The 16th Lok Sabha elections which got under way in many parts of the country have seen more women voters exercising their franchise.
The same can be said for the number of voters in the Madurai district spanning 10 Assembly segments since the number of female voters stand at 12,16,813 as compared to the 12,05,269 male voters.
The number of women candidates — those representing political parties and independents — does not reflect the number of women voters who will exercise their franchise. There is not a single woman among the 31 candidates who are in the fray in Madurai constituency. The irony is it is not uncommon to see womenfolk thronging political rallies and meetings, voicing their support to their leaders.
“Representation of women in public sphere is something that was consciously brought into the fray after prolonged struggles and movement. With the dismal number of women being given an opportunity to represent the community, we have started moving backwards and we are slyly pushed away,” said Salai Selvam, an activist in the city.
In the 10 parliamentary constituencies in South Tamil Nadu, there are only nine women among the 240 candidates in the fray.
The State-wide numbers show a wider gap as well with only 55 women among 845 candidates who are contesting across Tamil Nadu. “Political parties have constantly sanitised themselves by stating that there have been a lot of women involved in the administration process. While that might be true, there needs to be a seamless inclusion of their voices in mainstream politics as well,” said Bimla Chandrashekar, founder of Ekta Resource Centre in Madurai.
Many young women voters who will be gearing up to cast their votes for the first time this elections from Madurai have also opined that not enough is being done to encourage entry of women into the political arena. “In many colleges, the presidents and members of even the student body are men. If women want to contest in the college elections, they are often goaded by their peers not to do so,” rued S. Lily, an engineering student from a city college.
While there are some who are actively immersing themselves in politics, Ms. Bimla says there needs to be a sustained support from the public if women in the district are to get an opportunity to pick up the baton. “Character assassination and not having family support remain bugbears for women to shun politics. Right support mechanisms such as establishing centres of education with respect to politics and administration for women will go a long way in altering this situation,” she said.
“While many candidates promised development of infrastructure and job opportunities in the district, women-centric issues and problems not being discussed is a cause for concern,” said V. Jayanthi, a final-year law student.
While many women in the city feel the twin problems of not being adequately represented and lack of focus given to women centric-issues will be tough to overcome, they hope that at least the very few women who win are given important portfolios in the new government.
“An assurance of equal space which includes women is the need of the hour. With any planning and development that the government carries out in the future, safety and security of women should be taken into consideration,” said Ms. Salai Selvam.
