More power to women
By abhay mokashi
The decision of Congress to give 40 per cent of the tickets to women, for the ensuing Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections should be welcomed by all those believing in democracy and in empowerment of women.
The announcement of giving 40 per cent tickets to women was made today by All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi. While the announcement is a great step towards getting more women to play a major role in politics, it is hoped that the Congress will stick to its decision. Gandhi announced that the decision was taken by the party to empower women and to tackle women related issues. Since it is a party decision, it will not be able to backtrack on it, as it would damage the political image of the party.
As expected, almost all political parties flayed the announcement by Congress. The criticism came through the spokespersons of various political parties during television debates and they looked at it as a political stunt or asked the Congress spokespersons why it was not done earlier or why it is being done only in Uttar Pradesh and so on. Gandhi had made it clear at the media conference, where she made the announcement, that as the AICC General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, she had insisted on giving at least 40 per cent tickets to women.
It is a matter of concern that no political party in the country has given proportionate tickets to women, not just for elections to Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies of state, but also to local bodies.
In male dominated politics, political parties merely look out for women’s votes and do not wish to give them a share of power. Even when women are elected to various bodies, very few get to play important roles. For example, in Uttar Pradesh, there is not a single woman minister.
The Congress, various political parties claiming to be socialist and various Communist parties in the country have also failed to give proportionate representation to women, when it came to distribution of tickets. Congress has to be credited for giving the party’s command to women, giving India a woman Prime Minister, a woman President, first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha and woman Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, among other roles.
Very few political parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazgaham (AIADMK) have given the party leadership to a woman.
It is a matter of shame that of the 4896 Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies in the country today, there are only 418 women, which is only nine per cent of these members.
In the current Lok Sabha, which is the 17th, there are only 78 women, which is 14.3 per cent of the strength and in the Rajya Sabha there are 29 women among 237 members. The United States of America 32 per cent law makers and Bangladesh has 21 per cent.
According to Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organisation of parliaments, India ranked 148 among 190 parliaments in the world, on percentage of women parliamentarians, as on February 1, 2019. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party always loves to show how India has performed better than Pakistan, it must be mentioned that Pakistan ranks 100th and Bangladesh 95th in the IPU ranking.
The low representation of women in legislative bodies in India, cannot be blamed only on the political parties, even the voters do not always accept women candidates and this mindset has to change and that can happen when all the contesting political parties get more women to contest various elections.
The Congress has nothing to lose by taking this decision, as its electoral performance in Uttar Pradesh in the past few elections has been very bad. As such, the party is bound to benefit by putting more women in the fray and its performance will improve, not merely by putting up more women candidates, but also due to the various women related issues the party has started speaking about.
This stand by the Congress, is likely to force other parties to at least give more women candidates, even if the parties do not match the Congress figure. This is going to be a good step towards women’s empowerment.