There is always talk about women empowerment, but women representation in politics remains nominal
As Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has stepped into her father’s shoes, to take charge as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, she has become the 16th woman and second Muslim woman to head a State Government. The first Muslim woman Chief Minister was Syeda Anwara Taimur of the Indian National Congress, who served at the helm in Assam for six months.
Ending the three-month long uncertainty in the State, Mehbooba Mufti’s immediate focus will be on governance but she mustn’t forget about the plight of Kashmiri women. Being a woman and the mother of two daughters, she surely understands the importance of empowering women in her State. Indeed, the Government has a large role to play in this regard.
While Kashmiri women have seen a rise in their social, educational and professional profiles, this privilege has been enjoyed only by the women belonging to the elite class. Even middle-class women have continued to lived in an orthodox and patriarchal society.
Additionally, Kashmiri women face hardships resulting from decades of conflict and militancy. Many are becoming infertile due to stressful conditions. Other have become widows or ‘half-widows’ (wives whose husbands have been missing a for long time). Sexual violence, harassment of women and rape are on the rise as well.
Mehbooba Mufti, in an article in the International Museum of Women, had said, “In a situation where it is difficult to find even good men to come forward and contest (elections), as they demand security, which we can hardly promise, it is a little too much to expect women to rise above their role in such a traumatized society and come forward to participate in the political process.”
In the 2002 Assembly election, only 29 women were in the electoral fray. In th 2008 poll, 67 women contested but, in 2014, this number fell back to 29. And only three of those women contestants won. Mehbooba Mufti was one of them.
Politics in Jammu & Kashmir has primarily been a male bastion. Women representatives from the State have almost always been members of the State’s dominant political families: For example, apart from Mehbooba Mufti, whose father founded the J&K Peoples Democratic Party, the other high-profile woman leader was Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah. She was former Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah’s wife and had two terms as Member
of Parliament.
Just because Jammu & Kashmir is a sensitive border State, does that mean that women will continue to be marginalised in the political process. Sadly, women in this context have mostly seen ‘cosmetic’ empowerment. Hence, it is usually only by virtue of being a daughter or wife of a politician that a woman is given space in politics. And Mehbooba Mufti is no exception to this.
At both national and State levels, India has a pattern of dynasty politics. Several women leaders are from political dynasties, such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP K Kanimozhi, RJD leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and Samajwadi Party leader and Kannauj MP Aparna Yadav.
However, there are also several senior women leaders who are not from political families, such TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bahujan Samaj Party head and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, and a slew of BJP leaders including Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani and Nirmala Sitharaman. Yet, most women politicians who are not from political dynasties, usually find it difficult to rise within their parties.
Currently, women are poorly represented in Parliament, at just 11 per cent of the strength — Rajya Sabha has 28 women MPs out of 237 while lok Sabha has 62 out of 543. The passage of the women’s reservation Bill, which guarantees 33 per cent of all seats to women in Parliament and State legislative Assemblies, would be a major breakthrough.
Increased political representation of women will not only go a long way in addressing the problems of women’s marginalisation and discrimination, but also help make policymaking processes more inclusive and representative.