Women's Reservation Bill: Imperfect Yet Perfect
How will the decision making, work of Parliament and policies of Government change? The answer to this dilemma is contingent upon how this act operates with the work of more women in Parliament.
THE JUBILANT mood amongst Indian women is evident when we deliberate the women issues in India as a historic attempt was made to redress the decade’s history of gender injustice with the Rajya Sabha passing the Women’s reservation Bill by a 186 to1 majority, which seeks to grant 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Irrespective of the threats of withdrawal of support by Samajwadi Party and RJD and unruly scenes disrespecting the chair of the upper house of Parliament, on the landmark day of March 8, when the world over, there was celebration of a centenary year of International Women’s day, we all witnessed making of history in Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010.
A layman's perception has always been that women are too fragile or less sensible to understand the peculiarities of Politics, then how will this reservation help them? A note of clarification is needed here that Politics is an art of decision making, the art of turning impossible to possible. By their sheer patience, perseverance and nurturing nature, women are the foremost human creatures, who right from the domestic walls to corporate houses to bright screens, they are pervasive to decision making and politics thereof. This reservation will be like a new reality show for women to prove their mettle.
How will the decision making, work of Parliament and policies of Government change? The answer to this dilemma is contingent upon how this act operates with the work of more women in Parliament. However it can be argued that the participation of women in Parliament from all walks of life will ensure better working of the house, learning from each other’s diversity and problems.
The past few weeks in Lok Sabha also put forward the new gimmicks of Politics in India. Sonia Gandhi’s image as an astute politician came forward where she could manoeuvre a consensus across party lines to introduce the bill. It was remarkable to see the synchronised effort by the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh where he firmly stood by her decision to go forward. It was reminiscent of quid-pro-quo when the Prime Minister was adamant for the Nuclear Deal in UPA I and the UPA chairperson used all her force to get him the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. This time in UPA II, it was the other way round, where the Prime Minister moved between several rounds of meetings to ensure that the Congress Party President gets it all her way to fulfil Rajiv Gandhi’s dream.
It is argued that the bill will prove detrimental to the interest of several MPs who have been nurturing their constituency since decades as they never know when on rotational basis, it goes away from them. There will be political instability with the fact that there are serious voices of dissent against the bill from all parties where the Party whip is being used to prevent Sonia Gandhi a la Congress, to walk away with all the gains. In the present multi-party coalition era, a thought needs to be paid as to how will the State legislatures, which are under non-Congress domain, enact the legislation?
With states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu set for state legislative assembly elections next year, the UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK have their own worries to be factored in, which the Government of the day cannot neglect. In trying to fight along these several constituents, there are fears that the bill which has good intentional intent yet deep structural flaws might prove detrimental to the very issue of women empowerment itself.
There is also no certain guarantee that it will ensure empowerment of women in the actual sense eg: there are so many SC/ST- MPs in Lok Sabha, who have been beneficiary of reservation since years, but how many of them have actually spoken up in unison when any SC/ST issue arises? Will the women MPs be brave enough, if situation arises, to keep interest of woman over their political party interest?
Good things in life come in small packages!
Yet these lacunae cannot blind us to the fact that a commendable job has been done to redress part of gender injustice. The onus lies on women to use it to rise up and take up cudgels to use it to her benefit. It will usher a new ray of hope for political existence for women. So let every Indian woman take pride in this small package.
How will the decision making, work of Parliament and policies of Government change? The answer to this dilemma is contingent upon how this act operates with the work of more women in Parliament. However it can be argued that the participation of women in Parliament from all walks of life will ensure better working of the house, learning from each other’s diversity and problems.
The past few weeks in Lok Sabha also put forward the new gimmicks of Politics in India. Sonia Gandhi’s image as an astute politician came forward where she could manoeuvre a consensus across party lines to introduce the bill. It was remarkable to see the synchronised effort by the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh where he firmly stood by her decision to go forward. It was reminiscent of quid-pro-quo when the Prime Minister was adamant for the Nuclear Deal in UPA I and the UPA chairperson used all her force to get him the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. This time in UPA II, it was the other way round, where the Prime Minister moved between several rounds of meetings to ensure that the Congress Party President gets it all her way to fulfil Rajiv Gandhi’s dream.
It is argued that the bill will prove detrimental to the interest of several MPs who have been nurturing their constituency since decades as they never know when on rotational basis, it goes away from them. There will be political instability with the fact that there are serious voices of dissent against the bill from all parties where the Party whip is being used to prevent Sonia Gandhi a la Congress, to walk away with all the gains. In the present multi-party coalition era, a thought needs to be paid as to how will the State legislatures, which are under non-Congress domain, enact the legislation?
With states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu set for state legislative assembly elections next year, the UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK have their own worries to be factored in, which the Government of the day cannot neglect. In trying to fight along these several constituents, there are fears that the bill which has good intentional intent yet deep structural flaws might prove detrimental to the very issue of women empowerment itself.
There is also no certain guarantee that it will ensure empowerment of women in the actual sense eg: there are so many SC/ST- MPs in Lok Sabha, who have been beneficiary of reservation since years, but how many of them have actually spoken up in unison when any SC/ST issue arises? Will the women MPs be brave enough, if situation arises, to keep interest of woman over their political party interest?
Good things in life come in small packages!
Yet these lacunae cannot blind us to the fact that a commendable job has been done to redress part of gender injustice. The onus lies on women to use it to rise up and take up cudgels to use it to her benefit. It will usher a new ray of hope for political existence for women. So let every Indian woman take pride in this small package.
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