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CULTURE ,IDENTITY AND POLITICS

RESEARCH PROJECT

WOMEN IN POLITICS

Y.Sneha

200601123
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Abstract

The history of the nationalist movement has been rewritten on many occasions, existing histories
share a common gap on the plane of gender. While drawing links between gender and nationalism, and
between gender and colonialism, I have discussed the 'experience' of women in the nationalist movement
in India. I have tried to expose the contradictions that arise in analyses focusing on issues of gender,
nationalism and colonialism.

In existing discussions of nationalist discourse, two different levels of analysis have been prevalent.
Firstly, there has been an attempt by the nationalist movement and its leaders to project a 'correct'
picture of the nationalist activities of middle-class women. One of the consequences of providing a
'correct picture' has been that women have been projected as a homogeneous and uniform category.
Consequently, women have been misrepresented in historical tracts and the diversity of their activity,
varying political consciousness and the conflicts and ambiguities to which they were prey have been
downplayed. Women harboured different attitudes and opinions on the basis of their consciousness, age
and religion. This article has also tried to show that the nationalist movement benefited both by
projecting women as a homogeneous category and constructing them as special role models.

On the second level, Indian historians have reproduced this 'correct' picture of the nationalist
movement. Though it is difficult to identify why Indian historians have reproduced nationalist discourse
and what benefits they gained by so doing, it remains clear that, at both levels, women's activities have
been marginalized. Women in historical records, it has tried to show that the success of some political
movements is dependent on women's contribution. The Indian nationalist movement benefited not only
from the nationalist activities of women but also from the way it confined its women to various constructs
and role-models.

Women are underrepresented in Indian politics. The issue has come sharply into focus for
some years now, partly because of the thwarted moves towards providing one-third reservation for
women in legislative bodies including Parliament, along with the more successful moves to enforce
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such reservation in elections to rural panchayats. Of course such an issue naturally becomes more
apparent during a period of elections as well. What emerged quite clearly in the current very long
drawn out election process is how little has changed at one level since Independence. The candidates
fielded by the various political parties are still dominantly male: women account for only five to ten per
cent of all candidates across parties and regions. What may be more significant in terms of political
power than the proportion of women fighting the Lok Sabha polls is the importance of women in inner
party structures. In most parties, the women members are by and large thin on the ground if not
invisible in the actual decision-making bodies and rarely influence the more significant party policies.
This is most evident in the proliferation of women leader s and in the fact that, even though some of
them may head parties that are relatively small in the national context, they simply cannot be ignored.

With a lack of female leadership in the lower political ranks, one must question how
women come to be heads of state in India. Often it is through being a widow, a mother, a
daughter or a daughter-in-law of a past leader. Through accepted gender roles in Indian
society, women are able to find access to the public, largely-masculine world of politics and
escape from the circumscribed boundaries of the private: home and family. Women leaders in
South Asia, heralded for being in positions of power in largely patriarchal societies, find their
political currency through their relationships as women of men.

Women Politicians have acquired certain status in public sphere and is partially
constructed by the media. Inidra Gandhi is portrayed as “Durga”and ”Kali”.Sonia Gandhi is seen
as St.Sonia for her voluntary step down from highest position in country. Jayalalitha is known as
“Amma” for her deeds even though she is not a mother. Print media gives a biased version of
women politicians. Movies which were based on women politicians lives were of two types
either she is a clean politician who dictates over the men or a women who is suppressed and
has faced hardships and joins rebellious groups.In the end politics comes to her rescue to
legitimize her ambitions like Phoolan Devi.

Women’s reservation bill repeatedly flounders in Parliament is recognized as a discourse of

women’s empowerment. More than one million women function in these bodies as members, which
certainly is a great experiment, notwithstanding the fact that many function as proxies of their
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husbands, fathers or brothers. Often, women belonging to lower castes are not allowed to wield
power. Although participation in local bodies promotes women's role in politics, it does not make them
contribute to the legislative process .That would be possible only when women's representation
becomes sizable in Parliament. While it is relatively easy to reserve 33 per cent seats in local bodies, it
is very difficult to do so for Parliament and state assemblies. The controversy hinges on the envisaged
sub-quotas, in order to include OBCs and Muslims. Since there is no constitutional provision for these
categories to get quotas in the legislature, the political debate is combustible .
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Women’s Contribution To National Struggle: Construction of Woman

India's struggle for independence is of tremendous importance in the history of anti-colonial

movements. The nationalist movement set the precedent of achieving independence through non-violence and
thus a whole new philosophy based on ahimsa was born. The culmination of the movement in the partition on
religious grounds of a country as big and culturally diverse as India was also significant. However, arguably the
most important aspect of this movement for Independence from a historical point of view was that it saw mass
participation by Indian women, women who had till then been confined to the domestic sphere.

The contribution of women to the Independence movement was significant. They were involved in
diverse nationalist activities, both within and outside the home. Within the home they spun and wove khadi,
held classes to educate other women and contributed significantly to nationalist literature in the form of
articles, poems and propaganda material. Shelter and nursing care were also provided to nationalist leaders
who were in hiding from the British authorities. Outside the home Prabhatferis were organized in which
women from all castes and classes would walk to the local temple singing songs to rouse the nationalist and
patriotic feelings of the people. In addition they held meetings and demonstrations, took part in satyagraha,
picketed toddy and foreign-cloth shops, went to prison and also suffered brutalities at the hands of the British
police. Lastly, when the nationalist leadership were in gaol, the women took over the leadership roles and
provided guidance to the movement.

In various writings on the nationalist movement it is argued that both the participation and leadership
of women's activities was provided by 'middle-class women'. However, middle-class women were not a
homogeneous and undifferentiated category. Age and religion informed the consciousness of women as much
as their class background, and also served to divide the class.

The nationalist project gained major benefits from the active participation of women as mentioned
above. It also managed to make a significant impact on a susceptible populace by projecting women as
powerful symbols of a 'unified' nation. To this end the concepts of 'motherhood' and 'femininity' were
modified in accordance with the prevailing political ideology. In what follows, therefore, I first examine the
formulation of various constructs of women and their use to the leaders of the nationalist project for the
furtherance of their political aims. I also attempt to show how these constructs were modified, together
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with the attributes of 'femininity' and 'motherhood', to suit the changing requirements of the nationalist
movement and its leaders.

The construction of the 'new' woman

In the late nineteenth century the construction of the 'new woman' was an issue central to
nationalist discourse. This was also the time when the status of women in Indian society became a political
issue and focus of debate and controversy. The position and status of women was, in British eyes, an
indicator of the 'modernization' of a country. It also reflected on the ability of its citizens to rule themselves.
Institutions of sati, polygamy, female infanticide, purdah and child-marriage came under British criticism.

Amongst Indian reformers, Hindu culture by contrast was regarded as superior to Western
models. At the same time, it was recognized that, in order to avoid British criticism, Hindu culture had to be
rendered more consistent with Western ideas of liberalism and humanitarianism. These Western values were
seen to form apart of the 'material' domain, a domain dominated by Western science, technology and
methods of statecraft. Opposed to this domain was the 'spiritual' domain, which was seen as representative of
the 'true identity' of the Indian people. The woman was supposed to be the guardian of the 'spiritual'
domain. The task before the nationalist leaders was now to protect the inherent qualities of the 'spiritual
domain'. This was because while in the material domain colonizers had 'subjugated' the colonized, that is the
non-European people, it was in the spiritual domain that no encroachments had taken place. Thus there was a
perceived need to protect the sanctity of this domain, a domain representing the culture and 'Indianness' of
the people.

However, the nationalist leaders also realized that the 'spiritual' domain had to be made more
consistent with the outside world and its new ideas of equality and liberalism. Thus the construct of the 'new
woman' was formulated. This construct was relevant to women from the middle class, the demographic
section which was the cornerstone of the nation in late colonial India. The success of this construct was
dependent on the formal education of women. Education was viewed as a means to enhance the social
presence of Indian women and enable them to adapt to a changing external situation. Education was also seen
as making the 'new woman' more responsible towards her familial duties. She was supposed to be inculcated,
through education, with the virtues of cleanliness, companionship, discipline and self-control . These
qualities were added to her traditional role in the family, without changing the basic social relationship
characterized by male dominance.
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The spiritual role of the new woman was not only represented as a mark of the superiority of Hindu
as compared to 'alien' culture, but also a sign of women's 'newly acquired freedom'. However, in order that
the new woman's 'newly acquired freedom' still be contained within the parameters set by the nationalist
leaders, the 'common woman' construct was created. The 'common woman', as opposed to the 'new woman',
was coarse, promiscuous and vulgar. The common women were the street-vendors, fisherwomen, 'washer
women', to cite but a few. Besides lacking the veneer of gentility, these women, due to economic compulsion,
were forced to eke out an existence on the streets. They thus lacked the attributes of docility and
submissiveness which were ingrained in middle-class women.

