International Women's Day: 'No gender bias in Army, women on par with men'

A famous quote by writer Virginia Woolf states, "There is no gate  no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." The same kind of feeling was shared by a group of women officers of the Indian Army, who have broken all the glass ceilings of various stereotypes and joined the Armed Forces to serve the nation, writes Niyamika Singh of ETV Bharat.

New Delhi:On the eve of International Women's Day, the women army officials, with a number of achievements, expressed their views on gender equality and women empowerment, while sharing their own experiences, which they had during their journey of achieving multiple accomplishments, at the South Block, here in Delhi, on Monday.

Lt Col Anila Khatri, who has been serving in the Army for 15 years, is the only woman officer Indian Army to qualify as a demo-jumper in skydiving. Speaking about the conception of women being "physically weak" to join the Armed Forces, she asserted, "Women don’t have to carry the burden of proving themselves equal or better than men all the time. I know my limits and I would certainly want to excel in those. Women should just live their passions and work hard to make it a reality".

While Major Kanika Singh opined, "If you are passionate, this is a place for you and if there are difficulties, they train us and that just becomes a lifestyle."

Major Kanika Singh is the runner and para-jumper, who had a podium finish in Khardung La Challenge 2019. Talking about the issue of gender biases, Lt Col Khatri told to Niyamika Singh ETV Bharat, "There is a river gender biases in the Indian Army. I have done just 89 jumps (skydiving) and you (media) are interviewing me. There are those males with 3000-4000 jumps, who have trained us, they've never been interviewed by anybody."

She asserted that there should not be any celebration of Women's Day, but "women should live with free will, out of all shallow complexes of proving themselves better than somebody of equal to somebody and do what they want to do with a pure bliss of doing it".

"Army doesn't compare," said Major Singh on the issue of gender biases.

"You face challenges in every job, so is the Army. It's up to you whether you want to stop at some point facing a challenge or you want to keep going. I kept going," said Major Ankita Choudhary, who is a Limca Book of Records holder for performing yoga at 19,000 feet on the summit of Mt Bhagirathi II.

Captain Preeti Choudhary was the youngest among these officers, who was commissioned in the Indian Army three years ago. Captain Choudhary, who is the recipient of 'Sword of Honour', said that she feels very proud whenever she feels herself in this olive green uniform.

While other achievers include Lt Col Shikha Mehrotra, who is an expert in satellite imagery interpretation and commissioned in 2005, two Mt Everest summiteers--Lt Col Poonam Sangwan and Lt Col Namrata Rathore--"Don't look for a hero, be a hero," said Major Kanika Singh when asked about a motivational mantra for other women to join armed forces.

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