general and on all but one subscale) and (b) engaged in more of the contingent reward behaviors (i.e., exchanging rewards for followers' satisfactory performance) that are one component of transactional leadership”(Eagly and Carli, 2003: 817). “The arguments for a “female advantage” in leadership generally stem from the belief that women are more likely than men to adopt collaborative and empowering leadership styles, while men are disadvantaged because their leadership styles include more command-and-control behaviors and the assertion of power (Paustian-Underdahl, Walker and Woehr, 2014: 1129). They also found that in older studies men were considered more effective leaders and in recent studies the conclusion is vice versa. The results thrown up by these studies have however become more of a common sense knowledge that is spun with stereotypical notions of both the genders.

Therefore there is still no final word due to the conflicting turnouts these studies have found themselves in.

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But there were no such conflicts among army officers of both the genders when asked what constitutes leadership in the army. Both men and women touched upon almost the same traits while describing what leadership meant to them personally. They were of the opinion that integrity, loyalty, truthfulness and self-confidence are some of the important requirements.

Similarly, both men and women who were interviewed vehemently denied that there is any gender difference when it comes to leadership. Yet, through this research, it is found that, within the Indian army, leadership roles provided to men and women are not the same. Women can only become sub unit commanders and not the Commanding Officer of the complete unit. This is because the Commanding Officer of the battalion should have put in a service of minimum 15 years and women are allowed to serve the army only up to a maximum of 14 years. It is after 14 years of service that a person gets a chance to be promoted as Colonel and so the topmost rank a woman can achieve in the army (leaving out the medical core and certain other cores) is the post of Lieutenant Colonel.

Permanent commission was not allowed in any arms of the army until 2008. Now women are allowed permanent commission in legal and education sector and not in any other sector. This is because in both these sectors women do not have direct command of troops but will only have staff under them. They are the only sectors which are not involved in battles at all.

Besides this, one has to serve in the army for a minimum of 20 years in order to be eligible for pension. As most women are not provided with permanent commission they do not get pension once their stipulated period in the army is completed. Women have been fighting cases for becoming permanent commissioned officers, thereby to become eligible for pension.

While some officers view the denial of permanent commission as an injustice meted out towards women, some believe that the time is not ripe for it as of now. Captain Vikram is of the opinion that permanent commission can come once troops also have women (Vikram, interview data 2014).

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Some male officers who were interviewed were of the opinion that most women don’t want permanent commission because of social problems (Vikram, Mahesh, Jeevan, interview data 2014). The ‘social problems’ here included getting married, having kids, taking care of the house etc. But the real problem lies in the double standards meted out by the government policy where short service commissioned officers are given an option to stay back in the establishment or to leave but women mandatorily have to leave. While many officers leave the army after their short service stint, male officers assume that women anyway would not want to take up permanent commission.

However, some male officers feel that women must be given permanent commission. For instance, in Capt. Mahesh’s words, “They (women officers) must be given permanent commission because they put everything into it (army). Suppose in cantonment, she happens to take a bullet… why is she not given permanent commission. Rather many male officers who did badly in the battle fields were given permanent commission. Their (male officers) moral integrity is questioned. Still they (male officers) are not denied permanent commission.”(Mahesh, interview data 2015) The research found that women are also not very keen on taking up the permanent commission. For instance, when asked what Maj. Tulsi wanted to do after she left the army, she replied that she will be getting permanent commission but is not very sure if she would take up that option or not (Major Tulsi, interview data 2014). Yet there are many women who would like to be permanently commissioned in the forces and all the court litigations stand as a testimony to it. The situation is similar to the male soldiers.

Not all officers who enter army through short service commission want to stay back after their stipulated tenure. While they are given a choice whether to stay back or not to, women are denied of the same. Therefore, denial of opportunity to become a Commanding Officer spills over to denial of the provision of pension. The cascading effect of the disadvantage meted out to women is visible in this scenario. It also reflects the negative perception of women officers within Indian Army.

