With the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, women leaders from different political parties in State are busy campaigning to acquire the votes of the women in favour of their party. While one party is focusing on women’s safety, hygiene and the need to create awareness, the other is talking about local issues such as drinking water and sanitation.
According to Mahua Maji, president women’s wing of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), ally of the Congress as a part of the Mahagatbandhan, the Lok Sabha election of 2014 is witness to the fact that the number of female voters has surpassed the number of male voters.
“As women are becoming more aware about their responsibilities; their participation in various political processes is also increasing. Creating awareness is the first and most important step. Only when there is more social awareness and civic sense among the women, will they come out to cast their vote,” she said.
“Only a woman can understand another woman. We have women representatives in very village and district who try to motivate them to vote. The response of the women voters has been quite overwhelming and we are trying our best to create as much awareness as possible”, remarked Mifiqa Hasan, spokesperson State Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).
“Women safety is our concern. There are a lot of rape cases which are not even reported. We want them to stand for themselves and cast their votes. We go from house to house spreading awareness and as result more women have come out and spoken about their issues”, said Abha Sinha, spokesperson Jharkhand Pradesh Congress committee
“One of the major reasons that prevent women from exercising their right to vote is dependency on their husbands and family responsibility. Majority of the women don’t come out of their houses to vote because they have household chores to look after,” said Maji.
“Women need to become more independent. We personally interact with women and motivate them to make election their priority,” she added.
Addressing the issues of women, Sinha said that menstrual hygiene is a major cause of concern. “It has become a very serious problem especially in the rural areas ever since the imposition of 18 per cent GST on sanitary pads. It has become very difficult for the poor people to afford them. We have distributed pads in such areas and educated them on the subject,” she added.
Hasan spoke about how the party manifesto is based on empowering women. Addressing the increasing local issues she said, “Availability of drinking water has been a problem for quite some time now. In rural areas, women walk for miles to get water and face a lot of problems. Sanitation has also been a major cause of concern and the party is working towards eliminating these problems”
Sinha asserted about the efforts her wing is making to persuade the voters and said that they have been campaigning thoroughly for five-six months now.
“In order to create more awareness, we conduct tours, rallies and meetings as a part of our campaigning process and talk to women about their problems” added Maji
Another issue that needs immediate action is the status of the women in the society. “Women are always looked down and one of the main aims of the party is to bring a change in women’s condition and fight for their rights”, asserted the BJP spokesperson.