Token Seats For Women

It is difficult to see how the government can expect a blanket legislative reservation to help alter the status of women. For one, there is no evidence anywhere in India to show that women MPs or MLAs have wrought dramatic changes, indeed any change at all, in the condition of their female constituents. Nor is there any guarantee that women legislators are especially concerned about womens issues. The scope for corruption in this system is also wide.

Second, global experience with reservations in general has shown that this can never be a workable solution to a deep-seated social problem. There is no doubt that the Indian legislature has much to do to foster the progress of women in society. Laws concerning rape urgently need reform and policies for family planning and womens health should be radically reoriented. But designating women a special category within an elected power structure is unlikely to help achieve this. On the contrary, it is only likely to alienate male legislators and hamper the crucial attitudinal changes that could result in fundamental progress for Indian women in society. The insidious effects of the Bill are already evident: a Muslim League MP has reportedly said the place for a woman was in the kitchen, not Parliament.

 

The governments hasty move to introduce the Bill in Parliament, in fact, is little better than an effort to court a new and growing constituency. This is clear from the Bharatiya Janata Partys opposition to the Bill. Some members of the BJP, notably women, have demanded reservation for women of other backward castes as well. Democratic legislatures pre-suppose equality of opportunity. Reserving seats for women contradicts that basic spirit. Responsible women who earn their place in Parliament as equals with men are likely to command much more respect and influence than women who merely fill in nominal reserved seats. To work, social change in India requires much more than desultory and cynical political initiatives.