The creation of the 'common woman' construct set moral limits on women's behaviour and
their code of conduct. The choice for a woman was thus limited to being either a 'new woman' or a 'common
woman' - a choice imposed by nationalist leaders. It can be argued that there were benefits to be gained by
the nationalist movement and its leaders in the creation of these constructs. I would suggest that these came
from the way the 'new woman' construct could explain and contain the activities of women (including
ensuring that they adhered to non-violent activities during their participation in the Independence
movement). The construction of the 'common woman', on the other hand, eliminated any possibility of a
public exploration of the differences and conflicts that women, in the course of their political participation,
could experience.

Closely associated with the construct of the 'new woman' were the concepts of 'femininity' and
'motherhood'. Femininity had to be projected in a particular way so that while it facilitated the Indian man's
efforts to prove his 'masculinity' in the external domain, it also maintained traditional patriarchal
relations within the family by offering no threat to the dominance of male attitudes.In this context, it was
essential for the nationalist leaders to project 'femininity' in ways which would enhance the 'masculine' or
worldly virtues of Indian men. The concept of 'femininity' in the 'new woman' construct which thus emerged
was based on mythology, literature and history. The mythical figures of Sita and Savitri were considered the
epitome of ideal Indian womanhood. The woman was supposed to be devoted to her husband and to show
reverence for elders. In addition she was supposed to be her husband's Ardhangini (complementary half) and
Sahadharmini (helpmate), as well as to possess the virtues of benevolence and self-sacrifice. There was at
the same time equal stress on her acquiring the practical skills of running a house and rearing children. All
these virtues were considered non-threatening in the traditional male hierarchy.

The concept of 'motherhood', like that of 'masculinity', was also subject to British criticism. This
was because early motherhood, a result of child marriages, was seen by the British as one of the causes of the
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depraved nature of the Indian men.In the Indian tradition the mother has always been deified. Thus, for
example, goddesses like Durga, Saraswati, Sita and Vaishno were regularly represented as mothers. This
sanctified image of the mother was now considered an important vehicle by the nationalist leaders to convey
the idea of a strong 'civilization' to the British. It was argued that the west did not stress mattabhav
(motherhood) qualities as they were in India . 'Motherhood', as thus defined, implied a woman not only
loving or caring for her children, but also producing healthy progeny (the mother as race nourisher). She
had also to undertake the task of educating her progeny to be the future en- lightened citizens of India

The 'new woman' in the twentieth century

By the early years of the twentieth century, the construct of the 'new woman' and the associated ideas
of 'femininity' and 'motherhood' were beginning to be modified to meet the requirements of a changing
political atmosphere. Indian society was already undergoing changes in matters related to gender, and the
political movement for Independence was gaining momentum. The emergence of Gandhi on the political
scene in the 1920s as the nationalist leader had tremendous impact on women. His ideas about women's
roles in the nationalist movement were considered 'revolutionary' for that period. Though he believed in
gender-specific roles, he was very critical of those roles that cloistered women in ignorance and affected them
adversely, like purdah, dowry and the devadasi (temple dancers) tradition.

It is pertinent to discuss how Gandhi envisaged the participation of women in nationalist politics. He
realized the significant role women could play in the nationalist movement by their active participation. Also,
he realized how the construct of the 'new woman' had to be modified to bring women out of their
homes. He argued that the qualities of self-sacrifice and 'silent suffering' were ingrained in Indian women.
Thus women were ideally suited to participate in his movement, the core concepts of which are ahimsa (non-
violence in thought, action and deed) and satyagraha: 'If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with
women' .

Gandhi thus stressed those attributes of women which were beneficial for his political campaign.
An integral feature of Gandhi's civil disobedience movement, and one for which women were particularly
suited, was spinning and weaving khadi. Gandhi advocated self-reliance by weaving one's own cloth and
boycotting foreign cloth. It was easy to identify spinning and weaving khadi as women's dharma (the eternal
law of the Hindu cosmos) or duty, since it was primarily women's responsibility to feed and clothe her family.
Sarladevi Sarabhai, an activist, acknowledged her motivation to join the nationalist movement 'as a desire to
fulfil her dharma' . Spinning on the charkha (spinning wheel) was an integral part of Gandhi's Constructive
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Programme and his campaign against the colonial masters. The charkha was identified as the national
symbol and later incorporated in the national flag of India. Spinning and weaving khadi enhanced the
significance of women's contribution to the movement in their own eyes. Also, the more tradition-bound
women could have the satisfaction of participating without going on the streets.

In the 1930s, however, Gandhi began to encourage the emergence of women into and the of the
home that he had earlier stressed was disturbed. At this point, he realized the dilemma of distinguishing
'women of the street' from 'women on the street', because paradoxically the 'new woman' had to picket
'on the streets' herself. One of the worries of the women activists involved in street demonstrations was
about distinguishing themselves from 'women of the street'. An example of this can be seen during the civil
disobedience movement in the 1930s when prostitutes from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh (who fell under the
category of the 'common woman') were stopped from joining the movement and were said to be 'unfit to sit
near other ladies' by members of the District Congress Committee . The nationalist leader Gandhi himself
refused to accept the prostitutes as Congress members unless they gave up their 'unworthy profession'.

Thus the 'new woman' construct had to be modified to allow for women taking to the streets. The
modified construct incorporated qualities like strength of will, steadfastness of purpose and fortitude in the
face of adversity. The woman of this construct was supposed to bear stoically long separations from her
husband and patiently bear the mental and physical trauma of his imprisonments, his maltreatment at the
hands of British police and his disappearance for days on end. Yet when the need arose, this woman was
exhorted to come out of the home and undertake leadership roles in the absence of her husband .

Despite all the above, Gandhi remained a 'traditionalist' in the domestic sphere. His construct called
for no reorganization of familial duties. In fact, he believed that political participation could not take place at
the cost of domestic duties.

It became my conviction that procreation and consequent care of children were inconsistent with public
service .... If I wanted to devote myself to the service of the community... I must relinquish the desire for
children and wealth and live the life of a vanaprastha (Gandhi, 1942: 196).

Gandhi's stress on the familial responsibilities of women may be explained by his need to secure
support from the 'guardians' of women by assuring men of the safety and protection of their women..
Thus, while Gandhi encouraged women's political participation, he was careful that their activities did not
threaten men's masculinity in any way.
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The associated concept of 'motherhood' was also broadened in the twentieth century to incorporate
more qualities. The image of the 'nurturer of civilization' of Indian mothers was expanded to include the
idea of the mother as 'defender of civilization'. The nationalist leaders realized the significance of the
concept of a unified 'motherland', a motherland that stretched from the 'Himalayas to the Indian Ocean'.
The mother of the nineteenth century was now identified with the 'motherland' or Bharat mata. Literally
translated Bharat mata means 'mother India'. This idea aligned the duties and responsibilities of the mother
with the duties of a woman towards her nation. Bharat mata was projected as the ultimate mother, with all
Indians as her sons and daughters. This mother, when in danger, could summon her 'countless' children to her
aid.

The idea of Bharat mata served a dual purpose. Firstly, the allegiance of women as mothers to their
nation prevented women from expressing displeasure when their sons/fathers/brothers were hauled in to
jails or thrown in kala pani. Secondly, the deified image of a 'single' mother of the whole nation, whose
honour had to be protected, aroused the national sentiments of the population as a whole.

The idea of Bharat mata was propagated through poetry, literature and the movies. Invariably, the
image was of a crowned and beautiful woman in 'shackles' weeping 'tears of blood', or of the same woman
holding aloft a trident and leading her countless sons and daughters to battle. Such symbolic representations of
women enabled them to emerge as active participants in national processes. But it is pertinent to note that the
nationalist leaders benefited the most from the manipulations of representations of women. The benefits to
women of participation in the nationalist movement, by contrast, were always limited by their
responsibilities for 'women's work' in the home.

