Womancipation

“Don’t you care for human progress?” Miss Chancellor went on.

“I don’t know – I never saw any. Are you going to show me some?”

The Bostonians, Henry James, 1886

Replace Miss Chancellor with Ms Brinda Karat and the Southerner Basil Ransom with any of those who were forcibly removed from the Upper House of Indian Parliament trying to voice their protest against the Women’s Reservation Bill and lo and behold, the dialogue finds the same relevance in today’s India as it found in post civil war Boston. Its all about emancipation honey…as they say.

Now this is not an us versus them debate. That debate got over in the Garden of Eden. This is about whose emancipation are we talking about here. Proponents of this bill were quick to point out that in India the representation of women in the parliament is around 10%, and that it is much lower than even Pakistan or Afghanistan. But honestly, does anyone in their right minds believe that women in India have lesser opportunities than places where, as Bill Maher calls it, women are supposed to live in beekeeper suits.

Emancipation is not about representation in politics. Infact in a country like India it should be anything but. Many an intellectual hour has been spent discussing the ugly quagmire that Indian polity has sunk into. And I believe women in India are smart, so smart that they know which profession stinks and which doesn’t. Women politicians in India were either born in politics, married into politics (and here I use the term marriage very loosely) or had an accident which severely impacted their ability to know right from wrong. Does any of them need emancipation?

The media has been fawning over India’s first lady on the determination she showed in pushing this bill through. The same media did not stop for a moment to do an analysis of how many of the 59 woman MPs currently in the Lower House are daughters, daughter-in-laws, wives (again using loosely), mothers etc of men in Politics. I can bet my shirt that the number would be more than 80%. If the reservation bill becomes a law, and I still have serious doubts as I believe this drama was a successful ploy by the government to take people’s minds away from rising inflation, 59 will become 182. And I can still bet my shirt that we will not witness a dip in that 80% figure.

All this talk about up-liftment of women. Making them equals. And how? By turning the Parliament into a family circus. In-fact they can then film episodes of Family Fortunes inside the central hall. What about women cleaning up the political mess? Its not about using surf or harpic. Its about bringing in a value system and values are inculcated at homes and schools while growing up, not in public life.

Emancipation is needed. But not at the top. Its needed at grassroots. How about bringing in a law that makes not sending kids under 12 to school, a non bailable offence. How about capital punishment for female infanticide. How about a bill that ensures equal wages. How about a bill that guarantees primary healthcare. There are many such measures that need accountable implementation. But these measure do not get political mileage, reservation does.

I don’t want to sound like a naysayer. I am all for having equal representation in all walks of life. My doubts stem from the fact that Indian politics has become a self-serving institution, and this bill can become an instrument in making it even more so.

Like Basil Ransom in The Bostonians, I want to see Human Progress.