India moves forward on the highway to women\’s empowerment

Empowerment for women from grassroots upwards to make them equal partners in the country\’s progress and prosperity. That is the vision for the India of tomorrow with a process that started with reserving 33 percent seats for women in village bodies seeing fruition in a bill giving women one-third representation in the national parliament and state legislatures.

The historic women\’s reservation bill, giving women 33 percent quota in the highest echelons of political power, the state legislatures and the Lok Sabha, was cleared by the upper house, Rajya Sabha, on March 9 - crossing the biggest hurdle in the road towards political empowerment for women in the world\’s largest democracy.

Only the last step remains - of the Lok Sabha endorsing the much-debated constitutional amendment. At this point, women constitute nine percent of the Lok Sabha, 10 percent of the Rajya Sabha and only seven percent of state legislative assemblies.

Correcting the anomaly saw the blurring of many lines with both the right and the left - the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist parties - joining hands with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh\’s government to challenge the conservative forces fighting the move.

The bill, well on its way to becoming law, is only the logical culmination of a step taken 18 years ago in 1992 when India moved to empower its rural women through a constitutional amendment reserving a third of seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions - the bedrock of political power at the village level with a village panchayat (local body), an intermediate panchayat and a district panchayat.

The Indian parliament passed the amendment, bringing about irrevocable change in the lives of over one million women in India\’s many villages and changing the gender dynamics of political life.

Jagrani Devi, who heads the panchayat in her village in Hamirpur in India\’s sprawling Uttar Pradesh state, the country\’s most populous, is an example of how decades of stereotype can be broken as women enter the mainstream of political life. And, how the building blocks of empowerment are laid.

According to Jagrani, women were the main source of her power and inspiration and she was now helping others like her to step out of the confining walls of their homes.

\”I have tried to organise women so that they are able to face all the difficulties and problems jointly and boldly. I have made attempts to motivate and encourage them, to come out of the four walls of their homes and take initiatives,\” she said in an interview.

It is a continuing process. From the 73rd constitutional amendment, which ushered in change at the rural level, to the 108th, India is well on its way to change.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008, popularly known as the women\’s reservation bill, is the culmination of a 13-year perilous political struggle to give women adequate representation.

According to the bill, introduced in 1996, the reserved seats would be allotted by rotation to different constituencies and would be valid for 15 years after the commencement of the Amendment Act.

As the Rajya Sabha endorsed the flagship legislation - not on International Women\’s Day as the government had hoped but a day later - the normally taciturn Manmohan Singh hailed it as a \”historic step forward\” towards \”strengthening the process of emancipation\” of Indian women.

Both he and ruling United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi had staked the government\’s future on the passage of the bill.

\”Our women faced discrimination at home, there is domestic violence, they face discrimination in equal access to education, healthcare, there are all these things. All these things have to end if India were to realise its full potential,\” he added on an emotive note.

This was the one issue that went beyond politics, a reflection of emerging women power in a rapidly modernising India.

As principal opposition BJP\’s Arun Jaitley said: \”It is a historic responsibility in enacting one of the most progressive legislations. We unequivocally support it.\”

In the view of Brinda Karat, prominent activist and Communist Party of India-Marxist MP, the move would change the \”culture of the country because women today are still caught in a culture prison. In the name of tradition, stereotypes are imposed and we have to fight these every day\”.

These stereotypes will also be broken by the bill, said a delighted Karat, who believes the entry of a larger number of women in legislatures would make for \”more sensitive politics\”.

Others too debated the contentious issue that was set to rectify age-old inequalities.

According to Ranjana Kumari, social activist and chairperson of the Centre for Social Research, who has long been fighting for the introduction of the bill: \”More women walking into parliament will not just change Indian politics but also pave the way for equitable socio-economic development in the country.\”

It would be a gradual process, activists and academics agreed.

Counsellor Sameer Parikh said quotas were sometimes required to initiate change. The women\’s reservation bill would surely have an impact on the mindset of Indian society although it would be a gradual process.

\”It\’s however difficult to predict when the change will be seen…it\’s a churning process. But just like in urban India where women are making tremendous progress in every field thanks to education and opportunity, the bill will, in a few years time, change the mindset and the dynamics in Indian society as a whole.\”

In sociologist Kamal Mitra Chenoy\’s view, the legislation would not have much impact in the beginning because it would be just the dominant castes who would field their candidates in the political arena.

\”But in time, it will empower women by challenging patriarchy. With more women in politics, others will get motivated to be more active, just like it has been at the panchayat level. The gender dynamics will change over a period of time.\”

As parliamentarians and activists debated the pros and cons for giving quota to women in political life, there were small signs of change being seen in other arenas as well.

A few days after the Rajya Sabha passed the women\’s bill, the Delhi High Court stepped in to correct another inequality. It directed the central government to grant permanent commission to women officers in all three wings of the armed forces.

Currently, women are inducted in the army as officers under the Short Service Commission for a maximum period of 14 years, whereas their male counterparts are eligible to receive permanent commission after five years.

Were things finally changing. A temping thought for India\’s women.