Without doubt, this is a historic moment. No society can truly call itself inclusive and modern if it denies women their rightful share. It cannot be denied that Indian women have been victims of historical injustice. For centuries, they were denied access to education, confined to domestic roles and treated as mere chattel. In the first Lok Sabha their representation was a mere 4.5% which has now increased to 15%. But clearly this is not enough and women as a group require the extra push that the quota system will give them. This principle has been accepted by each and every political force in the country. But the manner in which the bill was formulated leaves much to be desired.

While the bill rightly reserves seats for SC/ST women, there is no such provision for OBC women. It must be put on record that the OBCs comprise more than half of the total population of the country. Why is that Bahujan women were not given adequate representation in this bill? It is understandable that Muslim women similarly do not find any mention in the bill as the Constitution does not recognize any religious quota. But there is no such bar on making provisions for OBCs and indeed Parliament made special provision for them during the VP Singh government.

Since the majority of Muslims are OBCs, such women could have found a place within the OBC quota. Of late, the prime minister himself has on many occasions reminded the nation that Pasmandaas (Muslim OBCs) have been the victims of discrimination by upper caste Muslims and that there is a need to ameliorate their situation. More specifically, he and his party have reminded the nation of the “plight of Muslim women” and have sought to liberate them from the tyranny of Muslim men by doing away with “evil practices like triple talaq”. But despite such pious pronouncements, if the OBCs and Muslims within them do not find a mention in the proposed women’s quota, then one can only conclude that the government was just been bluffing all along.

Decades have passed since the debate started over women’s reservation. Over these 25 years, Indian feminism has evolved from being largely an urban upper caste caucus to becoming more inclusive by accommodating the views of Dalit and Bahujan women. Any understanding of women’s empowerment today is incomplete without acknowledging the intersectionality of caste and gender. The position and situation of all women is not the same; Dalit and OBC women are still more vulnerable as compared to upper caste women. While the latter can employ different kinds of social and cultural capital to scale the ladder, the same cannot be said about many women from Bahujan backgrounds. The OBC Muslim women are the most vulnerable, battling discrimination within the community as well as the scourge of anti-Muslim phobia outside. In denying such women their due share within the women’s quota, the government is not playing just.

For this reason alone, the bill should have been opposed by all feminist organizations of the country. Diversity and inclusion are laudable principles. After all, women’s organization have been demanding such a bill in the very name of inclusion. How can they now stay silent when Bahujan women have been excluded from the provisions of women’s quota? If they do not oppose it, then it becomes amply clear that Indian feminists only pay lip service to the principle of intersectionality. Supporting women’s reservation in its current form will only mean that they have no sensitivity when it comes to the political aspirations of Bahujan women.

Bahujan parties have always demanded the inclusion of OBC and Muslim women sub-quota. But since most of them have limited the principle of social justice to their respective families, they do not wield the same clout that they used to in their heydays. Moreover, as representatives of dominant castes within the OBCs, they have alienated the lower OBCs with their continued arrogance. The result is that today it is the BJP-led government which commands the loyalty of a large numbers of OBC votes. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the present government has been largely voted to power because of the support of OBCs. The women’s reservation issue, therefore, also puts the government in a tricky situation as it excludes its largest social base. Its success in the next elections will depend on how it mollifies this section of loyal voters.

No one is opposed to women’s reservation. In fact, they should be provided 50% reservation, in accordance with their population. But one is certainly opposed to the present format which excludes the majority of women of this country from its ambit. Not including Bahujan women is nothing but plain injustice. If this omission is not corrected, then it will only mean that the move is designed to give reservation to upper caste Hindus. Only this time, it is being done in the name of women!

The writer is a Delhi-based columnist.

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Stop saluting us, treat us as equals, TN MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi’s impassioned speech on the Women’s Reservation Bill

The post Wither Intersectionality? Women’s reservation and (lack of) inclusivity  appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sir, I stand here, and I am happy to be speaking about the Women’s Reservation Bill and it is one of the very few bills I think most of us would agree on and we thought this bill would be passed with all of us supporting each other and standing together.

But unfortunately the BJP has taken this also as an opportunity for politicking and it is very unfortunate.

