Political Diary
New Delhi, 15 November 2022
Stree
Shakti Anyone?
INDIA FAILS ITS WOMEN
By Poonam I Kaushish
Women
are the buzz words in this silly electoral season with ballot boxes in Himachal sealed and Gujarat and
Delhi’s Municipal Corporation round the corner. All Parties are coveting women voters and talk of women empowerment in
manifestoes. Specially post Supreme Court dubbing it “important” while issuing notice to the Centre on a PIL
seeking reintroduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008, which provides
for 33% quota for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
Yet when it comes
to walking their talk all are reluctant. Scandalously in Himachal out of 412 candidates
only 24 were women despite more women voting than men, In Gujarat there are a
paltry 14 female candidates of 160 out of the 182 constituencies. Congress has
a measly 3 of 120 contenders.
Ditto Assembly
elections last year in four States and one Union Territory which presented a
woeful picture.
Women who make-up nearly half voters only comprised one in
10 candidates: 9% in Kerala, 7.8 % in Assam and 11% in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
and West Bengal. In 13 Assembly elections earlier
of 807 elected MLAs there were a mere 38 women. Since 1977, only 197 women have
contested against 3845 men.
What new? If we
take Parliament as a barometer of women it holds out very little hope. The Lok
Sabha has the highest number of
women MPs 59, a sheer 14.58%! much below the global average of 24%. States like
Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal, Himachal and ex-J&K don’t have a single women
MP in Lok Sabha today. In fact, Nagaland has never had a female MLA!
Think. If in 1950 women formed 5% of
Parliament, today a mere 9% increase in the last 73 years serves a sobering
reminder of how slow progress has been. More. India fares poorer than countries
such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan (27.7%), Pakistan (20.6%) Saudi Arabia (19.9%)
and Rwanda’s 62% highest globally.
Besides, only 724
women contested polls out of 8000. Congress fielded 54 (13%), BJP 53 (12%), Mayawati’s BSP 24,
Mamata’s TMC 23 (43%), Patnaik’s BJD 33%,
CPM 10, CPI four and one Pawar’s NCP (his daughter). As many as 222 women contested polls independently.
Four transgender candidates also fought while Kejriwal’s AAP fielded a
transgender nominee. The situation in Vidhan Sabhas is worse
Shockingly, six States
have no female Ministers, including Sikkim, Manipur and Nagaland. No State even
has one-third women Ministers --- the highest is Tamil Nadu with 13% while 68% States
have less than 10% female representation in leadership roles. Yet, there is no
dearth of women workers in Parties who are regularly sidelined and denied Party
tickets to contest elections. Despite, 65.63%, women turnout compared to 67.09%
men during 2014 Parliamentary elections and more women voting than men in 16 of
29 States.
In fact Mamata made reservation of
tickets for women a talking point in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with her TMC
fielding 17 of 42 candidates. Of its 22 elected Lok Sabha MPs, 9 are women. In
Odisha, Patnaik’s BJD gave 7 (33%) of 21 Lok Sabha tickets to women, of whom five
won.
Further, there are only a handful of
women leaders today: Sonia Gandhi, Mamata and
Mayawati. So unlike the strong female contingent who fought alongside other
freedom fighters, Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, Aruna Asaf Ali, Durgabai
Deshmukh and Savitri Phule, who not only defied the notorious patriarchal norms
but also blazed a trail of women’s empowerment. Unfortunately,
post-Independence women slipped to a secondary status where not just leaders,
women continue to remain the ‘unwanted’ and the neglected sex.
Recall, 2014 was hailed as the year
of ‘womanifestos’, with all major Parties vying for 33% reservation for women
in Parliament and State Assemblies. But eight years after BJP came to power
there is no mention of it, despite it asserting it’s high on priorities list.
This begs a question: Why is India
failing its women so miserably? And why don’t we have reservation for women
yet? Specially as women leaders are doing India proud. Indira Gandhi was a
hardnosed Prime Minister who earned the acronym ‘the only man in the Cabinet!’. In contemporary times, her
daughter-in-law Sonia, Mamata, Mayawati, late Jayalalitha and former President
Pratibha Patil are often touted as examples of women’s empowerment.
Remember 26 years ago in 1996 a
proposal for 33% reservation for women was made. The Bill came up for
discussions in 1998, 1999 and 2008 and all four times it lapsed on dissolution
of the House. Not only did it face fierce opposition it was torn in Rajya Sabha
by an RJD MP and some abominable remarks were made, “Do you think these women
with short hair can speak for women, for our women." Sic.
True, one-third reservation of women
in panchayats and urban local bodies
has led to a welcome spurt in female political participation and leadership,
yet there are also instances of women being used as proxies by men to win
elections in various states from Maharashtra to Bihar.
India’s poor record on women’s
representation is starkly revealed by the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021,
where it has slipped 28 places, ranking 140 among 156 countries. India is the
third-worst performer in South Asia, only ahead of Pakistan and Afghanistan,
behind Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. The biggest slump is
in political empowerment sub-index where India ranks 51, dropping from 18 last
year.
Pertinently,
even as Prime Minister Modi has a fair sprinkling of fairer sex in his Council
of Ministers why hasn’t he and his NDA storm troopers done anything about
uplifting women and introducing the ‘defunct’ 108 Constitutional Amendment? Does he need to be reminded the truth that
nature created women and men as equals which the Constitution endorses?
If
India really wants to develop, it will have to find ways to back up laws with
quality action, not shoddy symbolism. If we want to use our finest resource, we
have to start taking our Stree Shakti seriously
and treating them like worthwhile investments.
Clearly, it is high time our leaders
help women break the glass ceilings and give them their place in the sun. The
Constitution has given equal rights to women. Reservations will go a long way
in facilitating women to shatter this. A
revolutionary change is needed. Merely mouthing platitudes will no longer work.
Time to remember that the best thermometer to the progress of a
nation is treatment of its women. There is no chance for the welfare of the
world unless the condition of women is improved. Will women continue to constitute the weaker gender? Will we end
the tokenism? Break new ground and unshackle women? ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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