Women and the Vote By: Anjali Kumari

                THEME: WOMEN AND THE VOTE

By: Anjali Kumari

INTRODUCTION 

The participation of women in politics is linked with the inherent inequality present in the social structure relating to the norms, values, customs and rituals etc which together determines the social status of women. The historical account of the status of women in India categorizing them in inferior status has blocked their participation in the developmental process. The roots of women’s participation in politics were set up during the Indian independence struggle. The social reform movement of the 19th century began for the upliftment of women’s status through education, abolition of child marriage, widow remarriage, property rights etc. As women started becoming politically conscious, they viewed their role in freedom struggle through massive involvement which resulted in transformation of women’s position in society. Several prominent women such as Vijay Laxmi pandit, Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur, Sucheta kriplani, begum Hamid had their significant presence in Indian politics breaking the barriers of private public dichotomy. In the post independent period despite of the constitutional guarantee of equality of sexes have witnessed unequal gender discrimination (rai 2017). Though, there has been steady rise in the representation of women in the legislative bodies yet, it is abysmally low in proportion to their population. The presence of women in political bodies is inadequate due to lack of space for participation and widening of gap in political sphere.

While there have been various scholars who view politics as a field reserve for men as women are relegated to the private domain and are underrepresented. Thus, causing marginalisation of women in decision making at all levels. On the other hand, there have been scholars who see a change in this trend since 1989 when women became more conscious of their voting power, and a sense of a new decade was marked by more women participating in elections which further backed their view that 'vote matters. This paper is an attempt to understand the transformation that has taken place in their voting pattern since the election of 2004, which is understood as strengthening women politics in future (Deshpande 2004). Any understanding of women's participation in politics is incomplete without understanding the pattern of social networking along with gender dynamics.

INTERPRETING THE PARTICIPATORY UPSURGE OF WOMEN IN POLITICS:

There has been an upsurge of women participation for voting the national level elections during 1990s and there were several factors associated with it. These factors include the liberalization of Indian economy during this phase and awareness related to women's education and political rights through electronic media. The civil society organisations and women's organisations were working at grassroot level to spread the awareness campaign relating to voting rights and the importance of choosing the right candidate. Also, several initiatives were taken up by the election commission in conducting fair and violence free elections in the 1990s had significant contributions in creating an upsurge for women's participation in voting. Another most important factor was the revolutionary step in providing 33 percent of reservation to women candidates in Panchayati raj institutions in 1990s. The success of women in Panchayati raj institutions created a perception of politics which can not only be dominated by males. As a result of reservation in Panchayati raj institutions the dominant perception among people about politics as a dirty which is not fit for women changed and women's participation at grassroot level increased. This largely empowered women’s in breaking social barriers to participation in politics and restoring equal women’s participation in democratic politics.

Elections of 2004, witnessed support for two major national parties varied among different social groups. There is no doubt that at different point of time women have valued their party preferences based on gender. However, in analysing the voting behaviour gender could not be treated as an independent variable. Caste allegiances as well as class and community have often proved themselves to be more influential determinants of women voting behaviour. The data regarding women voting pattern clearly reflects the decisive importance of gender which worked in favour of Congress setting a trend that more women from the marginalized sections voted in favour of Congress (Yadav 2000) this appeared as a disadvantage for BJP preferences among women voters were varied. As a result, its support mainly came from the urban, educated middle class women who constituted the privileged section within women. Consensus on women's issue could be was formed in 1996(National election survey) conducted and what came as an outcome was whole hearted support for reservation for women. In contrast to the election of 1996, in 2004 elections, a gender advantage for Congress was established on the ground that Congress gathered vote from the uninformed and less politicised classes. Thus, this advantage was linked to the participatory upsurge of socially backward sections. (Yadav 2000).

The level of political participation of women is determined by several factors. In India particularly the female participation in politics is lower as compared to male participation because of the socialization process of women especially relating to marriage, motherhood, fewer access to resources, employment and ownership of property. These are specific gender related reasons that determine the women’s political participation in democratic politics of India. In a survey conducted by national election study (NES) 2004 stated that women's participation was only restricted to voting and campaigning during the election. Along with this another important factor was location and region which determines the level of women's participation in elections. In 2004 general elections rural women were 5 percent ahead in voting than those living in urban areas. Thus, there were a lot of factors including political interest, media exposure, importance of voting, voting discretion determining the reasons behind the increase of women’s participation in politics (Rai 2011).

The main reason behind the upsurge of women's participation has been the active role of the state in promoting and encouraging women to vote in elections. Also, the factors are interest which determine the level of participation in politics. Women’s with higher interest in politics are likely to participate in the voting process. It has been found that in 2004 general elections 89 percent of women’s who participated in voting had higher interest in politics as compared to those who were not interest in politics. Compared to 1999 general elections the participation of women in 2004 increased significantly from 13 percent to 20 percent. This remarkable increase in participation of women was due to higher mobilization of political parties to include women’s in their elections campaign. To increase their vote bank political parties tries to include women in their election campaign but they ran off when it comes to allocation of share of political power and seats. (Kishwar 1996).

The number of opportunities available for women's participation in electoral politics also depend upon the education, income, socio-cultural norms, caste, socio-cultural background and the level of freedom accessed. Although, in electoral politics India has witnessed a remarkable upsurge of women’s participation in voting during the 1990s but the difference based on gender still remains significant. However, in formal politics the participation of women has increased especially in campaign activities during elections but within the rank and file of political parties their representation still lags behind. The gender gap still remains high as women's political offices rarely play a role in policy making.