Nationalist activities of women

The mass participation of women in the nationalist movement is a well-recognized historical reality.
Their activities within the movement were, however, diverse. While some women participated actively on the
streets, others just gave support to the movement. One activity which received a particularly eager response
from women was, for example, the breaking of salt laws. Salt was a commodity that affected women from all
walks of life equally. Women all over the country marched to the sea depots to manufacture salt, an activity
which was illegal.

Women were also made responsible by Gandhi for picketing liquor and foreign cloth shops. The
women would sit outside the shops and dissuade customers from making purchases. If this tactic did not work
they would lie in front of the stores and effectively stop customers from going in. Often picketing relied on
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the social pressure that it could exert - so for example most of the women involved in pickets were from the
same caste as the men visiting the liquor stores. Other forms of agitation involved leading processions, holding
meetings and courting arrest. Often, after leading a procession, women leaders would make speeches exhorting
their fellow-activists to achieve greater heights of patriotism. In some meetings proscribed literature was also
read. Many women were thrown behind bars: so, for example, of the 80,000 people arrested during the salt
satyagraha, 17,000 were women .

Women who did not take an active part contributed by spreading the message of Swadeshi. They also
held classes in various ashrams on spinning and weaving khadi. The most visible participation in all these
activities came from 'middle class' women. There is, moreover, a presupposition in most historical tracts
on Indian nationalism that middle-class women were united on the basis of their gender, shared a common
political goal, i.e., the anti-colonial struggle, and had the same political consciousness. It can, however, be
argued that middle-class women were not an homogeneous and undifferentiated category. The political
motivations and activities of women differed on the basis of age, religion and political consciousness.

The projection of a unified political role is often argued on the basis of the number of women
participants, in such formulations as, 'in an audience of five thousand, no less than two thousand were
women' or 'thousands of women strode down to the sea like proud warriors' . Yet what this obscures are all the
conflicts and differences of opinion on participation that existed in the nationalist movement. Not all women
shared the same political opinions towards their activities and organizational tasks. However, the reality was
more complex. Not all women took to political participation like 'proud warriors' or because of their
awakened consciousness of modern Indian womanhood. There were conflicts with women's lives which were
raised in the course of their participation.

Vijaylakshmi Pandit, in her autobiography, mentions that her mother, Swarup Rani, found it difficult
to adjust to the changed lifestyle and the constant infringement of her privacy which activism produced:

This was a time of great domestic strain and constant adjustments were asked for. Mother felt acutely
miserable over all that was happening. How could she take sides (with husband or son) or understand this new
'Mahatma' whose business, if anything, should have been to look after people's morals instead of meddling
in family matters .

Thus even as women stood ready to respond to Gandhi's call, they were beset by guilt and
anguish at having to neglect their homes and children. They were thus torn in two directions - one
towards their duty towards the nation and one towards the family.
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The activities of women from the middle class differed also according to age. The activities of the
younger generation were markedly different from the activities of women following the Gandhian non-
violent programme. The leaders of the first nationalist generation were quick to identify the potential in
the younger generation. When Pandit Nehru and Subhash Bose, constituting the radical wing of the
Congress, founded the Independence League in 1928, Jawaharlal Nehru commented:

After long suppression the spirit of youth is up in arms against all forms of authoritarianism, and is
seeking an outlet in many ways and directions. Youth leagues have sprung up in all parts of the country and
individual young men and women, weary of the continual and barren strife of many of their elders, are groping
for a path which might lead them to a fuller realisation of themselves .

Women of the older generation lacked the courage to try and establish new social norms which
had been kindled. Young middle-class women, by contrast, were active in organizing underground
activities. Revolutionary organizations increased their sabotage activities in the 1930s. The province of
Bengal was very active. Santi and Suniti, young girls in their teens, shot dead Stevens, District Magistrate
of Comilla in December 1931 . In Delhi, Roop Vati Jain, aged seventeen, was in charge of a bomb factory
under Chandra Shekhar Azad. This factory produced picric acid, nitro-glycerine, gun-cotton and other
ingredients for bombs.

Most of these women had earlier served as members of the youth league, organized by the
Congress. In the Benares bomb case, Miss Mrinalini and Radharani Debi had been members of the Benares
Youth League and had earlier taken part in picketing. However, disenchantment with the non-violent
programme caused them to resort to terrorism, until they were arrested under Sections 4 and 5 of the
Explosive Substances Act and 19F Arms Act .

Just as men and women were positioned differently within the same class, women were positioned
differently with respect to each other within the middle class. Thus, for example, the religious imagery used by
young terrorist women was different from that used by women of the non-violent programme. Women
involved in sabotage stressed the destructive, aggressive and violent qualities of the feminine deities
(Shakti and Kali). Differences in perception due to religion also affected the motivations and nature of
women's activities. Though Muslim women participated in the nationalist movement, they did not do so in
such large numbers as Hindus. Women like Bi Amman, Begum Mohammed Ali, Begum Hasrat Mohani and
Mrs Abdul Kadir did, however, contribute actively to the movement, especially by picketing shops owned by
Muslims who resented the activities of Hindu women. Muslim women's participation also introduced the
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important issue of purdah to the nationalist movement. Purdah was an issue for social reform brought up in
women's meetings and conferences. In a nationalist song composed in honour of Urmilla Devi (an activist in
Meerut), it was stated, 'Hey womankind, leave your comfortable homes, give your bangles to the menfolk,
leave your veils behind, come out in the streets and bazaars . Giving bangles to men as well as leaving the 'veil'
behind reflects the drive towards sexual reform often voiced in nationalist songs and poems. Yet it should
be noted that Gandhi's movement, which encouraged women to come out of their seclusion, attracted more
Hindu women than Muslim. Muslim women from the middle class did not in general discard purdah, and their
participation in processions was more a gesture of solidarity than a challenge to the purdah tradition .

A possible reason for Muslim women retaining the burqa was the resentment expressed by their
menfolk towards women's activities outside the home. Some Muslim men, in anonymous letters to news-
papers, commented that even though Hindu men did not protest at the use of their women in picketing liquor
and cloth shops, it was affecting their Muslim women who, 'brought up within the purdah tradition', must
suffer when suddenly called upon to interfere with strangers in the bazaars and made to 'sit publicly' with male
shopkeepers. They considered the activities that their women had been involved in as 'unwomanly' and
'immodest' acts.

Seen in the light of the construction of the 'new woman', the difference between Muslim and Hindu
opinions is particularly significant. For the Muslims, whose womenfolk were said to perceive men other than
their fathers and brothers as threats to their morals and chastity, activities which were regarded as
'respectable' by Hindu nationalist leaders were seen as 'immodest'. Clearly, then, the construction of new
woman' was hardly a homogeneous category, either in terms of class, generation or religion.

Indian Women and the Indian National Congress

The early Indian National Congress decided to avoid topics associated with women’s status and
delegated education ,child marriage ,polygamy ,purdah and widowhood to the National Social
Conference.Neverthless ,woman attended and took part in its earliest meetings .After Gandhi’s rise to
power in the Congress ,social issues became an integral part of the party’s platform and women were
encouraged to join .Although their members were small and not representative of Indian woman as a
whole,they took a keen interest in political and social change. Unfortunately, many of those who have
written on this period have opted for one of two simplistic views of the relationship between Congress
and woman.Either they were laudatory ,claiming that claiming that congress particularly Gandhi
,transformed Indian women or they condemn Congress and Gandhi for manipulating women for political
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ends .Nether captures women’s experiences .The most active women combined an interest in politics
and women’s rights ,often with the support of their husbands and families .To see them as puppets or
dupes denies the legacy of the nineteenth century ,the intelligence of these women and the complexity
of their relationships with congress .It also overlooks the way in which consciousness and ideology
developed .For many women ,political involvement spurred their feminism, while commitment to
improving the status of women encouraged their involvement in the freedom struggle.

Struggle for Representation and Franchise

In 1917, a delegation of Indian women put up before secretary of state Ewin Montagu its
demand for franchise. In response to the Indian agitation for representative government, the British
government set up a committee headed by Montague and Chelmsford in 1919 to work out a proposal
for constitutional reforms aiming at the inclusion of some Indians in government. Many groups
presented their case for representation before the committee. Among the many delegations that met
this committee, Sarojini Naidu and Margaret Cousins led a small delegation of women to demand that
women be granted the same rights of representation in legislatures as men.

