Thursday 6 May 2010

Women Reservation – A divisive step

There are events that have immediate/mid-term impact and then there are others that have long term repercussions. Though we need to worry about both – it is the later one that we should think harder about and take appropriate actions to either change it – if we think it will have adverse ramifications, or fine tune it – to maximize advantages. Recent clamor to provide reservation to Women is one such step that will have larger corollary. And it won’t be pleasant by any means. Not for Women and neither for the “opposing” gender. I call them “opposing” since it is the men who are being made the bad party in this whole drama.

Initiating Argument
Lest anyone gets me wrong – let me clearly state that it is not because I don’t want women of this country to rise or am against any logical steps that are taken to bring their stature up in the society – just like I wouldn’t oppose it for anyone else in need. In fact, I am all for it. However I am not convinced about the path that is being chosen i.e. providing mandatory reservation. As unconvincing as the Quota/reservation given on caste basis was (or more recently - religion based reservation), it is absurd to provide the same on the basis of the Gender one is born in/as. You see, we are already bearing the adverse affects of host of reservations today. What with more and more “less eligible people” donning decision making positions only on the basis of the caste they were born into. Excuse me for saying this – but a deep analysis someday will show that “value systems” and “honesty quotients” in this country & society (in these times) have gone down precisely because of such undeserving candidates coming to the fore. I have no doubts about it.

I am not sure where will this “reservation business” end? Next, one will talk about race based reservation? Or how about State/City based Reservation? Or perhaps age based reservation? Occupation based reservation? I mean, why not? All of these seem logical to me now and someone someday will have to only raise it once to make it into a “mass movement”. Like Police personnel, CRPF/BSF units (and their families) may perhaps want reservation in Education/Service/Politics for their wards even in their lifetime. The argument could very well be that since they are not highly paid and since they put their lives on line of duty – their families should be given “more” facilities and preferences. Sounds Illogical huh? Well, it may seem so today… but who thought Women and Muslims would get reservation in this country. If Muslims can, so should Christians. Nah? Why? In fact I should be asking - Why not? Again…why not Eunuchs? You see? It doesn’t take some brilliant mind to come up with ideas! Even I can do it. Huh…what’s the big deal? Remember, what we offer today as a “fair deal/gift” – will tomorrow be considered a “birth right”. Look at Gujjars – they already have reservation under OBC (Other Backward Class) category. But they are “demanding” their “right” to “ST” category. Why? Because ST Category has more reserved seats! They have already created a lot of ruckus a few times around this part of the country. However rubbish their claim may seem to others in the country – I am in no doubt that they will get what they have demanded. We should not be surprised then. We ourselves gave them reservation to start with – remember?

To take the debate further – let me try and dispel a few myths associated with the subject matter and provide arguments against some silly notions – the basis of which has been used to justify reservation for women.

Myth 1 – Women require Reservation
To start with – I don’t think most of the women feel right about this reservation being given to them. After all even women/girls/ladies of this country were at the forefront of agitation against reservation to SC/ST/OBC (as per Mandal Commission’s directive), in various fields like Medical seats, other Competitions, Post Graduation, Politics and Jobs. How can they suddenly now justify reservations for themselves? It would seem like the grapes were sour till they were presented to them. I mean, what are we talking about here? Are women really deprived in our country today? Forget the ancient times.  Talk about today – current times. Reservation is not for those who are dead. They affect us – the current generation. In fact, I would rather put my neck forward and say that the honor that our society has given women, not even “so-called” liberated societies like western world has. C’mon, here is a country which has had the honor of having a lady Prime Minister – even when the western world was struggling to bring their racial order in line. We have since then come to a position where we now even have a Woman President. Irrespective of how she was appointed to the President’s post – and irrespective of whether she had requisite merits to be made the First Lady of the country – did being a “Woman” create any problems for her? None I would say. In fact, the fact that she is a woman has been the ONLY factor that helped her in being elevated to that post. And I am sure most of us would agree that she was NOT the best of the candidates available. We still made her the President. Why? Could this have happened in US/UK or other developed country? No. Again, don’t we also have a Women Speaker in Parliament now? Hmmm… I must say we are definitely biased “against” women. Women are really deprived. Huh. This is the country that has a woman leading the largest political party – The Congress (I) Party. She is considered to be one of the most powerful women in the world. Look around… our country has Banks, Corporate, and government Ministries being lead and headed by a Woman. Oh yeah… We definitely are biased – sure we are! How about saying we are biased “in favor” of women? No? It must be some “rocket science” really for our dumb politicians to understand. But I hope you readers are not. Are you? I mean, for devil’s sake – what are we even talking about? How do you otherwise gauge the importance of a sect of people if not by their public presence? Just because a set of communities in the country are biased against women gives no right to anyone to give reservation to entire bunch of citizens.

