The Powerplay of Politics, Governance & Elections: Setting the Coursework for Gender Metamorphism

How is gender affecting the electoral space?

The spiraling of the partaking of women in the coliseum of politics has been noticeable in the present pattern. The conviction proposed by Amartya Sen (1990,1992)-‘Missing women’ talks about the perseverance of gender inequality which is a recurrent phenomenon in low income countries.  According to a survey by The Print one can learn about the gender bias involved in the political participation merely through the evaluation of the emergence of women voters in democracy. Looking at 2021 , we see that 5,68,580 more women voted than men which has been recorded as the most prominent and enigmatic increase in the history of Tamil Nadu assembly elections. Turning our attention towards the land of West Bengal, we find a substantial increase in the number of women voters along with the advancement in the gender ratio from 956 last year to 961 in the list published by the Election Commission of India. Taking exemplars from the past one could recall the charisma of J.Jayalalitha also referred to as (Amma), and held in high regards by her masses. She was bestowed with the title of –The Iron Lady and distinguished as a paragon of glory to the soil.

Looking from the frame of reference to theory, it can be stated that the phenomenon of electoral participation paves way for the budding manifestation of civil as well as political rights. Active Suffrage (Right to Vote) along with Passive Suffrage (The Right to Stand in Elections) is brought to play both by the voters and the candidates. Women have a versatile range of characterization that enables them to participate in the process as voters, candidates, journalists, civil society representatives, and electoral administrators.  Gender prejudices, culminates into serious blockages in the social, cultural, economic, psychological, physical space of women contributing towards further drawbacks in their rights of participation.

The Obstructions in the path of participation – There is a plethora of hindrance that the women bump into which gradually erodes their affair of participation. The most common out of all is to conventionalize gender roles along the lines of restricted societal norms.  In most spaces, the women cannot afford to escape the pigeonhole. Another such phenomenon that restricts the growth of engagement in women in the domain of politics is the lack of confidence from the political party along with the debarment of women from the process of decision-making. There can be a host of other reasons for the elimination of women from the umbrella of politics that often penetrates into the cycle of gender bias such as recognition of politics as something unscrupulous along with violence unleashed from and within the party itself.

The dilemma of the women voters– The typical gender –roles blended with the sexist norms further ignite the level of pressure and withdrawal amongst the female voters. The violence discharged from within and outside the household escalates the rift. It has been observed and predominantly evident among the women belonging to the subaltern communities, rural spaces that there is a shortfall of proper documentation, required for voter’s registration, accompanied by limited knowledge of the electoral process, voting and political rights. The dearth of awareness can further affect the entire process of participation. One of the most standard problem observed has been the indulgence of family and community members influencing the political rights and ideology of the women in a given setting. The whereabouts of the polling station adds stumbling blocks to the entire process.

THE ROLE OF FEMINIST POLITICS IN INDIA-Identity politics and the recognition of communal identities have come to acquire a prominent position in the ultra-modern feminist dialogue in India. The era of colonialism and nationalist upsurge acted as catalysts to decipher the velocity of feminist activism in India. An idea of “new woman” was born out of the womb of the educational reforms in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Women treaded outside the shackles of the private realm in order to explore the occurrence of the outer world. The post-independence era of India was marked by liberal-democratic conviction of citizenship. The civil society was hugely regulated by western concepts.  The paradox hits in when the establishment of the liberal-democratic political institutions is at loggerheads with the oppressive socio-cultural and the stratified model of the Indian society. Thus, the undertakings of the civil society does not necessarily go hand in hand with the sterling prototype of origin and also does not comply to the unbiased propositions of equality, autonomy, democratic structures, deliberative procedures and the rights and duties of its members.

One shall not refrain from owning up that the major emancipation of women has been recorded with the participation of the gender through women wings of the major political parties –The Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Leftist Parties (Communist party of India, Communist party of India (Marxist) and Janata Party comprise of their own women wings. There have been organizations restricted to women formed by the political parties but are very dissimilar to the women’s wing. These organizations have to conduct a very apolitical role and function as a cultural entity advocated by the political parties.

