Transcript WCD Odisha - Election Commission of India

Strengthening
women's participation
in the electoral
process
December 18th, 2013
Arti Ahuja
Secretary WCD, Odisha
Scheme of presentation
 Women in different roles in the electoral
process
 Historical and current perspective
 What are the issues?
 What are the possible solutions?
Women’s participation in the
electoral process As voters
 As candidates
 As political party members
 As campaigners
 As members of the electoral
administration.
 As observers
As voters- What's the
verdict today?
 Delhi- 65 percent women- over 3.4
million, turned up to vote. Increase of 9%
from last elections
 High levels of women votingChhattisgarh 77.27%, MP- 70.11, Raj75.33 of total women electorate
How it all started: Women’s
suffrage movement
Foundation of the Women’s
Indian Association (WIA) in 1917
by Annie Besant, Margaret
Cousins and Dorothy
Jinarajadasa – all Irish women
Theosophists, who had been
suffragettes in their own country.
WIA was the first all India
women’s association with the
clear objective of securing
voting rights for women
 Travancore-Cochin, a princely state, was the
first to give voting rights to women in 1920,
followed by Madras and Bombay in 1921.
 Franchise was extremely limited. Women could
vote only if they possessed qualifications of
wifehood, property and education.
 All women over 21 could vote provided they
fulfilled the qualification of property and
education
 Universal adult franchise – only after
independence
 Constitution of India guarantees equal rights to
men and women as voters and citizens
Post-Independence Women do not form a community : National
Backward Classes Commission under the
chairmanship of Kakasaheb Kalelkar (1953)
 Committee on the Status of Women in India (1974)“though women’s participation in the political process
has increased, their ability to produce an impact on
the political process has been negligible because of
the inadequate attention paid to their political
education and mobilization by both political parties
and women’s organizations. Parties have tended to
see women voters as appendages of the males.
Among women, the leadership has become diffused
and diverse having sharp contradictions with regard
to inequalities that affect the status of women in
every sphere – social, economic and political.”
CSWI
 "The right to political equality has not
enabled women to play their roles as
partners and constituents in the political
process […] Instead, these rights have
helped to build an illusion of equality and
power which is frequently used as an
argument to resist special protective and
acceleratory measures to enable
women to achieve their just and equal
position in society."
As candidates National Perspective Plan for Women(1988)
 33 per cent of seats in all elected assemblies, from the
village to the Union level, be reserved for women,
 Political parties to promote women's electoral
representation by giving at least 33 per cent of their tickets
to women candidates
 Panchayati Raj system – mandatory inclusion of women
 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act mandated
reservation of one-third seats in the village, block, districts,
municipal elected bodies in India.
 In Odisha – 50% of the seats are reserved for women for 2
terms
 Delhi: 70/810 candidates who contested assembly elections,
only 3, all from AAP, could win.
Women participation in formal
politics today Election campaigning – recognition of women's
vote
 Parties trying to mobilize women support
(offering inducements like saris, utensils,
mangalsutras, and even money),
 Women voter turn-out has increased from 38.8 %
in the fifties to nearly 60 % and more now
 But there exist a gender gap
 Under represented in state & national legislative
bodies- less than 10%
 Zee Research Group (ZRG) study of women
candidates in assembly polls from 2009-2013 - all
the assembly polls held during the last five years,
as many as 22 states registered less than 10%
participation of women candidates in these
elections.
 Three states observed less than 5% women
participation during assembly elections.
 Overall increase in female voter turnout
observed during the period. Uttar Pradesh (UP)
observed an 18.36% increase in female voter
turnout in 2012 assembly polls, while in Gujarat it
grew by about 12.48%.
 The best women candidate participation
level achieved during last five years is 10% in
Odisha (2009) and the worst performing state
was Nagaland with 1.1% (2013)
 Maximum (32) women candidates in Odisha
were independent
Concerns
 Gender and women’s issues remain absent from the
daily discussions of politics- sporadic, stereotypical,
often biased.
 Women are not considered a homogenous “vote
bank”
 Women suffer due to low literacy, poor preparatory
training, a high household work burden and negative
attitudes towards women in public office
 Invisibility of women , especially some women
 Given Unwinnable constituencies
 Or seen as mascots
Way forward
 Women’s development – central agenda of
elections and political parties- is there a
possibility ???
 In the recent Delhi elections – the safety and
security issue of women was an issue raised in the
election campaigning – scope of mainstreaming
of women’s agenda
 Communications for women have to be properly
linked to their live situations and as such,
specially designed and at the same time taking
into account varying demographical, socio
cultural, economic and linguistic factors
Way forward
 Access to polling stations and accessible polling
stations
 Facilities therein (crèche, toilet, sitting etc.) should
be enhanced so that children accompanying the
women may be taken care of and are not made
to stand for long hours.
 Waiting time for women should be reduced – they
could vote on priority.
 Ensuring participation of those on the marginsmigrants, FSWs, incarcerated, institutionalised
Way forward
 Affirmative action
 Reservation in legislative bodies
 Women in decision making positions in political parties and in
government
 Address the practical needs of women : water, sanitation,
housing, transport
 Strategic needs : violence free, non discrimination
 Build leadership capabilities and capacities of young girls and
women
 Augment women’s agency – empower their thought process
and decision making spaces both in the private domain as well
as in public domain
 Role of government, CSOs, community and family
9.6 Political representation, participation and
decision making
1 Ensure engendering of institutional and
operational frameworks through gender
sensitization of all elected representatives
and decision making bodies at all levels
PR
SSD
H & UD
2 Ensure universal coverage of elected women PR
representatives in capacity building and
SSD
training programmes in rural and urban local H & UD
bodies and have specific modules for
women representatives under Panchayati
Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA)
9.6 Political representation, participation and decision making
3 Gender interests at the core of rural local governance PR
processes through mahila sabhas at GP level, fifty
percent women representation in palli, gram sabha,
and in the statutory Standing Committees and revival
of the standing committee on women and children.
Issues of girls and women including violence will be a
specific agenda in the palli sabha and gram sabha
4 Capacity building programmes for girls and women for PR
effective political participation, voting rights and
DSYS
leadership with integration of specific modules into
WSHG training programmes; youth leadership and
development programmes and other programmes
meant for girls and women
9.6 Political representation, participation and decision making
5 Move appropriate and suitable amendments in the
Odisha GP Rules and Acts to remove any discriminatory
practices that prohibit or restrict women to participate
effectively
PR
6 Ensure an enabling, supportive and non discriminatory All concerned
environment so that the elected women representatives departments
can perform their roles and responsibility effectively
7 Mandatory women representation of all
commissions, corporations, cooperatives,
boards and such other bodies
All concerned
departments
Lastly,
 The Inter parliamentary union ranks India
108th in women's representation in
national legislature, below Pakistan and
Afghanistan
 “Politicians promise jobs and protecting
security- we want to be able to get our
own jobs and protect ourselves- give us
the voice so we can empower
ourselves”
Thank you