THE DATA ABOUT POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN GATHERED AT ONE PLACE, ENJOY IT

RESERVATION OF WOMEN IN LEGISLATION IN THE CONTRAST OF 108^TH CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT (WOMEN RESERVATION)

 “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”- Kofi Annan

In a bid to extend political participation of women 108^th constitution amendment (women reservation) bill was proposed in 2008. Highlights of the bill are as following:

1.     It seeks to reverse 1/3^rd of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

2.     One-third of the total number of seats reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

3.     Reservation of seats for women shall lease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this amendment act.

It is quite normal that many a time it is unforeseeable the requisiteness of every aspect but it is also true that our legislators have not been successful to foresee even basic needs of women. Affirmative action to improve the condition of women has become a necessity. So was the intent of the proposed bill which is once again in a boiling pot.

For women there are no developed countries. Although some places are clearly better for them to live in than others. Yet women are biologically stronger live longer than man and naturally outnumber them. Nowhere do women have full equal rights with men. While women represent more than half of the world’s population, they nowhere share the same rights as men.

The well United Nations quote from 1980 is still relevant “women constitute half of the world’s population, perform nearly two-thirds of its work hours, receive one-tenth of the world’s income and own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property .

An outlook of women’s political participation-

Only 24.3 % of all national parliamentarians were women as the February 2019, a slow increase from 11.3% in 1995. Rwanda has the highest number of women parliamentarians worldwide, where women have won 61.3% of seats in the lower house. A lot variation can be seen in the average percentage of women parliamentarians in each region. A few data of the ratio of women in legislation:  as of February 2019- Europe excluding Nordics countries (27.2%) including Nordics countries (28.6%), Nordic countries (42.5%), Americas (30.6%), Asia (19.8%), Sub-Saharan Africa (23.9%), Arab states (19%), Pacific (16.3%).

In a country like India with around 49% of women in the population, the political participation of women has been significantly low. Since India has got independence, the country has seen only one female prime minister and one female president. Out of 31 states/UTs (consider before August 5, 2019) 18 states in India have never had a female chief minister.

In the general elections one after another, women’s voting percentage is growing. This time it has outnumbered men’s voting percentage. This fact shows the importance of women in politics and craves for more participation. It should be not only as an elector but also as elected.

In the 17^th Lok Sabha election total of 78 MPs have been elected across the country. 46 out of 78 women representatives are first time elected, this is indeed good news in the meantime.

Political participation includes not only having the right to vote, but also include having political consciousness, decision-making abilities and contesting for elections. The major challenges are sexual abuse and discrimination. The second level problems of the economy keep women at disadvantage. This result in other people making their decisions for them major challenge is illiteracy. Most women in India are unaware about their rights and laws. They are aware about the problems of an economy at micro level, which adds to their resourcefulness and skills but having little knowledge about the macro and thus even though women vote, their decision is widely dominated by the male population.

73^rd and 74^th constitutional amendments that provided 1/3^rd seats to be reserved at grassroots level have fructified well. This has become global example. UN describes this as a cue for the rest of the world to learn. The research discovered that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62% higher than in those than in those man led councils.

State of women in India - Provisioning reservation of women in legislatures is pumping up them their willingness to participate in decision making. It is well known that strengthening a woman influences many dimensions in affirmative way. Mere filling the gender gap is not a concern the pathetic condition of women is heartening and deeply saddening. Plethora of ideals have been set but the responsibility to incarnate it into the ground level is embodied to the men. There seems lack of willpower in men regarding these issues. Some pervasive conceptions borne by the society are outlined in these facts (a) very few women seek medical care while pregnant because it is thought of as a temporary condition. A new baby girl would only be breastfed for a short period of time, barely supplying her with the nutrients she needs. (b) Only after the males are finished eating, can the female eat. (c) Even though the constitution guarantees free primary schooling to everyone up to 14 years of age a huge number of girls have never been in the school.

“Gender equality is precondition to overcoming starvation, poverty, and epidemics.”- Khalid Malik

Existing huge difference in formal employment between women and men has worsened the women’s status. Studies have discovered that in informal work sector women are far greater in number and productivity than those of men. This scenario has been unchanged up till now. If someone asks, “What has been done for the empowerment of women?” The answer would be, “A lot.” But without political participation of women, the cost of the Indian economy pays can never be rectified.  Political participation consists freedom to speak out, assemble and associate, the ability to take part in the conduct of public affairs, and opportunity to register as a candidate to campaign, to be elected and to hold to the office at all levels of government. But it’s hard for women to exercise these rights. Politics has traditionally been a male domain that many women have found unwelcoming or even hostile. Unfavorable cultural predilections, paucity of financial resources, lower levels of education, less access to information, greater family responsibilities and deprivation of rights have left them with fewer opportunities to acquire political experiences. With the exception of close relatives of male politicians, women generally lack the political networks necessary for electoral success.

