Keeping Indian women out of defence decision-making is not an Indic tradition — the judge in the debate between Adi Shankaracharya and Mandan Mishra was a woman named Ubha Bharati.At the Vimarsh 24 conference, this panel of women security scholars, administrators, and academics dismantles the assumption that women in national security must be confined to peacekeeping and “softer” roles. Dr. Hina Pandey, from JNU’s Centre for National Security Studies, traces India’s civilizational tradition of women in strategic decision-making — from Ubha Bharati to the Rani of Jhansi to Netaji’s all-women INA regiment — to argue that women’s exclusion from hard security domains is a colonial imposition, not an Indian value.The CISF announcement of an all-women unit is cited as a marker of genuine institutional change. Prof. Geeta Bhatt grounds the discussion in lived professional experience — being the only woman in her department at JNU and earning her place through rigorous self-evaluation over 20 years of motherhood and intellectual work. The panel’s message: women in security need not choose between career, family, and spiritual path — all three are legitimate, and the choice is theirs to make.

About the Speakers:

• Dr. Hina Pandey is a Foreign-Security Policy Analyst with 12+ years of experience in international relations. She consults for the Disarmament & International Security Affairs Division at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, specializing in policy advisory, research, and maritime security. She has published widely on national and global platforms.
• Prof. Geeta Bhatt is Director of the Non-Collegiate Women Education Board (NCWEB), University of Delhi. She has served on the Academic Council, contributed to NEP 2020 implementation via UGC, and holds roles on college governing bodies and the National Commission for Women’s Advisory Committee.
• Aayushi Ketkar is an author, educationist, and corporate trainer. A core member of an ICSSR project on Jammu & Kashmir, she formerly led research at the Jammu Kashmir Study Centre. She is currently Assistant Professor at JNU’s Special Centre for National Security Studies.