Women’s Reservation Bill and Gender Justice

The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha is surely a historic and giant step and assumes significance due to the prevalent gender discrimination and increasing marginalisation of women on the one hand and their under-representation in political bodies on the other. One aspect of introducing the 108th Amendment Bill is to combat the marginalisation of women in political institutions and creating a political space for them. Despite 60 years of independence and constitutional equality for women, they have been marginalised in politics. It has been observed that the participation of women remains low in all their political activities and there exists a gap in the number and percentage of men and women who participate. Though this gap is marginal at the level of voting, it becomes wider in the case of higher political activities such as campaigning, party identification, party membership etc.; it becomes widest in the case of decision-making. So far as the representation of women in the successive Lok Sabhas is concerned, it has not gone beyond 11 per cent. Unfortunately, the spurt of activity by women’s groups and organisations, the Fourth World Women’s Conference in Beijing, the inter-parliamentary conference held in Delhi, the proclaimed commitment of political parties to give adequate representation to women—all failed to develop consensus on the Reservation Bill. In fact, from the day it was brought before Parliament in 1996, it remained contentious. But this time, the kind of consensus seen among the Congress, BJP and the Left is an example of a bold and progressive measure to improve the representation of women.

Vehement protests have been coming from parties like the SP, RJD, a section of JD(U); they are demanding quota within quota for Muslims, OBCs and Dalits among women. Leaving aside the political opposition to include this provision, first the Constitution has to be amended to provide an OBC, minority quota within the general category of electors both in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. This is just a delaying and obstructionist tactic adopted by these parties. The real issue here is the change in power equations forever, as this Bill seeks to reserve for women 181 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and 1370 out of 4104 in 28 Assemblies. The male dominated political class is opposing it as it leads to the direct reduction in its power and privileges.

We are also aware that the leaders who are supposed to be committed to the cause of social justice, are not gender sensitive at all. During a debate on the Reservation Bill for Women, statements from some parliamentarians clearly reflected their prejudiced views against women. While opposing the Bill during a debate in 1997, Sharad Yadav had commented: ‘This reservation is not meant for short-haired (balkati) women’. This statement shows how Members of Parliament perceive those women who don’t conform to specific stereo-typed characteristics. Those women who deviate from such characteristics are not considered worthy of their rightful share of power and viewed with contempt. Gender stereo-typed views were also expressed by one of the seniormost members who has otherwise been considered committed to the cause of women. He offered his advice outside the House—that women should go home and make chapatis instead of fighting for reservation. This statement reveals that the concept of division of labour on the basis of sex is still ingrained in the minds and gets reflected in the utterances made even by the Members of Parliament time and again. So the incorporation of gender perspective at the level of decision-making becomes indispensable and this can be possible by increasing their strength in Parliament.

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Not only are the parliamentarians opposing the Bill, protests are coming from the academicians and women activists as well. Madhu Kishwar criticised the Bill on the pretext that it will promote the biwi-beti brigade. Brinda Karat, as mentioned by Madhu Kishwar, might have been inducted by her husband to head the women’s front of his party, but she is a politician in her own right now. The Bill is also opposed as the reservation of seats will be on rotation. Women elected under the quota will have to move constantly. It is argued that this takes away the incentive for women’s representatives to nurture their constituencies. This would apply to the men also, though men can have two consecutive terms. The woman who chooses to contest from the general category can also have two terms. Much will depend upon the winnability and allotment of tickets by the MP’s party. Reservation of seats will cease 15 years after the commencement of the Bill. At the end of the 15-year cycle, all the constituencies would be represented by a woman at least once.

Those who oppose the reservation of women at the highest legislative level do argue that the panchayat experiment is not very successful as in many cases elected women representatives are not being allowed to exercise their rights independently of their menfolk who virtually remain de facto political functionaries. But one must not overlook the positive results of reservation at the panchayat level. There are several women who are taking the lead in their respective areas, and functioning autonomously. Even the women parliamentarians, whatever their number may be, have made their presence felt from time to time.

The Bill proposing quota for women is a step forward in mainstreaming women in politics by giving them representation in the popularly elected bodies of government. Although reservation is not the ultimate solution, a beginning has to made somewhere. The process has already started with enactments of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Bills, reserving one-third of seats in Panchayats and municipalities.

The Bill aiming at structural changes in favour of women is undoubtedly a landmark in the political history of India. Politics is a high-profile activity as well as challenging job for women. Till now, politics has been considered the domain of the man, his privilege and prerogative. Very few women manage to reach to the top—the nerve-centre of power. One-third reservation of women will hopefully change the prospect of the dominant political scenario. The reservation and consequent increase in their number in legislatures will obviously enhance their strength and provide a conducive environment in which women can participate on their own.

Though the Rajya Sabha has passed the 108th Constitution Bill, yet the passage of the Bill would be much tougher in the Lok Sabha, as the number of those opposing it is much larger there. There are suggestions that a compromise might there be arrived at by amending the Bill. One proposal is to increase the number of seats to 750 in the Lok Sabha. Another suggestion is to reduce the quantum of reserved seats from 33 to 20 per cent. If this is done, it can be said for sure that the manipulating tactics may evolve consensus but it is not going to serve the purpose of the Bill, that is, to give adequate representation to women.

Dr Nisha Jain is a Senior Lecturer, Panjab University Regional Centre, Muktsar, Punjab.