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The position of Commanding Officer commands high respect and trust from junior officers and troops alike. Commanding Officers are directly involved in leading and planning wars. During life and death situations, the cohesive unit looks up on the commander to take the lead. It is here that women lose out due to a number of reasons discussed above. However, this research found that jawans find women officers to be more competitive than their male counterparts when it comes to listening to their problems and solving them. Both men and women agree that women are good administrators and are better than men at desk jobs (interview data 2014-15). Therefore, it is evident that the military establishment views leadership of women as being different from leadership of men though they do not agree to it verbally.

Reasons for Secondary Role for Women Stereotypical notions about females restrict them to enact only in particular ways established by the culture. The ideal notions of femininity and women found in the Indian society spills over to engulf institutions like the army. Therefore, to get work done and to be accepted by the troops, women sometimes enact themselves as mothers and sisters.

For instance, a senior female officer addresses troops as ‘beta’ while ordering duties to them. Similarly, jawans prefer to approach female officers regarding their problems as women are considered good listeners and councillors. It is the same stereotypical notion of women’s arena of work that stops the army in providing equal opportunities for women from direct combat. There is a lack of trust in women’s ability. “To be a woman in a masculinist culture is to be a source of mystery and unmeasurability for men.”(Blackmore (1998) in Pirouznia, 2006: 206). This is perhaps the reason why jawans lack trust in women when it comes to combat situations. As matters of life and death come to play in combat situations, trust on the leader is an essential factor for the troops to improve their morale and if it is a woman who leads them in such adverse conditions, they tend to be doubtful of her abilities to lead, especially when it comes to her physical prowess. The onus of taking care of the family, especially the children, still lies with the women and this puts to test the obligation women have for the work. One of the utmost important qualities of a

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leader is the commitment to work and the army doubts the preparedness of women regarding this. This becomes all the more important when it comes to combat situations.

Policy of the government does not allow women to become COs by compulsorily reducing the time period of their retirement from the army. They are also not provided with the required training for leading men during combat.

The prejudice that one sees in the policy is but the duplication of the biases perpetuated by the society. The invisible thread that connects the above mentioned reasons is nothing but the domination of patriarchal norms in myriad ways that are not always obvious.

Women Officers and Family Life Marriage is yet another instance which has the potential to either help women develop her personhood fully or to discourage her achievements and disempower her in the process. In a scenario where marriage almost defines the lives of women in India, its importance in the lives of women officers has to be documented. Working women, who are married, take up many, varied roles in their daily lives. Balancing work and family is more or less like walking on a thin rope where leaning slightly towards one side can affect the harmony of these multiple roles.

Both work to family conflict and family to work conflict is vividly seen among men and women serving in the army. “A broad review of existing literature on barriers to women’s career advancement suggests that one of the most important reasons inhibiting women’s rise to the top positions in management is the work-life conflict that women professionals experience because of their strong commitment to family responsibilities” (Buddhapriya, 2009: 31) One of the reasons for a stronger commitment to family might be the halo around the ideology of motherhood. Motherhood is usually seen as the natural and primary destination and responsibility of women (Dutta 1990:84). In India, motherhood is like a double edged sword where the culture of mother goddess worship echoes through the deification of women at one hand and on the other, it signifies many restrictions.

According to Alimo-Metcalf, Kumra, Vinnicombe, Lyness, Schrader, Mainiero, Sullivan, Ohlottet, there is considerable evidence that men’s careers tend to be linear while SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD

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women’s are characterized by interruptions and exits” (in Ezzedeen and K. G. Ritchey, 2009 : 389). The interruptions and exits are usually related to motherhood and husband’s income. These factors too find its roots in the cultural context.

There is a complete dearth of material regarding the work and family life conflicts of officers in the Indian army. Therefore, this research has looked at how men viewed married women officers and how the latter saw themselves while enacting roles within the families and within the profession.

Men’s Perspective of Married Women Officers The findings point to the fact that most of the male officers believe that, woman, be it an army officer or pursuing any other job, should or will prioritise home and family above her career. Some interesting responses among many were: ‘It (woman’s job priorities) depends on the partner. Compatibility is the key of any successful marriage. If partner is understanding then there should be no problem in the profession.

No. It (own job priorities) all depends on time management.’(Capt. Vivek, interview data 2014).

‘Yes…Both will be posted in different areas…Time at which one gets leave, other might not.

