Do Indian women have political will?

File Under: Women, Politics, Indian Women. Indian Women In Politics, Indian Women, Housewives

Women Better as house wives!!

According to Lalu, women are best left attending to household matters while the men move around in the corridors of power. ACCORDING TO our Harvard-addressor RJD supremo, women are best left attending to household matters while the men move around in the corridors of power. Lalu Prasad Yadav has drawn the wrath of women all over the country not just by opposing the 33 per cent reservation Bill for women in Parliament tooth and nail, but also going ahead to say that women aren't even mature enough to have any political will of their own. To quote him, "If they think women vote independently without considering their husband's wishes, they are mistaken. If I ask Rabri (Devi) to vote for someone, do you think she will do otherwise?"

But not everyone agrees with him. "I think it's high time Mr Yadav woke up from his slumber," says Kehkashan Khan, a marketing executive at a designer firm. "Although he might love to treat the women in his household as meek cows, we, 21st century women, are no longer willing to be just doormats. It's really sad that a leader who has seven daughters is being so regressive."

In the same vein housewife Shalini Kashyap trashes the comment completely. "Laluji is way off the mark. Women are independent enough to have their own political will that can be quite different from their husband's views. Look at the UPA government. It's led by a strong woman, Sonia Gandhi, who made sure the Bill passed after all the drama and nonsense that the whole of India witnessed.

That should prove how women are viewed as leaders." But that was one case in point. While speaking for all it's quite unfair to say that women cannot have any political will, we also have to look at the state of socio-economic development in our country. That is what decides a woman's position in any society. In a patriarchal society like India, Yadav's comment may not be completely off the mark when it comes to ground realities in villages and small townships. There are quite a few women who vote according to family or husband's preferences. But it's this particular mindset that should change. And for that people need to get used to seeing more women leaders in the country. The urban scenario, however, is quite different.

"For women born and brought up without any discrimination in the urban set up, his comments are obviously ridiculous. But there is some truth to his statements when it comes to villages or small towns. There, women haven't been empowered enough to think beyond their father's or husband's views," says social development professional Manjula Singh.

IT IS precisely for this reason that we need to see more women as leaders. The Bill may have flaws, but it goes a long way in promoting women in much larger roles henceforth. In 2007, the rate of female representation at national level of politics stood at merely 18 per cent globally. Although this figure has increased, minimal progress has been made, meaning that the ideal of parity between men and women in national legislatures still remains distant.

When asked about women's participation in politics the present US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who was running for the President in 2008, Read More from Source: