In a historic move, the U.S. Army has now allowed women to be assigned combat roles. The announcement was made two months after India opened all combat roles to women. 22 women army officers will now serve as Second Lieutenants in the US Army after being commissioned in the next few weeks.
Among them, 13 women have been approved to become Armor Officers and 9 are approved for infantry service.
Earlier in February, India has announced women to be allowed to occupy combat roles in all sections of its army, navy and air force, indicating a radical move to gender parity in one of the world’s most-male dominated professions.
President Pranab Mukherjee announced the move after the Republic Day celebrations of 2016 while addressing both houses of the parliament before the budget session. He told that the government would in the future recruit women for fighting roles in India’s armed forces.
India, which has one of the largest armies in the world, has until recently resisted following suit, citing concern over women’s vulnerability if captured and over their physical and mental ability to cope with the stress of frontline deployments.
India began recruiting women to non-medical positions in the armed forces in 1992, yet only 2.5 percent of its more than one million personnel are female – most of them administrators, intelligence officers, doctors, nurses or dentists.
While most countries employ women in various roles in their armed forces, only a handful – including Australia, Germany, Israel and now, the United States – have allowed them to take on combat or fighting roles.
This new opening for women in the US Army came after US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said the organization had decided to eliminate gender barriers to women.
This would definitely put an end to the gender bias in the armed forces around the world and enhance selection of the best of the warriors depending on their skills & capability and not their hormones.
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