No. Personal and official lives are two different things’ (Lieutenant Uttam, Interview data, 2015) These responses point to the perception that while women’s responsibilities increase with marriage thereby affecting her job priority. Similarly, while some officers believe that job competencies affect both men and women, the reasons for the same are different.

Women’s Perspective of Married Women Officers

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It was first of all difficult for women officers to find partners to settle down with. Women officers preferred to get married to male officers but were equally willing to accept civilian men who would understand their work. The main reason some women preferred civilian husband was that their husbands would be able to provide time for kids. Capt.

Saumitra who received her new posting order to a very remote location just a few days before the interview has to leave her kids behind with her civilian husband. In her words, “when you leave your kid behind, it pinches. I can’t take my daughters. They need their mom. Till I was not married, I enjoyed. With marriage, things change” (Saumitra, interview data 2015). This response points to the fact that there is glorification of motherhood among women officers. They believe that they are better nurturers than men. Similarly, Maj. Vaishnavi gave the reason of taking care of her daughter for not taking up permanent commission which was offered to her by the army (Vaishnavi, interview data 2014).

The policy of the army provides a good period of maternity leave that women can combine with other types of leaves if required. This has not gone well with male officers as they believe that the shortage of officers becomes even more acute with women taking leave and that they would have to do the share of the woman officer’s work too.

However, Maj. Tulsi opined that her Commanding Officer gave her extra work and asked others also to get things done from her soon before she would start with her maternity leave. She herself did all that she could before her maternity leave commence (Tulsi, interview data 2014). Capt. Brilanda opined that there are women who take advantage of the situation and compromise on the job front but one cannot give sweeping conclusions. She says that men also compromise at work owing to family pressures. “If one lady takes leave, they (male officers) crib. 5 men don’t do work, they don’t crib. Not all men work equally” (Brilanda, interview data 2015). The responses point to the findings that family and marriage disables women in committing fully into their profession. The mind set of male officers and women officers themselves perpetuate the notion that women are primary caretakers of the home. It is found that even if women do not want to

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be the primary care takers, they are made to be so out of societal compulsions or out of love for the husband/family.

Government Policy and Women In 2011, guidelines of the Defence Ministry mandated that women in armed police forces like the Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol would be posted at border posts close to their hometowns depending on administrative and operational requirements. “The new guidelines also mandate that if a woman personnel is married, she should be stationed at the same place where her husband is posted provided he too is a government employee” (Press Information Bureau, Government of India 2011).

Though these guidelines are not applicable to the army, the above said policies by the Government, being exclusively for women and not for men throws light at the attitude that women are more embedded into familial works and responsibilities than men.

Identity Formation For women, it is easy to connect to other women across the globe as the common platform of gendered discrimination puts them in many similar situations and experiences, thereby helping each one to understand the other more effectively.

Therefore, the problems women officers face in India has its similarities in other armies where women work. For instance, women officers in most parts of the world are not wholly involved in combat duties and their responsibilities vary in degrees in conflict situations. However, the social construction of gender happens not in vacuum but is embedded within the web of culture and therefore there occurs certain differences due to difference in environment where women officers negotiate their identity and form one of their own.

Social Construction of Gender The term ‘social construction’ might be “both obscure and overused” (Ian Hacking 1999: VII) for some scholars but it still retains its utility in studying murky concepts like gender. R W Connell, in her book Gender and Power, discusses the trajectory of understanding

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what femininity and masculinity is right from the unitary models and sex difference researches which stressed on biology and psychology to gender related traits to multiple models enmeshed with possibilities to cathaxis and to defining what is hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity. “‘Hegemonic masculinity’ is always constructed in relation to various subordinated masculinities as well as in relation to women” (Connell 1987:183). This brings forth the view that there is not just one category of masculinity or femininity but many variations of it.

