\n
Femme Fatale\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n By Poonam I Kaushish<\/strong><\/p>\n \n It seems a tall order, but possible. A stepping stone to gender equality with Prime Minister Modi announcing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and State legislatures 2029 via the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam September 2023. Women representation will rise to 181.Thereby, making \u2018Her Story\u2019!<\/p>\n But with a rider: It will take effect only after delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies which can be done after Census 2027 is completed. Both face three challenges. One, enumerating census data as caste will be added for the first time since 1931. Two, lack of political consensus on delimitation of constituencies, as Southern States fearing decrease on number of parliamentary constituencies have demanded a freeze based on 1971 census for 25 years. Three, firewall the delimitation exercise from contingencies of electoral politics.<\/p>\n However, Parties recognize that in a changing Bharat, women marginalization, exclusion from power corridors and decision-making echelons is becoming unsustainable. Hence having more women in politics will improve the system and society. Their absence alienates women thereby undermining the system\u2019s legitimacy.<\/p>\n For doubting Thomas\u2019s the value of women power is on full display by rising female voters\u2019 turnout 65.8% as they outvoted men 65.6%. Their greater visibility and imprint in public spaces are rising inexorably. Whereby, women power acts as a potent force to ensure policies and legislation that affect their lives is inclusive and representative of population needs. Eventually, women-centric policies would heighten political efficacy among female voters.<\/p>\n Yet, women legislators in Lok Sabha account for less than 13.6% 74 MPs in 2024, down from 14.4% 82 MPs 2019 and much below global average of 24%. Think. If in 1950 women formed 5% of Parliament, today a mere 9.3 % increase in 75 years is a sobering reminder of how slow progress has been. Consequently their under-representation not only reveals gender disparity but also constitutes gender deficit.<\/p>\n BJP has 31 women MPs, Congress 13, TMC 11, SP 5, DMK three, JD(U) and LJPRV two each and one each from 7 other Parties.\u00a0 Among States, Mamata\u2019s TMC with 38% has the highest proportion.\u00a0 Shockingly, States like Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal and J&K don\u2019t have a single women MP in Lok Sabha.<\/p>\n Women representation in State Assemblies is more glaring. Assam, Arunachal and Karnataka have fewer than 5%. Mizoram has none and Nagaland one. Surprisingly, Bihar and Haryana boast of 10% fair sex representation. Hence this lack of representation is problematic as legislation reflects the values of those who make it.<\/p>\n Worse, only 724 women contested polls out of 8000. The Congress fielded 54 (13%), BJP 53 (12%), BSP 24, TMC 23 (43%), BJD 33%, \u00a0CPM 10, CPI four and one NCP (Pawar\u2019s daughter).\u00a0As many as 222 women contested elections independently.\u00a0Four transgender candidates also fought.\u00a0The situation in Vidhan Sabhas is worse.<\/p>\n Appalling are their educational qualifications. While 232 (32%) declared educational qualification to be between Class 5-Class 12 pass, 37 were just literate, 26\u00a0 illiterate and rest graduates, according to Association for Democratic Reforms.<\/p>\n Sadly, there are only a handful of women leaders today: Sonia Gandhi,\u00a0Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati. So unlike the strong female freedom fighters: Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, Aruna Asaf Ali, Durgabai Deshmukh and Savitri Phule, who defied notorious patriarchal norms and blazed a trail of women\u2019s empowerment.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, post-Independence, women slipped to secondary status where not just leaders, women continue to remain the \u2018unwanted\u2019 and neglected sex. Yet, there is no dearth of women workers in Parties who are sidelined and denied Party tickets to contest elections. Despite, more women voting than men in 18 of 29 States.<\/p>\n Worse, Party bosses are reluctant to trust women with handling the rowdy business of electoral political maneuverings. Alongside, neglect of women issues in most elected bodies. Questionably: Will female entry correct centuries-old imbalances and stigma against women? Will increased participation of fair sex in the political process lead to less female infanticide, fewer dowry deaths, bride burning and trampling of female aspirations? No.<\/p>\n However this is not to take way that India has come a long way from 1996 when the Women Reservation Bill was introduced by Gowda\u2019s UF Government but failed to clear Lok Sabha. It was re-introduced by Vajpayee\u2019s NDA Government 1998 but lapsed. In 2008 Manmohan Singh\u2019s UPA 1 introduced it again only to see it fall due to high drama of MPs physical removal by regional satraps 2010. Happily, opponents laid down their arms before an idea whose time finally came.<\/p>\n Asserted a BJP Minister, \u201cThere was dire necessity of affirmative action to improve women\u2019s conditions, as recent studies on Panchayats where there is reservations show positive effects of female political participation, leadership, women empowerment and allocation of resources. No matter, instances of them being used as proxies by men to win elections in States like Maharashtra, Bihar.<\/p>\n Its\u2019 par on course for Opposition to carp. Congress\u2019s grumble is delimitation and census are \u201cpoor excuses\u2019\u201d for postponement of women\u2019s quota, alleging the entire exercise is to create an election issue, without actually implementing it. \u201cWe wanted implementation from last year\u2019s Lok Sabha elections itself along-with reservation for women from OBCs besides SC and STs.\u201d Big deal, if\u00a0 it reversed\u00a0 its 2010 position against OBC quota within a quota.<\/p>\n Cribbed a Samajwadi leader, \u201cI\u2019m not belittling women reservation by saying it will only benefit \u2018lipstick-wearing-short-haired women from upper castes\u2019. The intent is good but the practical political outcome may be far different in the absence of quota within a quota.\u201d Added another, \u201cIt\u2019ll be fight in a \u2018ladies only\u2019 compartment in a metro, nothing more\u201d.<\/p>\n Not a few argue it would perpetuate an unequal status of women as they would not be perceived to be competing on merit. Also, it restricts choice of voters to women candidates and diverts attention from larger issues of electoral reform, criminalisation of politics and inner Party democracy.<\/p>\n Instead, India should consider reservation in Parties and dual member constituencies. Rotation of reserved constituencies in every election might reduce incentive for an MP to work for his constituency as he may be ineligible to seek re-election from that constituency. Others, aver it would strengthen upper caste and elite rule and promote family politics. Men of this segment would \u2018remote control\u2019 their women to use political power.<\/p>\n Undeniably, politics of presence is crucial for effective functioning of our democratic system, as women constitute 50% population. Presently, even as we talk about more power to woman, a reality check bares some unpleasant home-truths. Women account for less than 10% of\u00a0 Parliament.<\/p>\n Further, one needs to watch for danger that gender politics can lead to, ferocious brand of political Puritanism. So far jobs, posts and legislatures seats have always served as \u201capples of discord.\u201d<\/p>\n Either way, implementation of 33% reservation has set the stage for future where nari shakti will play a substantial role in politics.. Clearly, if it becomes reality it\u2019ll be a unique precedent as the only major democracy globally to implement such affirmative action.<\/p>\n True, it is not a magical fix but a crucial leap forward for women empowerment and gender parity. One hopes it will not end as an exercise in competitive, reckless populism at its worst. Today, women are at the cusp of a bright future as our leaders\u2019 help them break the glass ceiling and give them their place in the sun. Femme Fatale\u00a0is the way to go! \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Femme Fatale\u00a0 By Poonam I Kaushish It seems a tall order, but possible. A stepping stone to gender equality with Prime Minister Modi announcing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and State legislatures 2029 via the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam September 2023. Women representation will rise to 181.Thereby, making \u2018Her Story\u2019! But with a rider: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-265795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}