All Talk and No Action

Broken neck, brain hemorrhage, cigarette burns, bites.

It'd have helped had Mumbai Mirror not published the image.

And we will continue to celebrate International Women's Day, participate in the Slut Walk and celebrate womanhood in general

Enough virtues about the Womens' Reservation Bill have been extolled.

A lot of Op-Ed ink has made its way to our homes.

A step ahead for womanhood, or so they claim.

Before more hogwash spreads and forms public opinion, I decided to add to the noise too. Not that I have anything that hasn't already been pointed out.

Mainly, so that ladies do not get the satisfaction of calling me an MCP.

As a lady, and a feminist [if that makes you happy], I do not support this Reservation Bill.

Reservation, of any kind, should be fought with, at all costs. Years of reservation for OBCs/SCs/STs have not amounted to much progress for these marginalised sections of society. The little numbers that did benefit, always belonged to the upper crust of these classes. I am sure the same fate awaits this Bill.

Also, once the bill becomes actionable, it will be impossible to scrap/modify it, even after women have found their rightful and just places in society and politics. Do think about this - The talks regarding this Bill have been making rounds since 1996. It has taken 14 years just to get it to the Rajya Sabha. Thinking about changes to the bill, once passed, is unimaginable.

We need to understand that reservations of any kind, can never make any wrongs right.

Next, this bill goes against democratic principles of elections. I would want to vote for a candidate with proven records and not for any gender per se. Also, the bill requires reservation on a rotational basis. For e.g., in Mumbai, during the current elections, seats in Bandra and Borivali might be up for reservation while the next elections would require Dadar and Colaba to have women MPs. I think this will only dis-incentivize our MPs and lead to non accountability. There is little motivation for an MP in this lottery like setup.

Furthermore, parties like SP have already asked for a quota within this quota - reservation for Muslim women within this bill. Really, do we need more of such vote-bank politics?

Another fallout of the bill can be various dummy women politicians filling in for the men in their houses - many more Rabri Devis and other maa-betis will unleash their stupidity on the electorate.

As a suggestion, parties may want to have reserved seats for women from within rather than having compulsory reservations in legislature.

Finally, I want you to dwell on prenatal sex determination, dowry laws and other such acts. They may have given protection to a small percentage of women. However, they haven't been successful at freeing our society from such ills. Meaning, laws are insufficient. Society and its outlook towards women need to change if we wish to see any inclusive growth. Every household and every parent needs to provide the girl child with as much love and appreciation as it would provide a son with. This will also put a stop to idiotic laws getting passed.

IndiaUnbound raised an important point here. Bangladeshi politics has seen power sharing between Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina for the past two decades now. So, is it any reflection of the true state of Bangladeshi women?

Similarly, A Vasundhara Raje could not contain female infanticide in Rajasthan, A Sheila Dixit cannot help Delhi from becoming the Rape Capital of India and a Mayawati hasn't been helpful in preventing honour killings in UP. More women in legislature will not lead to better socio-economic status of women, more girls in school, more women at workplace, etc.

I strongly recommend reading Jerry Rao, SwapanDasgupta, The Acorn, and Madhu Kishwar to know why this bill needs not to become a reality.