Similarly, West and Zimmerman look at gender as “a routine, methodical, and recurring accomplishment” (West and Zimmerman 1987: 126).”Doing gender involves a complex of socially guided perceptual, interactional and micro political activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine “natures”” (West and Zimmerman 1987: 126). The notion of people doing gender therefore warns us that the everyday naturalness we devout to performances of men and women is least bit unpretentious. But is it possible to stereotype and draw counters for every activity and compartmentalise them as feminine, masculine or gender neutral? “It is time to put the spotlight squarely on the social processes that underlie resistance against conventional gender relations and on how successful change in the power dynamics and inequities between men and women can be accomplished. Namely, we need to shift from talk about doing gender to illuminating how we can undo gender (Deutsh 2007: 107).

For instance, what do women joining the Indian army feel about them? Do they see themselves as imitating men or do they use their agency in their professional front? It is important to understand why do at all, women join the army, given the circumstances that they do not get permanent commission, pension, direct combat engagements and have to face obstacles in leading a ‘normal’ family life.

Why Do Women Join The Army?

Most women who were interviewed joined the army to prove themselves.

They were

women looking for adventure, to challenge the societal notions of being a woman, to travel and to serve the nation. Those women, who were originally from ‘army SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD

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background’ i.e. their fathers served in the forces, were influenced by the lives of their dads. Most women emphasised that they receive respect from the society once they join the army which made them happy. Among the various reasons that women pointed out, one important factor that was found missing was the requirement to attain power.

However, among men, the motivation for power was one of the factors that drew them towards the profession. “Most women leaders are driven by a vision, mission or cause.

They are motivated by a compelling agenda that they want to achieve , not primarily by either a desire for the hierarchical status of being president, prime minister or CEO, or a desire for power per se”( Adler, 1997: 189). Within the women officers of Indian army, the fact that the highest post they can achieve is only that of lieutenant colonel has not deterred women from joining the army. But women feel that for the training that they have undergone, the army is not utilising their talents fully.

Training It is during the process of training that there occurs a sea of change in the behaviours and the thought process of both men and women. It’s only in OTA Chennai that men and women cadets get their training together. Every other academy in the country is dedicated exclusively for men. During the process of training they are put through a large amount of physical and psychological stress. They are provided with the knowledge of using weapons, survival techniques etc. along with refinement of mannerisms like how to walk, sit and behave. It is in the academy that they learn not to question their seniors and how to be disciplined.

While the training was not provided equally for men and women until a few years ago, presently the standards are the same. But training for combat is not provided for women cadets. This research also found that both male and female officers regard high of women’s abilities they showcased during the training.

Capt. Jeevan opined, “They (women officers) do better than us in courses. There is a 2.4 km run in the academy. They also have to run but time frame is increased for them. For a girl to run 2.4 km is harder. Many men are not able to do. To come under 11 minutes is SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD

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tough…We have speed march when we go for camps. We have to come back running.

Out of 10, about 7 women are able to complete but men are not” (Jeevan, interview data 2014).

Women officers feel that there occurs a huge change within them after the academic life is over. They become physically and mentally stronger after the training. Major Tulsi said, “We were just girls brought up in a secure environment. Now we are more cautious, have iron nerves to withstand pressure and high expectations.” Once she went home after the training, her family commented that “fauj admi bana diya hai (Army has made her a man)” (Tulsi, interview data 2014). The transformation, however, is not exclusively for women. Men too, see themselves differently after training.

There occurs a change both in women and men which transforms them to become soldiers. Many studies have pointed out that, women, once they join the army, become more masculine or that they imitate masculinity traits. Also, the army is portrayed as masculine or hyper masculine institution (Sasson-Levy 2003). But, can these changes that happen within the cadets be summarily classified as masculine has to be questioned as masculinity itself is a murky concept to begin with.

The acceptance of women in the army was almost at the rock bottom when the first batch joined in 1993. Even now, women face myriad problems. Many newspaper reports2 have cited the problem of acceptance by troops who come from rural areas as the main predicament for women being well acknowledged into the defence forces.

