WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES — BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING (IN AMERICA, NOT IN INDIA)
A Woman Naval Officer Vice Admiral Michelle Howard is being promoted to Full Admiral (4 Star Rank) in the US Navy
A 1982 Naval Academy graduate, Howard has achieved many firsts in her career.
She was the first black woman to command a ship — the amphibious dock landing ship Rushmore in 1999 — and went on to command Amphibious Squadron 7 and later Expeditionary Strike Group 2.
(Wonder what rank 1982 commissioned officers have reached in the Indian Navy - Rear Admiral?)
She said that with the repeal of the combat exclusion law, now there are opportunities for women to serve on all classes of combat ships, all types of aircraft, and even on submarines.
Will this ever happen in India?
If women navy officers aspire to be promoted to high rank, then, like it is in the US Navy, women must be prepared to serve at sea and in combat appointments and should be ready to undergo the same hardship as their male counterparts in uniform.
Otherwise, inducting women into the armed forces will be seen as mere tokenism.
In India, women military officers serve mostly in soft, safe and comfortable non-combat appointments ashore and in peace areas - women do not have to serve at sea, women are not posted to combat zones or in field areas, women cannot fly fighter aircraft.
Is it not high time to permit women to serve in combat appointments on par with their male counterparts in the Indian Defence Services too?
“Gender Privilege” will not help the cause of women in military uniform.
What is required is “Gender Equality” in letter and in spirit.
Click the link below and read the full story:
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140630/NEWS/306300039/Howard-receive-history-making-4th-star-Tuesday
I would love to hear your views and read your comments please, especially from women in uniform.
A Woman Naval Officer Vice Admiral Michelle Howard is being promoted to Full Admiral (4 Star Rank) in the US Navy
A 1982 Naval Academy graduate, Howard has achieved many firsts in her career.
She was the first black woman to command a ship — the amphibious dock landing ship Rushmore in 1999 — and went on to command Amphibious Squadron 7 and later Expeditionary Strike Group 2.
(Wonder what rank 1982 commissioned officers have reached in the Indian Navy - Rear Admiral?)
She said that with the repeal of the combat exclusion law, now there are opportunities for women to serve on all classes of combat ships, all types of aircraft, and even on submarines.
Will this ever happen in India?
If women navy officers aspire to be promoted to high rank, then, like it is in the US Navy, women must be prepared to serve at sea and in combat appointments and should be ready to undergo the same hardship as their male counterparts in uniform.
Otherwise, inducting women into the armed forces will be seen as mere tokenism.
In India, women military officers serve mostly in soft, safe and comfortable non-combat appointments ashore and in peace areas - women do not have to serve at sea, women are not posted to combat zones or in field areas, women cannot fly fighter aircraft.
Is it not high time to permit women to serve in combat appointments on par with their male counterparts in the Indian Defence Services too?
“Gender Privilege” will not help the cause of women in military uniform.
What is required is “Gender Equality” in letter and in spirit.
Click the link below and read the full story:
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140630/NEWS/306300039/Howard-receive-history-making-4th-star-Tuesday
I would love to hear your views and read your comments please, especially from women in uniform.
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