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| In the name of Gender | | Women empowerment or mere tokenism? | | We have to go beyond legislation to provide dignity and equal opportunity to women beyond gender bias.
By Sunita Vakil
“The test of civilization is the estimate of women”, G. W. Curtis says. While reserving Parliament and State Legislate seats for women is welcome, it would be naive to expect that the women’s reservation bill, that has been hanging fire for the last 14 years, will automatically ensure the empowerment of women. No doubt, women in male dominated Indian society have been marginalised and they need to be given equal opportunities. But it would indeed be an exaggeration to say that the reservation bill is the best way to ensure gender sensitisation and equality. Though many argue that this piece of legislation is the beginning of a new dawn for India, yet it would be naive to put much faith in the bill’s ability to bring about genuine female emancipation.
The euphoria caused among women politicians and elitist political groups on the passage of this measure providing for 33 percent reservation of women is rather curious. How can they assume that reserving one third of the seats in elected bodies can actually lead to women empowerment? How can they be oblivious to discrimination and backwardness the bill seeks to undo? Instead of attempting to reverse the effects of marginalisation and discrimination, it will actually end up introducing reverse discrimination.
Will the 33 percent reservation in parliament actually change the lives of women? It is well known that irrespective of gender, elected representatives are bound to obey the dictates of the party on various policies and issues. So they will not be in a position to influence budgetary allotment for women and child welfare. Only women who fight and win elections will benefit from the reservation. But this will not automatically lead to their emancipation. Nor will it change the culture of corrupt politicians of anything, such legislation will only turn women legislators into pawns of their political husbands, who will be only too happy to act behind the scene. For instance, there are women who head village Panchayats, but in reality they are mere proxies for their husbands or other male member of the family. There is also the danger in women’s reservation that dynastic politics will get a fillip making it easier for male politicians to sneak in their spouses, sisters, daughters and other female kins into the portals of parliament. One wonders how can bringing in more women from affluent families into state legislatures amount to rooting out discrimination? The present version of the women’s bill has other serious drawbacks. A deserving women candidate would be empowered for only 5 years to represent the constituency. Once her term ends, she has to vacate her seat. This will create hurdles for non elitist female candidates who have to start from scratch for a grassroots connect. Having said that, the bill is not slated to make a difference to the overall empowerment of women and appears to be mere tokenism. So pinning high hopes on the bill would be entirely misplaced. There is no guarantee that reserving seats for women will change these equations.
As things stand, our constitution prohibits discrimination on basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth etc. But it also provides special provisions for the advancements of any socially and educationally backward class of citizens. Our politicians have been using reservations to serve their selfish goals and exploit votebanks. That the Indian polity is getting overshadowed by politics of symbolism and electoral considerations is a matter of serious concern. For the same reason, government is introducing populist policies to hoodwink the masses. While it is too early to predict the outcome of this particular legislation, there is no doubt that the cause of women’s empowerment will translate into greed of power in the name of gender. India needs more women’s empowerment socially, politically and economically rather than populist policies in the name of religion, caste and sex.
Though India can boast of having women in all top political positions, it still has miles to go before it can become a nation that doesn’t discriminate on the basis of gender. It needs no reiteration that patriarchy runs deep in Indian society and women have been discriminated socially, economically and politically down the ages. They have no doubt, forged ahead in all fields of life but at the same time millions of women in India have no control over their destiny. Even today, they not only suffer the denial of opportunity but also the worst kind of violence and oppression in the private and public sphere. The shame is that even personal laws discriminate against women who are paid less than males for the same kind of work. This is the height of gender injustice.
Even in the states ruled by women Chief Ministers, there has been no major move in the direction of empowering women. The status of women in these states have by no standards improved dramatically. In our country, the posts of President, Speaker, leader of the ruling party and Heade of the opposition are held by women themselves. Yet, the stark reality is that rapes, dowry deaths, honour killings, female foeticide and many other crimes against women continue to plague society . Lesser atrocities such as wife beating , marital rape and denial of opportunities in the name of tradition largely go unreported. So, increasing the number of seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies is not enough. Only when the women’s Reservation Bill helps those hapless women lead dignified life can we say it served a purpose. For that to happen, it needs to be complemented by strong policies on various women centric issues like female infanticide, women’s health care, education, etc.
Just how important is it to empower our women socially, educationally and economically can be gauged from the huge gender gaps that continue to persist in socio-economic outcomes. A publication of the United Nation’s Development programme that was released on the International Women’s Day on March 8 presents an acutely embarrassing picture of the shocking levels of gender disparity in the country. It is also a terse reminder of the fact that we have to cover many miles to achieve even minimum gender equality to be at par with most other countries even within the Asian region.
The report emphasises that India has the maximum number of women dying in the Asia-Pacific region because of the discriminatory treatment in access to health and nutrition. The lack of priority given to women in India shows up in the data which reveals that over 120,000 mothers die due to childbirth related problems every year and about 35% of women in India have experienced physical or sexual violence.
It needs no arguing that the women’s empowerment will have a beneficial impact on the conditions of most women in the country but for that men have to shed their parochial mindset and women also have to be aware of their rights. Quotas will fail to realise their intended objective unless women decide to empower themselves. They have to refuse to act as rubber stamps once they are in position of power. There is an urgent need to change our mindset and make a new beginning. The need of the hour is to go beyond legislation to provide equal opportunity and dignity to women beyond gender bias. The bill should aim at bringing in real empowerment. Empowerment through reservation is only a hoax. Only then will the bill be able to bring about the desired change in the society.
The author is a Delhi based journalist |
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