'Mundane ego issues, lack of empathy': Lt General Puri flags concern about women officers in key command roles

A Supreme Court order in 2020 cleared permanent commission for women in the Army

In a five-page letter, Lt General Rajeev Puri, who recently completed his tenure as the commander of the China-specific 17 “Brahmastra” Mountain Strike Corps at Panagarh, flagged issues with women officers serving in key command roles.

Puri wrote to Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ram Chander Tiwari seeking gender neutrality in postings and selection of commanding officers. Citing "in-house review”, Puri mentioned concerns such as "mundane ego issues" and "lack of empathy" in eight Colonel-rank women officers under his command.

Currently, women are not allowed in main “fighting arms” of infantry, armoured corps and mechanised infantry. According to Puri, women officers have a "my way or highway kind of approach to decision making" and are "not trained to be commanders".

"During the last one year, there has been an increase in the number of officer management issues in units commanded by women officers. These are indicative of serious concerns regarding interpersonal relations. Most cases pertain to lack of tact and understanding of the personal requirements of unit personnel, especially officers. The emphasis is more on conflict termination through might, rather than conflict resolution through mutual respect. A prejudice and mistrust was evident in few of the cases in the recent past," stated the letter dated October 1.

He said this approach also leads to an overexploitation of troops and unit resources to remain in the show window. “An uncontrollable urge to make derogatory statements regarding junior officers to usurp credit rather than attributing it to subordinates and encouraging them is routine. While overambition is detrimental to the organisation, on the other end of the spectrum, few COs have taken ‘low profile, low initiative’ to command,” said Puri.

Lt Gen Puri said some even have a “misplaced sense of entitlement”. He cited the case of a woman CO who insisted the unit’s subedar major (SM) open her vehicle’s door whenever she arrived. “Occasionally, when the SM would get delayed in doing so, the CO would continue sitting in her vehicle and not disembark,” he said.

According to Puri, some women COs exhibit “over-ambition”, leading to repeated incidents of “unreasonable performance demands” on officers and troops, and consequently, high levels of stress in their units. “An uncontrolled urge to make derogatory statements regarding juniors to usurp credit, rather than encouraging them, is routine,” Lt Gen Puri’sletter stated. He also alleged that a few women COs have taken a “low profile, low initiative route” to command.

After a Supreme Court order in 2020, the opening of command roles to women became possible. In February 2023, the army conducted a special selection board to promote 108 women officers to the rank of select-grade colonel. The women officers assessed by the selection board were from the 1992 to 2006 batches and were commissioned in various arms and services including Engineers, Signals, Army Air Defence, Intelligence Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, and Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, according to reports.