Look at our records without reservation. Sati system has vanished, Dowry is on the wane, more and more girls are going to schools in villages & cities, Government after governments are doling out schemes to encourage education for girls (giving financial incentives), Girls are seen more and more in jobs in IT industry, Banking Industry, Television, Movies, Government jobs, Schools, colleges, shops, restaurants, premier hotels, Aviation Industry and Politics (4 of the top 10 political parties in current parliament have women at helm of affairs). All this is happening already – WITHOUT reservation mind you. Women Members in Lok Sabha has increased from 3.5% in 1977 to 10.8% in 2009. Is this a reducing trend? Would you still say that?

Why then do they need reservation? If there are 40 or even 45% women in this country so they should be given equivalent representation? Well then... what about Muslims? Should we not give them 15% odd reservation based on their count in population? What about “middle-age” population (people having approx 25-40 yrs of age)? Since they are the largest % of registered voters in the country – should we then not set a reserved number of seats for candidates of the said age group? Why should we bear with those “white haired fatsos” when majority of the people do not identify themselves with such old politicians? This is absolutely silly. How about providing illiterate members mandatory reservation? Since a large % of our country is illiterate and since their problems can only be “supposedly” understood by only illiterate leaders – let’s have fixed percentage of leaders with no education. How about that? Specious, awful, fallacious, illogical – you say? Well – so is Women Reservation. 

Myth 2 – Reservation will bring social parity
Let us look at this with what President of Samajwadi Party (Mulayam Singh Yadav) said sometime ago. Though he got a lot of flak for what he said – I find practical sense in what he says really. To start with – this reservation (as and when it comes into force) will see a majority of Politician’s wife, daughter, Mother, Mother-in-law, and other such woman relatives of the politicians fighting elections and getting elected. It is not hard to fathom why & how of this logic. Seriously, which “male” politician will ever allow anyone else – other than his own relative to fight on the seat that he currently holds? You would do the same in his place. We all would perhaps – including women. And since none of the sitting MPs are downtrodden or poor, we are perhaps looking at rich/well-to-do ladies, who are relatives of existing politicians, grabbing majority of the seats. But then you may as well say – who cares if they are rich or proxy candidates? After all, they will be “women”! Great! Reservation “ki Jai ho”!

The other pertinent point that Mr Yadav has drawn attention to is that, down the years, you may well find many more women representatives in the parliament/Assemblies – than the 33% that is being talked about. The two fold logic again is pretty simple. Firstly, we should not be talking about only 33% of women. The reservation bill does not stop women from fighting from seats that are not reserved. So the total count of women will always be higher than 33%. Secondly, once a woman candidate wins a seat – she will not be ready to vacate that seat even when the seat will no more be reserved for their “exclusive” gender the next time (remember any seat will be reserved for only 1 term and then it will again be reserved after 2 more elections. This will go on in rotation). As already mentioned above, nobody would willingly vacate a seat that he/she has won the last time and for the constituency that they have worked for in the 5 year term. So invariably, some/most of the sitting women MP/MLA will get to keep their seats and some would definitely win. They along with the other women elected from 33% reserved seats will make percentage of women rise in the Parliament. This % will keep increasing with each election.

Does the above analogy seem illogical? I don’t think so. Knowing the standard of our politicians I will not be surprised if more and more women (down the years) will be heard saying that they were not given ticket “because” the seat was now unreserved. And that this is gross injustice done to her – and ONLY because she is a “woman”! No party will be able to defend that kind of a charge with media sharks that we have. You see – we, the Public, are an emotional group. Anyone who insults Old people or Women is seen as a villain. Public sympathy invariably is with the other “vulnerable” group. This will eventually lead to a situation where women will be in Majority in Parliament. Is that the objective of this bill? Will more women leaders help women at ground level – the poor/downtrodden/harassed lot? Oh yeah? Read the next section where I intent to bust this myth too.

