While female cadets in the Indian defence forces have been marching side by side with their male counterparts in almost every way, they have also started giving them some serious competition in another department – hairstyles. The women cadets in the National Defence Academy (NDA) have decided to opt for the military-style crew haircut that their male counterparts usually sport. The female cadets have decided to opt for the short hairstyle to fit in easily in the forces and also in order to ensure they train better. The hairstyle, though not mandatory, is something the cadets are choosing to sport for their own ease.
NDA inducted women for the first time in July of 2022 and the academy has 18 women and they are allowed to keep 'choice-based short hair', a report in Hindustan Times said.
Other training institutes usually have their own rules for women as to how they can keep their hair. For instance, the Chennai-based officers' training academy has a mandate for short hair for women except for Sikh cadets. In the Air Force Academy at Dundigal near Hyderabad and the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, women are free to maintain their hair as they want, be it short hair or a bun.
“The female cadets have opted for the crew cut as it’s easy to maintain There’s also an element of ease of training. NDA rules allow them to keep choice-based short hair or tie it in a bun (for Sikh trainees),” HT quoted one of the officers as saying.
The first batch of women cadets inducted into the academy are expected to graduate in 2025. The second batch of cadets are expected to be inducted to begin their training in January 2023.
A total of 19 women had been inducted in the NDA in July and one quit for personal reasons, the HT report said. The graduated batch will then move on to other single-service academies for further training—army, air, or naval.