Politics is a male preserve

In a representative democracy like India, politicians and voters share a symbiotic relationship. The former wish to be elected and in effect desire peoples’ votes. In return, the voter also wants the politicians to introduce policies that appease them.

India’s social fabric is such that women have low personal agency and autonomy. Therefore, a minuscule percentage of women contest elections and the female voters’ decision is highly reflective of the voting preferences of their male counterparts. 

This creates conditions for a strong bias against women and accordingly, the issues faced by them rarely gather any popular support.

Once elected, these politicians, who are mostly men, seek to naturally address issues faced by men, thereby meeting their deal of the bargain. 

So, election after election, male voters are likely to re-elect the same representatives thereby sustaining this self-reinforcing cycle. This goes on to show that civil liberties for women in India are abstract. 

On one hand, they have the right to vote, but on the other, the conditions are unconducive for them to attain political power.  Since Independence, the concern of gender inequity in politics has continued to fester.  Since 1952 — the time of the first Lok Sabha — female representation has increased by merely about six percentage points, virtually grazing the horizontal axis. 

It highlights that even today. Women, who form over 49 per cent of India’s population have a little more than 10 per cent say in national decision-making. 

Such disproportionate female representation in turn affects policy and legislation. The gender of democratically-elected representatives naturally responds more effectively to the views of their own gender. 

These inequalities are even more pronounced given the mounting women’s issues in the economy — from sexual harassment to abysmally low female labour force participation, among others. 

The virtual absence of an alternative perspective creates serious gaps in gender equitable economic planning. No wonder that in the period between 1952 to date, only eight ordinary bills relating to women have been enacted — a paltry 0.0096 per cent of the total 828 Acts passed since then. 

Most of these Acts passed are more against historical social malpractices like Commission of Sati, 1988, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. None of the Acts passed pertain to furthering the economic or political interests of women.

As per surveys conducted in the pre-election period, of the women surveyed — the greatest issue for women in the upcoming elections was safety and crimes against women. 

The irony is that 48 MPs and MLAs today have declared crimes against women cases against them as reported by the Association for Democratic Reforms. We as citizens stand to equally share the blame. After all, how many of us educate ourselves about the background and qualifications of our representatives before casting a vote in their favour?  

As per the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, the percentage of women with 10 or more years of schooling still stands at as low as 35.7 per cent, with female literacy rates lagging fairly behind their male counterparts. 

Inadequate infrastructure like safe transportation, child care facilities, safety concerns and other gender-specific constraints are also responsible for low female labour force participation - which has declined from a paltry 26.8 per cent down to 24.4 per cent in the previous decade, as per the World Bank. 

This shows how gender inequality translates into economic inequality. With women assuming greater political power, India’s policy would be more likely to address challenges plaguing women for decades. A person who cannot take decisions at home can only dream of ever participating — let alone spear-heading — the national decision-making process. 

The Global Gender Gap report 2018 reiterates the co-relation between economic and political inequality by showing that the largest gender disparity observed globally exists in terms of political empowerment of women at 77.1 per cent followed by their economic participation and opportunity gap which stands at 41.9 per cent. 

The same report places India at rank 123 of 149 countries in terms of share of women in the Parliament. 

Therefore, the correlation between low degree of economic participation and the consequently low political representation stands well evidenced and established.

In economic terms, nearly half of India’s demographic dividend is in a precarious position due to the historical gaps in policies to address issues fundamental to women. 

IMF research asserts that India’s GDP can be increased by as much as 27 per cent by providing a boost to female labour force participation.

But the roots of gender inequality in politics run much deeper. Gender inequality translates into economic inequality, which in turn perpetuates political inequality. 

The problem is grave because a political system that does not deliver to a major proportion of its citizens i.e. women, who constitute a near equal of the electorate, is not sustainable in the long-run. Eventually, faith in democracy and the political system is likely to erode. 

Solutions to these problems need not be new-fangled. In the short-term, reservation for women in the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies would be a good start. But, as a long-term sustainable solution, there is a need for women to free themselves of shackles of gender inequality and thereby create an environment to assume a greater role in the nation’s economic and political development.

Author is with the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Views expressed are personal