It
may still happen. If the Women's Reservation Bill -
which was tabled in the Rajya Sabha yesterday amidst
chaos and disruption - does actually get passed by both
houses of Parliament, it will bring to closure an issue
that has been hanging fire for 14 years in national
politics. It may even be law in time for the next general
elections in the country.
Of course, it will be historic and all that. But will
it actually make a difference to overall empowerment
of ordinary women, and not just those who are able to
get voted into Parliament? Or will it be largely symbolic
in its impact on the conditions of most women in the
country? While the nature of what is unfolding is yet
to be seen, there is no question that this particular
legislation will set in motion a process that may be
hard to reverse. That is why so many feminist activists
and women's groups have stressed this particular law
as a major part of their mobilisation.
Why should it make a difference? After all, we cannot
really claim that thus far all the women who have managed
to achieve a certain position of leadership in national
politics have really differentiated themselves by highlighting
and championing the issues important for women. In fact,
aside from some very inspiring exceptions, many elected
women MPs have not made much of a mark in any major
respect, leave alone the particular concerns of women.
But that is not really an argument, because it is well
known that there is a dynamic that can be set in motion
by sheer numbers. Currently women constitute only 8.2
per cent of MPs, which is lower (around half) than the
proportion of more than twenty years ago. This makes
them a potentially lonely minority, in a context where
raising issues from women's perspective or demanding
that laws and policies be more gender-aware can be an
isolating experience if there is not enough support
from other members.
But when the numbers increase beyond such a small minority,
things tend to change. It has been found in many countries
where women are substantially represented in legislative
bodies (such as in the Nordic countries) that such a
presence increases the likelihood of more gender-sensitive
legislation as well as the culture of the house, empowering
individual women to speak up more and be heard, and
generating many more women leaders who are then taken
seriously across the political spectrum.
This does not simply mean a better deal for the few
women who are able to get elected - it is likely to
translate to a different focus on policies and programmes
that may help the majority of women in the country.
The significant effects of the 73rd and 74th Amendments
on the empowerment of rural women through reservation
of seats in local bodies are still being realised. And
this is likely at the national level as well.
How important and necessary this is may not be so well
understood by those who do not see the huge gender gaps
that continue to persist in socio-economic outcomes,
as well as the gender-blind nature of the design and
implementation of policies. A new publication of the
UNDP, ''Power, Voice and Rights: A turning point for
gender equality in Asia and the Pacific'' (Asia Pacific
Human Development Report 2010) that was released in
Delhi yesterday, provides a timely reminder of how far
we have to travel to achieve even minimum gender equality
or be on par with most other countries even within the
Asian region.
Thus, South Asia (and within that India) ranks much
worse than other parts of the Asia Pacific region (and
close to sub Saharan Africa) in terms of most important
indicators: sheer survival (sex ratios at birth and
missing women); education (literacy, school retention
and higher education enrolment); nutrition and health
(malnutrition, life expectancy and risks of maternal
mortality); employment (work participation, wage gaps);
security and voice (violence against women, political
participation).
This Report is particularly interesting because it highlights
the causes of such divergence and of gender gaps in
general. The factors affecting economic empowerment
are by now well known, such as lack of assets and education,
inadequate access to credit and restricted ability to
work out of the home. What is particularly important
- and has direct relevance for a law that provides quotas
for women as legislators - is the role of legal systems
and their implementation in the empowerment of women.
The Report notes that, because of competing influences
on legal systems in the region, many countries have
ended up with ''contradictory or archaic statutes and
discriminatory practices'' that actively militate against
women.
The barriers for women come from construction of the
laws themselves and shortfalls in their substance (whether
in terms of property and inheritance laws, allowing
divorce on reasonable grounds, protection from violence)
as well as from unequal access of women to the legal
system and other mechanisms for justice.
The Report also notes, correctly, that ''Recognising
that the law cannot claim to be fully impartial is an
important step forward. The law deeply influences development
in different ways and also shapes the outcomes of many
non-legal interventions. The legal process and the law
thus need to be crafted in ways that genuinely advance
gender equality.'' (p. 12).
Given this, the urgency of having more women legislators
who can shape the content of law, as well as redirect
policies to move away from the traditional male breadwinner
model to a more gender-sensitive and inclusive approach,
is obvious. The passing of this Bill will therefore
be a critical step forward not just for women, but for
Indian society in general.
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