Even Britain provided electoral suffrage for women in 1917 on the basis of education and qualification. This evolution is happening since then. The idea of reservation was mooted a long while ago but could be implemented in 1993. Providing 1/3^rd seats to be reserved for women in local elections set a benchmark step. A much-upgraded version seen in 2008 when women’s reservation bill passed in Rajya Sabha. Unluckily it could not be passed in Lok Sabha. Pre to the general election 2019, BJD declared a 33% reservation. TMC declared 41% of tickets to be allocated to women. These were indeed unwelcoming steps. According to panchayati raj ministry, 19 states including Bihar and Odisha have increased the reservation from 33% to 50% for the local election. Currently 100% of elected members in kodassery panchayat in Kerala are women.

Women of SCs and STs Community faces a double whammy. First of all, they belong to a downtrodden section additionally they have to pay the cost of being born as women. One-third reservation with in the reserve seats for SCs and STs tries to make a stride addressing the above concern.

The deteriorating condition of India’s work force-

According to new data India’s female labor force participation rate has fallen to a historic low of 23.3% in 2017-18. Meaning that over three out of four women over the age of 15 in India are neither working nor seeking work. Only nine countries have lower-level female participation rates than India. If we go through only f the reports of NCRB or lancet, we find how in every sphere of life women are bearing the tyrannies. National family surveys data is alarming about the threat of undernourishment women are facing. Even here between both the statistics, there is a gap of number of suicide done by women. The reason being outlined is, experts say NCRB has undertaken only the cases where FIRs have been registered. Lancet claims more number of suicides have been done by women. Certainly there is a political weakness that makes FIR not being registered.

Thus from above points it is clear that empowering women has become need of the hour not only for the welfare of women themselves but also for the development of the human civilization as a whole. Stalled reservation bill has been openly argued in favor and against as well.

Opponents argue that it would perpetuate the unequal status of women since they would not perceived to be competing on merit. Reservation of seats in parliament restricts choice of voters to woman candidates. Therefore some experts have suggested alternate methods such as reservation in political parties and dual member constituencies. Another suggestion has been given that the onus of balance of gender participation be carried by political parties rather enshrined mandatory laws. Proponents of policy of reservation state that although equality of sexes is enshrined in the constitution but it is not the reality. Therefore vigorous affirmative action is required to improve the condition of women. There is evidence that political reservation has increased redistribution of resources in favor of the groups which benefit from the reservation. A study of Panchayati Raj reveals that a sizeable proportion of women representatives perceive enhancement in their self-steam, confidence and decision-making ability.

Advantages of reservation of political parties-

·        No guarantee that a significant number of women would get elected.

·        Political parties may assign women candidates to constituencies where they are weak.

·        Might lead to resentment if a woman is accommodated to the disadvantage of a strong male candidates.

Advantage of reservation in dual member constituencies-

·        Does not decrease the democratic choice for voters

·        Does discriminate against male candidates

·        Might make it easier for members to nurture constituencies whose average size is about 2 million people.

Disadvantage of reservation in dual member constituencies-

·        Sitting member may have to share their political base.

·        Women may become secondary person or odd ones.

·        To fill criteria of 33% woman, half of the seats need to be dual constituencies. This would increase the total number of MPs by 50%, which will make deliberation in parliament more difficult.

Whatever are the challenges it cannot be denied that “Equal representation in power is a fundamental precondition to truly effective and accountable democracy.”

The sorry state of women in India’s executive Government and parliament is highlighted by India’s ranking of 148^th in inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN women report 2017. Of the 8 SAARC nations, India ranks ignominious at 5^th falling behind Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh. ( Lok Sabha election 2014 is considered).

Reservation is meant to ensure that the ideal of “Equal opportunity” is not a mirage for persons sub-ordinated by social structures such as caste, gender, race etc. There can be no two opinions that women have been witness to such social subjugation over a long period of time and continue to be to date in myriad ways.