I am just reminded of what Periyar said when I see the BJP speaking here and heckling us that “the pretense of men that they respect women and that they strive for their freedom is only rules to deceive them.”

I like to quote the former Chilean President Michelle Bashel “a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but to be elected.”

In 1919 after the Montagu-Chemsford reforms were passed, we got the right to vote, especially in The Madras Presidency and the Bombay Presidency. The Justice Party, Nidi Kachi passed a resolution on May 10, 1921 to grant voting rights for women for the first time in India.  In 1927 Tamil Nadu elected its first woman legislator in the country Dr. M Laxmi Reddy who was instrumental in abolishing the Devdasi system. But Sir, nearly 100 years after that we still have not passed the Bill.

In 1929, Periyar in the Self-Respect conference in Chengalpet passed a resolution insisting on reservations for women in education, employment and politics.

The Women’s Reservation Bill was first brought in with the support of the DMK during the United Front Government in 1996 (September). And then, Thiru Devegauda who was the Prime Minister brought in this Bill and the Law Minister Ramakant Khalap was the one who presented the Bill in this house.

Then, again, our respected former Prime Minister, Vajpayee ji again brought in this bill. But it was the UPA Government in 2010 which passed it in the Rajya Sabha and I got an opportunity to speak on the bill in the Rajya Sabha and that was 13 years ago, and I have got an opportunity to speak on this bill again here and we are still speaking about this bill and debating it for the past 13 years.

The Women’s Reservation Bill is a poll promise of the BJP, yet many leaders had to urge them to bring in this Bill and to pass it. Our leader Kalangar had written to the Prime Minister in 2014 to pass this bill. Madam Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister in 2017 requesting him to pass this bill. Our Chief Minister, M K Stalin wrote to the Prime Minister again in 2017 requesting and urging the government to pass the Bill.

He (Stalin) said the bill which was moved to empower women’s voice in the legislatures and Parliament of our Great Nation is struggling to succeed. This is really disheartening. The DMK even conducted a rally in Delhi from the Mandi House to the Jantar Mantar and we had a march and like-minded women leaders and women’s organizations participated in the rally.

I myself have raised this issue of bringing the (Women’s) Reservation Bill many times in Parliament and to many of my starred and unstarred questions the Governments’ reply was very consistent. They said that they have to involve “all stakeholders, political parties and then build a consensus before bringing the Bill”. I would like to know what consensus was built? What discussions were held; this bill was brought in, shrouded in secrecy.

We did not know why this session was called; in the all party leaders meeting there was no mention of this bill. I don’t know if any of the political party leaders were called for discussions and deliberations about this upcoming Bill and suddenly the bill popped up from our computer screens like “Jack in the Box”.

Is this going to be the way this Government is going to function, like we have suddenly seeing that there are “lotus(es) is blooming springing from the uniforms of our secretariat staff is everything going to be a surprise like this?

Inspite of all this when the when the Prime Minister mentioned the Women’s Reservation Bill and when our own Meghwal ji introduced the bill our minds were so full of happiness and the lines of the Mahakavi Bharati rang in my heart. (Tamil verse) which, if I translates says that we have come to make laws and to rule now we are equals and let us cherish it!

But then like crores and crores of my sisters who are waiting for this to be passed. My heart also sank when you said we had to wait for it and we don’t know when actually the bill is going to be implemented.

In 2010, when the Bill was brought by the UPA Government there were no conditions. The bill was to take effect immediately after the passage of the Bill but the Bill which was presented yesterday clearly says the reservations (seats of House of People, NCT, States )in Clause five it states the reservation of seats for woman in the house of the people the legislative assembly of the state and the legislative assembly of the national capital territory of Delhi shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first Census taken after the commencement of the constitution.

And our leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin in his statement today has said that India is the only country which has not conducted the decadal census. And if delimitation is going to be based on population census it will deprive and reduce the representation of the South Indian States. It would become like a sword hanging in our heads. Yes, he has said that we support the Bill, but he asked this question: why should the implementation be connected to the de-limitation?