As Capt. Pratyusha puts it, ‘While interacting with the troops, one has to be business minded’ (Pratyusha, interview data 2015). Both lady and male officers try and bond with the troops in similar ways. They play games; go for patrolling and firing with the troops and engage in many other such routine activities. However, as troops are made up of men only, it is not easy for women to bond easily with them. Women have to first prove 2 Sagar,Pradip R. 6 June 2014.' Forward march: Women may get to serve Army for longer tenure' DNA Singh,Gyanant. September 17 2012. 'Indian Army against granting permanent commission to women in combat roles' Indian Today 3 Rajagopal ,Krishnadas.January 27, 2015.'Permanent commission for women hanging fire’ The Hindu

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themselves to be accepted by the troops. For example, while playing basketball they would play around the female officer and would not pass her the ball. Once she shows her mettle on the ground, then the troops accept her and they play together. However, some male officers have countered this view by observing that the troops generally let the lady play and do not come onto her way when she gets the ball. Without questioning the authenticity of what actually happens, it can be found that during both the circumstances, there is denial of women’s attempt to bond with the troops.

Another problem women face with the troops is that, sometimes, jawans do not obey the orders passed by them. During such instances, female officers resort to threatening the man in question by warning that she would complain about him and fearing the repercussions, the soldier obeys her orders. Maj. Tulsi is of the opinion that if women uses slang as male officers do, it is something a soldier cannot take in. So, simply by threatening that she would start using slangs would be enough to make him obey the orders. ‘One needs to be harsh while dealing with the troops’ (Tulsi, interview data 2014).

Most of the narratives we read in the newspapers about the army do not speak openly about the level of acceptance male officers have for their women counterpart.

Newspaper reports portray that women are well accepted by male officers and the problem lies with the troops as they hail from rural India.

Saluting the senior officer is one of the basic etiquette that is taught during the training.

Some female officers have faced instances where their juniors do not salute them just because of the gender. Many female officers let such instances pass without reporting or correcting his behaviour then and there. Most are of the opinion that they should ‘take it professionally and not personally’ (Saumitra, interview data 2015).

Women in the first few batches had more problems in dealing with men as women were a novelty in the all-male den. Officers would ‘laugh and chat’ (Brilanda, interview data 2014) without wishing the female officer. Capt. Vikram recounted an instance when he was told to not salute a lady officer by another officer. The reason was that a lady is trained less than them (Vikram, interview data 2014).

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Army life is not complete without attending frequent parties. During these parties, female officers who might be just one or two in number are confused whether to join the officers or the wives of the officers. They are not accepted fully into the company of both the categories.

Identity formation does not stop with the training process and as mentioned above by Capt. Shashank, the role of senior officer who commands the unit plays a huge role in character building. During the research, some men complained that women copy men, especially their Commanding Officers and they try to do the same without thinking (Bakshi, Mahesh, interview data 2015). But female officers opined that it is not just them but men too copy their seniors. Also, the way the Commanding Officer treats the women either helps them grow positively within the institution or makes their lives worse. Capt.

Shivshakti recalled an instance where a senior officer told her that she is not fit for joining an institution like the army (Shivshakti, interview data 2014). Capt. Anamika opined that probably out of jealously, commanding officers give them very challenging work ‘to teach a lesson’.

All the women who were interviewed said that they did not deliberately imitate men.

However, Maj. Tulsi opined that she prefer wearing tracks most of the time whenever uniform is not necessary as it gives her more confidence. She also said “Women who join now are more comfortable within the institution than us. I have seen them wearing salwar kameez to office on Sundays. But I cannot imagine me doing that. We had to transform ourselves into male version to be accepted as we were the first few batches that joined.

They don’t care if they are accepted that way or not” (Tulsi, interview data, 2014).

Combat Many countries in Europe like Denmark, Finland, Germany etc., Australia, Canada, North Korea among others allow women in front line combat positions. (Max Fisher January 25 2013). As a matter of fact, Pakistan too permits its female officers to fly fighters. But the women in the Indian army that accounts for 2.44 percent only (Bhattacharya, 2012: 318) are still fighting the battle in courts.

