Woman Captain seeks gender inclusive terms instead of ‘ex-serviceman’, HC issues notice to Centre
A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta Thursday issued the notice of motion to the central government on the plea filed by Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur Sanewal (Retd), one of the earliest woman officers of the Army in the Judge Advocate General’s branch.
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The petitioner has pointed out that while women were always a part of the Army as nurses and doctors, they have also been serving in other arms and services since 1990s and are now even holding command appointments after judgments to this effect by the high courts and the Supreme Court. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the Centre on a writ petition of a retired woman Captain of the Indian Army, who has sought directions to the authorities to replace the word ‘ex-servicemen’ with gender inclusive terms such as ‘ex-service members’ or ‘ex-service personnel’.
A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta Thursday issued the notice of motion to the central government on the plea filed by Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur Sanewal (Retd), one of the earliest woman officers of the Army in the Judge Advocate General’s branch.
The petitioner has pointed out that while women were always a part of the Army as nurses and doctors, they have also been serving in other arms and services since 1990s and are now even holding command appointments after judgments to this effect by the high courts and the Supreme Court. The petitioner submitted that despite this, the retired woman officers continue to be referred as ‘ex-servicemen’ and ‘ex-serviceman’ in government policies and schemes.
The petitioner also submitted that this not only results in mis-gendering but also sounds outdated and promotes gender stereotypes.
“While much progress has been made in opening up military roles for women, the continued use of gendered language remains a significant, yet easy to remove stumbling block, to a more inclusive environment in the defence services,” read the petition.
Captain Sanewal further submitted that she “obviously, is not a man, and is a woman, hence there should be no occasion to call the petitioner or any other woman officer an ex-serviceman”. She also submitted that gender equality is not just about employing more women but understanding how gender operates at various levels, including using gender-inclusive language.
The petition has also listed the gender-inclusive language employed by various militaries and establishments globally, including Indian Parliament and the NATO. It added that while the United Kingdom and New Zealand use ‘ex-service personnel’, the USA prefers ‘veterans’ and ‘former servicemembers’. Australia and Canada use gender specific terms of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen.
The NATO’s gender inclusive language manual, annexed with the petition, states that the military ranks are “generally gender neutral in English; however, some challenges remain with ranks in the Navy and Air Force such as Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman and Master Seaman”. It states that depending on the context, gender-inclusive alternatives can be used and cites examples such as ‘pilots, air force personnel and air corps’ instead of ‘airmen’; ‘guard’ instead of ‘guardsmen’, and ‘serviceperson, member of armed forces, soldier and sailor’ instead of ‘servicemen’.
Captain Sanewal further submitted that “appreciably, even the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has taken cognizance for employing gender neutral language for replying to Parliamentary questions” and that even the Karnataka High Court has taken note of the said issue and implored the Government to use gender inclusive terminology.
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