And, as he says, here is a strange drama staged by the BJP keeping in mind the 2024 elections. And we cannot ignore the representation for women from the backward classes either. He has emphasised the doubts and the fear in the minds of the people of Tamil Nadu and the South Indian States about our representation being reduced (after de-limitation) and this should be clarified. There is a fear in the minds of the people that our voices will be undermined. There should be a clear clarification about this because we do not want our representation to be reduced in any way. Just because you give a reply saying we will not allow you to be under-represented because the numbers will be the same, and other states will get more representation!! This is as it is…it must continue as it is so that we get equal say in what is being discussed.

Sir the 17^th Lok Sabha has passed 40 bills on an average every year and without hardly having opinions of women and without even hearing our voices in this House or the Rajya Sabha and India ranks 141 out of 193 countries falling in women’s representation, falling behind our neighbours like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

How long should we wait to see this Bill being implemented? It can be easily implemented in the coming elections, the Parliamentary elections. This Bill, you should understand is not a reservation but an act of removing bias and injustice and if you do not remove the Clause which says “after de-limitation” then there is no point because we do not know until when this inordinate delay will continue? It can go on. You can do the census, the delimitation after 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and the wait for this Bill will carry on.

And, of course some of our leaders are very worried that if a Woman becomes like a Man like if a man becomes like a woman he gets Qualities of a Woman then he becomes a God but when a Woman becomes Strong, brave then it is not something which is (not) acceptable and she becomes a Devil.  You believe in God, you believe in Hinduism and I would like to ask what is (Goddess) Kali. Isn’t she brave? Isn’t she strong? So who are you insulting? Why cannot a woman be strong, why cannot a woman be brave. There are stories of women who didn’t participate in the independent struggle; haven’t women fought wars, haven’t you seen strong leaders like Mrs. Indira Gandhi in this country?

It is these kinds of words which actually put fear in our hearts and yes, Jaylalitha was a strong leader. I accept I have no hesitation and accept that she was a very, very strong leader.

And Mayavati Ji, Madam Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, and the one of the names you (treasury benches, BJP) often forget is Sushma Swaraj ji. And I also like to quote what Shri Arun Jaitley ji said during the discussion in the Rajya Sabha that the argument that men can also ensure justice to women has been weakened. Under representation and discrimination stare us in the face. Politics of tokenism must now evolve into politics of ideas. So please stop this tokenism and this bill is called Nari Shakti Vandan Bill. Stop saluting us.

We do not want to be saluted, we do not want to be put on pedestals. We do not want to be worshiped. We do not want to be called mothers. We don’t want to be sisters, your wives.

We want to be respected as equals. Let us get down from the pedestal and walk as equals. We have as much right to this country as you have.

This country belongs to us.  This Parliament belongs to us and we have a right to be here.

Thank you.

The speech is available here

(Discussions in Parliament again sunk to a low, when senior members of treasury benches heckled the senior woman leader, refusing to let DMK Kanimozhi Karunanidhi begin her speech. NCP MLA Supriya Sule was heard intervening as did others. Many said this revealed the attitude of the BJP to women)

The post Stop saluting us, treat us as equals, TN MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi’s impassioned speech on the Women’s Reservation Bill appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Women’s Bill Throws Dust in the Eyes – Brinda Karat appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The country is celebrating 75 years of Independence. Programmes like Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and Har Ghar Tiranga are being organised by the government. But amidst all this celebration of freedom, how free are women in this country? The dominance of patriarchy in our society is such that age-old issues affecting women remain the same today, even though women have made some significant achievements in every sphere of life that are worth remembering.

A discussion highlighting the role of women in society, their successes and struggles, especially those from the marginalised sections, was recently organised by National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) and Strikal in New Delhi. Those who participated in the discussion included women working in the political and social spheres.

It may be recalled that 2022, along with 75 years of Independence, also marks 100 years of women’s participation in parliamentary democracy as well as in the courts of this country. Apart from this, this year also marks 80 years of the historic All India Dalit Women’s Conference held in Nagpur. It is important to recall all these achievements of democracy that were handed over to us by our older generations after great struggles.

What have women achieved so far?

Of course, not much has changed at the grassroots level for women, but the torch of struggle that women have lit in the past years is still burning.

Among the speakers, well-known Hindi writer Maitreyi Pushpa, who is also former president of the Hindi Academy, shared her experiences on gender discrimination in the society as well as in the field of literature. She commented on how literary bodies, such as Sahitya Akademi and Hindi Academy are dominated by men and women are not allowed to stick around long enough in such posts.