The British government predictably thought this demand was quite preposterous because
women in most Western countries had still not been given the right to vote, despite a protracted
struggle. The Southborough Committee stated that “the extension of the vote to women would be
premature in a society which continued to enforce purdah and prohibitions against female education.
However,instead of taking on themselves the onus of rejecting the demand outright, the British
government simply skirted the issue by leaving it up to each of the individual provincial legislatures that
they had just set up in India to grant or to refuse the franchise to women. Their assumption was that
since Indians were so “backward”, they would never accept the idea of equal political rights for women.
But despite the fact that at this time there was no mass-based women’s suffrage movement in India,
each of the Indian provincial legislatures voted to make it possible within a short span of time for
women to be represented at par with men without much fuss.

The testimony of Margaret Cousins, an Irish feminist who played a major role in women’s
organizations in India as well as in Britain, brings out the contrast between the Western and Indian
response to women’s political rights very clearly. Between the Madras Legislative Council in 1921 and
Bihar Council in 1929 all the legislative areas of India had conferred the symbol and instrument of equal
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citizenship with men and women who possessed equal qualifications — a certain amount of literacy,
property, age, payment of taxes, length of residence.”

Owing to constant lobbying by the Women's Indian Association, this right was granted in 1930.
Muthulakshmi Reddi became the first woman legislator. In the Round Table Conference held in 1930,
two women activists, Begum Jahanara Shah Nawaz and Radhabai Subbarayan, pleaded for 5 per cent
reservation for women in the legislatures. Other women activists, however, did not appreciate this sort
of favour-seeking. They were in favour of universal adult suffrage through which women, they argued,
would automatically carve out their political niche. The Government of India Act, 1935, which
broadened the franchise base, provided for formal induction of women in the political process both in
reserved and general seats. Provincial elections held under the Act returned 56 women against 1,500
seats — 41 from reserved constituencies, 10 from general constituencies and five nominated.

Post-Independence Women’s Politics

In independent India, politics has proved to be very inhospitable for women. One important
reason is the pervasive gender discrimination which results in making even veteran women politicians
feel bypassed and ignored. For new entrants, discrimination makes it very difficult for them to establish
a foothold without patronage from powerful men in the party. However, it is important to recognize
that the sidelining of women in our polity goes beyond gender discrimination. It is part of a larger
process in which most honest, decent people have become politically marginalized as our politics and
government have become the hotbed of crooks, thugs and even outright criminals. Very few honest
men or women have survived in electoral politics and kept their honesty intact.

Today the political scene has come to be dominated by anti-social elements because we have
reduced our democracy to the sole ritual of the electorate casting its vote whenever called upon to do
so. After they vote, the people have virtually no role in the functioning of civic and other institutions.
After Independence, the brown sahibs led by Nehru, who inherited power from the gora sahibs, allowed
the colonial bureaucracy to strengthen its stranglehold over our civic, administrative, and political
institutions from the village to the national level.. Politics has become the quickest and shortest route to
getting rich without doing any work other than brokerage.If the rules of the game remain as corrupt as
they are now, only those women politicians who are good at emulating the worst of male politicians in
the art of power-grabbing and plundering will be able to survive.Career graphs of Indira Gandhi,
Jayalalitha, Mayawati, Rithambara, Sheila Kaul, and a host of other prominent women in power politics
 P a g e | 16

is a testimony that women become as vicious, corrupt, and authoritarian as the worst of men when they
occupy positions of power which demand little or no accountability. Such specimens of the female
gender serve neither the cause of women nor that of society. They are as harmful for our democracy as
are the Bal Thackerays, Chandraswamis, H.K.L. Bhagats and Advanis. The presence of this type of woman
is neither worth fighting for nor celebrating.

This is not to suggest leaving the political arena to the male crooks who dominate our
Parliament and state legislatures today. But women should enter politics with a vision for restoring the
health of our dysfunctional political system, to make our politics truly representative and overhaul our
institutions of governance — the local corporations, police stations, courts, and various government
offices — in such a way that they become actually accountable to ordinary citizens in their everyday
functioning.

Many argue that to expect women to carry an extra load of morality is to make unreasonable
demands of them which only strengthens the stereotype of women as self-sacrificing creatures who can
be easily sidelined. While it is legitimate for women to demand a share of the pie, it is equally important
to ensure the pie is worth eating and that there is enough there for everyone to share. Women’s entry
into politics will not change anything for the better if the overall character of politics does not improve.
If women join politics in greater numbers through the present scheme of reservation this change alone
is not going to create a new political culture by itself. While the inadequate representation of women in
governance is a serious flaw of our democracy which needs correction, to stop at merely that would be
suicidal as it will only lead to making a sizable space for women in the world of organized corruption and
crime.

As things stand today, even those women who have made a mark in electoral politics find it hard
to sustain their involvement unless they too become money making racketeers. For the honest, the
heavy investment of time and money that is required proves too burdensome to be sustained for more
than a short time. A good example is that of Sarojatai Kashikar, who was a member of the Maharashtra
assembly between 1991 and 1995. Sarojatai was initially drawn into politics through her husband’s close
association with the Shetkari Sangathana. Before her exposure to the Sangathana, she was an ordinary
housewife whose only connection with political life for years was cooking and serving her husband’s
colleagues in the movement. Though she was well-educated, she had no interest in or knowledge of the
political world.
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However, as the Sangathana leader Sharad Joshi insisted that women must participate actively
in the movement, she slowly came to be one of the leading cadres of the Sangathana. In 1991, the
Sangathana fielded her as a candidate for the Maharashtra state assembly elections as part of their
campaign to get as many women elected as possible. Though new to electoral politics, she won by a
convincing margin and within a short span of time came to be one of the most respected legislators in
the state assembly. She took her work seriously, studied the required documents, kept in good contact
with her constituency and was respected even by district officials for her honesty and integrity.
However, her job as an MLA required that long periods had to be spent away from home attending
assembly sessions in Bombay. Since she did not feel safe living alone in the MLA’s hostel in Bombay, a
young brother-in- law was deputed to accompany and stay with her in Bombay. She told me that even
for a middle-aged married woman like herself, to be seen chatting and freely socializing with male
political colleagues was likely to be misunderstood and become cause for character assassination. To
avoid this, her brother-in-law remained by her side to act as a protective shield.

In addition, in Sarojatai’s case she could also count on her four other male colleagues from the
Sangathana who also became MLAs at the same time as her. Having been trained in the political culture
of the Sangathana, her colleagues were not only exceptionally honest and decent but also used to
dealing with women as colleagues. These men acted as buffers, yet provided her the necessary
communication channel with the world of politicians without her having to directly hobnob with all
kinds of unsavory characters. Since they were all close and trusted friends of her husband, interaction
with them provided much less scope for misunderstanding. Yet she did find herself handicapped in
many respects and had to watch her every step. Hence the dependence on her young and relatively
inexperienced brother-in-law.

The Inhibiting Factors for Women in Politics

A key component of politics is the art of building alliances. In a culture where even formal
interaction with men unconnected to one’s own family is frowned upon, women are severely
handicapped in politics because they cannot cultivate close association with men without jeopardizing
their position in the family. A woman operating on her own strength in a party filled with corrupt
politicians who think nothing of slandering their own women colleagues would find the going very
tough, even if she can somehow mobilize other compensatory resources by her own special efforts.
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Not too long ago, Uma Bharti of the BJP was driven to a suicide attempt because of the slander
campaign unleashed by her own colleagues who saw her independent mass popularity as a threat to
their power. They used her supposed personal closeness to one of the BJP’s respected male leaders to
spread all kinds of vicious rumours about her, both within the party and in the media. The fact that
politics is dominated by the most unsavoury kind of men makes most women themselves reluctant to
break taboos regarding free intermixing with men. A woman risks her reputation by even being seen
with many of them, whereas a man does not have to prove his credentials by such fierce avoidance.

Thus women are handicapped from getting crucial information which men pick up easily from
casual gossip with all kinds of people. So much of our politics is carried out in late night sessions, often
over booze, where deals are made and strategies planned. Most women politicians, including the
corrupt ones, don’t dare to be seen participating in such sessions.

