Opinion

When will the tide start to turn? 

During a recent tour of poll bound Karnataka, I was invited to the Learners PU College in Vijayanagar (Mysuru) to chair a round table of women stakeholders gathered to chart citizens agenda for the constituencies of Mysuru. Besides the round table also sought to draft an exclusive manifesto for women. Organised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) under the theme, Women as leaders for change  -- it was perhaps the first of its kind exercise organised by any political party in the state of Karnataka gripped by the high decible campaign of traditional parties; BJP, Congress and JD (S). 

The dialogue -- attended by a number of young women research scholars and notable women leaders from various streams of activities; Shanthala Damle (political leader), Usha Sampath Kumar (educationist), Rameshwari (social thinker),  Nanda Halemane (social reformer), Prof. Indira (HOD women studies, Mysore University), Rati Rao (human rights' activist), Malavika Gubbivani (sotware professional fielded by AAP in Chamaraja constituency), to name a few -- was to me a kind of spiritual epiphany as it sought to debate the vexed issue of lack of women in politics. 

Besides sanitation, alcoholism, lack of education & health facilities and a host of women related issues, the discussion basically revolved around Articles 325 and 326 of the Indian Constitution (which guarantees political equality to men and women) vis-a-vis the male dominated politics of Karnataka. It should be noted that Karnataka has never had a woman chief minister, deputy chief minister, or home minister, interestingly none of the state units of the parties have had a woman president either. In fact, the situation for women some fifty years ago was much better when 18 women figured in the Karnataka Assembly formed in 1962 while there were 13 women in the first ever Assembly formed in the state. 

Even as the round table begun, it was clear to me that participants were convinced of the fact that engaging in politics matters to women. They were convinced that understanding of the role of  government and knowing the ideologies of political parties as voters is important and were largely aware of the fact that political parties formulate policies and set governance agendas and are therefore strategically placed to address the concerns of women. Even as participants debated at lenght on how the women’s reservation bill has been a political raw nerve for nearly two decades now and how Indian politics is still dominated by men who question the potential and capability of women, the round table hoped that dominant political parties in the fray with promises of female empowerment would go beyond tokenism or symbolism in the name of women empowerment by giving more tickets to women in the May 12, 2018 assembly elections. 

A week after, as the nomination figures started emerging, this hope shrinked. Out of 2655 candidates in fray, male candidates comprise a total of 2436 while women are at a dismal number of 219 -- less than 9 percent of the total candidates in the 224 member Karnataka Assembly. The figures of women fielded as candidates by the three dominant parties; BJP, Congress and JD(S) are abysmal; 18 out of the 224 candidates fielded by BJP, 16 out of 222 candidates fielded by Congress and the 14 out of the 201 fielded by JD(S) are women. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has given tickets to two women out of the total 28 seats it is contesting. Among the 1155 independents contesting the assembly elections, some 80 are women while those of the 772 candidates fielded by other parties, some 91 are women. This despite the statistics of women voters going up by a significant 13 per cent this year compared to previous assembly elections. According to the Election Commission, the number of women voters has increased to 2.44 crore now, or about 49% of Karnataka’s 4.96 crore voters. 

While women continue to get a raw deal, in stark contrast, candidates charged with serious criminal cases seem to get a better deal. As per Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, 48 candidates of Congress, 30 of BJP and 17 of JD(S) have serious criminal charges. Notably, the offences under which they are booked include 'crimes against women'. More disgustingly, the recent slew of sexual assaults on women, especially minors, and the outrage across the country, continue to be used to score political points by these very parties in the run-up to the elections. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned politicisation of rapes while addressing the Indian diaspora in UK, his party's election advertisment raked a controversy as it read, “Rapes, Murders & Lawlessness, An Insensitive Karnataka Government.” This despite the PM saying, "Rape is a rape and cannot be compared to the number of cases in different governments." So evidently, while the BJP and the Congress has used rapes as election handle, the dismal number of female candidates is a telling tale of gender discrimination. What more? BJP was the first to raise the issue of women’s reservation bill in Parliament, but still resists in giving tickets to female candidates. 

So is reservation the only way to turn the tide of gender politics in the country? Gender equality in Parliament/Assembly would empower women in general, because a stronger women’s voice at the top would have a trickle-down effect, leading to the development of policies and laws that would help women at the grassroots level fight abuse, discrimination and inequality. While arguments opposing the Women's Reservation Bill are many, the only note-worthy argument is that whether this reservation should be preceded by reservations in the number of tickets given to women within each political party. Therefore, it is imperative that until the Bill is passed by Parliament, there is a lot that political parties can do to ensure proportional representation for women. AAP's national secretary Pankaj Gupta concurs that the number of women running for office is currently abysmally low and agrees that the environment is not conducive for women to take active participation. 

Speaking for his party, he informs, "AAP has consistently tried to maximise the representation given to women so as to encourage more and more women to participate. We have tried to persuade that the real ability to make a difference comes from being involved in politics and solving the issues plaguing women by bringing up solutions thorugh political means," He further adds that AAP seeks to make women’s political participation one of its foremost priorities. "Through our women frontal, we aim to devise strategies to build political leadership among women and foster gender equality in politics. All this because, AAP as a political party, believes that democracy can survive and thrive only if women take equal responsibility in development of the nation," says the leader who is also incharge of the states of Goa, Maharashtra & Karnataka. 

AAP has fielded two women candidates; retired IAS officer Renuka Vishwanathan in Shantinagar (Bengaluru district) and software professional Malavika Gubbivani in Chamaraja (Mysuru district). AAP Karnataka co-convener Shanthala Damle reveals that though the party wanted to field more women, it did not want to take short cuts like other parties do by simply fielding a daughter, wife or relative of a male member of the party. "We want to find more potential women leaders  while strengthening our women wing over the next few months. More than 5000 wards in urban local bodies across the state are going to polls within a few months. 50 percent of these wards are reserved for women. We expect a 1000 women leaders to emerge through our efforts in these elections," she informs.  

So for the tide to turn, like the AAP, all political parties will have to increase the participation and effectiveness of women in political life by stimulating dialogues, create knowledge, and share experiences. While it is important for political parties to create the environment that will make women feel welcome and respected, nonetheless, there is also a certain amount of individual responsibility on women to join politics. Undeniably, though education serves to foster all-round development of women which is a vital element for building a just society, the need for political empowerment of women through a policy of reservations seems immense.