Gender Equality in India will remain a pipe dream without woman's participation in politics.

Gender Equality in India will remain a pipe dream without woman’s participation in politics

“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

But, in India let the truth be told

This hand is often sold

And the man is invariably in control”

Respected judges ladies and gentlemen,

Gender equality is the position of women in society in terms of rights and obligations in the sociological sense, and their role in relation to men. An added dimension could be the degree of actual control women have over their lives and the extent to which they have access to the decision making process. I believe that although progress has been made towards achieving this goal Gender Equality in India will remain a distant dream. The main reason for this is that women continue to be grossly underrepresented in the political process

In the land of ‘Bharat Matha’ we are faced with the sad plight where our mothers and sisters are not allowed to be a part of the decision making process. But this was not always the case. References from various texts tell us that in the earlier vedic period women actively participated in ‘sabhas’ and ‘samithis’ thus very much being involved in the politics of that time. This is in contrary to the present world scenario where in India ranks 84th in terms of the number of world politicians.

The recent India census 2001 statistics reveal that out of the more than 1 billion people living in India 48.27% are women. The sex ratio statistics show that there are 933 women per thousand males. Common sense will tell us that this situation should be favorable for women. However you will find that the highest number of women in the Lok Sabha at any point of time was 44(out of 542) after the elections of 1984. The numbers have been declining ever since and political parties remain reluctant to field female candidates for election unless they are judges ...

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To prove my point that gender equality can be braught about only with political representation let us draw a comparison between Sweden and India. If you look closely at Sweden a nation where women s rights have been given paramount importance, you will find that women’s participation in legislatures is almost on par with that of the men. 45.3% to be exact,while it is a mere 7.9% in India . As a direct result women in Sweden have a greater role to play in the economy. The global competitiveness report 2001-02 states that Sweden ranks 8th amongst nations in the world in terms of women’s participation in the economy whilst India ranks a dismal 66th. This clearly shows that representation of women in politics has a positive impact on their position in the economy.

Yes, Article 15 of the Indian constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Yes, several legislations have been passed to ensure gender equality. But yet in India a crime against women occurs every seven minutes. A rape occurs every 54 minutes. A sexual harassment occurs every 38 minutes and a dowry death occurs every 102 minutes. These statistics clearly show that social evils have proven to be too deep rooted to be erased by legislation. The one and the only solution is women in politics. Women who can understand the problems of their sex and more importantly women who can ensure that they get what the deserve.

By and large development had by passed our women as the tools of progress were inaccessible to them. The efforts at improving their economic conditions would certainly enhance their status in society but this can be achieved only if more women are at legislative and decision making levels. In this regard the 73rd and the 74th amendments to be crowning achievements as it guaranteed women a minimum 1\3 reservation in all local governing bodies. But however the 84th amendment seeking reservation for women in the legislatures which was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1996 met with vociferous opposition from some of the male MP’s. Thus 8 years down the line it remains a dead letter. I venture as far as to say that if only there were more women MP’s this amendment would have been made a long time ago.

I have often heard my grandmother say “ I wish I were a politician. I would ensure that every woman in this country can walk with her head held high.” But alas by grandmother is nothing but a great visionary. It is up to us as future citizens of this land of Bharat Mata to convert her dream into reality.

Thank you.