The Indian army is going to open roles in combat positions for women in the force. This is a first for the army, where the arena was only accessible for men till now.
According to Financial Express, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said, “I am looking at women coming as jawans. I am going to start it soon. Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans.”
At the moment, women are allowed only in areas of the army such as medical, legal, educational and engineering wings. In the past, the army has cited operational and logistical concerns for the restriction.
According to PTI, women will now be allowed to maintain the movement of squadrons, be responsible for prisoners of war, extend aid to civil police whenever required, police the cantonments and army establishments, and prevent breach of rules and regulations by soldiers.
The move to allow women into the armed forces has already been set into motion with the Air Force recruiting three female fighter pilots – Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh – who are now part of IAF’s fighter squadron.
So far, the other countries which have women in combat roles are Germany, Australia, Canada, the US, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France , Norway, Sweden and Israel.