Women & Political Will ! ! !
ACCORDING TO our Harvard-addressor RJD supremo, women are best left attending to household matters while the men move around in the corridors of power. Lalu Prasad Yadav has drawn the wrath of women all over the country not just by opposing the 33 per cent reservation Bill for women in Parliament tooth and nail, but also going ahead to say that women aren't even mature enough to have any political will of their own. To quote him, "If they think women vote independently without considering their husband's wishes, they are mistaken. If I ask Rabri (Devi) to vote for someone, do you think she will do otherwise?"
But not everyone agrees with him. "I think it's high time Mr Yadav woke up from his slumber," says Kehkashan Khan, a marketing executive at a designer firm. "Although he might love to treat the women in his household as meek cows, we, 21st century women, are no longer willing to be just doormats. It's really sad that a leader who has seven daughters is being so regressive."
In the same vein housewife Shalini Kashyap trashes the comment completely. "Laluji is way off the mark. Women are independent enough to have their own political will that can be quite different from their husband's views. Look at the UPA government. It's led by a strong woman, Sonia Gandhi, who made sure the Bill passed after all the drama and nonsense that the whole of India witnessed.
That should prove how women are viewed as leaders." But that was one case in point. While speaking for all it's quite unfair to say that women cannot have any political will, we also have to look at the state of socio-economic development in our country. That is what decides a woman's position in any society. In a patriarchal society like India, Yadav's comment may not be completely off the mark when it comes to ground realities in villages and small townships. There are quite a few women who vote according to family or husband's preferences. But it's this particular mindset that should change. And for that people need to get used to seeing more women leaders in the country. The urban scenario, however, is quite different.
"For women born and brought up without any discrimination in the urban set up, his comments are obviously ridiculous. But there is some truth to his statements when it comes to villages or small towns. There, women haven't been empowered enough to think beyond their father's or husband's views," says social development professional Manjula Singh.
IT IS precisely for this reason that we need to see more women as leaders. The Bill may have flaws, but it goes a long way in promoting women in much larger roles henceforth. In 2007, the rate of female representation at national level of politics stood at merely 18 per cent globally. Although this figure has increased, minimal progress has been made, meaning that the ideal of parity between men and women in national legislatures still remains distant.
When asked about women's participation in politics the present US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who was running for the President in 2008, had said: "I wasn't born a lawyer or an advocate for women's rights and human rights. I wasn't born a wife or a mother. There can't be true democracy unless women's voices are heard, they are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives and are able to participate fully in the lives of their country."
In a world where women's suffrage is not even a century old phenomenon, to see women as parliamentarians would probably take some more time.
Communications consultant Valerie Pinto says, "Mr Yadav needs to come back to the present scenario from wherever in the past he is living. Cutting across socio-cultural barriers, women have strong opinions about political preferences.
The influence that men had over the minds over women in the family has diminished over the years with women coming out to work, watching satellite TV, etc. Literacy rates have gone up manifold and women are exposed to a far larger world these days." In such a scenario, till you put up more women on top you would never really know how they'll fare. The number of women in politics is abysmal in India because of the mindset that women aren't qualified or mature enough. Or is it that men are not ready to give away what they feel is theirs? What say, Laluji?
"Mr Yadav may love to treat women in his house as meek cows. But 21st century women are no longer willing to be just doormats."
KEHKASHAN KHAN Marketing Executive
"With cable TV, radio & higher literacy rates, women have far greater exposure. They are no longer influenced by men of the household."
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