Some battles are waged away from the frontlines. Operation Sindoor was a perfect example of this. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing-Commander Vyomika Singh became the first women officers in India’s history to lead press briefings after a major tactical strike, sending a potent message regarding women’s myriad capacities, including leadership and courage. Yet, both Ms Qureshi and Ms Singh would not have been in the armed forces now had they not fought for their right not to be discharged as short-commissioned women officers in the Supreme Court and the Armed Forces Tribunal, respectively. The apex court is, at present, hearing two separate cases with regard to allowing over 50 short-commissioned army women officers not to be discharged from duty and two women officers seeking appointment to the post of judge advocate general. Beyond the optics of having competent women in fatigues addressing briefings, this embodies the challenges that women have faced when it comes to joining the army. A landmark verdict of the Supreme Court in 2020 enabled women officers in the army to get permanent commission and command postings as well as take entrance examinations at the National Defence Academy. In fact, in its verdict in 2020, the apex court had cited Ms Qureshi’s exemplary performance to press the case for women’s competency in the military. The army overlooked this order till the Supreme Court threatened it with contempt charges.
Yet, the numbers present a skewed picture. As per the latest government data released in 2023, there are 1,833 women working in the army, 1,809 in the air force, and 1,306 in the navy, excluding the medical and dental corps. International precedents expose the anomalous representation of women in India’s military. The United States of America and Israel, India’s allies in the global context, allow women in different forms of active combat. In 2020, the US army had 74,592 women on active duty, representing 15.5% of the total active duty force. That India has work to do when it comes to making the armed forces more representative in terms of gender cannot be argued. The judiciary’s consistent and progressive stance notwithstanding, uprooting gender disparities in India’s armed forces — other institutions are plagued by a similar problem — is a long-term challenge that requires gender sensitisation of a culture that still associates the military with the masculine.