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Women need political power
With half the country?s population not empowered, India cannot hope to be a superpower, writes Kumkum Chadha.
Publicly, major political parties support reservation of seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Privately, however, it is an issue of gender-bias, where men want to keep women out. Despite demands by women, before every Parliament session, for the passage of a reservation Bill, nothing has happened.
Women across the political spectrum agree that the key to their empowerment is political. Unless that happens, the state and status of women in India would remain dismal. And with half the country’s population not empowered, India cannot hope to be a superpower.
Sushma Swaraj of the BJP says, “If a child is good in Maths but does not know Hindi, you cannot call him bright. His development will be lopsided and he will fail in class. Similarly, if India is progressing in some sectors like IT, it does not mean it is on the anvil of being a superpower. It has to show progress in all areas to get there. Without empowering women no country can hope to achieve anything. Empowerment does not mean an awareness of one’s rights but a stake in decision-making. In the absence of political empowerment, women’s empowerment is academic.”
Men’s mindset needs to change
Despite being a political adversary, the CPM’s Brinda Karat agrees. “Women’s empowerment,” she says, “is a barometer of how much we are advancing in real terms. Addressing women’s issues will reap political dividends and the sooner politicians realise this, the better.”
Blaming men for the inequality, Karat says that economically, women are a huge production source: “Men do not wish to see women beyond the four walls of the house. The mindset that women are not career-oriented calls for a change. Unless we get rid of this, progress will remain a question mark.” Karat sees the key to progress in an equal division of resources, and the “affirmative action” of reserving one-third legislative seats from women.
India needs an HR strategy
Ranjana Kumari, director at the Centre for Social Research, says India needs a human resources strategy. With a major population chunk of girls out of school, India is way behind developed nations. “A pre-condition to development is education and till we are able to meet that challenge, the pace towards being a superpower will be slow,” she says, adding that domestic violence and health security are key concerns. “With one in every five women dying during childbirth, being a mother is riskier than being HIV positive,” she points out.
Like many others, Krishna Tirath, chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on women’s empowerment, is optimistic. She sees a “phase-wise development” of women empowerment and says that seat reservation in local bodies is a commendable step. “In the first phase, women were puppets and men ruled by proxy. But the second time around things changed and we found women coming out on their own. Once there are reservations in Parliament, we will be able to progress,” she says. She said India is on the “superpower road” and is “unstoppable”. Women, she concluded, will only give the “right push”.
