Tags:
Journalism of Courage
We stand at the cusp of big change the Rajya Sabha has,in a volatile and momentous session,passed the Womens Reservation Bill. After 14 years of stop-start,when demands for sub-quotas within the category of women for other disadvantaged groups hobbled the bills progress,it has finally been set in real motion. As the drama in the Rajya Sabha demonstrated,it will not be easy. Competing demands to be more unequal than others had created political gridlock but that,it now appears,might give way to a new kind of participation by women.
The question of womens electoral representation has reared its head several times,and has always been accompanied by the same tensions. Separate electorate constituencies for women were introduced by the British Raj in the provincial elections of 1936-1937 and 1946,but independent India rejected the idea as an imperial restraint,and patronising to women. Now,we are coming full circle to accepting that women need to be recognised as a constituency by themselves,split as they are across community,class and caste. Women who belong to a backward caste and live in a backward region suffer cumulative layers of disadvantage. However,its obvious that women of all strata are under-represented in the legislatures making the bills rationale self-evident. Whats more,we are all bags of selves,and choose our self-description according to context. When identity intertwines with material interests,rational calculation comes into play. So if being a woman offers greater benefits than,say,being a Muslim,you might highlight that facet of your identity. As studies of Indian women sarpanches have shown,over the years they have learnt to identify and administer as women,rather than as members of particular castes. Perhaps,if this experiment works out for the best,women might,in just over a decade,no longer need this affirmative action to hold their representation in assemblies.
