Gender Bias in Ranking of Officers in Army

Gender Bias in Ranking of Officers in Army

Women are inducted as Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) in the Indian Army. All officers, including those in Short Service Commission (SSC), are eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after 2, 6 and 13 years of reckonable service, irrespective of gender.

The difference in the period of pre-commission training prevailing earlier for erstwhile Women Special Entry Scheme officers (24 weeks) and Men SSCOs (49 weeks), resulted in differences in the rank attained due to different lengths of reckonable service. However, the duration of pre-commission training for both Women and Men SSCOs (Non-Technical) has been made uniform (49 weeks) from April 2008 onwards. Accordingly, all SSCOs (both Women and Men), will now have more than 13 years reckonable service thereby enabling them to attain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in written reply to Shrimati Vasanthi Stanley in Rajya Sabha .

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