WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

The status of women in India has been undergoing a sea-change. Supported by Constitutional guarantees to ensure dignity and equal opportunities, their active participation in all walks of life including education, politics, sport etc., has been growing. Taking note of women’s role in the nation-building activities, the Government had declared 2001 as the year of Women’s Empowerment by adopting a National Policy to offer “Swashakti” to women. Several laws have also been adopted to empower women socially, economically, legally and politically. Considering the role of rural India, the country’s backbone, the Government had taken several measures to strengthen Pachayanti Raj system with the active participation of women. This gave a boost to increase the number of women being elected to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, an indication to suggest their political empowerment.

The Election Commission’s statistical reports reveal that as far as representation of Muslim women in the Lok Sabha is concerned, there have never been more than three elected representatives in a House. As in the 15th Lok Sabha, there were three women members in the sixth and the eighth Lok Sabhas. In six Lok Sabhas (first, fourth, fifth, ninth, 10th and 12th), there was no Muslim woman member at all. Of the 549 women elected to the Lok Sabha since independence, only 18 have been Muslims.

A record 59 women were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha, with a majority – 23 – belonging to the Congress party alone, the Election Commission said Monday.

In all, 556 women had contested the 2009 general elections.

While the Congress topped the list, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came second with 13 women being elected.

The All India Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) follow with four women each getting elected to the Lok Sabha.

Women make up slightly more than 50 per cent of the world’s population but hold only approximately 16 per cent of the world’s elected political posts. Their representation in the parlieaments of the different countries are :

Task Force for Women in Science

In December 2005, the Government of India set up a Task Force on Women in Science. Department of Science and Technology in the Ministry of Science and Technology was given responsibility to provide the necessary support. The Task Force had members representing different disciplines of science, institutions and different regions of the country. The mandate of the Task Force is to recommend appropriate measures to promote and encourage women to take up scientific and technological professions; to formulate a time bound plan of action for these measures; to suggest measures to motivate girls to take up S&T for higher education and develop a scientific temper and awareness; to interact with

other scientific departments/organizations on implementation of gender enabling measures; and to consider and recommend other proactive gender enabling measures to bring about greater involvement of women in science and technology.

Union Minister  of Panchayati Raj Dr. C.P. Joshi informed the Lok Sabha that the reservation quota at various levels in the Panchayati Raj System is being implemented.

Dr. Joshi further informed that the Central Government has moved a proposal for effecting a Constitutional amendment to increase the percentage of reservation of seats for women in PRIs from existing limit of not less than one third to one-half with a view to empowering women and making Panchayats more inclusive institutions.   Thus the above amendment will bring uniformity in the matter of reservation in various States.  The existing quota of reservation for women in different States is given in Annexure- 2.

The low value attached to female education in much of India links with some deep-rooted features of gender relations. Three of these links have been widely observed.

First the gender division of labour (combined with patrilineal property rights) tends to reduce the perceived benefits of female education. In rural India, a vast majority of girls are expected to spend most of their adult life in domestic work and child-rearing (and possibly some family labour in agriculture). It is in the light of these social expectations about the adult life of women that female education appears to many parents to be of somewhat uncertain value, if not quite ‘pointless’. Of course, female education can bring immense benefits even within the limited field of domestic work and child-rearing, but these benefits do not always receive adequate recognition.

The complaints received in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from Indian women against harassment/desertion by their overseas spouses are forwarded to the authorities concerned including Indian Missions abroad, Police authorities, State Governments etc for taking appropriate action in the matter.

The laws relating to rape and sexual assault are set to undergo a radical overhaul with the Union Home Ministry readying a draft Bill on the subject. Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s remarks suggest that the proposed legislation is likely to be based on the Law Commission of India’s 172nd report, which called for a thoroughgoing review of our rape laws.

