Army promotions now gender-neutral

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New Delhi, April 23

With the first group of women officers set to get commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery on April 29, the Army has decided on a multi-pronged approach on inducting and promoting them.

This includes empowering women for higher leadership roles and making all future selection boards gender-neutral.

In the armed forces, the top vacancies are few and all ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Maj General and Lt General are selection posts. Now onwards, for all officers recruited beyond the 2009 batch, a common gender-neutral selection board will look into promotions. Women officers will be considered along with their male course mates for selection and no separate selection board will be convened for women officers.

Recently, the Army expanded the role of women, paving the way for their induction into the Regiment of Artillery, which is a combat support arm. Women officers completing training from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, on April 29 will join frontline Artillery regiments.

Women are already serving in the Corps of Engineers, Army Air Defence, Army Aviation, Corps of Signals, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, Intelligence Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, Army Educational Corps, Judge Advocate General Department, Army Medical Corps (AMC), Army Dental Corps (ADC) and the Military Nursing Service (MNS). The last one is a cadre reserved exclusively for women.

Meanwhile, to allow women officers to assume higher leadership roles, a special “senior command course” was recently organised to prepare them for commanding units.

Special selection boards were conducted for women inductees prior to the 2009 batch. Last year, 507 short service commissioned women officers were granted permanent commission. As many as 108 women officers have already been empanelled for “command assignments” in Colonel rank.

Women officers holding the rank of Colonel have been sent on “command assignments” and over 55 per cent are commanding units deployed in operational areas. Some of them are in the Northern and Eastern Command.