Some people I have met have said that it is not a bad idea actually – i.e. to have majority of Women in Parliament – after all Men have been in majority all along! I am not sure they would want to pitch this as Men Vs Women contest. This will never bear fruit. And moreover, since when did we start believing in taking steps to create a monster to kill another monster? You don’t take corrective steps which will eventually prove bad - to solve something that is wrong today. At least I don’t see why. In any case, how will this reservation be removed eventually? Women won’t certainly do it. They are after all beneficiaries of the law! So once the reservation is in place – you can as well forget about getting rid of it once women come to the fore capturing more than 1/3rd of the seats. Remember, you need “at least” 2/3rd Majority for such Bills to pass/amend/remove. No one has been able to remove SC/ST/OBC quota till date – even though as per constitution it can be removed after 10 year review period. But no political party has had the guts to actually propose it – let alone discuss it. Such are the ways of vote-bank politics. I don’t know how much of “social equality” has been achieved as a result of the current set of reservations. It definitely has negatively disrupted “psychological order” of the political society. And this will become more disordered once the new/proposed reservation comes into play.

Myth 3 – Reservation will improve Country’s Leadership Quotient
For people who claim that Women make better leaders and bosses. I suggest, take a poll. You will know the truth. Include both Boys/Men and Girls/Women in the polls to make it more genuine. You will be surprised. Just because it is “fashionable” to say women make “better” leaders or bosses – does not make them one. And when we say “better” – it is in comparison to men. Just because women say so and nobody objects – does not mean it is the truth. Moreover, as indicated above – no body wants to be seen saying anything against women in this country. So when women keep harping about how good they are and how women are rising to top positions “even though” they are women – it is not objected to. (Boy (!!), you have to read printed material on the subject around the Women’s day celebrations. Hoof – it would seem they rose from ashes to become head of Pepsi, ICICI, etc.) As if – they have done something extremely exceptional just because they are woman! Can’t see Lakshmi Mittal, Dhirubhai Ambani, Sunil Mittal, etc say they rose in the hierarchy because they were “men”. Or is it that these men “did not have to struggle” just because they were men? What logic?
 
Anyways, ask people who have had women bosses/leaders and you will understand what it is like working under a women leader. And no – I do not mean to say they are dumb or all useless. Its like saying – men by birth are more intelligent and make better bosses than woman. No – I don’t subscribe to that – it is actually a foolish notion. There has to be a mix. Smart, intelligent, courageous breeds are found in both the genders. That is equally true for idiots on both sides of the “great gender divide”. But, to say that one is better than the other (as is proclaimed in media and otherwise) is all crap for me. So when women harp about them being brighter than men – I generally cannot digest it – and it has got nothing to do with gender bias in favor of gender I belong to. It is like – I will never accept any Muslim or SC/ST or OBC to state that they have more zeal to work and perform than I do. And that too just because they have come from a particular caste/religion/poor family and hence have more motivation to do well. How ridiculous can it be?

Staying with this line of thought – name a few current, larger-than-life, Woman leaders in our own country… People up north will say – Mayawati. Wow! Similarly, people down south will say Jayalalitha. Again…Wonderful! People in central part of India may say Uma Bharti… Super. In the east it will be Mamta Banerjee, Rabri Devi. What do I say…and perhaps in the western region it will be Vasundhara Raje. Perfect. What a combo. Include Jammu & Kashmir’s Mehbooba Mufti (ex-CM) and you have a great bunch! This “notorious” group would have a combined support of say 10-25% population of the country?  Well…More or less. What? You felt bad about my using the word “notorious” to describe a bunch of women? See – what I meant (in the previous section) by we Indians being sensitive about anything bad said for/about women? I could have gone on to use nastier words for men and you would all be nodding your heads in agreement! Such is the greatness of our society. Such is the respect we have for women in our society. Anyways, getting back to the point I am trying to make…Are these the type of leaders we wish to have? Do you genuinely feel so? Forget about the fact that they are Women, Dalit, Muslim, etc. For once…think of them as leaders of the country. Do you want such people leading us? If you say yes, well, you may as well quit reading this article now as I am not sure you are in tune with the thought and indeed current political affairs. But for others – I am sure you will agree that we deserve better. Now ask yourselves now, are “woman” leaders (like above) any better than men? Are politicians or leaders like Mayawati, J Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee, Uma Bharti etc any better than the frightful men-politicians? Or are these ladies less corrupt by any means? In fact aren’t they more autocratic, oppressive and dictatorial? So what “better” qualities are we talking about that separate women leaders from men. Listen, for every good example of woman – there are equally admirable examples of men. And so is true otherwise. So why talk about giving them divine status at the “cost” of their “natural others”?

