| The Constitution guarantees every citizen the fundamental
right to equality. Yet after 50 years of Independence, just one perusal of the female
infant mortality figures, the literacy rates and the employment opportunities for women is
sufficient evidence that discrimination exists. Almost predictably, this gender bias is
evident in our political system as well. In the present Lok Sabha, there are only 43 women
MPs out of a total of 543; it is not a surprising figure, for never has women's
representation in Parliament been more than 10 per cent. Historically, the manifestos of major political parties have always
encouraged women's participation. It has been merely a charade. So women's organisations,
denied a place on merit, opted for the last resort: a reservation of seats for women in
Parliament and state assemblies. Parties, which look at everything with a vote bank in
mind, seemed to endorse this. Alas, this too was a mirage. In 1997, the then prime
minister I.K. Gujral could not even manage to place the Women's Reservation Bill before
Parliament. Last week it was scuttled again.
But as our cover story this week reveals, there's another
dilemma. At a time when caste is the trump card, some politicians want the bill to include
further quotas for women from among minorities and backward castes. There is more to it.
As our team of Senior Editor Sumit Mitra, Special Correspondent Javed M. Ansari and
Principal Correspondent Saba Naqvi Bhaumik spoke to politicians about the chaos that
ensued in Parliament, a general antipathy towards the bill emerged. It was actually a
classic case of doublespeak: in public politicians were endorsing women's reservation but
in the backrooms of Parliament they were busy sabotaging it. As Mitra says, "The
reasons were clear. Men just don't want to vacate their seats of power."
(Aroon Purie) |
