India announced Sunday that it is pursuing a gender-neutral path in its recruitment of sailors for its Navy. Women are likely to comprise 10 to 20% of the approximately 3,000 recruits whose training will begin in November, according to a report in the Times of India, the country’s English language newspaper.

Women already serve in the Navy, but none below the rank of officer.

“Thirty women officers are sailing on board frontline warships,” the newspaper cited Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi as saying on Sunday. “We have decided that the time has come to recruit women sailors as well.”
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