A Backward View on a Forward Issue: Reservation for Women in Legislatures

A Backward View on a Forward Issue: Reservation for Women in Legislatures

Dr. S.S. Rana

It is umpteen number of years since the issue of reservation for women in legislatures was mooted to be introduced in and passed by the two Houses of our Parliament. Not withstanding the declared majority support to the measure, an appropriate bill was withdrawn at the introduction stage with an intriguing alacrity at the slightest show of opposition from isolated quarters. The Bill attracted similar response from the different regimes in government. But the pity is that hardly any national level debate has been provoked on the issue except the elite fora where, sadly enough, the debates remained confined to unilateral candour. Neither those who held the opposite view did spell out their reservations in a constructive manner. Even among the members of the ruling party at different times, reservations continued to linger with regard to the wisdom of the measure. This could be easily gauged from the body language of good number of members on either side of the divide on each occasion the Bill was stalled and withdrawn at the introductory stage. It appeared to the cynic that those who were opposing the bill were in fact obliging those who sponsored it.
Mercifully, the bill was at last introduced in the Upper house some time back, perhaps to keep it alive on technical grounds for a little longer period. The alibi of reaching a national consensus came handy for the procrastination witnessed impatiently by those who had wanted to hustle through. Nothing can be said with certainty about the fate of the bill. It is yet to be introduced in the lower house. Already there are signals for negotiating the percentage of reservations for women from those who were vehemently opposed to the concept in its present form for quite some time (in the manner of 7‘something is better than nothing’). Or, have they already seen the writing on the wall. So perhaps, a cult is coming on the strength of its emotional appeal and it is almost blasphemy to talk against it or to even point out the perils befalling the social fabric of our country, which still continues to be a rural entity in spite of the outwardly urbanised chunks growing out of emaciated rural population.
The ostensible purpose of reserving seats in legislatures is to accede to the better half her due share in a bid to empower her to serve as an engine of progress for the females of our country. On the face of it, it is a pious wish and nobody should have reason to fight with it. It is however, not understood how the presence of a greater number of women in any legislative body would make any difference in making laws to improve the lot of women. In modern times we have witnessed with pride the concerns expressed and legislation passed ensuring the improvement of the lot of women by legislators among whom there had been a negligible number of their sex .And let it be made clear that it was no charity doled out to women by men. Men were, indeed, legislating either in favour of a mother or a wife or a sister or a daughter. The paradigm of ‘man-woman’ as two wheels of the same cart, ensuring a smooth ride on life’s journey is as transcendental as one would think in the fast changing times of the automobile world. One would therefore, like to go into the dynamics of the issue through a backward view.
When our constitution makers (quite an enlightened lot!) provided for reservations for the various depressed communities they were not unaware of the still degraded position of women among these sections of our society. It was not an oversight on their part, one can say, not to talk of women separately in that context. Surely our wise men (and women) of today are entitled to talk about the need to give reservation and through it empowerment to the most depressed among the community of women. The history of the growth and development of the political class in post independence India compels us to take note of trends which do not strongly demonstrate our concerns for strengthening of the democratic model. The coalscing of the political, intellectual and ruling classes is taking place at such a fast pace and not always unbrazenly that the masses find it difficult (or many a time impossible!) to keep pace with them to reap the fruits of ‘self rule’. In a scheme of things where at least 30% (or a brokered 20 %) of the legislators are women the party managers (of any dispensation) would find it more convenient to have things their way. But from where this number would be drawn is any body’s guess. One can assume that the classes would have it and the masses would be left out of the race here too. The implication is that the number of new arrivals among the backward legislatures would be reduced. To put it differently the number of legislators from backward classes will go down drastically.
The myth of reservation on the basis of sex serving as a catalytic for the improvement of the lot of woman in general can be seen to be breaking in the regime of Panchayats and Municipalities. It is no secret that by and large women representatives serve as proxies of their male patrons in the family (father or brother). Let us imagine there would be educated and smart women (of whom there is no dearth, we admit) in legislatures taking up womens’ causes and fighting for them. The question is who will work for society, as by corollary, men should be working for the cause of men. Society is not male or female specific. Therefore, fragmenting representation on the basis of sex would not serve the best interest of society. It would amount to vertical division of the man-woman solid pillar of our social structure. It is not to deny that women in our country do not have enough space of their own which could ensure safety; security and desired freedom. It is also true that our laws covering social, economic and personal life, in spite of great amount of reform, still need to be made more woman friendly and enforceable. But our starting at the top in giving reservation to women in legislatures, when a good amount of work awaits our attention to be taken up immediately without courting avoidable controversy, betrays our concern for the form rather than the substance. The railway minister has demonstrated how a small step of setting apart only women coaches in the local trains can serve as a means, both for giving confidence to the hapless female passengers and serve as a signal to those who would like to innovate to create a woman friendly environment in their respective charge. Already schemes are in place for the amelioration of the condition of woman in need. These need to be multiplied and strengthened. We have witnessed how a small measure of reserving some seats for women in the Delhi Metro trains has added to the comfort of female passengers who now throng the facility in large numbers mostly unescorted. It may be necessary to resort to such exclusive steps to begin with but our ultimate aim should be to create an environment where a woman does not feel handicapped simply because of her gender. In the developed countries efforts have been made to create separate safe enclaves in public places like Parks; transport system and even hotels in cities like Tokyo, New York and Moscow. The ancient law giver had advocated safety and security to women at all stages of her life. It is, however, a pity that his prescription in the following piece has gone totally misconstrued in popular perception: pita rakshati kaumare, bharta rakshati yauvane| varddhakye putrah rakshanti, na stri svatantryamarhati|| [The father is responsible for the safety and security of the female till her marriage, after which the husband takes over that responsibility, and the children take care of her in old age. A woman, indeed, should never be left to fend for herself (uncared for).There should be no doubt left about his stand vis-à-vis women in his observation: yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah i.e. gods would love to live in a society where women have a place of honour and respect.
Imagine the possible scenario if the reservation regime proposed now falls into place. We are already miffed by the nexus of various interest groups in our democratic polity. The most powerful being the steel frame of bureaucrats, who await the chance of their spouses arriving to directly bat for them in the legislatures (it is not difficult to guess what class would reap the first fruits of the reservation regime), making their power claws more lethal, not a healthy development for democracy. Elitism has already marked the hue of our legislatures. No one would fail to notice, how through the capture of political parties kins have combined to corner seats. There are a large number of mixed doubles in our Parliament either in the same house or in the two houses combined. These father-son/daughter combinations are going to multiply as and when seats are reserved for women. The customary argument ‘the people want them’ is certainly going to be the
ready made response of all those who would be responsible to explain the phenomenon. The common man (also woman!) would be left wondering at the denouement of the charade of a very popular saga of women’s empowerment. Or are we entitled to imagine, in a lighter vein though, that our legislatures would have a redeeming feature, as in the presence of women in a substantial number we would have our speakers not to have to stretch substantially to control members, aggressive both in language and manners. Also, one can trust the sartorial spectrum in the lower houses taking a right (if not a U) turn, though we may not witness many turncoats. In the end one should hope that the houses (or at least the lobbies!) would not give a deserted look during session times. And shall we not hope that repartee, a rare commodity these days, would grow in abundance being home (house!)grown as it were.



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