Women not ready to assume military command posts

Women not ready to assume military command posts

JAKARTA (JP): Navy chief Adm. Arief Kushariadi said female
naval officers were not quite ready yet to assume the highest
ranking position in the navy.

"Ha..ha... They're not quite there yet. We'll have to see
because there are various ranks you have to go through," replied
the admiral when asked if a woman could take his post.

Arief was speaking in Surabaya, East Java, yesterday after
attending a graduation ceremony of recently trained officers.

While no woman has been commander of either the Army, Navy,
Air Force or Police Force, Arief maintained that gender equality
was already an established daily practice in the Armed Forces.

"On the field it's already in practice," he remarked adding
that officers would be placed in accordance to ability and
demand.

Nevertheless, he conceded that female officers in the Navy
were not posted to front-line positions, but stationed only on
auxiliary ships.

"Many of them are on auxiliary ships, not battleships," Arief
said as quoted by Antara.

Auxiliary ships include tankers and hospital ships.

When asked the rank of the highest female officer, Arief said
it was colonel.

Presently women are also not accepted into the Naval Academy.
Arief said the first batch of female cadets would be accepted in
1999, one year later than originally intended.

"It had to be delayed because we had trouble with the
construction of accommodations (for female cadets) which won't be
completed before 1999," Arief explained.

For the first enrollment in 1999, the Naval Academy would
allot 10 percent of its class of 250 to women.

Arief said women would have to undergo the same rigorous
academy training as their male colleagues. The only difference,
he said, would be in the actual weight they had to carry.

"For example, during a running exercise a male cadet would
have to carry 13 kilograms of equipment, but for a women just 10.
Also in the obstacle course, the men would have to pass 13
obstacles while women only nine," he remarked. (mds)