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“The reason put forth by the service chiefs before the Parliamentary Committee on Women's Empowerment was that in the case of women being captured by the enemy, the troops would be demoralized. So it is not women's safety which is the concern here but that male morale would be affected if "their" women were captured. Women as trophies for the enemy or women as symbols of the nation; nothing about the sovereign rights of women themselves” (Karat 2014). The army in an affidavit to Supreme Court in 2012 pointed out that: “War has no runners-up, hence the need for an efficient war machine that will ensure victory.’’ “The interface between the leader and the led must be without any reserve or preconceived notions, especially in battle conditions where jawans repose full faith in decisions/orders of the leader who is their role model and are prepared to make the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty”. “The possibility of becoming prisoners of war, frontline trauma and combat hazards were cited in the affidavit.” “There is an ever growing demand for spouse/choice postings, which is adversely impacting the management of officers to the detriment of male officers” (Rajagopal, 2015).

The possibility of prisoners of war came up again and again during the research conducted. According to Capt. Amit, “our neighbours are fundamentalists and if they catch them (women officers)...God forbid... no one adheres to Geneva convention”( Amit, interview data 2014). Men per se were not willing to part the combat duty with women.

Women’s opinions were divided as to whether they wanted to be part of combat or not.

Capt. Sudekshana said that ‘in combat things are 100 percent different. Every man is important (in combat).Women will not be able to take that pressure. Women are mentally weak and with marriage priorities change. It is not men’s duty to take care of family’ (Sudekshana, interview data, 2015). Capt. Shivshakti had an alternate viewpoint.

‘Blaming our neighbours is stupid reason. Combat is not men to men fighting. It is tactical or weight lifting women can join the army’ Capt. Shiv Shakti chuckled to herself.

(Shivshakti, interview data 2015)

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The current scenario in the army is such that let alone combat situations, even solitary field postings are not provided to women. As already mentioned during the camping situations, protection of women from other men is seen as a cause to not provide women field postings that are faraway and hard to access. Women also face difficulty in attending to nature’s call while patrolling or travelling. The female officer is usually the lone woman travelling with many jawans and male officers.

The attitude towards women and the attitude of women both come to play in such situations. Women are seen as requiring protection from men and therefore are restricted in their professional front. Women too are cautious and sometimes feel threatened by men within the institution. The abysmally low numbers makes women seemingly vulnerable. In the culturally constructed web, simple, every day acts like attending nature’s call itself becomes a burden for women who are surrounded by men.

Conclusion One of the jobs undertaken by feminists is to consciously make women visible in our histories. There has been quite of few rewritings of history where the role of women is deliberately made visible. The disciplines like sociology had ignored women in its early days. Women are still excluded in the production and representation of many social and cultural activities and even they are included, they do not receive their due recognition (Uberoi, 1990:41). The case of women serving the armed forces throughout the world is an example for this. This research, conducted on women officers working with the Indian army is an attempt to make visible the lives of the handful females serving the country.

The research found that the entry of women has impacted the lives of these women and the army as an institution in myriad ways. When women joined the army for the first time, the academy was not sure how to train women as they were unaware as to how much to expect from them. It is through the process of feedbacks from the outgoing commissioned women officers and the various studies conducted, that the academy is slowly incorporating a more or less gender neutral standards of training. Women do not

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have the opportunity to receive training in the prestigious NDA or IMA as they are reserved for the permanent commissioned officers. Just like the academy, women too are not fully convinced as to how much they can commit to the job. While some want combat engagements, some do not. Similarly, all women do not want permanent commission in the cores where they already have been given the option. But the problem lies with the availability of choice. Women should be given a choice whether to take up permanent commission or not, just like men. The denial of this fundamental choice point to a certain attitude the army harbours towards female officers. If women are given permanent commission, then invariably they would become Commanding Officers which the army does not want to provide women with. Though the army is incorporating certain changes in its functioning to accommodate women, it is happening in a snail’s pace. Army has to transform itself into a shared arena of human capabilities and presently the paramilitary institutions are faring better than the army in this respect. For instance, the CRPF has three exclusive women battalions and one platoon of each of these battalions is deployed for anti-Maoist operation. Some ITBP women personnel are serving in the Congo and Afghanistan (Chaitanya Mallapur, 2015). However, the army is still mulling over the option for taking women as troops or in providing more opportunities to showcase women’s’ talents.

The army is hesitant because it thinks the attitude and the mind set of people within the institution has to change. Though no generalisations can be made, it can be seen that there are a large number of changes that is occurring in the organisation. The training standards have improved, women are provided with permanent commission is some ranks etc. which are of course positive changes. But these changes are more or less like a ripple in the vast waters.

