POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 10 May 2008

Women’s Reservation Bill

NO MORE BELAN Vs PAGRI, PLEASE

By Poonam I Kaushish

Decency took a day off in Parliament last week. When a section of the male MPs’ stripped the Rajya Sabha of all etiquette and propriety. And bared their fangs against the Women’s Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation in Parliament and the State legislatures by lunging for Law Minister Bharadwaj, snatching his paper and tearing it up. Leaving it to the modern day Eves to retaliate and save him. Never mind if in this strange belan versus pagri fight it debased Parliament. Leaving one flabbergasted and gasping!

What is it about this Bill that inflames the right Honourables to lose their head and even take recourse to violence? And, why has it taken nine long years to just re-introduce the Bill a third time over? Why is this final hurdle so hard to cross? Is it just a pretense, a concession to humour a pocketful of educated women with the Bill, which is meaningless to the large majority?

Clearly, the ding-dong battle said it all. The women’s reservation bill is once again headed for cold storage in the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice. Blame it on our male-centric mindset. Any leeway given to women is termed as an affront to manhood. Followers of God Adonis, they hate the idea of reducing themselves to a situation wherein behind every successful woman stands a man. Right from Adam and Eve, to the Sati Pratha, the time when Raja Ram Mohan Roy initiated the process of unshackling women from male bondage, there has been stringent resistance at every level.

Even now the introduction is half-hearted, but it is politically correct to do so. After all, in the cut-throat business of politics of appeasement, 50 per cent of the electorate is crucial. The torch bearers of the anti-women brigade is led by our “made in India” trio of Mulayam, Laloo and Mayawati who revel in their crudest best to oppose all talk of reservation till such time as their vote banks --- the OBCs and the minorities --- are given a quota within this quota. No matter, that their track record of women representation within the existing SC/ST quotas is zilch. And never mind that they are among the worst in gender indicators - maternal mortality, women's literacy, etc in Bihar and UP.

Both the Congress and the BJP are grinding a different axe. Notwithstanding the right noises, they are simply doffing their hat to the cause of women’s empowerment than in actually seeing the law through. Besides, there are several spoilsports to put a spoke in the wheel. In fact, they are confident that the "OBC block" would stall the Bill. Thus, they support the legislation in public, certain that it would never become law.

Those openly opposing reservations argue that it would only bring the urban elite women to power. Hogwash. Remember, no quota has ever seen a homogenous representation. But even if the argument were justified, are we to believe that Indian women would like to be represented by the Mulayam’s and Laloo’s than by their urban sisters? Jayalalithaa's AIADMK is far more women-friendly than any Bihari or UP Government.

Look at the irony. India’s most powerful politician today is a women, many women have adorned the Chief Ministers kursi and thousands others head village Panchayats. Yet all attempts to increase the fairer sex’s presence in Parliament and State legislatures have miserably failed. Women account for less than 10 per cent of both Houses of Parliament.

In fact, women participation in electoral politics has remained more or less stagnant in successive Lok Sabhas. It ranges between 19 and 47 MPs: The twelfth Lok Sabha had 43 woman MPs (7.6 per cent), eleventh 40 (7.3 per cent), the ninth 28 (5 per cent), eighth eight per cent and the sixth had the lowest number of 19 women members, representing barely 3.4 per cent of the House. Also, our record for sending women to Parliament is among the worst in the world. In a list of 135 countries, India stands at a grand 105th position.

What is the reason for such poor women representation? Is it attitudinal inclination, the fair sex’s abhorrence for the rough and tumble of politics, lack of opportunities or purely male dominance? All this and more. If the 60s ushered in an era of free sex, burning the bra typified the emancipated 70s, the 80s measured equality with right to abortion and the 90s replaced rights and equality with empowerment.

In fact, the status of women has seen an evolutionary change over the centuries. Every generation and decade has tried to move one step closer towards eradication of gender discrimination. But as a woman activist asserted, “Women are slaves to men. To cook, feed, mother and warm their beds”. And this persistence of gender inequality manifests from the low female-male ration of 0.93, one of the lowest in the world. The preference for boys in fertility decision and the neglect and death of a girl child, gender gaps in literacy, restrictive property rights etc. lead the deficit of women in a male-dominated society.

Arguably, it is precisely the gender distinction that results in lack of women participation in politics, governance and economic activity. The Bill on reservation in legislatures will only help bring women into the political mainstream and give them tangible political and economic power in the context of the emerging paradigm, assert the feminists.

It is indisputable that there is a paucity of strong women in politics with Party bosses often being reluctant to trust them with handling the rowdy business of winning elections. There is also a certain neglect of women issues in most elected bodies. But the moot point is: Will this Bill correct the centuries-old imbalances and stigma against women? Will increased participation of women in the political process lead to less female infanticide, fewer dowry deaths, bride burning and trampling of female aspirations.

Experience shows that no amount of legislation has ended gender discrimination. Stringent laws against sex discrimination have not led to any decrease in crimes against a woman. Times out of number, the culprits go scot-free or, at best, get set off with light punishment. Empowerment of women has to come through the natural evolution of society. Instruments like education and family planning should be used to end feminine poverty along with legislation from the top. Not just physical and outward application, but mental acceptance that both males and females are on an equal footing.

On the whole, it is a good idea to have more women than less. But the danger is that gender politics at times leads to a ferocious brand of political Puritanism. One hopes this Bill will not end up as an exercise in competitive, reckless populism at its worst. Our leaders need to recognize that inequalities do exist and should be rectified. Simply to shrug one’s shoulder and assert, “reservation, not today sweetie,” is a cop out! ---- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)