Nepal, Feb. 19 -- In the early hours during the mid-winter mornings, even before the dawn creeks, young women run towards the training ground in a single file. At six in the morning, the 18-year olds prepare themselves with a warm-up for the next three hours of arduous physical training that includes running up the steep stairs, sometimes carrying their friends on their backs, sit-ups and body weight heaves. They are on the race to become the first batch of women to join the British Gurkha regiment under the British Armed Forces.

After the British government announced that they will be recruiting women in the regiment, which has been a part of the British Army for more than 200 years, the training centres which only used to grant admissi...