Pushpa said there “is no democracy for women, they have no country, no caste. They are a distinct section among themselves.”

Also participating in the discussion was Delhi’s Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, who said women had got representation in village councils and panchayats, but their entry into Assemblies and Parliament was still a far cry. He said women needed to recognise their own strength and come out of the shadows of male family members as well of the RSS agenda behind the current regime and find their own sky.

 Women MPs Raise Demand for Bill in One Voice

The programme saw women MPs  — Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Rajni Patil, Nationalist Congress Party MP Fauzia Khan and Vandana Chauhan —  in one voice demanding that the Narendra Modi government should get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Parliament. On this occasion, the women MPs said it would have been nice if the government had given this ‘gift’ to women while celebrating 75 years of Independence.

Recall that in 2010, this Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha and was hanging in the Lok Sabha. Since then, more than a decade has passed, but this Bill has not emerged from the manifestos and election promises of political parties to become a law.

D Raja, general secretary of Communist Party of India, spoke on the existing class, caste and gender discrimination created by patriarchy and accused the ruling BJP, which is “under the control” of RSS, which wants to introduce Manusmriti in the country. He reminded the gathering that Manusmriti, which was burnt by Babasaheb Ambedkar, was the same in which it has been said that women should live as subjects of men for life.

He called upon women to unitedly demand their right for representation.

Annie Raja, CPI leader and general secretary of NFIW, remembered the historic All India Dalit Mahila Conference in Nagpur. She said that it was very easy to form a separate party for women but it was difficult to keep it alive in the system of this country. She said women today understand their rights and hence now half the population was demanding 50% share in politics, not just 33%.

Need for More Women Judges

It is worth noting that the issue of gender equality in the judiciary has been in the headlines for a long time. Last year, for the first time in the history of the Supreme Court, it was historic for three women to take oath for the post of Justice. Many Chief Justices, such as NV Ramana, have talked about increasing the number of women lawyers, so that the status of women in the judicial system can be improved.

Notably, till now only eight women have been appointed as judges in the Supreme Court of India. In 1989, Justice Fathima Biwi became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Indira Banerjee is the only woman among 34 judges of the Supreme Court before new appointments were made.

Of the 25 High Courts across the country, only one Telangana High Court had a woman, Justice Hima Kohli, as the Chief Justice, who has now reached the Supreme Court. There are a total of 661 judges in these High Courts and only 72 of them are women. There are no women judges in the High Courts of Manipur, Meghalaya, Bihar, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

Women’s Participation and Struggle in Politics

If we talk about participation of women in politics, then the government has so far adopted an ambiguous attitude toward increasing the representation of women. The country has got its first tribal woman president, and the ruling BJP is trying to reap political capital from her identity. That’s about it.

The BJP does not tire of listing out the work done by the party and the government for women, be it the Ujjwala scheme or naming women in housing schemes. But, the fact is that today BJP is running a government with absolute majority on its own, yet the age-old demand for 33% reservation of women in politics is nowhere on its radar and has not been made into law. The Bill – the biggest fight for women’s rights so far – has not been paid even lip service by BJP, leave alone making it a law.

Recall that in 1996, the Women’s Reservation Bill was first introduced by the H.D Deve Gowda-led government as the 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament. But Deve Gowda’s government lost its majority due to which the Bill could not be passed.

Then, in 1998, the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee again introduced this Bill in the Lok Sabha. But due to different ideologies in the NDA coalition government, the Bill faced heavy opposition. It was then reintroduced in 1999, 2002 and 2003, but in vain.

In 2008, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government introduced in Rajya Sabha the 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill related to 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha. Two years later, in 2010, despite all kinds of protests, the Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha, but even though the current government has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, it has not been passed.

Since then, this Bill has been lost somewhere in the official pages, whose need was not felt in the male- dominated politics of India.

 Due to the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, it is

still alive and the present Central government can easily get it passed if it has the political will. But, BJP, which talks a lot about women’s empowerment, does not seem to have any such intention or inclination for now.

Translated by Aditi Nigam

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post 75 Years of Independence: 50% Reservation for Women in Politics Still a Far Cry appeared first on SabrangIndia.