For gender parity, women need to be deployed across organisations at all levels, says Director, ITBP Academy, Mussoorie

New Delhi [India], March 2 : Women have to be deployed across organisations at all levels and there is a need to bring broad structural changes to make this happen, said Aparna Kumar, Inspector General, Director of ITBP Academy, Mussoorie, speaking on the issue of gender parity in the forces.
The Ananta Centre on Wednesday organised a three-day virtual event on the theme of "The levelling towards an ungendered world" where Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, delivered the keynote address.
Speaking at the event, Kumar said, "Women have to be deployed across the organisations at all levels. Broad structural changes, cultural shifts and changes in society, economic, political, civil life are required. Change is always tough, uncomfortable but is critical to achieving equality."
The Director further said that the men have to take an "active role" in promoting equality.
"Men cannot be fence-sitters. They outnumber women everywhere. They have to take an active role and be champions in promoting equality. Yes, we have come a long way, but to take 70 years to achieve this is far too long. There is immense work to be done to encourage the participation of women in forces," she said.
Expressing her disappointment over her being the only female head of the ITBP Academy, Mussoorie so far, she said that there will be no woman officer heading the Academy for the next 15-20 years.
"I am now posted as Director of the Missouri ITBP Academy. From 1960 till date, I am the first lady to head the Academy. But after me, what? Who is there to head? There is no continuity. I would have been happy if a woman officer had succeeded me after I left the Dehradun sector. But unfortunately, there is no lady officer at my level. After I go out of the Academy, I don't think there will be any lady officer heading the Academy for the next 15-20 years," she said.
Wing Commander Neelu Khatri, co-founder and SVP, Akasa Air expressed her dissatisfaction over the non-inclusion of woman soldiers in the combat in the Army and asked "Why don't I get a choice to be made?"
"Defence personnel are like any other profession. The biggest difference is that here you have to sign a bond that you can lay down your life. So when I am choosing this profession then I know that this was something I need to do. That's a pride of a soldier to do. Who is the organisation thinking of when they say a man can lay down the life, a woman can't. Why don't I get a choice to be made?" she said.
Major General (Dr) Sagarika Patyal, SM, VSM (Retd) said that the men working with the women need to be empathetic towards them.
"What a woman needs to do is hold on to what she thinks is absolutely right and go ahead and do it. But the men also who are working with her have to be empathetic. The way to go ahead is the have a realistic attitude towards everything," she said.
"What our needs are, are not the needs of the men. What we need to be is staunch in our beliefs. We have resilience, our attitude is correct, but the other way, their attitude is also not wrong. It is our society," the officer added.
Highlighting the "huge place" of women in Indian society, she said that they have become achievers with a lot of effort.
"Women have a huge place in Indian society, they have gained that by sheer hard work. We are achievers but we have to put in a lot of effort. If we do good, girls are looking at you, are going to bring them to the forces. They are going to copy you," she said.
Addressing the event, Zainab Patel who belongs to the transgender community and is lead, Inclusion and Diversity, Pernod Ricard India said that the people need to speak up to bring about a change in society and also to take any action, it requires perseverance.
"To create a change, you need to speak up. The next thing is, to take action. It requires perseverance. If you have to press the reset button, you have to be courageous," she said.
Narrating her struggle, she said that she was "dehumanised".
"The Global Gender gap report 2021 said that it would take 135 years to achieve gender equality. I wondered how much time would it take for a transgender to achieve equality? Being asked to leave a classroom, a residence and city. They absolutely dehumanised me. It made me someone that was only identified because of the body I chose to have or the clothes that I chose to wear. Whenever I persevered, it was not easy," Zainab said.