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Women in the Bangladesh Armed Forces

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A female soldier of the Bangladesh Army's ordnance corps in Comilla, 2018.
Female soldiers of Bangladesh Army in parade, 16 December 2016, the Victory Day of Bangladesh.

Women have been associated with the Bangladesh Army since the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.[1]

In the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a Bengali female doctor from the Pakistan Army's medical corps participated, she was Sitara Begum who was commissioned into the Pakistan Army Medical Corps as a lieutenant in 1970. She took part in the 1971 war as the commanding officer of a field hospital, the Bangladesh Field Hospital; she was awarded the Bir Protik medal for her contribution.[2]

Since the early part of the 2000s decade, women are being commissioned in various corps of the Bangladesh Army like men though women can't become officers in the infantry regiment and in the armored corps.[3][4][5] Zannatul Ferdous became the first female paratrooper in 2013 who was commissioned on 24 December, 2009 from the Bangladesh Military Academy's 59th long course.[6][7] In 2019, four female officers were made lieutenant colonels and were appointed commanding officers of units, they were Sanjida Hossain, Syeda Nazia Raihan and Farhana Afreen of the artillery regiment and Sarah Amir of the engineers corps.[8][9][10]

Nazma Begum of the Bangladesh Army Medical Corps was the first female contingent commander in United Nations peacekeeping, she went to UNOCI in 2016 with a 56-member contingent; as a lieutenant colonel she was the first female commanding officer of a field ambulance of the Bangladesh Army.[11][12] Another noted woman from the medical corps Susane Giti was the first woman in the history of the Bangladesh Army who was promoted to major general in 2018.[13][14]

The first batch of female ordinary soldiers of the Bangladesh Army completed their recruit training on 29 January 2015 in Ghatail Cantonment which is situated in the Tangail district.[15][16][17] This was the first time in the history of the Bangladesh Army that women were recruited as ordinary troops, in the batch a total number of 879 women were enlisted as ordinary soldiers into the army's medical corps.[18] In the same year, the army got first female pilots, two women named Nazia Nusrat Hossain and Shahrina Binte Anwar became pilots; Nazia was commissioned in the corps of engineers and Shahrina was commissioned in the corps of ordnance, both were commissioned in December 2009, both of them completed their first solo flying training successfully in June, 2015.[19][20][21]

In 2022, a wheelchair-bound female officer named Kaniz Fatema was promoted to Major.[22]

Since September 2024, women in the Bangladesh army have been allowed to wear the hijab head covering to express their Muslim faith.[23]

Bangladesh Navy

The Bangladesh Navy got women sailors for the first time in its history on 30 May 2016. 44 women were enlisted as sailors on that day in BNS Titumir, Khulna, besides 727 male sailors completed their basic naval training on the same day.[24]

Bangladesh Air Force

A Bangladesh Air Force female officer in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016.

On 25 November 2020, at the Bangladesh Air Force's 'Recruits Training School' (RTS) which is situated in Shamshernagar the passing out parade of the 48th Airmen Entry was held, in this passing out parade a total number of 752 recruits passed out and among them 64 were females, this was the first in the history of the Bangladesh Air Force that women were recruited as airmen.[25]

References

  1. ^ Aasha Mehreen Amin, Lavina Ambreen Ahmed & Shamim Ahsan (16 December 2016). "The women in our Liberation War". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). Archived from the original on 4 April 2023.
  2. ^ Mayabee Arannya, Tasnim Odrika (8 March 2021). "50 years later, the fight goes on". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). Archived from the original on 8 March 2021.
  3. ^ Inam Ahmed (8 July 2000). "Bangladesh army recruits women". United Press International.
  4. ^ Afrose Jahan Chaity (8 March 2019). "Beacons of success: The life and challenges of female army officers". Dhaka Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023.
  5. ^ "The woman keeping pace with men in the Bangladesh army". BBC News Online. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Ferdous first female paratrooper". Bdnews24.com. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Capt Zannatul first female paratrooper in country". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 8 February 2013. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Four women promoted to Lt Col". Bangla Tribune. 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Bangladesh Army appoints four female officers as battalion chiefs". Bdnews24.com. 25 January 2019. Archived from the original on 16 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Four female Bangladesh Army officers made COs". Dhaka Tribune. 24 January 2019.
  11. ^ "First female officer leads contingent". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 29 February 2016. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016.
  12. ^ "Army medical core gets first woman brigadier". Prothom Alo. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Susane Giti becomes first female major general". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 1 October 2018. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Bangladesh Army gets its first female Major General". Bangla Tribune. 30 September 2018. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018.
  15. ^ Unb, Tangail (30 January 2015). "Serve people with professionalism; PM asks female military paramedics". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). Archived from the original on 29 June 2015.
  16. ^ "Women now country's proud soldiers: PM". Banglanews24.com. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Women going ahead in challenging professions: PM". Risingbd.com. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Women troops on the march". The Daily Observer (Bangladesh). 30 January 2015. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Army gets first female pilots". Prothom Alo. 28 October 2015. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023.
  20. ^ "Women pilots of Bangladesh Army 'herald new era' by operating first flights". Bdnews24.com. 28 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Nazia, Shahrina become first ever female pilots in army". Dhaka Tribune. 28 October 2015. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Bangladesh Army promotes Kaniz Fatema, the wheelchair-bound officer, to major". Bdnews24.com. 4 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Bangladesh Army's female troops allowed to wear hijab with uniform; The authorities also say a policy is being formulated for hijab-wearing". Bdnews24.com. 23 September 2024. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Navy gets its first women sailors". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 31 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016.
  25. ^ "64 female recruits participate in BAF's passing out parade for graduates". Dhaka Tribune. 25 November 2020.
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