India: We Want Your Women

August 8, 2008 – (Strategy Page) Noting the success of female military pilots in the United States, other countries are moving in that direction as well. India has joined its neighbors China and Pakistan by allowing women to train to be combat pilots The reason is simple, many of the women who go through flight training turn out to have better flying skills than the average male pilot. But the traditional fear of women getting killed in combat still plays a role. For example, India has been at war with Islamic terrorists in Kashmir for over a decade. While female police and government workers are at risk of injury from terrorist attack, that is not considered the same as the risk to female pilots flying in the area. So, bowing to real, or imagined, public opinion, the Indian Air Force quietly transferred female pilots from units that fly into Kashmir or near the Pakistani border. That has now changed because the Indian military has been suffering a severe officer shortage for some years. There has also been a shortage of officers with technical skills, like flying aircraft.

The Indian armed forces conducted studies of women in combat, and concluded that there was no practical reason for keeping women from many of these duties,including jet fighters. There are currently 1800 female officers in the Indian armed forces. Most are in the army, but 39 percent are in the air force, and 45 of them are non-combat pilots.

India, and even Pakistan (which just graduated its first female pilots) are having a hard time keeping male pilots in uniform. Too many of the men depart for more lucrative, and less stressful, careers as commercial pilots. Women may not be the solution. Currently, only about half of women officers stay in past their initial five year contract. Indian women, even military pilots, are under tremendous social and family pressure to marry. Those that do may still be pilots, but married women are under a lot of pressure to have children. The Indian Air Force provides its female officers with ten months leave for this, six months during pregnancy, and four months after delivery. The air force does this because pilots are very expensive to train. A good pilots costs over half a million dollars for training expenses, and takes over five years. So the Indians are betting a lot of money, and time, on their female pilots.

Many women are willing to take up the challenge. But they have already heard from their peers in Western air force, that motherhood and piloting can be a very exhausting combination.Worldwide, women are increasingly part of the military. In many nations, over ten percent of military personnel are female. A century ago, it was under one percent (and most of those were nurses and other medical personnel.) More women are in uniform now because there aren't enough qualified men, especially for many of the technical jobs armed forces now have to deal with.

Islamic nations have higher illiteracy rates overall, and very high rates for women. These nations have a severe shortage of technically trained people. Those women that do get an education in Islamic cultures tend to be very bright and able. So there's a need, and a solution close at hand. But because of those religious restrictions, and the generally very macho attitudes in Islamic nations, there will never be as many women in uniform as are needed. This means that Islamic armed forces will continue to come up short when it comes to maintaining and using military technology. The future of military operations is more technology, so you can see where this is leading. No wonder Islamic radicals want to go back to the past. Unfortunately, the non-Moslem world is not inclined to join them. Taking a knife to a gun fight doesn't work.

From:http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/20080808.aspx