Women with progressive thoughts must be in power
In the last decade, and particularly in the last few years, Indian women have begun to speak up. Be it the unprecedented nationwide protest rallies against the Delhi gang-rape, or the acknowledgement in social circles that marital rape does exist, the discourse on women’s rights has begun. It’s still a fledgling movement, but it’s a beginning nonetheless. Will all of it be undone by a religious right-wing government at the Centre?
I don’t think so. True, the religious Right has traditionally been patriarchal and their regimes have been marked by attitudes towards women that put their needs and rights secondary to men’s. But it’s only a right-wing government; we are not a right-wing country. We are a country that’s far too massive, with many diverse roots and beliefs.
And let’s not forget the atmosphere in which this government came to power. An atmosphere of protests, especially over women’s safety, movements for change in the corrupt governing systems, such as Anna Hazare’s, scams unveiled in the media high up in the political strata, discussions all over about the inability of the Congress government in power. Suddenly, we awoke to a number of glaring injustices and we demanded change.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so if it is in this atmosphere that a right-wing government came to power, it is because we expect change, we expect action from this new government. That is not going to be easily forgotten. An example: While there are people like Health Minister Harsh Vardhan who stress on fidelity, and not condoms, to fight AIDS, there are also those who can raise an outcry over his statements.
Look at Article 377. The fight was almost won when the Delhi High Court decriminalised homosexuality in July 2009, but the Supreme Court set it aside, sending the activists back to their drawing boards. But people are still backing themselves in their bid to repeal Article 377. It tells us that people have learnt not to shut up. Yes, we have woken up to a lot of issues quite late, but it’s heartwarming to see that we’ve begun to question traditions and people in power. Our time has indeed come.
We are a complicated country. We want development, but are afraid of change. We have welcomed generic, mass produced brands such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, fashion brands that fill up malls and food brands that fill up supermarkets and we certainly unanimously enjoy the benefits. Yet, we remain conservative in family structure, in education and in social behaviour.
The dichotomy is these very developments bring with them a set of capitalistic and globalised ideals that are anything but conservative: Individual expression, materialism and an each-to-their-own mentality. And we women have benefited the most from this: Women are getting recognised at the workplace, they are asserting themselves through the way they dress and behave, and they are getting educated.
Add to this backdrop the widespread and borderless world of the internet along with access to social media, which exposes each individual to a public opinion available to the rest of the world. There’s now an international audience watching every socio-cultural and economic development in the country. I don’t think the right-wing government has the power to rein in such activism.
Today, we live in a world where everything is on social media. Nothing is hidden or unmentioned and issues of concern get intensified on different platforms. The best example is Gaza right now; we get to know much more about the conflict there than what is being reported in the media. This works in our favour.
Meanwhile, within the power circles you want your politicians to be the first ones to recognise that and take the existing hierarchy head on. Which is why there should be a lot more women in politics. I am all for reservation for women in Parliament. Without them, people exercise the out-of-sight-out-of-mind option. If you don’t see enough women in positions of power, you forget to empathise with them. If you only see women as those who cook meals at home, you are never going to make an effort to change the situation around you.
(This story appears in the 22 August, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)