The breakdown of institutional politics in favor of gangster politics has made things much
tougher for women, especially given the strict regime of restrictions that most women are made to live
under. Even though most men in India favor women’s political participation, this does not easily
translate into relaxing restrictions on the women in their own families. Behavioral change at the family
level will require consistent hard work to change cultural norms and reduce women’s domestic
responsibilities. While a few families are willing to relax some restrictions on women and are supportive
of their activism, the workload of women and the nature of their domestic responsibilities makes it
extremely hard for them to spare the kind of time required for making even a small difference in politics.

When I was studying the functioning of an all-women panchayat in a Maharashtra village, one of
the leading members described the difficulties of keeping women active and involved, except
intermittently: “For every little thing, we have to go and petition the district level officials — whether
you want a road repaired or a bus service extended to your village, a water tank built or a phone
connection sanctioned — each of these tasks require numerous trips to district headquarters with each
trip involving loss of one full work day for a woman. Often meeting officials won’t get the work done.
You have to organize protests, sit on dharnas and what not. Women simply can’t spare that kind of time
even if their husbands are not objecting to their participation. Men enjoy meeting officials, having chai-
pani with them, because that is how they build contacts which can be encashed for personal benefit in
various ways. But women are always in a hurry to get back. They don’t want to hang around gossiping in
tea shops, chatting with officials and netas — all of which seem to be a necessary part of men’s political
world.”
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As long as working in the political realm involves endless petition mongering to uncaring,
unaccountable authorities, as long as decision-making remains remote and in the hands of bureaucrats,
as long as politics cannot be easily integrated into the everyday life of people without causing severe
disturbances in domestic life,men are likely to control and dominate it. There should be no requirement
that a person become a full-time politician and make it a profession (as well as a means of livelihood) if
we want meaningful participation by large numbers of women in this country’s political life on a
consistent, long-term basis, rather than fitful, sporadic involvement in morchas and dharnas, as happens
at present. The more centralised and authoritarian a polity, the lower the involvement of women will be
in it.

By keeping more than three-quarters of India’s women illiterate and providing shamelessly poor
quality education to the few who manage to reach sarkari schools, the government plays a crucial role in
discouraging and obstructing women’s participation in public affairs. Even for participation at the
panchayat level, it is no longer possible for an illiterate person to function effectively because the
sarkari panchayats have been integrated into the vast bureaucratic network, with its reams of forms to
fill out and its dust covered volumes of rules and procedures.

Moreover, the rules are rendered in such opaque Hindi or regional languages that even the
literate members of panchayats find it difficult to make any sense of them. Wherever the panchayat
members are incapable of or diffident about handling rules and accounts, the government-appointed
gram sevak simply takes control of the panchayats. Most women, especially those who are uneducated,
feel helpless and lost when they are required to deal with the impenetrable maze of the bureaucratic
world which defines the parameters of the panchayat’s role. What appears to be a woman panchayat
member’s in capacity is actually proof of our system’s ridiculous procedures and insensitivity to people’s
requirements.

Staying Power of Women

The staying power of women in politics is also limited due to the fact that while they may get
support and even get to be treated as heroines if they win an election, very few women are allowed to
remain politically active once they lose an election.It is extremely difficult to keep women politically
active after they have lost an election because a woman who continues to devote time to politics even
after the electoral setback gets to be looked down on as a hopeless addict, like a wayward man hooked
 P a g e | 20

on drugs or liquor. Therefore, unlike men, women cannot take defeat in their stride and tend to fade out
soon thereafter.

Considering all this, it is perhaps not a coincidence that the few women who have developed an
independent political base and are able to compete with men in electoral politics are mostly single or
widowed — as for example, Uma Bharti of the BJP, Mamta Banerjee of the Congress Party, and Maneka
Gandhi of the Janata Dal. These women are able to give their undivided attention to politics because
there is no man to hold them back and, therefore, they are not easily cowed down by scandal or
character assassination. These three women have had to wage relentless battles within their respective
parties for due recognition because their popularity, mass appeal and their organisational skills which
are resented by their male colleagues. Yet these women have mostly emerged triumphant because they
are celebrities to their supporters.

While Indian society may not be very kind to ordinary women, it loves to celebrate women who
appear and prove themselves to be stronger than men. In Maneka Gandhi’s case, the aura around the
Gandhi family name has played an important role in adding to her charisma, while both Uma Bharti and
Mamta Banerjee come from very ordinary families and were not groomed by any powerful patriarchs.
Women who show extraordinary resilience, courage and the capacity to withstand character
assassination get to be treated with special awe and reverence in our country. Despite all the
muckraking regarding Uma Bharti’s alleged affairs, her opponents in the party have not been able to
eclipse her. She is a popular cult figure among the BJP followers

At the same time, it is ironic that none of these three women make a special point of mobilising
other women. They would see that as a downgrading of their status if they were projected primarily as
leaders of women. The more successful among women politicians do not like to be seen as representing
women’s interests. It is unfortunate that by and large only those who find it hard to maintain a secure
foothold for themselves in elective politics tend to gravitate towards women’s issues.

Women’s participation in mainstream political activity has important implications for the
broader arena of governance in any country. Governance relates to a set of rules, institutions, and
values that are involved in the management of state and society. Governance institutions and processes
include political parties, parliaments, government and their interactions with society. Although
governance is a generic term which could mean good government or management, the governance
values, types of government, the nature of political processes, the political parties and organizations,
 P a g e | 21

whose interests are represented and protected, and the extent of power that the masses have to
challenge the state or in suggesting alternatives in methods of governance etc. may vary in different
political systems.

Women Politician’s Symbolic Interpretations

Durga Amma and Black Kali

Indira took over the government at a critical political and economic time. Both the
syndicate and the old guard assumed that Indira would be pliable and easy to manipulate. Her
male colleagues called her unkindly goongi gudiya, the dumb doll, because she felt
uncomfortable in speaking publicly. Many old Congress war horses saw her as a kind of niece
whom they liked, but from whom they would not take orders.But she refused to be just the
rubber stamp for the decisions of the old men around her. She would follow her own policies,
and these did please neither faction. She nationalised the banks, and shortly after repealed the
privy purses of the princes to great public acclaim .Congress leaders from all sides accused her
of behaviour unseemly for a woman especially because of her harsh treatment of opponents in
the party .But she always managed to elegantly marginalize those who opposed her or were
ideologically not attuned to her.

Indira went to the voters directly with the reformed faction and won a two-thirds
majority in March 1971, one year ahead of time and. with the slogan garibi hatao (Beat
Poverty). The dumb doll had started to talk. Congress (O) very unadvisedly campaigned with
Indira hatao. The voters duly punished it.Then came Indira’s finest hour. She had come into
power indirectly through the war with Pakistan over Kashmir, and she strengthened her rule by
conducting another war with Pakistan, this time over Bangladesh. It was a tremendous victory,
and A.B.Vajpayee called Indira the Durga of India, a name that would stick to her ever after. The
Economist even portrayed her as ‘Empress of India’.During her rule, India had international
standing as hardly ever before and never after.
 P a g e | 22

Indira she was personally and as a woman, blamed for the excesses of the Emergency.Some of
the - male - authors’ attacks which focus entirely on her gender: whether it is the black widow
of Midnight children fame, where Salman Rushdie describes the castration by Doctor Death
Sanjay on the instigation of the Black Widow,or gender-biased short stories where the distaste
directed against the woman instead the emergency, is poured into a story about a malformed
fetus of a witch mother spoiling the world which can only be healed by the fetus crawling back
into the womb and the black goddess Kali being defeated by the white goddess Durga.

Goddess Kali Goddess Durga

Rushdie puts : ``No colors except green and black the walls are green the sky is black (there is no roof)
the stars are green the widow is green but her hair is black as black. The widow sits o a high chair, the
chair is green, the seat is black, the widow's hair has a center parting, it is green on the left and on the
right black. High as sky the chair is green the seat is black the widow's arm is long as death, its skin is
green, the fingernails are long and sharp and black. Between the walls the children green, the walls are
green, the widow's ambones snaking down the snake is given the children the widow's arm is hunting
see the children run and scream the widow's hand curls round them green and black. Now one by one
the children are stifled quiet the widow's hand is lifting one by one the children their blood is black
unloosened buy cutting fingernails it splashes black on walls (of green).''
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What the above picture shows the emergency is the undoing of the children, Indira Gandhi is jealous of
their powers.

