Women granted parity (minus combat) in India's military

As in many nations, women are still unable to serve in combat roles in the Indian military. But as of Monday, they will at least now be afforded equal rights to men who serve, in that they can finally receive equal pay and benefits, achieve command positions, and make the army their career—rather than being forced out after 10 to 14 years.

The Supreme Court found that women are now “eligible to command entire battalions or head the intelligence department,” CNN reported. “Promotions to command positions will be considered on a case-by-case case basis.”

“This change will lift up women—not just in the army but all girls across the country and the world,” Lt. Col. Seema Singh, who has fought for gender parity in the military for over a decade, told reporters after the ruling.

In its case against equality, the government argued that women officers are physically unable to do the job as effectively as men, casting them in the role of primary domestic caretakers.

“Women officers must deal with pregnancy, motherhood, and domestic obligations towards their children and families and may not be well suited to the life of a soldier in the armed forces,” the government told the court.

The court, however, ruled that “the government’s arguments were based on discriminatory gender stereotypes,” according to CNN.

Lt. Col. Sandhya Yadav, who joined the fight for parity in the military in 2008, when she was a major, told the Hindustan Times that the ruling was worth the wait. “You spend 14 years in service only to be left out in the cold one day,” she said. “How is that fair?”

Another petitioner, who was also a major in 2010 when she joined the suit, told the Times: “After a decade in the army, I was worried about finding a new career which might require a new skill set. Being in the job left us with little time to develop that.” Before this week she would have had to retire after her 14 years when she was just in her early 30s.

“We had no next step,” she said, asking for her name to be withheld. “There was a wall ahead of us. We were never given any relaxation ... we strived to do better than the men.”

Despite this step forward for women in the military, the government continues to argue against women serving in combat in the most misogynistic terms. As recently as a few weeks ago, lawyers argued in the Supreme Court that “it is a greater challenge for women officers to meet these hazards of service owing to prolonged absence during pregnancy, motherhood, and domestic obligation towards their children and families, especially when both husband and wife happen to be service officers.”

Another sexist rationale lawyers presented to the court was that men would be put in a untenable position if women were to join them in combat, since male soldiers are “predominantly drawn from rural background[s], with prevailing societal norms” and are not “yet mentally schooled to accept women officers in command,” The Times of India reported.