Stree Shakti Anyone?
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