Indira refered as Durga and Kali .The difference between Durga and Kali is that Durga is
powerful, but not really autonomous, always under male control. The appellation Durga was
complimentary. Kali, however, is the only goddess who is not under male control and therefore
ambivalent and controversial: the comparison to Kali, meant that she acted autonomously, not
according to male wishes, and was therefore criticised and rejected.

While use and abuse of power is normal for men, for women it is utterly reproachable
when done autonomously. Credit for the lifting of emergency is never granted.And yet after
1980 she was called the only man in the cabinet. The appellation is betraying: if the the only
man in the cabinet is a woman, that does not augur well for female power or female virtues.
Indira rejected the above appellation as she did others that referred to gender in politics: in one
famous quotation she said she wanted to be seen not as a man or a woman but as a human
being. She refused to be judged on her gender.

In the Bangladesh war Indira’s gender was of supreme significance both in a positive and
negative way: Durga is the goddess called upon by the male gods in crises when all other means
fail. She was victorious and conformed to men’s expectations. Conversely, when she seemingly
conceded too much in Simla, again it was her gender that was seen as responsible: women are
weak .And the Emergency only came about because women cannot be trusted with power: she
became Kali. Nearly always she is compared to her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the
comparison turns out unflattering for her.
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R.K.Laxman a well known cartoonist caricatured Indira as a dictator and women with a ironhand

. Indira Gandhi chiseling her own image on the “sacred rock of democracy.”

Indira Gandhi governed the country with an iron hand. The opposition maintained that she was
destroying democracy in India. The cartoon above responds to that charge. While she is seen
fashioning democracy in her own image, she still denies the charges levied, retorting, “Nonsense, how
could a frail creature like me destroy it!” Satire mocks this architecture of democracy. It helps us “see”
the pith of democracy’s sculpture, both the one being crafted and the ideal.
 P a g e | 25

St.Sonia

Sonia came into her own in 2004 when Congress won the elections against all expectations and
predictions. The BJP indulged in an extremely nasty, even obscene, personalised campaign, the
theme of which seemed to be to prevent Sonia Gandhi not only from becoming Prime Minister,
but even from standing as a candidate for election altogether. Sonia was seen as doing
something no male politician would do: she renounced voluntarily. She got the name of Saint
Sonia for her sacrifice and her dedication to her party

Projection of Women politicians by Media

Media ,in a democratic society in particular ,assumes a significant role during election
time.Needless to say ,for most of us ,the election process may have little reality beyond its media
version.In this process of coverage of elections some issues ,groups ,parties,newsmakers and themes
have dominant coverage while others get ignored. The Hindu and The Hindustan Times were selected
analyzing the projection of 2 women politicians in print media.Jayalalitha and Sushma Swaraj were
scrutinized by the media during the elections held in 1998.

First and foremost, it is surely interesting that the Indian press made no attempts to corner
women leaders within the private sphere. Both Jayalalitha and Sushma were completely engaged
within the political arena with no apparent obligations to domestic/private concerns. This appears to
be particularly the case for Sushma Swaraj who has combined responsibilities of both family and
career. Also, the leaders were not found to be associated with social, welfare or development issues.
However, a great deal of coverage focused on their personal characteristics, traits, mannerisms, attire,
looks and feminine aspects. Further, the effect of gender was produced through the positive coverage
of Sushma Swaraj and the negative representation of Jayalalitha.

Jayalalitha is popularly known as “Amma”, “Puratchi Thalaivi” and “Iron Lady” among the
people. A major observation that came through was that Jayalalitha received extremely negative
portrayal.Both the leaders were represented at extreme ends. Regarding Jayalalitha, one could gather
from the coverage that she was a popular leader who could attract large crowds, who was bold,
determined, and who had improved her support base. But otherwise she generally came through as
opportunistic, extremely corrupt, strategic, calculated,pragmatic, clever, harsh, arrogant, a high-
 P a g e | 26

handed leader, a sinner and much more. She was a woman who was obsessed with adornments of
jewellery, gems, watches, pearls etc. Special mention may be made of a statement by a respondent
and carried in The Hindu. She was equated with cholera and virus and her rule was described as a dark
period in the history of TamilNadu. She was also projected as a sobbing and grieving woman,suffering
at the hands of opponents (e.g., Karunanidhi). In some situations, she could fret, fume, get angry,
shout, sulk and even be venomous and express personal animosity. All in all, she was projected as an
oddity, an anomaly, a deviant or an uncontrollable and unnatural phenomenon. She was portrayed as a
gang member who knew how to play her game well. Her ways of speaking and campaigning were also
ridiculed even though she was a good orator and a successful and powerful politician.

There seems to be a greater probability that portrayal of both leaders has to do with their
personal lives/backgrounds, rather than just their political or professional lives. Corruption or bad
administration was not unique to Jayalalitha, but what was exceptional about her was her non-
conformity to the social (patriarchal) order. The fact that she started her career as an actress, became
the ‘mistress’ of a prominent politician and did not live the conventional life of a married woman was
unusual. Jayalalitha was a corrupt ‘woman politician,’ who indulged in plunder and loot; who sulked
when people preferred to listen to other leaders’ speeches; who was obsessed with jewelry, saris,
gems, soaps, watches and so on; and who could wail, sob and grieve for the wrongs done to her
because she was a woman first and a politician later. In this sense, both the leaders were presented to
the reader as ‘the other,’ the ‘unusual’ within the political system.

Evidently, the media was carried away Jayalalitha’s harshness and aggressiveness,
which indicated how the news media functioned within existing norms. While repeatedly pointing out
a ‘woman’ politician’s corruptness, it seemed to have endorsed the view that a woman should have a
‘giving nature’ and hence this amassing of wealth and corruption by her was unethical, immoral and
unusual; such a woman was a dangerous threat. This kind of a portrayal comes from the notion and
expectation that women in politics need to be compassionate, honest and moral as opposed to men
who are seen to be ruthless, ambitious and tough leaders (Norris, 1997). Jayalalitha, as portrayed in
The Pioneer, was said to be weary and bleary eyed, harsh, with glaring eyes, and her rally a damp
 P a g e | 27

squib. Her association with MGR was referred to, as was the agony and humiliation she underwent at
the hands of Karunanidhi.

Sushma Swaraj, which was largely positive and hence the items from all newspapers had very few
negative expressions. Sushma Swaraj in The Hindu was called ‘Iron lady,’ suave, victorious, intelligent, diligent,
impressive, possessing prowess, good orator, sincere, a woman (proud of being a woman and womanly
identity), smiling, confident,seasoned campaigner, charismatic, well-known face, representative who cares, with
oratorical skills, has ability to endear herself to the masses, serious, has faithful supporters in the form of
women, a role model for women, strong candidate, powerful, patriotic, prominent and concerned. She was said
to have good association with women, has a liberal approach towards women but does not follow western
concepts of liberation.In The Hindustan Times Sushma was called a high profile woman candidate, beaming,
smiling, who arrived to a tumultuous welcome of slogans “Behanji zindabad” (“Long Live Sister”). She was said
to be candid, a seasoned BJP leader, who had weathered many a storm in her 20 year-old political career. She
was also described as invariably in the news, a lawyer by profession, youngest ever cabinet minister of the
country, articulate, assertive, categorical and fiery woman leader from the BJP. Sushma behanji (sister) was
described as the most powerful national leader whose voice rang throughout
the country.
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Movies on Women Politicians:

Bhandarkar's film makes valiant effort to give the protagonist an effort to be a woman with
dignity in a man's world. Anuradha Chauhan finally becomes part of the political system and yet
remains above it seems a little hard to digest. In telling the fairly gripping story of the apolitical
Anuradha Chauhan's baptism-by-blood into the murky milieu of Indian politics, movie goes deep into
the morass to show how an ordinary citizen needs to be part of the democratic system to rescue it
from unmitigated criminalization. cavernous world of seedy politicians and their nefarious doings with
a sense of urgent panic, conveying the collective consciousness of a nation on the brink.