Professor Madabhushi Sridhar, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad

The Constitution (108^th Amendment) Bill, 2010 as approved by Rajya Sabha recently, seeks to reserve as nearly as possible one third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, and the state legislative assemblies including Delhi. Rajya Sabha and Legislative councils in States are excluded from the purview of this reservation, justification for which was not explained anywhere. The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by the Parliament. This bill also seeks to reserve one-third seats among those reserved to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in favour of SC/ST women. These reservations will cease to exist 15 years after commencement of the Act. This Bill has a provision giving power to the Center to review and extend the reservations. Reserved seats will be allocated by rotation to different constituencies in the state and union territory. If a state or union territory as only one seat in the Lok Sabha that seat shall be reserved for women in the first general election of every cycle of three elections. If there are two seats, each shall be reserved once in a cycle of three elections. Similar rules apply for seats reserved for SC/STs. Of the two seats in the Lok Sabha reserved for Anglo Indians, one will be reserved for women in each of the two elections in a cycle of three elections. Similar provisions are made for all the seats in state legislative assemblies also.

“Though I am supporting the bill, I am not a feminist”: Union Railway Minister

(Economic Times, 10^th march 2010)

The passage of the constitution amendment bill to introduce 33% reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies in the Rajya Sabha is a progressive and substantive step towards the political empowerment of women in India. The fact that it has taken nearly a decade and a half for this legislation, since its introduction, to be passed in the upper house of parliament stands testimony to the stubborn opposition against it from various quarters.

Following is the chronology of developments related to Women’s Reservation Bill:

1974: The issue of women’s representation in Parliament first raised in a report submitted to the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare by a Committee on Status of Women in India. Highlighting the low number of women in political bodies, the report recommends that seats be reserved for women in panchayats and municipal bodies.

Rajya Sabha passes Women’s Reservation Bill  given women 1/3^rd seats in parliament and State Legislatures. The bill is passed by 186 votes in support and only one vote against the bill. This is the first step towards law. The bill has to be passed by Loksabha by 2/3^rd majority. It should also be passed by atleast 14 State Assemblies.

Women engaged in private sector firms like BPO may be getting fat salaries but their job satisfaction level compared with females employed in public sector undertakings are low, a survey said.

“While working women in India find highest levels of job satisfaction in public sector undertakings measured at scale is seven, females engaged in BPO/KPO sector are least satisfied from their current jobs that averaged to 4 on scale of ten,” industry body Assocham said.

Despite the tall promises made by political parties, the presence of women in the Lok Sabha has remained a dismal 3.5 per cent to 9.02 per cent of its total strength since it came into being. The number of women in the Lok Sabha has remained between 19 and 49 ever since the first general elections (1952), with the sixth Lok Sabha having the lowest number of 19 women and the 13th Lower House having the highest at 49 members. However, as is evident from the result of the 15th Lok Sabha elections, there are 13 more women MPs than the last House and 10 more than the previous best of 49 in the 13th Lok Sabha. This is a small step forward towards increasing representation of women members in Parliament. For the first time in Indian history the representation of women members has crossed the 10% mark.

India has done extremely well in terms of rates of economic growth. But for growth to be meaningful, it must benefit all sections of society, particularly those who are marginalized. This is the reason why our emphasis has been so much on inclusive, social and economic growth. And women have been, as they must be, a special focus of our efforts at inclusiveness.

Statistics of the UN and other agencies show that 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty the world over, are female. According to the UN, women do more than 67% of the hours of work done in the world, earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property. The value of unremunerated work was estimated at about $16 billion, from which $11 billion represents the invisible contribution of women. Women are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable work, on an average.

The Union Cabinet has approved the much- delayed Women’s Reservation Bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. The Bill is being introduced in the Parliament. The controversial Bill has been delayed for past 12 years as some of the opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) had been demanding a sub-quota for OBC women.

The report on “Problems relating to NRI Marriages” was published by NCW after conducting joint regional workshops with Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. It contains various recommendations which include Legal Interventions – International i.e feasibility of signing the Hague Conventions and Legal Interventions – Domestic i.e compulsory Registration of Marriages. To find out the ways and means to assist Indian women who are deserted by their overseas Indian spouses, an Inter-Ministerial sub – committee was constituted in the Ministry to study the “Problems related to marriage of Indian women with Overseas Indians”.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Women’s Reservation Bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.

The Bill is likely to come in this session of Parliament.