What women want: Power without quota

FEMME POWER: Madhu Kishwar (L) of 'Manushi' and Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan debate on the issue.

            

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The Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks 33 per cent quota for women in Parliament and state legislatures, was tabled before the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

There was high drama as Samajwadi Party MPs tried to snatch copies of the Bill from the Law Minister and Congress members tried to protect him by forming a human chain.

The Bill shall apply to seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) as well.

Seats to be reserved in rotation will be determined by draw of lots and a seat shall be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections, the Bill says.

Opponents of the Bill say political parties should reserve election tickets for women and legislatures must not have any such quota.

Reservation will harm the women's movement by creating a new form of “state-sponsored feminism”. Rotational reservation of one-third seats would lead to a “grave uncertainty” for sitting male MPs, they say.

Some parties want a quota for backward-class women within the Women’s Reservation Bill. The SP and the JD-U want a ‘quota within quota’ for women belonging to the Other Backward Classes and minorities.

The Bill was tabled for the first time in September 1996 and has been introduced in Parliament at least four times but each effort was derailed.

India has had a woman Prime Minister, it has a woman President, the chief of the alliance ruling the country is a woman and the chief minister of the country’s largest state is a woman.

Does the success of these leaders show that women don’t need reservation in political posts? Or will reservation help women in politics? CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose asked this to Congress Spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, Samajwadi Party MP Shahid Siddiqui, and Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi.

“The Congress believes the Bill is absolutely vital to ensure that there is a critical mass of women in Parliament and state legislatures and to make sure that women’s issues get proper attention,” said Natarajan.

“Studies have shown that unless there are 30 per cent women in a decision-making body there concerns won’t be addressed. Till today we have the sorry figure of 7 per cent women in legislatures and no more. Reservation for women has proved a tremendous success in local bodies,” she said.

Defective Bill?

Women need “special measures” to stand on their own in politics but the Bill is not going to help them, said Kishwar. “The Bill, in its present form, is a very defective form of legislation and a knee-jerk reaction.”