The film sequence is a replay of what happened years ago when legendary don Sarman
Munja was shot dead in Bokhala village in Porbandar.Godmother's plot is ostensibly based on
true-life characters of this region.Godmother captures the life of Rambhi, Viram's anguished
widow, who takes to a life of crime to avenge her husband's death.She becomes the sarpanch
of the village and transforms herself into a gang leader to take revenge.
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Bandit Queen is a movie based on real life politician Phoolan Devi. WHEN she was alive,
Phoolan Devi had a larger-than-life image - of a victim of caste oppression and gender
exploitation who fought back first by resorting to acts of gory revenge and later by moving on
to the political plain. After her death, this image is sought to be metamorphosed into that of a
phenomenal leader who waged a persistent struggle in the cause of the weak and the
downtrodden, with a never-say-die spirit.

Satta shows the female protagonist as a middle class women who enters the political
arena and takes the highest position in the political party.It depicts the complex family issues
,egos and the relationships and negotiations which happen in politics.As a woman and a mother
 P a g e | 30

she had to take family responsibilities and should have a fine balance between public and
private spheres.The other two movies first show the suppression, humiliation a woman
succumbs and retaliates to take revenge on the bad guys .In due course the woman becomes a
leader of gang and in the end enters into politics to do good to people

CULTURAL FIGURES AND POLITICAL POWER

To better understand how women in India have taken gender roles and used these
identities for political power, we must first look at how gender works in society. Gender may be
seen either as a symbolic construction or as a social relationship. As a social relationship, men
are associated with the more aggressive, public sphere – that of politics and commerce, while
women are linked with the passive, private sphere – the home and family.

Gender can also be a symbolic formation. Gender relationships receive symbolic

emphasis because they are the social arena in which individuals are enabled to make political
claims and initiate personal strategies. Gender serves as a sign used to reify relationships and
construct boundaries. Gender norms can signal cultural and national identities. How women
dress, how they interact in society, how women are educated and how specific are women’s
roles are all marks of nation and culture. Nations use the category of “woman” to signify
nationhood. In India, Hindu women in saris, women are linked to national culture and are
national symbols.

Yet not only do women preserve national culture – they also propagate it. Women
reproduce culture. Women bear the burden of being ‘mothers of the nation’ (a duty that gets
ideologically defined to suit official priorities), as well as being those who reproduce the
boundaries of ethnic/national groups, who transmit the culture and who are privileges signifiers
of national difference.” As “mothers of culture” they both nurture and protect but also create
national culture. This role for women, seen most strongly in patriarchal societies, is used to
limit women to the private realm, in order to protect them from the defiling properties of
modern life. In this sense, women both preserved culture and could destroy it, giving women
some agency despite their objectified status. Yet in reality the choice is negligible, since it is the
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duty of men to either protect women from corrupting forces, or restrict her from being an
infecting agent herself. The women’s body has been circumscribed with the burden of carrying
the national culture. By doing so, the woman is a symbol of refusing to be a symbol. She
obliterates her female form, only to reinforce herself as a symbol of the controlled female
body.

Sonia Gandhi always seen in a saree, projects the culture of Indian women to the outside world

The bodies of the women of a nation, then, are both purveyors of national culture, and
vessels for half a nation’s citizens. Female bodies are both agents and objects of practice.
Women lose agency over the meaning of their bodies. So strong has the symbolic weight of
female cultural nationhood become that the images of women, mothers, and family are central
to the “symbolic constitution of communities and community identity.” The disembodiment of
the feminine form from their female owners has had a twofold effect, however. While women
see their bodies used as nationalist symbols without their consent, women have also co-opted
female cultural symbols for their own exploitation and purpose.

Just as the space of politics is merging with religion, culture, and consumption, women
have been employing character roles to regain agency over their symbolic feminine form. By
choosing the cultural image to which their bodies refer, women assume identities separate
from their personal ones. They become larger cultural identities thus obtaining popular, and
political, currency. Paradoxically, it is often through regimes that are repressive to women that
women are able to find the political space in which to organize and mobilize behind a collective
identity as woman. When the cultural structure is so rigid that women feel dispossessed from
 P a g e | 32

their symbolized form, they then exercise their symbolic “womenness” to mobilize politically.
Such “political opportunity structures” are pervasive in South Asia, and as a result, women have
found channels by which to grasp political power. These vehicles are rooted in history and
myths.

Women Reservation bill:

The issue that has fired the imagination of women in India in recent times is their demand for reservation in
Parliament and the State Assemblies.

“WOMANPOWER stalls Musclepower”, announced a newspaper headline the day after the women’s
reservation Bill was placed yet again in Parliament.

Surely, the headline highlighted a very basic challenge facing Indian democracy both inside and outside
Parliament. While it would appear that a long struggle lies ahead for representative politics in India to become
truly representative of popular will, aspirations and interests, it must also be recognised that if there is one issue
that has fired the imagination of women across the country in an explicitly positive sense over the past decade
and more, it is the demand for 33 per cent reservation in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies.
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What were the factors that propelled the demand for the Bill?

The demand was a logical continuation of what had been achieved relatively easily at the level of local
representative bodies after the adoption of the 73rd-74th amendments to the Constitution in 1993. There have
been many attempts to understand why women want greater representation – including the theory that they
are driven by compulsions as crass as naked political ambition or that they desire important positions! Some
may even believe that the demand comes from international platforms such as the Beijing Conference in 1995
where women’s role in decision making was seen as a mark of achievement. Others may see in it an expression
of “feminist” politics coming of age.

Somehow, none of these recognises the basic fact that women contribute equally to this society with
men, that they demand and deserve a share in decision making with regard to policies and planning, and that
their struggle for equality is today an integral part of the struggle of the Indian people to ensure the strength
and stability of Indian democracy.

Sustained campaign

Amidst this welter of views, it may be useful to put on record the extent to which the demand for 33 per
cent reservation galvanised women in a sustained campaign spread over nearly 15 years now, notwithstanding
the ‘drama’ enacted in Delhi before every Parliament session. First, as anyone who has been actively involved in
the contemporary women’s movement would vouch for, the question “Didi, what is happening to 33 per cent?”
has come up in virtually every corner of the country over the last decade.

The demand for women’s representation in elected bodies has perhaps featured in every other
memorandum at the State and Central levels, in discussions, workshops, training programmes and interactive
discussions across the regional divide. It has been raised by the so-called autonomous women’s groups, by the
more political mass-based organisations, and by women’s wings of political parties, thereby cutting across the
so-called divides within the movement. A mass protest before Parliament in the summer of 1998 drew an
unprecedented response, with nearly 10,000 women landing up in New Delhi to press the demand.

There has perhaps not been a single Prime Minister or Lok Sabha Speaker in the past decade who has
not been petitioned or has not had to field questions from women representatives on the subject. It is one issue
on which leaders of political parties have been petitioned several times and quizzed on why this demand has not
featured in their election manifestos. The issue has drawn in scholars, activists, policymakers, media personnel
and even members of the Election Commission, who are normally not drawn into such controversies.
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With the notable exception of the Left parties, which have consistently backed the demand, verbal
support for it has come in wavering undertones from some parties (such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the
Congress), while the opposition to it has been strident in others such as the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya
Janata Dal. Women activists have made public their distaste for such “patriarchal” mindsets even as they have
debated the question of patriarchy and searched for more nuanced definitions of it.

Meanwhile, women continue with their dharnas, memoranda and petitions, and leadership training
camps even as they engage with the dilemmas and challenges that representative politics poses for the
women’s movement within the context of globalisation and a state that is committed to a neoliberal economic
agenda.

Furthermore, the issue has brought women in the South Asian region closer through all the turbulence
of the past two decades – military rule, the struggle against monarchy, and the divisive conflicts thrown up by
fundamentalism and ethnic strife. There were ironies that emerged.

The same women from Pakistan who despaired of any kind of representation given the virulent
opposition to it from fundamentalists in their country managed to inch their way to 22 per cent representation
in their parliament. However, in India, where the campaign has been stronger and more widespread, the record
is poor. The highest representation of women was a dismal 9 per cent in the Lok Sabha in 1999 and 15.4 per cent
in the Rajya Sabha in 1991. Indeed, in 2005 the percentage actually came down to 8.2 and 11.4 respectively.

Push from below

The women’s movement’s decision to foreground the demand for reservation in the 1990s marked a
shift in stance as until that point it had upheld the historical legacy of the freedom struggle in respect of the
rejection of reservation by the pre-Independence women’s movement. In fact, a majority in the Constituent
Assembly rejected a proposal for reservation for women.

