India has hardly ever seen a purely women-driven movement where women have been the pioneers of a development and have stood up for a cause all by themselves.
The second decade of 21st century has seen radical changes to the nature of politics and created a volatile global atmosphere. Issues such as climate change, inequality, violence, corruption, economic crisis, political freedom, LGBTQAI rights etc. have been sprouting in all corners of the world. The decade also witnessed an increasing number of women who took to the streets to flag their concerns on various issues. From forming the women’s wall for equality in India to singing anti-rape chants on the streets in Chile, this brand of activism has also delved into issues like protests against totalitarian, corrupt or sectarian governments and objecting to setting up of major infrastructure projects. There has been a shift from merely fighting for women-centric issues of dignity and safety, to broader policy matters.
Like this genre of activism, the landscape of world politics has also seen a paradigm shift with increased number of women in leadership positions. With Finland having the youngest female prime minister in the world, and New Zealand’s sitting prime minister taking maternity leave, the clout of women in politics has effected progressive advancements. As of 1 January 2019, 50 countries have 30 percent or more women parliamentarians. Rwanda, Cuba and Bolivia take the top spots with 61.3 percent, 53.2 percent and 53.1 percent of the seats in the lower house.
India ranks 149 among 191 countries in the global rankings of women in politics. Only about 11.3 percent parliamentarians were women in the 16th Lok Sabha which rose to 14 percent in the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019. This number is well behind the world average. India also ranks last among its neighbours Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. However, India has seen a manifold increase in the number of women entering the political sphere in the form of activism, which is a significant shift from the private spheres of life that they have been hitherto confined to. India in the 19th and 20th century had long been saddled with problems relating to economy, emergency, agrarian crisis, etc. and so the question of women has always been outstripped by these issues of national importance. Now, with relatively stable political and socio-economic conditions in the country, the issues of importance to women are discussed and debated at a large scale. The other reasons could be the increasing awareness that comes directly as an effect of increased access to social media and support from the global community that is walking on the path of “sisterhood.”
While there has been a significant increase in the phenomena of such mass mobilisation among women in this last decade, especially since 2012 after the Nirbhaya episode, a similar movement for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Parliament continues to be missing. In 2021, this 108th Constitutional Amendment will mark 25 years of non-passage of this major push for women’s empowerment.
Historically, the mobilisation of women across the globe in protest of the injustices meted out to them can be traced back to the 20th century when the UN commemorated the efforts of women in North America and Europe who had been successful in claiming their rights. The first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911. But in India, it was only later in 1975 that the government traced the status of women at the request of the UN in a report titled Towards Equality. Even before independence, it was the British and political leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. who advocated for the rights of women. This often meant that reforms were brought to the condition of women according to what men saw as unjust or abrupt. For example, the British did not abolish the practice of Sati because it was inhuman to women but only because they saw men as barbarous. The Chipko movement saw the involvement of women only because the men of the area in which the trees were to be cut happened to be away at the time the lumber company was to cut the trees.
India has hardly ever seen a purely women-driven movement where women have been the pioneers of a development and have stood up for a cause all by themselves. Perhaps it is this absence of an independent movement and non-assertion of their rights that has kept the passage of the bill tossing between political parties. While the proposed reservation in the bill is necessary, it is not enough. Mere increase in the number of women sitting in the parliament without “real empowerment” would make the case of India no different than that of Rwanda, the country with maximum representation of women in parliament. Women there were “allowed” reservation in the parliament as a legislative step and without their mobilisation for real empowerment. Consequently, even after 61.3 percent of Rwandan parliamentarians being women, they could not move the changes in legislations concerning basic issues such as parental leave, which is currently only 12 weeks.
On the other hand is the case of Cuba which ranks second in terms of representation of women in politics but claims to have no quota system as yet. The credit is appended to the “revolution within a revolution,” which is during the Cuban revolution when women collectively vouched for reform and relentlessly worked towards the same.
Therefore, while cases of countries like Rwanda, Brazil, South Africa, Belgium elucidate that quotas are an essential and useful tool to shoot up numbers of women in Parliament, that of Cuba, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, etc. reveal that not only are reform movements important for women to achieve real empowerment, but they also help reform society at the grassroots and change peer attitudes towards women, which is the key to having actual and sustainable decision-making powers.
An analysis reveals that only 5.8 percent of all candidates from the Congress during the 11 general elections since 1977 (excluding by-polls) were women. The corresponding figures for the BJP and JD(S) were 3.8 percent and below 9 percent respectively. This shows the inconsistency in the stance of political parties regarding the presence of women in politics, which is an evidence of the whimsical and “shadowed empowerment” of women.
As long as such shadowed empowerment continues, the freedom or so-called empowerment can either be given away or taken back at the whims of political regimes or societal attitudes. Akin to the strength that women have shown in coming out into the political sphere since 2012, it is important that they continue to feature in public roles but with a cause, motivation and direction of their own. It is important that women do not fall prey to the “illusion” of empowerment created by political parties or fellow members of the society.
Though a considerable number of women stand up for elections in various state legislative assemblies, the percentage of the ones who get elected is frugal. It is important that women be educated on the importance of their presence in decision making processes and are aware of the fellow women who stand up for elections. It is high time that leadership and public service programmes are inculcated in school and university curriculums so that women can “influence” policy matters not just because they have a quota, but because they have the skills and ability to do so.
As former US President Barak Obama said, “If every nation on Earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything ... living standards and outcomes.” It is time that women battle for that change in the country given the shift in the momentum of their mobilisation and take the mantle in the wake of crumbling world affairs.
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