Parties give only lip-service to women power, no seats

KOCHI: Addressing a meet in Kochi recently, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had reiterated the party’s commitment for passing the women’s reservation bill if the party is voted to power. Still, chances are high for not even a single woman making it to the party’s list of candidates from Kerala. The only name doing the rounds is that of AICC secretary Shanimol Usman.
Similarly, there is nothing much to cheer about for women in the CPM’s list.The party has earmarked just two seats for them out of the total 14.
“The bill has been pending since 23 years. In 2010, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha with the support of Left parties,” said M C Josephine, chairperson, Kerala Women’s Commission and central committee member of CPM. “Though the BJP had the majority in the Parliament this time, it didn’t try to pass the bill,” she said.
“There is a public perception that adequate representation has to be given to women only after the bill comes into force. But all parties fare poor when it comes to the issue of women reservation,” she said.
Women will continue to be marginalized until the bill is passed, said Shanimol Usman. “Political parties, including the Congress don’t give adequate representation for women while fixing the candidates. When the Congress was in power the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha. That was due to the determination on the part of Sonia Gandhi,” she said, adding that more women should be included in the list of candidates.
BJP-led NDA is also likely to come up with a list, which will include just about one woman. Lists brought out by other major parties like the CPI, the Indian Union Muslim League and the RSP, do not feature a single woman.
Unlike in the case of candidates from other states, Kerala is a state where 50% women reservation has been successfully implemented. In the past two decades, many women have assumed leadership roles in three-tier panchayats, municipalities and corporations, cutting across party lines. It has resulted in an abundance of women leaders who are capable of contesting even Parliament elections.
Interestingly, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerji has declared that the party would earmark 40 tickets for women while Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik has decided to allot 33% of Lok Sabha seats to women making it clear that parties do not have to wait for the bill for providing adequate representation for women.
Only 12 women MPs from state since 1952
In six decades since 1952, Kerala has sent just 12 women MPs to the Lok Sabha thereby earning the dubious distinction of one of the states with poorest representation of women. Until 2014, the CPM had nine women MPs while the Congress had only two.
The first woman representative to the Lok Sabha from the state was an independent candidate Annie Mascarene who won from Trivandrum constituency in the then Travancore-Cochin state in 1951.
Only twice more than one woman represented the state in the Lok Sabha: In the 10th Lok Sabha CPM candidate Suseela Gopalan and Congress candidate Savithri Lakshaman won from Chirayinkil and Mukundapuram, respectively. The second instance was when C S Sujatha and P Satheedevi of the CPM were elected from Mavelikkara and Vadakara, respectively in 2004. In four Lok Sabhas, Kerala recorded zero percentage of women representation. Even states, which were ranked below Kerala in other indicators like health and literacy, have fared comparatively better in women representation. In the 16th Lok Sabha, West Bengal had the highest percentage of women MPs among states: 29%.
The state elected just 5% women in the 16th Lok Sabha ranking just above Karnataka, which fared the worst among southern states, sending just 4% women to the Parliament. The legislative assembly too witnesses a similar trend, said T N Seema, former Rajya Sabha MP. “The problem is the mindset. They say men stand a better chance of winning but it is a misconception. Until we have a system for legal reservation, things will not change,” she said. J Devika, social critic, too rubbishes the idea of winning probability. “There are so many below par candidatures from men who still end up winning because parties are willing to make use of the machinery,” she said.
According to a report by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the number of women contesting the Lok Sabha election has increased from 45 in 1957 to 668 in 2014. But percentage of winning candidates has declined from 60 to 9.3% during the period, the report notes.