How womens' participation in workforce is far more important than their particpation in legislature.

The past couple of days have seen heated debates and drama on the issue of womens' reservation bill. The proposed bill would reserve 33% of the electoral constituencies ( for national and state elections ) only for women, thereby reserving 33 % of the seats in central and state legislatures for women. Proponents of this bill claim that this change would usher in a new era of womens' empowerment and gender equality. I certainly wish them well in their great intention, but i doubt as to how exactly would such a change bring about womens' emancipation.

First of all, some statistics: India's rank in the Gender Gap Index is at the pit bottom, and we rank only above Islamic countries of Middle East. (refer to my previous posts for more info ) . The report also ranks India at the pit bottom for the parameter of Womens' participation in the workforce. Hardly surprising, as the vast majority of Indian adult women are " Homemakers " .

I have often wondered how can India progress economically and socially as long as womens' participation in the workforce remains at the present dismal levels. Census of India 2001 revealed that only 11 % of urban women are employed; this too, i suspect, includes the large number of poor women employed as unskilled labour in construction industry. Hence, it is clear that participation of educated middle-class women in the workforce is dismal . ( In contrast to developed countries like Taiwan , where workforce participation of women is almost 50 % )

I have argued in my previous articles that womens' lack of participation in the workforce is proving to be a great hindrance in the economic development of this country. And I also wonder how any real empowerment of women can be brought about without first ensuring financial freedom for women. Greater workforce participation would bring about greater gender equality , than participation in legislature.

The job of MPs and MLAs is to make laws; but i am not sure that how greater number of women among lawmakers would change the situation-- Indian laws are already biased in favour of women, claim many legal experts. Infact , many accuse Indian laws like the Domestic Violence Act to be unfair towards men, and say that it makes innocent men vulnerable to frivolous and false litigation. Many accuse the Indian Government of making laws that would victimise men, and would be misused by women for settling personal scores. Critics of such laws also say that the genuine oppressed women, whom this law claims to protect, are actually unaware of these laws, and rich, educated and already-empowered women misuse the law. I fear , that with a greater number of female lawmakers, more of such unfair laws would be enacted.

I wonder if this bill is just another technique of " votebank politics ".

Instead of increasing the number of females in legislatures by reserving seats for them, it would be better for the Government to urge more women to take up careers , by issuing advertisements in newspapers/ TV . Though the government is already giving many incentives to working women in the form of lower income tax slabs, I believe it is high time the government should start encouraging women directly, in the form of mass awareness campaigns , which create awareness about the benefits of womens' employment among the masses.