Where women are in a majority and yet their issues don’t count

Election manifestos do not manifest zeal for their cause

Parties tend to ignore women’s issues in a women majority constituency like Puducherry.

Although the Union Territory has 52 per cent women voters, there is very little political representation and often the election manifestos ignore their issues.

Overall, the largest percentage of women is in Mahe, which has close to 56 per cent women voters as per the last summary revision.

Karaikal is next in line with 53 per cent of its voters being women followed by Yanam with 51.8 per cent and Puducherry with 51.7 per cent.

Even though women dominate in terms of numbers, there is very little participation by the women in politics, resulting in an ignorance of women’s issues, a senior government official said.

According to General Secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Alliance Sudha Sundararaman, who is originally from Puducherry, the main issue that many of the women in Puducherry face is violence of different kinds because of alcoholism.

Safety of the women in public spaces is also a serious issue that needs to be addressed, she said.

In Mahe, the biggest problem the women face, especially those from the lower economic strata is with the civil supplies. Most of the women have to travel to the civil supplies shops in Kerala to purchase their supplies, Revathi a housewife from Mahe said.

Another issue is that of education, many of the mothers are forced to send their children to schools in Kerala, since there is a shortage of teachers and very few amenities, she said.

Most of the women in Mahe would definitely agree to vote for an MP who was willing to take an interest in education and in the civil supplies, she said.

In Karaikal, which is another area where the percentage of women is higher, a woman government official said many of the women who applied for jobs in Karaikal were unable to compete with the people from Puducherry, which means Karaikal women who applied for jobs were forced to travel long distances for work, she said.

Job security

In Yanam on the other hand, most of the women feel that their job security and their husbands’ jobs are crucial. Many of the people have lost their livelihood with the closure of Regency Ceramics, Parvathi from Yanam said.

Most of the parties are focusing on problems like Statehood and corruption, but they have failed to address these basic issues that affect people on a day-to-day basis.

Women get affected by basic issues most and they would definitely vote for a candidate who is able to solve these problems, a housewife from Puducherry Kavya said.