Mains Practice Questions

Approach :

• Briefly introduce the need for true gender equality in public services.
• Examine the challenges women officers encounter in administration.
• Suggest reforms to enhance their efficiency and uphold probity
• Conclude with a suitable way forward.

Introduction:

Gender equality in public service is not merely about numerical representation but about creating enabling systems. True equality is achieved when the administrative framework adapts to the specific needs of women, ensuring they perform efficiently while upholding probity, impartiality, and integrity.

Body :

Challenges Faced by Women Officers

• Structural Barriers:
  • Limited gender-sensitive HR policies.
  • Rigid transfer policies, lack of childcare support, and absence of gender-friendly infrastructure create practical hurdles.
  • For example, women IPS officers often face challenges in remote postings without adequate housing or medical facilities.
• Workplace Biases and Stereotyping:
  • Women officers are often stereotyped as being more suited to “soft” departments like health, education, or social welfare, while being overlooked for law enforcement, finance, or infrastructure portfolios.
  • Kiran Bedi’s posting in Tihar Jail illustrated how women administrators can excel even in so-called “tough” domains.
• Operational and Field Challenges:
  • Safety concerns in Naxal-affected areas or conflict zones.
  • Example: Rema Rajeshwari, IPS, worked in Telangana’s cybercrime and anti-human trafficking units, highlighting the need for systemic safety measures.
• Professional Challenges:
  • Women officers were sometimes pressured to “adjust” to male-dominated networks.
  • Limited mentorship and fewer women in senior leadership roles hinder career progression.
  • Representation of women in the higher echelons of the IAS and IPS remains disproportionately low despite decades of service entry.
• Work–Life Balance:
  • Dual responsibility of administration and domestic care.
  • Many women officers have highlighted during Parliamentary Committee reviews the lack of institutional childcare support in postings.

Impact on Probity

• Avoiding tough postings due to safety or family constraints may affect impartiality in cadre distribution.
• Social pressure to compromise independence reduces integrity.
• Overburden reduces efficiency, indirectly impacting service delivery.

Reforms to Enhance Efficiency and Uphold Probity

• Policy and Structural Reforms
  • Flexible working hours, childcare support, and equal access to field postings.
  • Example: Kerala government’s gender budgeting initiatives provide a replicable model for gender-sensitive policy frameworks.
• Workplace Culture:
  • Gender-sensitisation modules in training at LBSNAA and police academies.
  • Strict enforcement of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013.
• Operational Support:
  • Safe housing and sanitation facilities in remote areas.
  • Example: Navjot Khosa, IAS, worked in cyclone-prone Kerala with proper safety and logistical support, proving women officers can handle crisis leadership effectively.
• Ethical Reinforcement
  • Integrate gender justice in civil services' codes of ethics.
  • Promote mentorship programs led by senior women officers like Aruna Sundararajan, IAS, who mentored cadres in digital governance.
• Societal Measures
  • Promote paternity leave and shared caregiving.
  • Public recognition of successful women administrators to change stereotypes.

Conclusion:

As UN Women rightly affirms, “Gender equality is not an option, but an imperative.” For public administration, this means moving beyond token representation to ensure empowered participation of women. Women administrators, when given equitable opportunities, strengthen the inclusivity, efficiency, and ethical fabric of governance.