At the best of times, a gynaecological exam is an ordeal. It requires the patient to be naked in front of a stranger who?s going to employ instruments straight out of a torture chamber in order to examine intimate bits and bobs.

For some women, the procedure is on par with most other medical procedures ?nasty and brutish, but mercifully short. Women who see a gynaecological exam as no more invasive and painful than a visit to the dentist?s office are likely to choose their doctor on the basis of proficiency rather than on the basis of the medical practitioner?s gender.

But for many women, the gynaecological exam is also about modesty. Salman Rushdie?s Midnight?s Children describes the courtship of a woman by a doctor who is only allowed to see the specific bits of her that need medical attention through a perforated sheet, thus preserving his patient?s modesty. This is extreme, perhaps ? but for most Indian women, the idea of stripping naked in front of a male stranger is traumatic. A woman doctor may not make a gynae exam more pleasant, but she can make it less of a violation.

Some of us believe that medical pros are all equal, that there is no difference between a male gynaecologist and a male surgeon, for instance. If we?re comfortable with the idea of being examined by a man, we are free to exercise that choice.

And if we do feel a strong sense of discomfort, even distress, we can turn to a female gynaecologist. For many women, the gynaecological exam is terrifying enough as it is. And the fact is that a woman who is relaxed is going to have a much easier time on the examination table. In a gynaecological exam, quite apart from mental trauma, you?re likely to experience significantly more pain if you are too tense to trust your doctor.

In civilian life, most women who have gynaecological exams have a choice when it comes to the gender of their doctors. In the army, as several women recruits including Surya Moudgil have discovered, choice is a joke. Moudgil protested that she was unable to complete her entrance exams because she refused to be examined by a male doctor. An army spokesperson said that a female attendant was present at the examinations, indicating that this was enough and that it isn?t necessary to arrange for a woman gynaecologist for candidates who would prefer that option.

Moudgil, please note, has no bias against male doctors: she didn?t ask for her eye test to be conducted by a female. She merely has a problem with this specific procedure, intimate by its very nature, being carried out by a man.

Perhaps the army might argue that it doesn?t have enough lady doctors to perform so many tests. In which case, we?re all entitled to ask why the army shouldn?t work to induct more women onto its medical board.

Moudgil isn?t asking for special treatment ? she?s only asking for her rights not to be violated. And if the men in the army have a problem understanding this, perhaps they should contemplate how comfortable they?d be if they were told that they had no choice but to have their prostate and hernia exams carried out only by women.