Andhra Pradesh

‘Motivation must for empowering women’

HYDERAB AD: Lok Satta media convener A. Subhashini on Sunday expressed the view that mere reservation for women in elected bodies was not enough. What was required for them to be truly empowered was more awareness generation and motivation.

She was interacting with mediapersons after returning from a fortnight-long visit to the US, where she had gone as the party observer for the Presidential elections. She was in the three-member Indian delegation and among 92 invited as observers.

In response to a query, she said women constituted only nine per cent in the US Congress, while the percentage of women who voted was more than men. Women in India needed empowerment and motivation to even contest and win in the general quota.

She said even the smallest US towns had civic infrastructure created out of the revenue the administration generated. A generous proportion of taxes collected locally were spent locally.

As to the specifics of their observation of Barack Obama’s campaign, she said it was impressive seeing how the President-elect leveraged technology, using social networking sites and direct communication with voters. Another noteworthy aspect was the transparent nature in which the elections were held in the world’s biggest democracy.

Also impressive, she said, was the levels of courtesy between rival candidates, recalling how McCain congratulated Mr. Obama and called him, ‘My President’. The absence of personalised criticism was very conspicuous, she said, adding any criticism was strictly issue-based.

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