Women power discussed on Suu Kyi8217;s birthday

Success of women in the Panchayati Raj system was an example which all leaders, excluding environmentalist Maneka Gandhi, cited. Jaitely praised the women who have made a mark in the village Panchayats. 8220;Politics has yet not been translated from below the village level to the higher echelons of society,8221; Aiyar said.

Women have spilled over the quota reserved for them as politics is no longer restricted to muscle power. 8220;It requires intelligence, which a woman has more than a man,8221; concluded Uma Bharti. She said she had to fight at every level to enter politics. 8220;I had to face discrimination at three levels: gender, class and caste.8221;

Maneka Gandhi, however, had a different viewpoint. Village panchayats, she said, practice pati pradhan, where a husband substitutes his wife for a pradhan. Maneka agreed that a woman had to take the initiative but said until a woman does not become free from her household work, she can never succeed as a politician.