The army should be capable of undoing gender structurally. Changes in structure can, to a great extent change the perceptions of men and women within the institution. Women currently are grappling with a crisis of identity though they are proud to proclaim themselves as army officers. They are not fully integrated into the army due to the various

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policies of the Government and also due to reluctance in the minds of male officers and the jawans. The defence ministers of India have always been male except for Smt. Indira Gandhi and so was everybody in the army till a few years ago leaving the medical core.

The norm is that a soldier is a male. The idea of perceiving women as equal human beings have not arisen. Women’s bodies are still perceived as troupes of nation’s honour and therefore in requirement of protection. Strong women who can be violent challenge the gender stereotyping and therefore are explained through discourses of mental stability, whore narrative and so on. “It has been taken for granted for a long time, even though there has been a lot of fighting women, that war is something men do and therefore also militarism belong to men” (Hearn in Holmgren, 2015 :12). The thunderous images of goddesses like Shakti, Durga and Kali has not helped the cause.

The idea of protecting its own citizens and its soldiers are ingrained in the culture of army and therefore it thinks that it is its right to protect women by even restricted them.

However, in the organisations that are illegal like that of the Maoists in India and the LTTE in Sri Lanka, women are involved more deeply and are known to take up combat unlike the Indian army. Rahul Pandita mentions that it took time for Maoists to change their patriarchal ideas and to think in a more gender neutral terms. Maybe, women find more freedom not in the legitimate laws of a patriarchal state but in the illegal institutions that challenge the state and its laws. It is time to question the performative effectivity of laws where woman is a subject.

Women in the Indian army, however, are not senile and submissive to these policies that oppress them. On-going court cases stand as a testament to this. Women here are not passive recipients of training and are not imitating men to try to become masculine, so as to be accepted. The newly commissioned officers are comfortable with their sexuality which is evident while they opt to wear clothes like salwar kameez on Sundays to office and not track suits as women who joined earlier. The attribution of toughness to men and sensitivity to women is not biological but historical and it is the context that one finds oneself in, shapes one’s identity ((Connell in Holmgren, 2015: 4). It would be absurd to

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categorise every day activity of these women as either masculine, feminine or gender neutral.

Stereotyping of human behaviour might be problematic in the long run to

understand our changing selves. While female officers out rightly denied that they deliberately mimicked what is considered as masculine characteristics, they defined their conduct as being more mature and diplomatic which they think is a way to get things done for the State. Yet, many a times, we find women repeating and reflecting the notions held by men about them while conducting professionally and within families.

Majority of Army officers, both men and women believe that the primary care taker at home is always the womenfolk. Such a notion arises from the collective and shared belief of the wife and husband that women are better nurtures and that family is more important for a woman than her job.

Presently the Government and the media are making only a token effort to assimilate women into the defence forces. The portrayal of women as liberated beings through republic day parade where a woman led the guard of honour or showcasing pictures of women brandishing guns by the media is simply not enough. Right before the parade showcasing ‘Nari Shakti’ (women empowerment), the army made it clear that frontline combat deployment restrictions would continue. The responses from the army in the court cases showcases that the institution is unwilling to give women their due but is compelled by the changing world view to provide women with some platform within the institution. It is as though the army is doing a favour to the women in the country by inducting them into the forces as it has worked in all its history without the representation of the 50 percentage of population it vows to protect. It is another matter that currently the defence forces are grappling with shortage of officers as never before in its history.

As the institutions within a society tend to mirror the society itself, the army is no exception. It mirrors the patriarchy, the changing global scenario, the shifting contours of gender, new ideas of leadership, the woes of women and the other transformations of the societal flux. Therefore, the gender negotiations of a female officer are an on-going process which directs the path towards probably a utopian idea of undoing gender. 

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Editorial Board Co-ordinator: Shreya Dixit Editors: Abhay Yadav, Abhishek Acharya, Akheela Ashraf, Ashwin Jangalapalli, Gopal Gajbhiye, Krishna Teja Inapudi, Rajasindhura Aravalli, Rajeev Agur, and Yeshwanth Kumar SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD

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