Political reservations for women in India - Rishap Vats

Political reservations for women, the initiative regarding the same could be looked from various angles, dimensions and perspectives. Are they just a political gimmick to be seen just as a political reform on paper or are they implemented and also become a part of real life and ground practices. Same as the problem of democratic decentralization, devolution of powers, autonomy cannot be measured in term of numbers as in the case of fiscal decentralization. When it comes to women participation we can see the improvement by numerical standards by increasing of seats and chairperson post on rotational basis. By increasing the number of seats, that is the quantity of participation one does not necessarily increase the quality of participation of women.

Their status in the social order has been a matter of great concern and a matter which has broad consensus that it needs to be addressed. For any suppressed or subjugated group be it women or schedule caste, labor class, untouchable section etc in any sphere political emancipation is something which will empower them and this could only be achieved through only political participation. which doesn't limit itself to casting ones vote.Thinkers and philosophers have acknowledged this as a first step towards upliftment of any subjugated class, caste, sect, and group. Antonio Gramsci, the Italian thinkers saw the need for political participation as a way to bring about a change by proletariat (working class). Hence the policy of reservation in the democratic and constitutional bodies does provide a base and a starting point for women to build a permanent place which they shouldn't be  seen  as an act of ‘giving’ as it is their right.

Reservation for women has had been present various parts of the country before the 73^rd and 74^th Amendment Act of 1992-93. The office in Nimbut in Pune, Maharashtra in 1963 was among the first for women regarding local self government. Prior to the directions of this Act various sates had already provisions for the same. In fact the committees set up in 1957, 1977 of BR Mehta and Ashok Mehta respectively did mention ’critical amount’ of reservation which made the Rajiv Gandhi government to bring about 30% reservation was present in the 64^th Amendment Act too. Kerala government in fact took the initiative and reserved 25% in 1985. After the much talked about 33%, “not less than one-third” reservation of seats for women was granted through 73^rd and 74^th amendment act did a great job no doubt but there was a negative practice which went unnoticed in the euphoria which highlights the apprehensive approach towards political reservation for women. Initially no state even tried to give more than 33% representation to women or a significant part rightly demanded by a significant amount of the population. They literally considered the direction as “not less than one third” and this went on till a decade until it was improved for the better. Bihar, under Nitish Kumar in 2005 took the initiative and reserved 50%. States like Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh followed by Rajasthan and Maharashtra to do the needful. But the fundamental worry remained whether it was all symbolic gestures and as for now back seat driving is the harsh reality. 

In Rajasthan lot of women have complained that the patriarchal thirst of power and the system itself doesn’t give them actual power and political forces disturb their work and abuse authority.  The concept of ‘dedh sadasya’ (one and a half member) in Maharashtra is a n example where inspite of reservation status and political participation remains null. They are just used to keep the seat warm when they are made chairpersons or Sarpanch and due to no second term at same place they are moved. Same problem is present in Rajasthan where the political parties refused to give them second time ticket to contest elections. This whole rotational basis chairperson-ship is flawed, the intricacies of the PRI reforms where overlooked by the people. Let’s say a woman surpasses all the obstacles comes to the chairperson-ship designation, she is then via lottery system moved or not given a second term, this nullifies their previous works and gives them no chance to build up on their good work. Most of them do not get a chance due to lack of experience. So, the anyway existing, not so friendly mindset was not alone but now our so called constitutional reforms also have not helped to actually increase their status and to be viewed as equals and not as ‘other’.

There is no doubt that the status of women is better than before and has progressed significantly but there is still a mental blockade or a myth of fear of losing their importance in the political process and institution by males. Men think that they will lose their seats to women, the same women who they have dominated in the past will ‘rule’ them. This paranoia is visible in the attitude of the parties in passing the Women Reservation Bill which guarantees 33% reservation for women in the Union parliament and the State legislatures. Though no political party will not advocate the rightness of the initiative and pledge their support but as an act of cowardice they back out in voting.

From an optimistic point of view it is sure that things are taking a turn for the better, there is always room for better and right now there is a huge gap to be filled but steps like these have gradually started affecting the psyche of the male masses and this idea is settling that women in political arenas are governing, taking full part and maybe even leading at numerous fronts is the new reality and hence certain governments like Tamil Nadu which gives two consecutive chairperson ship to women have take small steps in the right direction. Having huge number of women participating in Gram Sabhas and Panchayats and not only participating but leading is a pleasant sight, also at the national and state front various powerhouses, stalwarts or iconic figures dominate their regions. Jayalalitha, Sonia Gandhi, Mamta Banerjee, Vasundhra Raje are the leaders who take total full control in their hands and it could be said that we finally have moved on from the using of women as figure heads, prime example being Rabri Devi of Bihar.