A lot of things have been said on “Women participation in politics”. And a lot of steps have been taken as well. India is probably the fastest growing country on the track of women empowerment. The country realized this need much before her independence. In 1928 it was Nehru who proposed universal adult suffrage, when in Britain herself right to vote was not give to women. Similarly French Revolution happened in 1848 and women get right to vote in 1944.
The society was retrograde, because of prevailing social ills, patriarchal society and religions obscurities, but definitely leaders were far ahead of their time. And bills like Hindu marriage act, Equal remuneration act, Maternity benefit act, Hindu succession act, child marriage act, Special marriage act, Dowry prohibition act and so on, shows the clear will of the parliament to socially improve the conditions of women in the society.
Indeed the social condition of women improved with time. Their role in private firms, engineering, medical sciences, banking, public sector to space tech. was appreciable and steadily increasing. There got respectable positions in every sphere of life except politics.
For a long time, politics remain the monopoly of Males. Indra Gandhi was an exception but the reason was obvious. She was daughter of Nehru rather than a great political leader that made her the first Indian woman PM.
A great break through was the introduction of 25% reservation in the Panchayati Raj by Karnatka government for women in 1984-85. The respective central government of Rajiv Gandhi (30%) and VP Singh (33%) tried to follow the reservation policy, but none of them could pass the bill. It was Narshimha Rao in 1992 under the 73 Amend Act passed the bill with 33% reservation as the benchmark. But on the part of state government 16 states today provide 50% reservation in local bodies amounting more than a million elected women in the system.
From these developments women get the rightful position in the lower political system and are also performing satisfactory there. But in the middle (MP’s and MLA’s) and top (parties executive council, working committees) political positions, they are still not represented with desired numbers. Though every party has made some significant women faces in their parties and given them really powerful positions like Sonia Gandhi, Jailalita, Mamta Banerjee, Shushma Swaraj, Mayawati, Rabri Devi, Sumitra Mahajan, Uma Bharti, Nirmala Sitaraman etc. But these faces are probably glamorized positions only.
From last 3 decades the women share in voting has increased drastically. Now they vote almost equal in number to their men counterpart. And this is the reason lucrative positions to women are also given in every party to make a hold on women vote bank at All India level. But at the level of MP’s and MLA’s there is no such convention, and hence the number of women lays only 9% in the world biggest democracy.
The Women Reservation Bill is still pending in the Parliament. It has not passed yet because individual Parliamentarians (especially the fist times) have fear to lose their position and the bill may ruin their career. Those is why most of the parties put it in the manifesto but are reluctant to pass the bill when it comes on the floor, except some left parties which are consistent with their position.
There are 2 arguments generally put forward while denying tickets to women by national parties, one is about winning ability and other is competence. But both these arguments are completely absurd as they have nothing to do with gender and are person specific.
Most of the democratic countries have provided compulsory reservation to women in parliament (even Pakistan) and other those who have not provided are taking voluntary steps toward it (like US). Only Indian politicians are hesitant because of their vested political interests.
The politicians should now unleash the tremendous potential of women in leadership by passing Women Reservation Bill. It will not only help in decreasing the atrocities happening all over the countries, but will also boost the morale of women in all the sectors of public life. India will be able to use its human capital more efficiently that will add to country’s growth.
Comments
WORLD has changed but someone's BRAIN has not changed yet! After considering "woman" as a body plus soul and a brain which can think, judge and decide that are the only necessary factors for voting... they will give them vote right.
Best of luck for all women and thanks for ur informative blog.
It's a nice article over woman empowerment. The people of Bangladesh is also trying to improve the situation over the male domination in every sector of development. Few NGO's playing exceptional role in there. For example, BRAC, a non profit organization has emphasized on education, health and economical development of woman all over the country. The achievement on woman contribution in business, education and politics is remarkable. Moreover, the government and the private sectors are working together to reduce child marriage, early adoption and mother death rate.
The article has been enlightened with the facts of woman's contribution in Indian politics, also articulated with lots of quantitative and qualitative information. I would like to thank author for all of his effort.