US election 2020: In India, Kamala Harris’ win sparks joy, puts spotlight on struggle for gender equality in politics
- Female Indian politicians have welcomed the rise of the first woman US vice-president, as they struggle to make their mark in the male-dominated arena
- The ruling BJP’s ideological fountainhead, the RSS, does not allow female members, and under PM Narendra Modi, crimes against women have soared
Actress-politician Urmila Matondkar said women leaders should feel inspired by Harris’ tenacity and “self-trust”, adding that the election result was significant as it came at a time when the US was displaying its most racist and misogynistic face to the world.
Women are psychologically much stronger than men and can do “better” in politics, said Uma Bharti, a former member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one of the few women to rise to prominence in the party. But in India, women have to overcome major challenges to get there, she pointed out.
‘Kamala was a curious child’: uncle recalls would-be VP’s early years
Bharti, a key BJP leader in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, is currently fighting speculation in political circles that she is not “physically fit” for active politics.
India elected its first female prime minister, Congress politician Indira Gandhi, in 1966. Other prominent women politicians include Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, J. Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Vasundhara Raje Scindia.
Yet despite their achievements, India is still falling behind in providing opportunities for women who aim high in politics. There are currently only 78 women in the 543-seat Lok Sabha – the highest number ever. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women, was introduced in parliament in 2008 but has yet to be passed. At the local political level, 33 per cent of seats are for women but in many cases, the real power lies with their husbands.
According to Sanjay Kumar, a political scientist at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), it is difficult for women to get onto an election ticket because of the perception among parties that their chances of winning is low. And even if they do get onto a ticket, grass roots party workers barely listen to them, he added.
Political parties headed by women have not encouraged participation of women in large numbers either, Kumar pointed out.
Despite having women achievers in every sphere of life, India has been grappling with gender inequality for years. