The recent suicide of a young woman officer in the army has opened a Pandora box. There are a lot of furor and questions of the establishment’s role. The comment of the vice-chief of the army stating that” the army does not need the services of women officers” has added fuel to the fire. The vice-chief comment was demeaning and uncalled for. Is he indirectly implying that women’s role is limited in the four walls of our homes?

When the army has opened its door for women in 1993 to pursue a career in the service besides being a nurse or a doctor, what were the preparations the establishment has done?

I wonder whether the defense had gender sensitization program? Have the army look into the existing systems whether the systems are appropriate to meet the need of the women cadets?

Captain Bakshi, a retired woman officer wrote a paper citing the differences in the way male cadets and women cadets were treated while on training at Officer’s Training Academy. Capt. Bakshi mentioned that the duration of training for women was 24 weeks and 44 weeks for men. Women need to be toughened –up mentally according to Capt. Bakshi through training. How can women become tough mentally when the training program is so short?

Girls are generally socialized to be gentle and helpless female, while a boy is generally brought-up to be the all-compassing conquering male. So, women need more exposures and training designed to develop their self- esteem and mental tenacity.

There is also another side of story. I heard from male friends who are in defense that women officers wanted to be treated with pink- hand cloves. He cited a woman officer asking for bodyguard to do night duty. True or not, the thought of inconveniencing another individual so that I can fulfill my duties is not acceptable. Looking at this scenario, what is wrong? Is the training program not enough that is why this situation arises? Or the screening of the establishment is not good enough? Or the systems are not fully geared? Or the mindsets of some women officers are not fully tuned to the rigor of the work? Or the women officers have not fully internalized the implications of equality and equity?

Making an institution gender-sensitive is not a cake- walk. An establishment like the defense designed and ordained for the male domain for decades, needs a lot of introspection and tangible works put in. And these things do not happened overnight. There is a need to have gender sensitization and gender audit of the system, to find-out the gaps. Appropriate processes are needed otherwise women’s place in the defense will be mere tokenism. The establishment will be creating more patriarchs. Including furthering the cause of patriarchy, a system that is the cornerstone of the armed forces.

Evangeline R. Dutta works in the field of public health and gender