“Not all women wear pearls and sensible shoes to work, some wear dog tags and combat boots”

A High-risk adventurous career has always attracted the young, but it was never thought of was either a hobby all a full time career. But times have changed. The first ever women officers were Commissioned in to the Administrative and Education Branches of the Indian Airforce on 12 June 1993 and the first ever women pilots on 17 December 1994. Way back in the 1930s, Mrs. Urmila K. Parikh opted for the adventurous career of becoming a pilot. She was the first Indian women to obtain to Pilot’s License. After Independence, many more women turned towards aviation. A few Names that stand out are:22 Prem Mathur, who became the first Commercial Pilot to fly Domestic Air Lines in 1947. Durba Banerjee, who became the first pilot of Indian Air Lines in 1956. Saudamini Deshmukh, who was the first lady Captain in the world to fly an all-women crew IATA schedule flight on November 27, 1985. Simran Sondhi and Cheeryl Dutta, IAF flight cadets who flew a helicopter with an all-women crew for the first time. Kalpana Chawla, who became the first Indian born women Astronaut in 1997. Padmavathi Bandopadhyay was the first women officer of the IAF to be promoted to the rank of AIR Vice Marshall 2002. Indian women in Aviation were the highlight of the philatelic release in 1998. The stamp was brought out to commemorate the contribution of women Indian women in the realm of aviation. The stamp does not future these high profile women pilots, but the concept the designer J.P. Iran has symbolically presented young women as commercial pilot, flyer of IAF Planes, and as an Astronaut. When flying officers Gunjan Saxena and Sri Vidya Ranjan flew into the Kargil Combat Zone in 1999 it was a sign that women were finally breaking into the male Bastion. In the less than a decade since Armed forces opened their doors to women on Short Service Commission, 125 have already joined the Navy. 500 have joined Indian Air Force (IAF) and 500 the Army. However, they have not yet been delicated frontline operations. Though Saxena and Rajan are both ”Grateful” to the Air Force for giving them an “Opportunity”, which came “Within the ambit of the base, where they were stationed”, they fell differently. Says Saxena, who was in the first batch of women to be inducted into the Indian Air Force, “there is no reason why women should not be allowed active participation in Combat.” But their superiors are still apprehensive: “Combat is an arduous task but with time we may see more women in varied roles like Administration in combat arms or in the arar of the unit,” says Brigadier N. Ticku, Deputy Director General, recruiting. In fact, all three forces have adopted a gradual approach towards induction of women into combat, says Gurmeet Kanwal, senior fellow, institute for defence studies and analysis. “This more to do with Psychological perceptions,” Saxena says adding, “An ejected women pilot being picked up by an enemy like Pakistan is not a very palatable thought.” She continuous we joined the forces with our eyes open. The fact that we opted for the forces and not commercial flying is an indication of our seriousness’s, so why should we be denied the opportunity of going into combat?”23 As an Anonymous Said, “Not all women wear pearls and sensible shoes to work, some wear dog tags and combat boots” “If we do not end war – war will end us.” Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, and the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953. (Thompson, 2013)