Undoubtedly, the real push for reservation came from below, after the enactment of the 73rd and 74th
constitutional amendments in 1993. The entry of women into rural and urban local bodies forced activists to sit
up and take stock of the ground reality in ways they never had to consider before. Those contesting the local
body elections were willy-nilly drawn into “party politics”, as it was referred to. Many of these women who were
elected found themselves ill-equipped for the job. They were forced to draw on whatever support was available,
family or otherwise, and even before they were given a chance to perform they were derided for being “proxies”
and “rubber stamps”.
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Nevertheless, they plodded on, taking vested interests head-on. After all, if India lives in its villages, so
does a significant section of its ruling elite, along with power brokers, criminals, extortionists, conservatives,
reactionaries and militants. It was these deadly forces that these uninitiated women representatives of elective
politics had to take on all at once.

As if that was not enough, before they could even contest they had to pass the test by fulfilling a long
list of eligibility conditions. Consider, for instance, clauses that sought details on criminal proceedings pending
against them, details of outstanding or unpaid loans, indeed clauses that would make many a parliamentarian or
legislator wince in guilt.

To add to this, they became subject to a clause imposing a two-child norm for elected representatives.
This formed a part of the population policies adopted by many of the States and endorsed by the Supreme Court
in its misplaced wisdom.

Further, even as the demand for accountability and the right to recall State legislators and
parliamentarians simply floundered, women elected to panchayat bodies faced an extraordinary backlash. In
several panchayats women faced no-confidence motions that were brought in, and adopted to dislodge them,
by those whose interests they threatened. These powerful groups comprised contractor lobbies or land mafia-
backed criminals who wished to corner funds allotted for development activity at the local level. Some of them
allied themselves with upper-caste sections who had hitherto enjoyed the benefits of these allocations.

Women representatives’ refusal to comply with “instructions” given to them or to buckle under these
pressures was met with no-confidence motions, physical threats, criminal/sexual assaults on them or family
members and, in some cases, even murder. This, even as they juggled their “traditional” roles and new
responsibilities. Despite the backlash, representatives of the women’s movement have assessed this experience
positively and chosen to push for 33 per cent reservation in elected bodies at the higher levels too.

Positive outcome

In fact, the positive outcome of representation is evident at several levels, starting with enhanced
participation and the emergence of women’s leadership at the level of local self-government. The social base of
women entering these bodies has broadened and now includes a cross-section of women from under-privileged
groups – those that suffer economic deprivation and social and caste discrimination. New developmental
priorities emerged with women entering panchayat bodies.
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Thus the women’s movement’s subsequent demand for 33 per cent reservation in State legislatures and
Parliament arose out of a recognition of positive interventions and of the experience of women members and
chairpersons of panchayats in different States, specifically Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Kerala.

Sometimes the intensity of the conflict was greater in the supposedly backward States. Although this
experience has been varied, uneven, and State- and locality-specific, it has enriched people-friendly governance,
and its measurable success has strengthened the demand for reservation at higher levels.

Why is it important to place these facts on record?

The pressure from below to engage with politics in a meaningful and positive way comes at a time when
the elite classes of India are united in hijacking politics to serve their own vested interests, thus spreading a
certain cynicism towards politics, particularly amongst the Indian middle class, which conducts a continuous
tirade against the “political class”.

Further, the wave of depoliticisation sweeping across the world since the 1990s has left the women’s
movement in other parts of the world facing fragmentation – even disintegration – and certainly seeking fresh
moorings. Given the context of this phase of politics, marked by the ‘end of ideology’, can the women’s
movement in India afford to ignore the push coming from below for a more direct engagement in politics?

Significant issues have been raised in the course of the debate around the Bill over the past decade.
Broadly these relate to the mode of ensuring increased representation of women; the quantum of reservation
and the manner of its implementation; and lastly, the issue of quotas within the women’s quota.

First, let us look at the number of proposals as alternatives to a reserved quota for women. There have
been suggestions for double-member constituencies; for an increase in the overall number of seats in the course
of delimitation, which will automatically improve women’s chances; and even reservation within the list of
candidates put up by parties.

These proposals raise more issues than they settle. For instance, on the issue of double-member
constituencies, can only women represent women? Or, can women not be represented by men? Such tokenism
or biological essentialism can never be the terrain on which women can argue their case. The delimitation
exercise has already reached an advanced stage and it is simply not feasible to incorporate women’s reservation
within its terms of reference.
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Whereas there is no disagreement with regard to parties putting up more women candidates, in the
current situation of fractured mandates and coalition governments, the importance attached to a candidate’s
winnability by the party makes it unrealistic to expect that they will pay heed to such a proposal.

Two objections

Opposition to the Bill has come up on two major grounds. First, given the wavering support for the Bill
even among those who do not oppose it, some have argued for a diluted demand. Why not settle for 15 per
cent or even 20 per cent? some well-wishers ask.

Pro-reservation activists have stood their ground on two main counts. First, they point out that while
successive governments took the plea that they were waiting for a “consensus” to introduce the Bill, the fact
that the Bill had been referred to a Joint Select Committee, which submitted its report in 1997 under the
chairpersonship of the late Gita Mukherjee, was conveniently buried. Women activists have rightly said that the
Bill, drafted along the lines of its recommendations, be placed in Parliament and debated forthwith without any
bargaining.

Secondly, they have stood their ground on the principle of 33 per cent as it will provide the necessary
critical mass for women to make an impact. Further, if there is a compromise here, it could spur efforts to scale
down one-third reservation in local bodies as well.

The second major objection to the Bill is more complex as it apparently uses a weapon from the arsenal
of the women’s movement against itself. If greater inclusiveness is a goal of reservation, then what of the
marginalised groups from amongst women? Can the goal of inclusiveness be achieved without inbuilt sub-
quotas for Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minorities?

The debate has privileged the issues of ‘non-homogeneity’ within women as a category and the politics
of ‘presence’ in the context of the marginalised sections more sharply, and has built pressure on the women’s
movement to be ever more sensitive to the histories of discrimination and exclusion on the basis of caste and
religion.

OBC representation

There are several issues involved here. First, a quota for Dalit women will form part of the reservation
for women as per constitutional norms. Secondly, why have those parties and forces that have used this as a
plea to reject the Bill not placed before Parliament concrete proposals on reservation for OBC categories at a
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more general level? Also, if OBC representation in representative bodies is going up, then who is responsible for
blocking the entry of women from these sections coming into the same bodies?

Finally, while it is true that majority fundamentalism has targeted and further alienated women
belonging to religious minorities, it is unclear whether this issue can be addressed within the purview of this Bill.
Reservation for minorities is a matter that requires constitutional amendments of a more complex nature.

The demand for religion-based rights and reservation was debated at length when the Constitution was
being drafted, and was rejected on the basis of a clear understanding of secularism and democracy. The majority
of women’s organisations today would, therefore, reject a demand for re-negotiating this issue. As the Sachar
Committee report highlights, the problems of minority rights and reservation have to be addressed at multiple
levels.

In other words, the reservation Bill cannot be a piece of catch-all legislation that should address all
historical inequalities and challenges women face before it can settle the issue of women’s reservation. In fact, it
is in recognition of this reality that many women’s organisations have made concerted efforts to reach out to
women from the minorities and other marginalised sections in an attempt to address the specific
discriminations faced by women of these sections and to take forward the discussion on democratic rights. This
has often brought them into conflict with fundamentalist forces from both within and outside minority
communities.

Conclusion

The costs of being a female political leader were excessively high for the dead
and are not getting less for the living: Indira was termed sexually frigid and a bad wife to her
husband long before becoming the black widow of short story fame. Sonia was fiercely attacked
both before and after the elections with the fiercest attackers being BJP women: ‘she is not one
of us’. No sign of female solidarity here. One might wonder, why any woman would want to
consent to enter politics at all under these circumstances. And yet they do.

The debate around the women’s reservation Bill has thrown up interesting
questions. It has generated a significant political momentum. In the event of its passage, it will
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create the conditions for meaningful interventions by women in particular, and progressive
forces in general, in the struggle for a more egalitarian and humane path of development to
take India forward. This is necessary if social justice, inclusiveness and the right to dignity are to
acquire real meaning, going beyond the rhetoric of their use as mere slogans by those who
often choose to stall parliamentary proceedings rather than focus on real issues. For those
united in sharing a concern for India’s advance to a secular, socialist future, the principle of 33
per cent reservation for women will in time, hopefully, transform the context and terms of
representative politics itself.
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