The Hindu : Non-passage of Women's Reservation Bill criticised

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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003

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Non-passage of Women's Reservation Bill criticised

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 29. From terming non-passage of the Women's Reservation Bill as "defeat of democracy", to the privilege women in independent India enjoy through the right to vote while their counterparts in many other countries struggled, speakers at a national consultation on "Gender and Governance'' today expressed varied opinions on the status of women in governance, though all agreed that there were gaps between the policies and implementation which needed to be plugged.

Organised by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, the consultation focussed on promoting gender equality and strengthening decentralisation. Describing reluctance in passing the Women's Reservation Bill, providing for reservation of one-third seats in Parliament and State Assemblies, as "institutionalisation of discrimination", the former Member of Parliament, Jayanti Natarajan, said women were asking for reservation on the basis of equal status enjoyed by them under the Constitution.

"There was no talk of dual-membership or increasing the number of seats when Dalits were given reservation. Importantly, the experience of women in Panchayats has been excellent, though with some aberration,'' she said, adding that it proved women were good administrators and should not be discriminated against on the basis of sex.

The greatest achievements for women in the post-Independence era have been reservation in the local self-governments and the success of the self-help groups that have a saving of up to Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 13,000 crores in the banks.

George Mathew, Director of the Indian Social Institute, felt that only political empowerment could bring about a societal action, and reservation of women was one way of achieving this.

"We keep women as cultural emblems. They are required in the field of art and culture but unwanted in political, social and economic structures,'' he said.

Striking a different note, sociologist, Sarojini Ganju Thakur, admitted that while there were gaps between policies and implementation, women had been empowered by the sheer power of right to voting.

The number of women in civil services is also a positive indicator when compared with the ICS where there were no women, she pointed out.

According to her, the key challenges were to bridge the gap between planning and implementation and better monitoring.

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