Participation of women in army, navy and air force is little controversial issue all over the world. Many critics say, women are not competent enough for this kind of job. They will be an easier target for the enemy in the battle.
But the most accepted opinion is women should be allowed to participate like other sectors of a country. They are physically and mentally capable of doing the job. There is another opinion that participation of women in army may reduce violence against women during war time.
Bangladesh army didn’t recruit women for many years. But at 2003 following many army of the world, the Bangladesh army decided to recruit women. Women were recruited as commanding officer. In past, this post was considered as men’s only post. These female officers proved that they are as good as their male counterpart. Even some women officers worked for UN peace keeping forces.
Major Nashara Afroaz is one of the female officers of Bangladesh army. She also worked for UN peace keeping force in Sudan, which is a volatile region and the militias always carry loaded machine guns in hand. Now she is working for 8th field regiment artillery, where all of her subordinates are male.
She says, in the early days some male subordinates were little shy to obey a female commanding officer. She says now the situation has improved a lot. She is one of the few female officers trained to fight in front line. But still only male soldier is recruited, where hand to hand fight is required.