The question of being apolitical and its connotation- Women have still not completely emerged as a potent local, regional, national force. They are not given the authority to regulate the agenda of the political parties. While we roll our attention towards the entire situation of representation of women in parliaments and state legislatures, the scenario is fragile at the local level (panchayats). The contradiction percolates in when we find out that even after an era of women’s participation in local governance, there has not been much enhancement in promoting the particularity of women’s participation in local bodies or gathering support for the elected ones. Electoral participation has become an epicenter in the context of identity politics mostly associated to Caste, linguistic, religious and ethnic background. The partnership of women in the outcry and uproar of urban –centric movements such as the Landless Tribal Labourers Movements, Anti-Price High Movements, Anti-Dowry Movements, Dalit Movements, Anti–Rape Agitations along with their participation in the exurban ones such as the sharecroppers movement, Chipko Movement, Narmada Bachao Andolan and The Right To Information Movement has always been a glaring factor. The participation of women in other mass movements like the worker’s and peasant movements can be recorded to play a major role in the process of cultural nationalism.

Cartoon as an apparatus used for gendering of female politicians-There has been an influx of female candidates being situated at the pinnacle of politics. Looking at the context of advanced democracies, one can observe that the urge to ask about their presence has slowly diminished. This is primarily because they are heard, seen and discussed frequently. The distinction between the popular and the political is gradually becoming obscure. There have been two elements which have occupied a dominant position while discussing about gender in politics outshone through cartoons, they are – Misogyny & Sexualization.  There is an urgent need to look into the masculine construction of female politicians. There is a need to study and decipher the images within the arena of politics and international relations which is getting accelerated with the passage of time.

There have been several content analyses designed to study women through the lens of editorial cartoons, for instance Gilmartin & Burn (1988) conducted a thorough analysis of 48 cartoons depicting the 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women. The findings of the evaluation showed that despite being a conference encircling the issues of women, men were displayed in the editorial cartoon more frequently than women.  We have seen that cartoons contain a psychological impact on the audience. The Delhi metro commuters in the month- September to December 2011, moving between 21 metro stations including the Red Line of Delhi Metro witnessed 12 cartoons depicted by great artists such as Sudhir Tailang, Neelabh Banerjee and Jayanto Banerjee. The National Commission for Women and United Nations Women extended their support towards the campaign to promote women empowerment in India.

Taking a barb at the featured cartoon published in The Print on 7^thJune 2019, talks about the slogan of “Poriborton” (change) propagated by the TMC supremo, Satish Acharya illustrates the move of the West Bengal CM to engage political strategist Prashant Kishore for the 2021 State Assembly elections.

Electoral Manifesto of political parties accommodating the seriousness of women voters

The Bharatiya Janata Party pledges to transmute the land of Bengal into “Sonar Bangla” through igniting a series of developmental schemes. One such area has been the immediate exigency to address the issue of reservation and free education for women. The manifesto has set out to increase the pension to widows from Rs/1000 to Rs/3000. The party has also given a word to implement a seventh pay commission for state government employees and 33 per cent reservation for women in state government jobs. The free ride in state transports further cater to pursue the women voters.

The scheme–Kanyashree propagated by the Trinamool Congress seeks to provide a sum amount of Rs25,000 to a girl child as soon as she is promoted to class 8. Taking a jibe at this the BJP has assured to offer an amount of Rs 22,000 in four installments during the tenure of schooling of a girl child.  The BJP further provides an alternative for the scheme called–Rupashree spearheaded by the TMC under the provisions of which, a girl is promised an amount of Rs 25,000 when she turns 18. The manifesto of the opposition party (BJP) here in the state of West Bengal has announced a grant of Rs 2 lakhs to an unmarried girl who has pursued her higher secondary education.

Thus, we must not forget the words of Aruna Roy, Founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, “You can never evaluate anything standing from outside; you have to evaluate yourself first”.

Alokananda Nag

Intern, AGA

REFERENCES

1. Women’s role in electoral process-https://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/ge/ge1/ge12
2. Feminist Politics In India , Women and Civil Society Activism –http://www.isec.ac.in/WP%20-%20161.pdf
3. Analyses of the cartoon series from a gender perspective-https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272564429_Analyses_of_the_Cartoon_Series_from_a_Gender_Equality_Perspective_Pepee
4. https://zeenews.india.com/india/west-bengal-assembly-election-2021-women-voters-cross-49-percent-might-play-a-key-role-in-state-polls-2352802.html
5. https://zeenews.india.com/india/west-bengal-assembly-election-2021-women-voters-cross-49-percent-might-play-a-key-role-in-state-polls-2352802.html
6. https://theprint.in/last-laughs/mamata-banerjee-wants-poriborton-bjp-makes-a-wise-investment/246949/
7. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2012/2/cartoons-for-change-in-the-new-delhi-metro
8. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/mar/21/bjp-releases-bengal-poll-manifesto-promises-33-reservation-for-women-2279606.html
9. https://yourstory.com/herstory/2020/01/inspiring-quotes-indian-women-activists