Reservations for Women

Scheme of the essay

Exposition: There are many hurdles in passing the 81 Amendment to the Constitution

Climax:

1. Reservation for women in parliament is blocked by funding excuses.
2. Moral issues are ignored
3. Powerful women have never been able to influence the party bosses.
4. Upper-class women can socially, dominate

Ending: An impasse is created due to some reasons.

To be politically correct or to commit political suicide is the choice the male political class believes it is facing. The womenfolk in politics who eagerly await the 81st Constitutional Amendment so that 33 percent of the seats are reserved for them to fight elections have a much tougher challenge awaiting them. No victorious euphoria should follow if at all it is passed because the pitfalls are many, given the nature of our society and the latent as well as palpable hostility towards women’s participation in the power structures of public life But while women are fighting to be a part of the political mainstream, they forget that they are a part of the social mainstream, and therefore not all are a homogeneous, virtuous equation, humane grouping recognisable as the female gender The basis of the women’s argument for equal opportunity I to counter patriarchy and through gender equity bring a better sense of justice within humankind. If patriarchy is exploitative and dominating women must necessarily not be so. But, in some circumstances, aren’t they? Women’s entry into power structures must be accompanied by none of the “male baggage or else it will not make any contribution to the betterment of society as a whole.

The ostensible reason for the holding up of the Women’s reservation in Parliament has been on the point of reservation within the thirty-three percent for other backward classes (OBCs). To many, it appears as an excuse to block the Bill per se. What cannot be glossed over is the fact that while the Mandal factor is still very powerful in various spheres in all parties most political women with any sort of clout or profile are from the upper castes. In all their years of public life, how many of them have brought OBC women to the fore? For all their genuine commitment to the empowerment of the OBCs, minorities, and SC, STS have people like Ahilya Rangnekaar, Gita Mukerji, Pramila Dandavate, Mrinal Gore, Sushma Swaraj, brought to the forefront anyone from those categories? While it has not been easy for any of these women to gain recognition without a struggle, are they not all from the upper castes? Is this a coincidence? It may not be deliberate but it is a manifestation of whom our society empowers and provides opportunities in order to be educated, articulate, bold, alert, and confident. The OBC males who have fought their battles for reservations in jobs see the phalanx of women demanding political space as having upper caste names and personas, even if the women only see themselves as representatives of women, the exploited gender.

“Powerful” women have never been able to influence their party bosses to give more tickets to women members. It is an important and major challenge for these women to ensure that, when and if the Bill is passed, even without reservations for OBCs, tickets are given to the backward categories and minorities, and having done so, they are able to ensure that the incumbents do not initiate but genuinely pursue an agenda to change the nature of our polity. This is no easy task when gender solidarity takes precedence over moral issues. This can be seen in the resounding silence of the women members over Mrs Kanti Singh’s (the MP from Bihar) election results which shows a transfer of votes from her opponent to her total by the officials in the counting hall. Can women change the criminalization of politics if they avail of male support in rigging, booth capturing, result tampering, and other such male bastions of electoral activity? The coal mafia creams off Rs 10 crore a day. Have they been helped or hindered by Mrs. Kanti Singh who holds independent charge of the Coal Ministry today? School teachers of Coal India Limited with their wives and children have shivered through three winters in Delhi on dharna at Jantar Mantar but the redressal of their grievances against corrupt and well entrenched vested interests has come to a grinding halt outside Mrs Singh’s doorstep.

There is no denying that upper caste women can socially dominate and exploit both men and women of the under classes or castes. Do not upper caste torture or harass their maid servants? Torture of male and female domestic servants by their employers of other genders is not uncommon. Poor underclass men in rural areas do not dare approach upper castes women as equals. So, while women of all caste (except perhaps the tribals) are dominated by the males of caste and a patriarchal society in general, they are not above displaying the strength of the caste hierarchy in other circumstances. Amongst all the names of those who have been lobbying hard for the passing of the Bill, why has no newspaper mentioned the name of Smt. Bhagwati Devi, an OBC MP from Bihar who is illiterate till today?

It is an interesting phenomenon that a male disciple, sycophant, sidekick or drummer boy for a male leader is termed an associate, colleague or, at worst, a protege. However, a woman colleague generally becomes the victim of sexist nomenclature like mistress, girlfriend or companion. One wonders whether Gandhiji’s constant reference to celibacy and self-discipline was his public way of protecting the reputations of the women who entered the political arena because of his influence and spent considerable time by his side.

A poser to those who raise the OBC issue: why could the Bill not have been passed as it was after an open debate in the first instance, with the consensus that a Constitutional amendment would be brought before the House subsequently reserving seats in parliament for OBCs as a whole, including both men and women? And a poser to those who want is passed right away: If agreeing to OBC reservations would ensure swift passage why could they not have agreed to it? Both sides seem to have contributed equally to the present impasse.