HVK Archives: Re: Why feminise corruption?
Re: Why feminise corruption? - The Indian Express
Madhu Kishwar
()
4 October 1996
Title : Why feminise corruption?
Author : Madhu Kishwar
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : October 4, 1996
Most countries have failed to give due space and repre-
sentation to women in their political institutions. But
in the case of India, the problem is more serious because
while in other countries women are inching forward bit by
bit, in our country the participation of women in polit-
ics is actually declining. There were many more out-
standing women leaders and workers in the Congress during
the freedom movement than are present today in all the
parties put together. In most of the State legislatures
the percentage of women representatives has actually been
declining since Independence. In the Lok Sabha, the
highest ever percentage of women was 7.9 per cent.
Therefore, some corrective measures are urgently required
to deal with this serious flaw in our representative
system. However, the recently-proposed Bill for reserv-
ing 33 per cent seats for women in legislatures may not
be the best way of redressing the gender imbalance for
the following reasons.
According to information provided by the National Commis-
sion for Women, the reserved constituencies are likely to
be determined through a draw of lots as is already being
done in panchayats and zilla parishads in most States.
This will mean at every election a new set of constituen-
cies will be declared as reserved for women.
This unpredictable rotation will result in women candi-
dates becoming even more dependent on their respective
parties, rather than working in their own constituencies
to help them win elections. Women will have to make do
with whichever constituencies are declared reserved
rather than pick those where they have established roots
and credibility and male candidates will be ejected from
those constituencies even if they have nursed them well
for years. Thus after being elected with the support of
a particular area, there will be no incentive to respon-
sibly serve that constituency because if in the next draw
of lots that constituency is de-reserved, these women
will have to shift elsewhere for the next election. This
will make our MPs and MLAs even less accountable than
they are at present.
The present Bill freezes the quota at 33 per cent for
perpetuity with no provision for automatic review and
enhancement. Even though there is no law to prohibit
women from standing from general constituencies, they
will inevitably be confined to reserved seats. It is
highly unlikely that political parties would be willing
to field any additional women candidates after the ear-
marking of special women's constituencies. This will
freeze, their representation indefinitely at 33 per cent.
The logic of a reserved constituency is to ghettoise
women even though in this case, the size of the zenana
dabba is not too small. Women will be forever pitched
against other women in electoral battles and denied the
opportunity to prove themselves equal to or better than
men.
At present our political parties are dominated by anti-
social elements and very few women dare or wish to join
them just as most decent men feel marginalised in polit-
ics. With such few women active in leadership and deci-
sion-making roles in various parties, powerful male
politicians are likely to fill the quota by fielding
their wives and daughters.
Many argue that if sons and nephews can benefit from
family connections, why not daughters and wives? If such
useless men, members of mafia and criminal groups, can be
selected to represent us in Parliament and State Assem-
blies, why do we put such high demands on women? This is
indeed a reasonable argument. But I for one do not feel
inspired to fight for the feminisation of corruption in
the name of women's equality.
At the panchayat level, biwi brigades can still serve the
useful purpose of getting men used to including women in
village debate and decision-making, even if the women are
totally lacking in political experience. But the pres-
ence of such proxy figures in Parliament and State Assem-
blies is not only counter-productive, it is actually
harmful. The tasks expected of a panchayat or corpora-
tion member are relatively simple, often concerned with
organising civic amenities in the locality with which
most villagers have close familiarity. Therefore, a woman
who may initially enter village politics as someone's
wife does not necessarily require much time to become a
fully functioning panchayat leader. However, skills
required for being an effective member of a State Assem-
bly or Parliament, presuppose political socialisation and
training through exposure to mass politics and legisla-
tive complexities. This cannot take place smoothly when
women members remain filially attached and politically
dependent on male party leaders. Reproduction of kinship
groups through biwi-beti brigades within caste-based
parties in Parliament and state legislatures are likely
to further contribute to the breakdown of our party
system and representative democracy.
Here is an alternative proposal for increasing women's
representation: a) Enhancement of women's quota to 50 per
cent at the panchayat and the zilla parishad level to
match their actual population size. This will make their
presence more meaningful than their present one-third
minority status. At the panchayat level, the draw of
lots system creates no serious problem as it does at
higher levels.
b) Political parties should be compelled to give at least
one-third, representation to women in all party decision-
making bodies as also in allocating tickets for all
elections through amending the Representation of People
Act. This ought to be enhanced to 50 per cent within a
time frame. Parties which fail to give such representa-
tion could be derecognised. Scandinavian countries and
even Germany have already implemented such quotas leading
to dramatic and continuing increase in women's represen-
tation. However, in these countries various parties did
it without legislative coercion due to pressure exercised
by the organised women, s movement. It is due to the
absence of a widespread and organised movement in our
country that we have to legally force parties to behave
better towards women.
Such gains have been possible only in those countries
where political parties function with a measure of polit-
ical and financial accountability, where there are genu-
inely functioning democracies and where society is organ-
ised around just and humane norms, as in Scandinavian
countries. It is no coincidence that the proportion of
women has already reached 40 per cent in Swedish Parlia-
ment and is more than half in the local institutions of
governance. In the more macho and violent US, women
constitute 8 per cent of the American Senate, despite a
vibrant women's movement in that country.
The reservation as proposed in India might bring about a
quantitative increase in women's representation. but the
quality of their participation will not improve if the
polity overall remains as venal as it has become. Any
polity in which violence and crime dominate, women as a
group become automatically marginalised - partly out of
choice but largely due to the fact that barring excep-
tions, women cannot effectively compete with men in
gangsterism. Sooner or later they lose out and just as
well.
Back
Top
|
