Army’s softer face

“Women hold up half the sky” — an ancient Chinese proverb favoured by Mao Zedong.
The recent grant of permanent commission to 12 women officers in the legal and education branches of the Indian Army and awarding the prestigious Sword of Honour to a woman cadet at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, must be considered in the context of Mao Zedong’s aphorism and its military connotations. Present

ideological adherents of Maoism — the Maoists (Maobadis) in Nepal and Naxalites in India — profess to maintain this principle within their organisations. But, apparently this principle has given mixed results. According to the accounts of women Naxals who surrendered, they are generally kept as “helpers and companions” and often, severely exploited.
Strangely enough, this is corroborated to some extent by experiences of women soldiers in the rank and file of the United States Army too — an aspect which is often downplayed in the interests of political correctness.
Given the interminable debate in this country on women personnel in combat assignments (which, in all probability, will never be satisfactorily resolved unless the dimensions of combat itself are re-examined), it is interesting to note that the United States Marine Corps is attempting its own experiment during counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to address this issue by deploying “Female Engagement Teams” (FET) of three to six women Marines. They accompany infantry patrols in an effort to connect with the hearts and minds of women amongst the affected population.
“… Don’t start by firing off questions, do break the ice by playing with the children, don’t let your interpreter hijack the conversation… and, oh yes, if you have a pony tail, let it show out of your helmet so people know you are a woman…”. These are some of the conversational trivia about local cultures and customs conveyed during preparatory orientation for the FET’s before they are sent on patrols into potentially hostile territory.
The female (but sometimes perhaps not very feminine!) Marines initiate woman-to-woman interaction amongst locals to try and build confidence and cooperation. But the idea has had very variable success because strapping Caucasoid or African-American women Marines in combat fatigues are simply too culturally alien to establish rapport with their Pashtun or Arab counterparts sequestered in purdah within a deeply conservative population that is also generally alienated. Also, all Afghans are under constant overwatch by the Taliban and even the slightest degree of fraternisation can be punished by death, or even worse for women, by painful mutilation.
Women Marines are armed and combatant but there is also a significant concern by the US Marines themselves about the safety and security of their own women soldiers during these expeditions, which are always vulnerable to improvised explosive devices, ambushes and heaven forbid, even kidnapping or capture.
However, asymmetric warfare against terrorism, insurgency and militancy is a separate category altogether in that it is as much a military conflict as a war of ideas, where the “hearts and minds” of the affected population is the ultimate strategic objective. But what is generally overlooked here is the requirement of a differently calibrated approach for influencing “half the sky” amongst the affected population. Insurgents are only too aware of this and make special efforts through their women cadre towards influencing this component of the population but regular forces generally tend to remain woodenly oblivious to this aspect.
The Indian Army has been extensively engaged in counterinsurgency operations for almost 62 years since Independence. However, the gender sociology of counterinsurgency is a novel aspect that has just not been thought of or addressed. The Indian Army practices a very strict “no-fraternisation” policy in operational areas, which on the one hand, has almost totally eliminated gender-sensitive incidents, but on the other has also closed off any possibilities of incorporating women into structured “hearts and minds” programmes as a separately focused target population. “Female interaction” during counterinsurgency operations may appear unorthodox to many but is certainly logical and it is a moot question whether the fledgling American FET experience provides any lessons for an Indian environment.
Permanent commission to women is a significant milestone in the Army that adds a new dimension into the overall management of the entire officer cadre. Obstructionist prejudices of a minority have been summarily dismissed, but subterranean mutterings persist at the working level about a level-playing field in the connected aspect of postings in hard areas and on physically hazardous and demanding assignments for the women officer cadre.
The Army is a conscientious “equal opportunities” employer, but equal opportunities demand a reciprocal willingness to shoulder equal responsibilities, especially during a time of taxing overstretch of a long running, asymmetric “hot peace” proxy war, insurgency and border control. The Indian Army recruits women only at the officer level and is unlikely to allow them into the traditional battlespace of conventional warfare as the risks of capture and possible physical mistreatment as prisoners of war are just too great.
However, women officers can (and do) certainly participate very effectively in the related domains of electronic, information and psychological warfare, cyber warfare and intelligence operations. In many respects, women officers are valuable operational resources, limited in numbers, which can and must be employed in the best overall operational interests of the organisation regardless of their specific branch or service.
If utilised imaginatively, they can be a significant force multipliers when interacting with the population during internal security, counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism measures. The armed forces, most of all the Army, have to live and operate amongst the people and operations have to be people friendly, demanding a “kinder, gentler” face, especially when large number of women and children are affected. The presence of women officers on internal security and civic action missions will display a “softer” picture of the Army and undoubtedly facilitate positive interaction. They must be prepared to willingly undertake these commitments. These issues cannot be softpedalled and the Army will have to address them squarely in the interests of its own long-term health.
For this, a change of mindsets and perceptions is necessary on all sides.

Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former Member of Parliament