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According to ECI figures, among Goa's 11,10,884 electors, women outnumber men by3 1,460 . But Sadly. Irrespective of a few socio-economic strides, and cultural ethos which at the face of it atleast, project gender parity, Goa's low ranking in terms of representation of women in its 40 member Legislative Assembly -- despite having had a woman chief minister (Shashikala tai Kakodkar served as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu on two occasions) -- is but a sad commentary on equality garanteed by the Constitution of India.
Every political party in the fray ahead of the Feb 14 assembly polls have promised freebies galore keeping the rising number of women in mind. (Note here that the Supreme Court has recently issued a notice to the Election Commission of India and the Centre on the issue of political parties wooing voters with the promise of freebies ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in five states, including Goa. The Supreme Court said the promise of freebies was a 'serious issue'.)
But what the women electors of Goa will need to keep in mind is that these parties have failed to demonstrate the same competitive zeal in picking up women candidates as much as they have done in their promises of cash and goodies for women.
Here, have a look at the sorry state of affairs of political parties on women representation -- The ruling BJP, which speaks endlessly on gender equality has given merely three tickets to women -- ironically Divya (Vishwajit Rane), Janita (Pandurang Madkaikar) and Jennifer (Antanasio alias Babush Monseratte).
The grand old Congress party which credits itself as most inclusive and never stop to talk about its nation wide mission of women empowerment (Cong - Goa Forward combine) has merely two women candidates -- Delilah (Michael Lobo) and Manisha Usgaonkar.
The AAP which is criticised heavily for absence of any vision or mission for women even in Delhi where it is in power, has fielded only three women -- Cecille Rodrigues, a loyal leader of the party, and the rest two -- Alina Saldanha and Pratima Coutinho, who shifted allegiance to AAP after being disgruntled with their parties (BJP and Congress respectively). Sadly, while claiming to be an alternative brand of politics, it has even failed to keep up to its 2017 number (then it had fielded five women candidates) forget even improving on the number despite its existence in the state's political space since 2013.
The new kid on the block in Goa -- All India Trinamool Congress which has a pre poll alliance with the MGP has four women candidates, namely; Kavita (Kiran Kandolkar) who was earlier with GFP, Seoula Vas, Valanka (Churchill Alemao) who was earlier with Congresd and Rakhi Naik who was in Shiv Sena for many years.
However, it is interesting to note that Mamta Banerjee's TMC in Bengal and Biju Patnaik's BJD in Odisha are the only parties in the country that have given 40 percent and 33 per cent reservation (respectively) to women within their parties, thus walking the talk on women representation.
Taking clue, major political parties should importantly note that the political leaderships in Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar have been able to connect with women through sensitive programming, for a long while, much like in Tamil Nadu. This facilitation of a higher role for women and addressing issues of equality, equity and justice has indeed been a sound political investment for these parties. Vice-versa it has propelled them to allocate a larger number of seats to women and reap dividends in terms of their increasing vote share, significantly contributed by women voters.
The two major parties -- the BJP and the INC have failed to make a mark on women representation again this time despite several surveys suggesting that a significant majority of women would like to vote for a woman rather than a man. These and other parties in the fray especially in Goa have once again missed the bus on women representation despite the fact that women constituency is no more dormant but a visibly active segment of the voting population.
Moreover, there is no dearth of women workers on Goa's political landscape but major political parties have regularly sidelined and denied party tickets to women to contest elections. While the failing goes beyond politics to community attitudes -- the women electors should stand up and take note of these parties that promise doles but fail to usher in women-led development through representation.
While no woman candidate in Goa who was denied a ticket did any thing like Kerala's Congress leader Lathika Subhash (who shaved her head in public as a protest after being left off Congress party ticket for state elections held last year), there is a greater need to highlight the much bigger problem -- women’s lack of representation in Goa's politics. And the media will also need ask tough questions to political parties in a bid to draw their attention as well as that of the public, to the vexed issue of mis- representation of women in Goa's politics.
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