Read in the context of what could arguably be defined as India's popular strife for getting the political masters and Parliament to heed the voice of the people on a legislative measure of urgent public importance — the Lokpal Bill — Reign She Will acquires perspectives that would have been hazy, otherwise. It tells the story of another, and as yet unfruitful, strife — a women's strife — in support of a Bill that has been languishing in the corridors of Parliament interminably, because the lawmakers across the political spectrum continue to remain divided on the specifics of providing a quota for women in Parliament and the State legislatures.
Ranjana Kumari takes us through the tortuous journey of the Women's Reservation Bill, stopping at every milestone to offer insights that span gender relations steeped in cultural and traditional structures and practices of this country.
She starts off by pointing to an ironical situation. Women are holding the country's top official and political posts. Pratibha Patil is the President of India, Meira Kumar, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party that heads the ruling coalition, and Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Against this heartening fact is the disturbing reality that the total share of women in Parliament has never exceeded 10 per cent. And this is in stark contrast to, and in spite of, the apparent success of the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments that earmarked one-third of the seats in urban and rural local bodies for women.
Ranjana Kumari's deep involvement in women's issues for over three decades and her close association with organisations such as the Centre for Social Research and Women Power Connect lend richness and context to what would have been a dreary narration of facts.
Extending the quota
The author is convinced that, in continuation of the reservation of seats in local-level decision-making bodies, extending the quota system to the legislatures, both at the Central and State levels, is the only feasible way to ensure that women are “quickly and effectively recruited into politics.”
It has been one of the most effective methods of increasing women's participation in the political sphere, says Kumari. According to her, in as many as 77 countries, the system of ‘quota' for women, provided in one form or another, has been found to be effective in correcting the ‘democracy deficit.'
As things stand, the Bill got past the Rajya Sabha in March 2010 — and it was seen as a triumph in itself when set against the frustrating experience of the past — but remains stalled in the Lok Sabha, thanks to the obduracy of some political parties who are opposed to it.
Ranjana Kumari argues that opposition to women's quota stemmed essentially from a string of socio-cultural deterrents — for instance, religious and cultural practices that keep women tethered to traditional roles; patriarchal traditions; the low economic status of women; inadequate education and unequal access to power structures; biological inhibitors like low health indices and high maternal mortality; and the overarching reality of violence as an integral part of elections in the South Asian region.
Meagre presence
The meagre presence of women in politics is a globally recognised phenomenon, says the author. The system of universal suffrage, which brought to the fore the question of women's rights, has been in vogue for a long time. Yet it is only in recent years that serious efforts came to be made for wider participation of women in decision-making. The continent-by-continent analysis by the author provides a bird's eye view of the world scene. She also deals with the delicate, and yet crucial, issue of nepotism. In India, most of the women who have risen to significant positions of power were able to do so because of the strong backing they had from a politically-relevant family. The only effective way to neutralise this unhealthy trend, she says, is to enforce reservation at the stage of elections because the political parties will then be forced to hunt for women candidates to field. This has been amply demonstrated at the level of the panchayats.
While such statutory changes in the democratic structure do carve out more political space for women, one cannot ignore the reality of social settings that directly influence women's access to politics and decision-making. Gender-mainstreaming efforts should also be robust at the policy level, argues Ranjana Kumari. Gender-budgeting and gender-sensitive planning are as essential as giving adequate training to women who intend running for a public office.
