SS group discussion

Topic: Why women, who constitute 50% of the population are not given 50% reservation?

So how did a neighbourhood gynaecologist, who spent her childhood in Army cantonments, end up campaigning to represent one of the oldest parts of Bangalore in the Karnataka elections?

For someone who comes from a service background, that’d be the primary question on anyone’s mind. However, Meenakshi Bharath believes in the merit and talent of service professionals to change the game in politics. After returning from the Middle East to take care of her ageing parents in India, Meenakshi also felt the apathy in the country, where educated people did not think they needed to vote.
After encouraging her husband’s ex-IITian colleagues to use their talent to improve public spaces, while also simultaneously working towards community issues like waste management, lake conservation, greenery in the city and growing our own food for over 9 years, she decided to contest in the council elections in 2010. Always undetered by loss, she put up a strong fight contesting from the Loksatta party in the 2013 Assembly elections. She tells us about her journey with citizen action and how empowerment is the better option to reservation for women in governance.

What are your thoughts on the Women’s Reservation Bill, for discussion to be passed in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament. 

More women need to come into governance and that is not happening. We have 3 women MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly out of a total of 224 members. There is something preventing women from being MLAs. Women are not being allowed to come into that space because men do not want to relinquish their hold on power. Definitely more women need to come into politics. Why will the men pass a Bill which will make them lose the ability to have a seat?
50% of the population are women and therefore 50% of the seats should be occupied by women. That we need reservation to give a woman a seat is very sad. In the City Council, 33% of seats are reserved for women. The women who are there are not holding their space. They are just a mask for the men who cannot be in that space. Reservation is not going to be a big thing for getting women to establish themselves. If a woman is empowered, I believe that not only will she take care of herself and other women, she will take care of the whole family. To put a woman into a position of power, where she can make a difference will actually benefit the whole society. A woman is somebody who nurtures her own family and the family gets larger and larger. She has the ability to multi-task, which many men do not have.

Meenakshi Bharath, the active gardener

India, with 1.3 million elected women representatives, has the largest number of women participating in local governance among the Asian countries. Why do we still need a 33 percent women’s reservation bill?
The figure must be looked at in relevance to the total number of posts. Then you see if that makes 50% of women and if these women think independently. Or are they just a mask for the men in their family. They are holding the post because it is reserved. If it was not reserved, would they still be in that position? I doubt it very much.
You are not exactly in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
I believe that the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill will be a Herculean task. If the Bill is passed, great. The women who come in must start acting independently. They must not be just a voice box for men. The requirement is for women to come into governance because they want to be in governance and not because there is a reservation.
You look at the City Council. A post is reserved for a woman and therefore there is a woman. There are no women in unreserved posts. We come in only because it is reserved. We don’t need reservation. We need capable women to come in, but not because there is a space created for women. 50% of the seats belong to us because we are 50% of the population. We are not being represented anywhere. 3 out of 244 seats in the Karnataka Assembly means approximately 1.25% of the seats. If there was reservation in the Assembly, this would be 33%.
You don’t think the Women’s Reservation Bill will actually make a difference in governance?
Women in posts today are not making any difference in governance. The only woman Minister in the Karnataka government is taking care of Women and Child Welfare. This means that we are only seen in certain levels. We should be there in other things too. So it is not happening.
In 2012, a Global Gender Gap Index survey by World Economic Forum ranked India 105 out of the 135 countries that were part of the study. India ranked 123 in terms of economic participation, 121 in educational attainment, 134 in health and survival and 17 in political empowerment. These figures do not seem encouraging to push for a women’s reservation bill. Your comment?
When you have 12 million women in politics, but the rest of the indices are all low, it means that there is no deliverance. If all the indices were higher up, then I would say that the women who are there in power are making a difference. When the quality of a woman’s life improves, the quality of life for men also improves. But the reverse does not happen. All these indices show a sad state of affairs. Women’s health, education and earning capacity is bad. Property ownership is very low. Everything is low. So where is the question of women taking up space to do anything for themselves?

Loksatta Karnataka Assembly campaign

One of the major arguments against the Women’s Reservation Bill is the poential threat that is puts against OBC representation in Parliament and defeats the purpose if it only benefits elite, privileged women. Why is this a common apprehension?
It is the men who are having these apprehensions. Why will a man allow his power to be reduced? If you look at the current Parliament, you will know how many women we have when there is no reservation. There is nothing elitist about any woman. You don’t choose where you are born, but you can move up the ladder. Every woman needs to be educated. If she is educated she can educate her child, which is very important. If her child is a boy, she can educate him better; then the boy is empowered. Why are you and I educated? Because my parents were educated. They spent time on me – to help me with my studies and pushed me four steps more than what I would have done by myself.
There is some factor of privilege that does come into account for some women. So how do we deal with the question of women replacing marginalised people?
The Speaker of the Parliament comes from a backward caste, but Jagjivan Ram, her father, educated her. She may have come from a backward caste, but she is not backward by any standard. We need to give women the ability to earn. Once we give them the ability to earn, their potential comes up. If I cook well and can earn from my cooking, that itself is empowerment. My cook has a daughter who works for Accenture today. She was bold enough to have sent her child to school and college, and that has resulted in her daughter finding work. Then, of course, there is the individual capacity to do more.
Kavita Krishnan in her article on ‘Revisiting the women’s reservation debate’ wrote, “The idea that educated middle class women – as leaders of the women’s movement or as representatives in political are somehow less authentic and less representative of the ‘real Indian women’…”. In the span of your political career, how often have you faced this argument and what has been your response?
I think I represent every Indian woman, because I understand her requirements. I became middle class because my parents moved up their strata, worked hard, and earned enough money. But I understand every woman’s difficulties. I am willing to work for them. This argument is by another man. We need to stop taking what they say at face value. They don’t, under any circumstances, want their position to be undermined. Give us 50% of the seats and see how many of us will come up. It will happen. The opportunity has to be given by a man, the push has to be given by a woman. We need to empower women to participate in governance.
Do you know of any women in rural/urban Bangalore who have expressed their interest in participating in local governance and politics. Do you find an increasing number?
Yes. I have been to gatherings where I have met women representatives from Panchayats and City Councils. They are all very capable and good at what they do. Because we nurture the question of having a family and bringing up children, the average age of a woman who joins politics is a little higher as compared to a man, who can start very young.
Is there an emerging, rising woman in politics who you admire?
I haven’t come across them, other than those who are Chief Ministers. They are all good in some sense, but we need to new breed if we want to change politics. We want the game to change and it cannot change if we continue to have the same players. The same players are coming back again. We need new people to come in. These people should be service-oriented, and not because of the money. They come from political background or a film background – not because they have done good service or are interested in society. Politics is now all about giving money to make money. This should not be the case. I should stand for a post because I want to serve the community.
Do you think the Women’s Reservation Bill will dramatically change the political landscape?
Let them pass the Bill, then we will talk about it. However, I think it will. Women think about others more than themselves. This is inherently built in us.
How can women claim 50% of the political space without reservation?
We need to nurture, train and push women forward to come into this role. We are not doing that.
What is the status quo the way you see it?
Nobody is training them. We need to begin training them now saying, “yes, you have good management skills. Use these management skills for public benefit.” Only if we can train and nurture and push them forward will it happen.