The four women officers have been deployed by Coast Guards and are posted at different coastal areas. The ships will patrol country’s maritime zone near the borders with Pakistan. The areas include Jakhau in Gujrat and Haldia in West Bengal.

This is the major step towards gender equality. The training of these officers was started about a year ago at Mandapam with four other female officers.

These officers have been posted on board the Air Cushion Vehicles. Those are popularly known as hovercrafts. The officers have been trained to handle every possible situation. The aim of training was to train these women so that they will be capable of handling all missions. It will include suspicious activities, chasing such boats, catching smugglers etc.

This decision of Coast Guards came after PM Narendra Modi had urged forces to give female officers roles in combat. After informing Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar about this decision, he also urged forces to look for more avenues to strengthen female officers.

Countries like Australia, Germany, Israel and the United States have allowed women to participate in combating. Most of the other countries have deployed women in their armed forces, but haven’t allowed them in fighting.