Women in both the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday paid tribute to “women power”, but demanded financial inclusiveness, implementation of Women’s Reservation Bill, decisive action against trafficking of girls and allowing women’s entry to temples and in other areas where their movement was restricted.
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the women MPs in strongly pitching for reservation for fair sex in Parliament. As women legislatures asserted their rights, the Government said in it was working towards evolving consensus on providing 33 per cent reservation to them and expressed hope that it would succeed in this at the earliest.
The erstwhile UPA Government tried to evolve consensus on the issue for 10 years and the present dispensation is continuing that effort, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said after a debate on women’s empowerment on the occasion of International Women’s Day during which the demands for reservation were raised.
Earlier, Giving statistics on “poor representation” of women MPs in parliamentary committees, some members said there was a need to raise their strength in Parliamentary Standing Committees
Speaking in the lok Sabha, Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh, BJD MP from Kandhamal, Odisha, drew attention to the plight of women in several states and sought strict action against women trafficking saying Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab were “major market” for it. The MP said States like West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand were witnessing “bride trafficking” with a range of small girls forced into “sexual slavery”, and wondered as why this could not be considered as “bonded slavery”.
Shatabdi Roy (TMC) said while today is International Women’s Day, nothing has changed the woman who works as a house maid or the one who begs on traffic signals with her child in her arms.
Roy said the slogan of ‘beti bachao’ highlights woman as an asset who can earn for the family. “By doing this, she has been turned into a product,” she said, adding she would observe March 8 as Women’s Day if March 9 is observed as Men’s Day.
Sonia Gandhi, who was the first to speak in the lok Sabha on the issue, wanted early passage of the “long-awaited” Women Reservation Bill. She criticised a law, making educational qualifications mandatory for contesting local polls in some BJP-ruled states, saying it denied women their right to contest.
Sonia attacked the Government over its ‘maximum governance’ slogan, saying this also meant expanding the base of disagreement without inviting retribution.
“Surely, maximum governance does not mean to have double standards in dealing with women’s rights”, she added. Though she did not make a direct reference to the Government’s action against some NGOs, her reference to it was obvious as she sought giving “freedom” to the civil society, NGOs and activists.
Criticising the law in some BJP-ruled States like Haryana and Rajasthan which makes minimum educational qualification necessary to contest local elections, the Congress chief said it denied a large number of women from SC/ST groups to exercise their constitutional rights and called for “urgent legislative attention” to undo it.
Hema Malini (BJP) said women excelled in multi-tasking and know the art of balancing between home and work. “They work a lot. They are my inspiration,” she said referring to women living in Mumbai who travel to work and handle household activities also.
Bhavna Gawali (Shiv Sena) referred to the refusal of temple authorities at Shani temple in Maharashtra from allowing women to enter the sanctum sanctorum andd said “while we talk of equality, we can’t go to temples.”
She said women at grassroots level have been provided reservation in local bodies, but the real show is being run by their husbands and fathers. Questioning such a practice, she said if women are provided 33 per cent reservation in higher education, they would get empowered.
PK Sreemathi Teacher of CPI (M) said women constitute 12 per cent of the lok Sabha strength which should be increased. She said despite Taliban threat, Afghanistan has 28 per cent reservation for women.
Supriya Sule (NCP) referred to BJP member Rama Devi and PK Sreemathi Teacher to point out how they rose to become MPs despite facing odds adding that such members had no political family background.
Ranjit Ranjan (Cong), who rode a motorcycle to Parliament House Tuesday , and K Geetha (YSR Congress) said reservation in lok Sabha was not the solution but part of a larger effort needed to empower women.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed two men MPs — Sugata Bose (TMC) and Anurag Thakur (BJP) to briefly speak on the issue.
Bose said her mother, former MP Krishna Bose, had moved a private members’ bill in lok Sabha 20 years ago which called for parties to give 40 per cent seats to women by amending the electoral law.
Congress members in the Rajya Sabha took credit of getting the Women Reservation Bill passed in the house during the UPA rule on March 9, 2010 and sought to know what the present Government was doing when it had absolute majority in the lok Sabha.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla lamented that the Constitution Amendment Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha but was still pending in lok Sabha, adding that the matter was first debated in 1995.
Viplove Thakur (Cong) said child marriages are prevalent even today in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh and added that this day should not be merely celebrated as a mere ritual.
Sasikala Pushpa (AIADMK) said while the women’sreservation issue has got just lip sympathy so far, women continue to be discriminated and harassed.
Ambika Soni (Cong) said UPA just did not pass the women’s reservation bill in the Upper House but also enacted domestic violence bill and created an all-women’s banks which the BJP-led Government was “abandoning”. eom