A fair deal for the fair sex, but what about the country ?

There’s enough hype about 33% reservation for women — but I’m not really sure if I should laud this bill for celebrating womanhood, or pull up policy-makers for being so narrow in their vision for Bharat 2.0.

Why do we need this ?
As a group that constitutes a little less than half of our population, women deserve better representation.

Even as they made up 50% of electorate, why have they faced such poor representation at decision making levels ? The answer lies in centuries of neglect and marginalisation. What started off as socio-religious slotting of gender roles eventually ended up confining women to the four walls of their homes. And so, if today all that damage has to be undone, we need women to step out of their homes and take charge of things around them.

This is where reservation at the highest levels of political governance is a bad start. The new legislature amounts to forcing all male candidates out of a constituency for one term, and clearing the stage for women to take charge. For one, its an open challenge — more of an experiment in leadership. It appears like a sad mockery in women-only constituencies — the winners will never be respected as true representatives (“Huh, there was hardly any option ! had to choose one of these 3 women — she looked most promising !”).

This scheme piggybacks on strong women to grab the share of seats that is out for them. But it does not create a platform for women to slowly evolve as political leaders. After centuries of being treated many notches below menfolk, can we really expect women in rural pockets to magically walk up for party tickets if the legislature has seats reserved for them ? And even if they do –will they, as leaders, get the support and cooperation of men ? Slim chances !

Respect and acceptance for any new ideas can only be built block-by-block. In the same vein, the process of drawing out this marginalised group will be a long, slow one. And it has to start bottoms-up, rather than top down. It has to start with more active participation of women at the most fundamental levels of leadership — the Panchayats. Make sure that these women get a chance to speak up for things that directly affect them — healthcare, amenities, children’s education, etc. Give them a chance to set things right for themselves and their people — and gain insight and experience in implementing policies therein. Once they get a whiff of how things can improve, they’ll automatically want to experiment with decision-making at the next level. And if their efforts are truly in the right direction, such go-getters will surely be noticed and rewarded with votes and respect of the electorate. And this is how a new class of responsible leadership will slowly bubble up to central-legislature levels.

Simply reserving seats in high office cannot ensure that the ones who get elected are worthy of the chair. The ecosystem for grooming women for key leadership roles is critical.

In my opinion, it even goes a notch further. The need of the hour is responsible, inclusive leadership — the CM / PM may not be a woman, but must be someone who understands the need to empower different factions of population — including women, the disabled, the trans-genders, the caste / religion minorities, etc. True leadership of Bharat 2.0 lies not in hands of a Dalit poster-candidate or a Hindutva-hardliner or a communist or a feminist protecting the interest of their supporters at national level. The leaders we seek today are those who can protect all these factions against the forces that threaten their survival — but at the same time, those who can rule with an iron fist if any of these groups get to excesses that endanger others.

An excellent illustration of what truly committed leaders can achieve is personified by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected Woman president of Liberia. She, along with her majority-women cabinet created a silent revolution in rebuilding a country ravaged by 14 years of civil war. I’d highly recommend the 6-part documentary series that chronicles her first year in office ( Part 1 embedded below, see part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6.). Ellen and her cabinet cannot be used as an instance to prove women make better presidents — for each Ellen, there are many Pratibha Patils, Benazir Bhuttos, Chandrika Kumaratungas and the likes. However, she makes a shining example of an individual’s commitment to go the distance to restore normalcy in a strife-torn land.

To quote Ellen, “the future belongs to those who take charge of it ” . And that is what we need today –inclusive leadership which can steer India forward as a nation, and not simply push ahead a small demographic group while ignoring the needs of all others.

~ by prernasaxena on March 13, 2010.