Women are highly underrepresented in the political stage, locally, nationally, and globally. World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 identified that women represent only 26.1% of around 35,500 parliament seats in the 156 countries focused by the survey. The lack of parity in representation is even more accentuated in India. In the State polls of 2021 taken collectively, roughly one in ten candidates was a woman and this is something of grave concern.
Political parties lack enthusiasm when it comes to accommodating women. For instance, the qualifications of a prospective woman candidate is heavily scrutinised while her male counterparts hardly undergo such rigorous screening. Representation in politics, in most cases remains a matter of tokenism. The glass ceiling very much exists in the political arena as well, where women find it difficult to progress beyond a certain level.
India’s political environment is certainly toxic to women. Politicians don’t shy away from misogynistic comments, the most shocking aspect of which is that they are unapologetically made out in the open. Even in heated exchanges between male politicians, it is often the women of the opponent’s family that is vulgarly attacked. The underlying notion is that a man’s honour rests on woman, and attacking his female relatives becomes an ultimate weapon of insult. While this toxic misogyny greatly discourages women participation, those who manage to venture in to politics against family pressures are denied equal opportunities.
Reservation for women in the parliament does ascertain a reduction in the gender gap. Why do men have to stand for women’s issues, when women can do it themselves, perhaps more effectively? It is an incident of epistemic violence where the ‘One’ imposes a narrative on the ‘Other’. It is only right that women articulate their own needs because they have voices of their own and can stand up for themselves. They do not require political intervention but fair representation.
This is, however, in no way a panacea. There exists a caveat.
‘I endured the personal humiliation of being vilified as a madwoman with strange hair—you know what that means—a strange name and strange ideas, ideas like democracy freedom and fairness that mean all people must be equally represented in our political process’
This statement by Lani Guinier, a revered American civil rights theorist and a strong advocate of proportional representation in voting systems, is a litmus test indicating the misogyny and solidified majoritarian ethos of the American political system. India is no different. Women cannot be truly represented, even if effective reservations are in place, unless patriarchy loosens its grip on the society. To explicate, let us imagine an electoral constituency reserved for women candidates. With the majority of its population being patriarchal, the candidate who most agrees with these sentiments is bound to win. What we’ll end up with is the success of an individual woman who would ultimately reinforce the existing gender gap.
It is clear that the issue must be tackled cohesively, where political, social and cultural revisioning collaborate to effect equal outcome. On the political front, proportional reservation still remains a necessity.