New govt and the gendered life

By-Manish Kumar


Since the beginning of campaigning for the 16th Lok Sabha elections, several parties have been breast beating about being more inclusive in terms of caste, class, religion and even gender. Several promises relating to welfare of women have been made through political speeches made by party honchos in the past few months. But, can the new government provide equal opportunity to the gendered life during the next five years, is a matter of discussion.

According to the 2011 Census, out of the 1.21.02 crore population in the country, 62, 37,24,248 were female which comprise almost half of the population. The same Census also states that while 82.14 per cent males are literate, the percentage of literate women is only 65.46. The chasm in literacy levels of the two genders conspicuously hints at the disparity of resources made available to them.

Trace it to ancient India:

The concept of depriving women access to varied resources could be dated back to the days of the famous ancient sage Manu. The ancient Sanskrit  literature Manu Smriti talked about varied freedom the different castes in the four varna system could enjoy. It said that the top three castes in the varna system can enjoy polygamy and were free for hypergamy but the opposite was never encouraged. In ancient India, women were compelled to accept hegemony of their male counterparts. The patriarchal society in the country also contributed in widening the disparity.

Well, with the advent of more schools, colleges, technologies and with the emerging of nuclear families it was expected the discriminated gender would get more liberty but it could not be achieved. Several data pertaining to the condition of women in our country can flummox many. The new government needs to give a deeper thought to uplift their standards. The new government ought to work on police, judicial and social reforms to minimize the chasm.

How empowered are women in politics:

Few months back the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women put forth its report on the participation of women in politics in 188 countries. India was ranked 73^rd when it came to the percentage of parliamentary and ministerial posts occupied by women. It said that in India, less than 10% of parliamentary and ministerial posts are occupied by women. Some African countries like-Rwanda performed better, where there are 50% female legislators. Europe, America and Africa performed better than Asia in terms of their participation in active politics. Even during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, according to some media reports most of the major parties have given less than 10 per cent of their tickets to women candidates.

Is the situation better in government services?

Two parliamentary panels which studied representation of women in government services were also rattled by their findings. One panel noted that women formed only 10.4% of the central government staff of all categories. However, the overall participation of women in central services improved in one decade. In 2001, the number was just 7.53%. In Railways, the figures are more pathetic. Here merely 6.43% of the total workforce comprised women.

What about the police force?

Another panel found that the national average of women in the police force is merely 5.33%. The Ratna Singh Committee recommended women’s representation in police force should be 33%. With more crimes against women coming to the fore, it is imperative to increase women force to handle such crimes sensitively. However, attempts have of course been made to establish all-women police station to handle such cases, more needs to be done. The Congress manifesto of 2014 talks about increasing the strength of women in police force to 25% which is much below the Ratna Singh panel’s suggestion. However, most other parties are mum on the issue.

Is the judiciary better off?

The status of women in the Indian judiciary system is more worrisome. Law ministry’s figure released in 2013 states that the number of women judges in high courts is just 53 out of the 614 judges, which make the ratio at 1:10. Even in the Supreme Court, out of the 30 sitting judges merely two judges are women.

The role of women at presiding posts is also not very encouraging. Only four out of 24 high courts in India have women as their Chief Justices. Recently, G Rohini was chosen as the first women chief justice of the Delhi High Court. 

In the recent few days, some steps have of course been made to benefit women. The latest one included allowing maternity leave to women employees in government offices to two years. However, the government needs to give more prominence to the recommendations to different panels which studied condition of women in our country. Several significant suggestions have been provided to the government by such committees which included-flexibility of working hours, new norms on maternity leaves etc. Hope the next government finds ample time to ponder over the gender conundrum.