Similarly, how valid is the thought that women have some divine right over fairness (in action) and honesty (in deeds)? How honest they are is pretty clear from the list we have discussed above. Let’s talk about them being just/fair/reasonable/more sensitive etc. It is argued that strong women leadership will help bring more power and opportunities for the Girls/ladies in our society. They will help them grow and bring social equilibrium. Do you really believe so? Are women any better quipped than men in any of these stated objectives? Let’s look at some practical examples. How many woman leaders can you name from the time when Indira Gandhi was PM (and leader of her party)? Great… I know it’s difficult. Leave it. Look at the individual parties led by “Great” Women… i.e. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), AIADMK, Trinamool Congress, Bhartiya Janshakti Party (of Uma Bharti), BJP & Congress (I). I mean, do you know any other Woman leader that you can name in BSP – other than Ms Mayawati, or in AIADMK (other than Dr J. Jayalalitha) or in Trinamool Congress (other than Mamata Banerjee) or more than 4/5 women leaders in BJP or Congress? No? That’s strange. Hmmm... Sonia Gandhi has been at the helm of affairs in Congress since the last 14+ years – how many woman leaders has she “created” or brought up in the party. How many has Mayawati promoted? Or for that matter how many have the other so-called Women leaders, having mega statures (or is it “mega” egos) encouraged/promoted? None. You get it straight into your head – NONE. So how far is the argument about them being favorable to their own Gender valid then? Alright – look around you… how many teams, having woman Managers/leaders, have woman resources in the second rung of the leadership (the “next in command” layer)? Again, what is the % of Women in their teams in comparison to % of women in organization? What does it prove? Let me put it in absolute plain terms – women generally are not comfortable with their own ilk rising under their tutelage. Lets not get into reasons – there could be many and I am no expert in these matters. All I am trying to show are some real-life examples to prove the ill conceived perception – the myth – about women leaders being essentially “better” (as leaders) for women in specific and society as a whole. The sooner we dispel this thought – the better.

Myth 4 – Finally… Reservation will reduce Women exploitation
We have now seen that Women leaders may not “necessarily” bring anything “additional” in form of qualities like honesty, integrity, humbleness and fairness to the table. Not at least, in comparison to their male compatriots. This leaves them with one major argument - men have for ages subjugated women and it is time women are given their right to rise. I will not “argue” too much against this, as I am again not an expert on the subject of “violence against women” and on the number of such cases of atrocities in our country. But even here I find it difficult to digest how providing 33% reservation to women will make plight of such women better and whether men are really opposed to women rising in politics and other professional forums and have oppressive attitude towards them even today. Let us see why.

Indira Gandhi was elected as President of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) by a CPP team which had 98% men. The same lady went on to become the PM of India. Mayawati is the leader of her Parliamentary party & Chief Minister in a state that is “supposedly” known to have society which supports male dominance. Find that strange. Don’t you? And to top it – Mayawati has now been at the helm of government thrice. When was the last time you heard anyone biased against her just because she is a woman? I can’t remember for sure. He/she would not be walking on his/her own legs if they would try to oppress her I guess! Alright, look at Rajasthan… a state that definitely is known to have social bias against women in general (within their closed society). So? Did it in anyway stop Vasundhara Raje being elected and doing her duties as a Chief Minister? Unless you are privy to something that others in this nation are unaware of in general – we cannot fathom a strong willed royal lady like her facing tyranny in her life! Look at South and the picture becomes even clearer. Men fall over each other to touch the feet of Jayalalitha. She stands tall amongst the hordes of her confidants… who are men in majority. Do you think she feels insecure or exploited by men? No Sir… not by miles. It is in fact men, who run scared of the vengeful behavior of women like I have repeatedly mentioned in this article. Look at Mamata Banerjee – she does not listen to anyone but herself. She is a law within her domain which has men in majority. Does she look like someone who can be biased against – just because she is a woman? How about Rabri Devi? No one would dare bias against her for sure. Could anyone? And she ruled the state of Bihar – a society that is heavily loaded in favor of men. Point I am trying to make is – none of these women leaders have faced any “special” bias against them JUST because they were “women”. And I say “special” because if there is a bias in society – even men face them. So there is nothing special.

