From the induction of the women in the Army in Military nursing roles to enlisting them in combat roles across all sections of the Armed Forces, and now witnessing women’s grit and power promoting them to leadership positions the Indian military has come a long way. Women were usually inducted in medical roles within the army, but now Women Army officers can get permanent commissions in eight new branches- Army Air Defense, Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, The Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps, and Intelligence Corps.

A selection committee was held in the headquarters and a total of 244 women officers were considered for promotion against 108 vacancies. To ensure fair conduct of the selection process sixty women officers were invited to monitor it. After rigorous selection process, 108 women officers have been promoted as Colonel and will be assigned command posts. They will lead units, just as their male counterparts do upon attaining the rank of Colonel. This huge step has been taken by the Indian Government to ensure gender parity in Army.

To talk in numbers just over 3,900 (around 1,710 in Army, 1,650 in Indian Air Force (IAF), and 600 in the Navy) are women in their 65,000-strong officer cadre. About 1,670 are women doctors, 4,750 nurses, and 190 dentists in the military medical stream. Women will soon be inducted into the Corps of Artillery. Recently, a women officer has been deployed to a post in the Siachen Glacier.

History of Women in Indian Armed Forces

Officially, women were first inducted in the Indian Armed Forces through the formation of the Indian Military Nursing Service in 1888. They served with distinction during the World War 1. With the creation of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps their role expanded – served in communications, administration, accounting, etc. All these roles were non-combatant ones. In 1992, Army, Navy, and Air Force started inducting women as short-service commission officers. In 2008, women were first inducted as permanent commissioned officers in Legal and Education corps, in 2020 they were first inducted in 8 more corps as permanent commissioned officers.