Despite Successful Stories female representation in Politics still a far-fetched dream
- In Politics
- 08:15 AM, Aug 31, 2016
- Aparna Patwardhan
“Every country deserves to have the best possible leader and that means that women have to be given a chance to compete. If they’re never allowed to compete in the electoral process then the countries are really robbing themselves of a great deal of talent.” – Madeline Albright, the first woman US Secretary of State
I chose a quote of a woman politician from the US because I could not find a strong voice from among women in India’s political community, that championed women representation. Women’s representation in the Lok Sabha in a country of 125 crores is a meager 12% with just 66 seats of the 543 seats. Representation in the Legislative Assemblies across India is worse, with the national average being a poor 9%. Some states have no representation whatsoever.
The Congress party, which is the single largest opposition party, has 44 seats in the Lok Sabha today. Despite their small presence they are known to create a ruckus over the smallest of issues. But even with a higher number at 66 seats in the Lok Sabha, women have not even made a whimper for the elusive 33% reservation for women in Parliament. They have glue on their feet.
A serious outcome of the exclusion and under-representation of women in decision-making positions is an intellectual power gap and poor policy-making. When Sudha Murthy, of the Infosys Foundation, talks of her experience as the only female student in her college and of her college having no ladies’ toilet in her time, we admire her courage and passion to pursue Engineering. An underlying problem is overlooked, which is that if women had been policy-makers and had political power in those times, toilet-building would not be the focus of the present government today. We would have achieved that goal decades ago and had the luxury today of setting other goals.
The contributions of women activists and elected representatives are essential to build a strong and vibrant society. Women are more committed to promoting policies that address the socio-economic and political challenges facing women, children and disadvantaged groups. It is a demonstrated fact that women are particularly effective in promoting honest & accountable governments. Women are strongly committed to peace building, reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. Therefore, they can mitigate conflicts or stop conflicts before they begin. Wherever gender empowerment is higher, human rates of development and standards of living are also higher which implies that women participation can bring positive changes in infrastructure, education, healthcare, access to safe water, housing etc.
It would not have required a Narendra Modi to design a Stand-Up India policy for women entrepreneurs or a Swaccha Bharata Abhiyan, if we had more women policy-makers right since independence.
While women themselves are responsible for not demanding enough, society has not provided sufficient opportunities to women that men have, to develop and practice leadership skills. When Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966 , albeit as a beneficiary of her father’s legacy, she was described by Ram Manohar Lohia as “goongi gudiya” or dumb doll, in a place no less than the Parliament. Not until after the assertive victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh, did she gain credibility as a leader of stature. She had to prove herself over a period of time to be called a leader. Compare the charts of Indira Gandhi and Dr.Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. Dr.Singh got two full terms as Prime Minister and plenty of opportunity to steer India to a better place before getting labeled as a Puppet Prime Minister. That label came towards the end of the second term, that too after presiding over the worst ever and the most corrupt government. He did not have to prove himself from the beginning but the verdict that he had no leadership capabilities came after he had been given ample time and opportunity. The comparison between Indira Gandhi and Dr.Manmohan Singh may not be completely relevant but it offers sufficient evidence that when it comes to expectations of people from those in positions of power, gender plays a bias.
Everyone talks of diversity but society refuses to accept the leadership styles of women which are diverse from that of men. But, people are happy to accept women who display more masculine leadership traits of aggression, risk-taking and less emotional decision-making. So, today, women who want to make it in politics, pretend to be something that they are not, which is not sustainable in the long run.
When we speak of 33% reservation, it must be noted that in Karnataka, 50% representation of women in local governance is mandatory. This is a double-edged sword because, most often than not, the women who are propped up as candidates are in reality dummies – they are the wives, daughters and the protégés of an established male politician. They may have no talent or leadership qualities or a background in public service but are in politics due to their proximity to a male politician or a powerful family. That is how we saw the rise of Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi , Jayalalitha and Mayawati even before reservation for women was a fashionable term. So, nothing has changed even with reservation in local bodies. Just like muscle power and money power are barriers to honest, clean politicians, dummy power is a major obstacle to women politicians. Such grossly-misused reservation policies does a disservice to the cause of women representation and hence, results in skewed policy-making, causing long-term damage to the country.
Then, there is the social cost of ambition. Unless women are able to demonstrate that they can be 24/7 on the job, people and parties don’t place confidence in them. Is that why we see more single women like Mamata Banerjee, Mayawathi and Jayalalitha, rise to top positions with relative ease ? How mainstream is to see women politicians prioritise both family and work in the same manner as Italian MP, Licia Ronzulli, whose pictures make a splash when she takes her little daughter to Parliament. Will women politicians or any other working women be allowed those privileges of attending to families while at work, anytime soon ? In fact, society treats family and work as conflicting priorities rather than as parallel and equal priorities; thus, marginalising women in the process.
The worst form of barrier is violence against women in politics. Be it the killing of a woman ‘sarpanch’ by terrorists in Kashmir or threats of physical assault against women corporators by a Bengaluru MLA or life threats to rising politicians, violence is a deterrent for women to enter politics. These days, the use of slander and slurs against successful women politicians is the norm and it is also a form of violence. The slander campaign against Smriti Irani is a case in point.
Just as public spaces are off-limits to women after a certain hour, political spaces are off-limits to most women. If the political environment is so crushing, and the terrain so negative, more often than not, women who have potential to be political leaders, quit.
A silver lining to the cloud today is the relatively high representation of women in the Modi Cabinet. Women ministers in the Modi government have broken many barriers and used their innate strengths to their advantage. Take for instance, Sushma Swaraj who is doing an excellent job as the peace negotiator, rescuing or sheltering stranded Indians in war zones across the globe; or Nirmala Sitharaman, who is India’s lead negotiator at the WTO, thus demolishing the argument that women are poor negotiators ; or Smriti Irani, who despite the negative press she often receives, used the same media to her advantage after she was moved to the Textiles Ministry, to promote handlooms, thus defeating one more argument that women are poor at media management.
Even as we see new role models emerge and old barriers broken, society and political parties need to do more to bridge the gap and promote women leadership. They have to consistently build women leadership by orienting them for activism, media management, negotiation skills and networking. Political pundits, newspaper editors, and anyone who suggests women are not equipped for leadership must be challenged. Media outlets and journalists must be held accountable for not providing positive coverage to women leaders and for slander campaigns against women leaders. Women must be encouraged to run for office and to lead in activism. Society must donate for and volunteer for campaigns of women candidates. A concerted public awareness campaign must be started regarding stagnation of leadership opportunities for women.
Despite so many barriers, for every dummy woman in politics, a new-age woman is poised to take her place. Chavi Rajawat, who left her corporate job to help develop rural India became the Sarpanch of Soda, a village 60 kms from Jaipur, Rajasthan. She should be the role-model to other women. The men and women of Bibipur, the first village in Haryana where women are in charge and probably the only panchayat in India that has a PAN card, must show the rest of India the way to empowering women in politics. Bibipur is a dry village and panchayat funds are regulated by women. The panchayat received the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Empowerment award for transparency in work and people's participation.
If indeed, women want to lead in politics, it is a definite possibility provided they have the necessary will-power to fight for the causes they are passionate about. Times are changing and the world is noticing talent and passion for service like never before. Political spaces will be forced to include real women and cannot afford to ignore women forever.
Hopefully, in the Indian political landscape, the Modi government and the BJP will lead in the way they develop and promote women leadershipHopefully.
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