In fact, if you actually look deeper, it is an advantage to be a woman in today’s society even without reservation. All these leaders I have named above have risen mostly because they were woman. And I keep repeating, it is not in our culture to look being oppressive on the fairer sex. Frankly, let’s not get into those small percentages of cases where they have faced unfair treatment. There will always be cases/criminal cases in an open society irrespective of how much power one gives to the other section of the society. And giving reservation to women is not going to necessarily help that situation. Look, we have tried to make special laws in favor of women in the past and men are bearing the brunt of such special provisions really. A case in point is a historic law passed by our Parliament in 1983 – Section 498A (IPC) – popularly called as “Dowry law”. This was created to protect women from the dreaded and horrible Dowry system existing in our society. It was meant to be for the women who “actually suffer” from dowry menace. But it has actually ended up largely as a powerful tool for women (and their families) to extract money from Husband’s family and to harass them no end. You may want to look at the various studies done on this over internet. You will find that most of the women using this law (in their divorces) have actually been the ones who have created havoc in the Husband’s family. Though this provision in IPC may have helped actual dowry cases – analysis shows that women in general have used it to extract millions of Rupees from their partner’s family. This is “in addition” to getting the Husband’s family arrested (including their Parents). This law provides for non-bailable arrest of Husband (and his family) just on mere complaint filed by wife – without any proof or supporting facts. Think about it. Isn’t this a draconian law created in favor of women? You may call this a good act. Wait till you bear the brunt or see some of your close family members (If at all) suffer due to this “heavily loaded” law.

Listen, I am not saying there are no genuine cases. There are definitely those who will benefit out of such laws. But what use is a law which is intended to give exceptional powers to one section of the society at the “cost of the other”? Just because women were oppressed against in our society – we give them a law to pay back “with interest” now? Why? In correcting something – do you destroy the other? No. That is not justice.

And same is the case with reservation. You just cannot make provisions in constitution to give advantage to ONLY one section of society – however large/big a group they are. Going by history of such laws/provisions - they will be used as tool for retribution and be mostly misused.

Closing Argument
Honestly, do you think if this Reservation bill is adopted by our “illustrious” Parliament and Assemblies – they are going to stop there? Huh. You must know better. Grow up! This reservation is going to get drilled down in the next 3-5 years to all aspects of our life – profession & education being primary amongst them. Just wait and watch….

Look, all I am saying is stop this culture of special provisioning and reservations. There has to be a limit. It is anyways not helping society in anyway. People like Mayawati get away with everything illegal that she does by harping about her being a “woman” and a “Dalit”. I am not saying we must not do anything to ensure fair treatment to all sections of society. But, do what is best for all. We may perhaps make laws that will make Education for women compulsory. Make laws that will give parents incentives if they have at least one girl child. For Dowry related menace - make laws that will make it mandatory for both (the Girl’s and Boy’s family) to submit legally signed documents declaring the amount spent on marriage and articles given/taken during marriage. This would then form the basis for any money to be paid back to each other (if at all) at the time of separation. Make laws that will make Rape convicts face death penalty. Make laws that will ensure every party has x% of women voters registered as supporters of the party to get recognition from Election Commission. Make laws that will help ensure that women are well brought up and can grow to make their own choices.

But for the sake of this country – don’t take the retrograde step of providing reservations on the basis of “gender”. This will ultimately divide our society right in the middle. You will see – next Muslims & Christians will demand reservation in all the states and indeed across the country. How will you refuse that? Such policies of providing reservation to section of people, creates greater chaos. Don’t look too far. See how caste based reservations have negatively affected our society. It may have benefited specific set of people of certain castes. However, in our zest to bring this section of the society up the social strata, we have deliberately allowed core values of our society to go down.

History shows we in this country were never united for long. I now know why. Divisive streaks are in our blood. We find ways to divide ourselves. It’s kind of a game for us. We test our own tensile strength and “will” it to break. And I have not an iota of doubt that providing layers upon layers of reservations, to sections of society, is going to divide this country more – the ramifications of which are monumentally scary. What kind of a country are we?

Think about it…

Its Montoo..
24th Mar 2010 – 6th May 2010

Note: Nothing in this article is meant to be personally offensive to any individual or group. These are personal views and have been shared in personal capacity. Anyone who feels hurt may kindly excuse the author… and move on...