HOW DOES WOMEN INCREASED PARTICIPATION CHANGING SOCIETY?

As Indian women are becoming more conscious of their political rights, this directly impacts the policy making and how the candidate’s campaign and govern once they are in office.

In Bihar, a more drastic and an appreciating step was taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with the anti- alcohol law in 2015 when he was re-elected. The law was enforced after some women told him that alcoholism not only destroyed their livelihood but also devastated their families and communities.

During the campaigns of 2019 elections more women friendly policy was made in the manifesto and women's status became a matter of campaign rhetoric. The present government focus on improving the social indicators with policy measures and welfare schemes for women are an important transformation made in the course of Indian politics. There are several schemes and policies launched by government for women’s upliftment. Ujjwala yojana is one of the flagship programmes of NDA that has benefited 80 million families, the scheme was especially made to improve the health of women in rural areas as they are the victims of indoor air pollution. The beti bachao beti padhao scheme aimed at preventing the gender bias sex selective abortion and to ensure survival and the protection of the girl child. The scheme has brought a positive trend in sex ratio at birth in 2016. Removing tax on sanitary napkins has contributed in tackling one of the biggest obstacles in girl’s education. This scheme has provided affordable access to sanitary napkin and has benefitted underprivileged women.

An analysis of women friendly schemes launched under the present government does not address the low female political participation. Despite having a majority in the parliament, the government did not move to pass the women's reservation bill that demands the reservation of 33 Percent seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for female candidates.

THE WOMEN IN INDIAN POLITICS – RECENT TRENDS:

While many women are participating in electoral politics but in reality, there are various qualitative factors by means of which they are excluded. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections reflected that the women's vote constituted an important element in deciding the election results. While this could be seen as a favourable improvement in the voting pattern it does not mean more meaningful participation. Quantitative figures cannot hide the qualitative realities. These figures cannot hide the power and autonomy that a woman has in exercising her voting right. This means that women cannot be kept in a category defined by a uniform variable i.e. caste, class, population need to be taken into account because these factors are very much influential in determining the aspirations that women have.

 For any democratic society, universal suffrage is very important. Recent trends show that women's participation has been increasing. The study conducted by Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi in 2014, on the share of women's vote in India, a more positive and desirable interpretation of women's empowerment was made through this study. The study highlighted that there is no connection between women's participation and the government policy. However, this view is criticised on the grounds that the government is not the only instrument within the patriarchal framework to restrict women's agency. This phenomenon was termed as self-empowerment of women. As the election of 2014, witnessed a voluntary increase in the number of women voters across all states including the traditionally backward states. The cause of this encouraging and positive trend is not because of policy action but largely due to the rising consciousness among women.

One important factor that influences them to decide whom to vote is the opinion of their spouse and family members. The National election survey of 1996 revealed that about 17 percent of the women who participated in the survey their voting preference was influenced by the choices of their spouse and family members. Rajeshwari Deshpande argues that what acts as hindrance for allowing women to make independent political choices is the fact that they are kept away from social and political resources.

The exclusion of women in politics is more prominent than exclusion of women in economic sphere and in the processional domain( Gail Omvedt 1977), taking an example from the election in zilla Parishad in the villages of Maharashtra, Gail argues that the exclusion of women in politics severely limits their ability to prevent the violence that these women face in their everyday life. She also pointed towards the biases of political parties who always question the winning capability of women candidate.

 Taking from Gail Omvedt, interpretation of party's hierarchy and preference for male candidate, Rajeshwari Deshpande shows that from the national election survey conducted in 1996, more women respondents supported reservation and increased political participation of women however, these women were also aware of the fact that the party mechanism and their functioning is a major barrier towards their upliftment within the party profile.

In response to this argument Election commission data of 1998 came up with another interesting observation that the data since 1998 shows that the success rates of men and women do not differ in a major way and in many ways, women have proved to be more successful than men, thereby rendering the earlier argument as obsolete.

It is often assumed that increasing women participation would influence the decision making within parties. However, in many cases this assumption has been proved wrong. In 1996 Gyanendra Kumar Yadav and Ravindra Kumar Verma highlighted the continued exclusion of women from decision making processes within the party. Yet, it did not result in significant reform in favour of active participation of women because of systemic inhibitions i.e. the very flaw in the method of functioning of political parties.

CONCLUSION:

The upsurge of women participation in politics shows the development for India and for Indian women. The existing orthodox notions regarding women’s role in society and lack of family support are the reasons that prevent women from entering politics. The participatory upsurge of women in electoral politics which started in the 1990s has continued till present. In India where there is 49 percent of female population percentage, it can largely impact a country's politics. In the long term it will lead to building up of a progressive society by recognizing women’s role in the process of decision making. This has been clearly witnessed by the way these political parties have been advocating for women’s participation in their campaign activities to gain the support of women voters resulting in bringing about women favouring policies and schemes. This has ultimately Contributed to bridging the gender gap, promoting equal women’s participation in politics and women empowerment resulting in strengthening of democratic politics. Thus, it has largely impacted in reshaping country's politics. Paper is still unsatisfactory. However, try to incorporate my suggestions. There are unnecessary gaps. Make it in proper format as per the requirement of the conference. All the best

REFRENCES: 

1.  Deshpande, Rajeshwari (2004)’How gendered was women’s participation, EPW
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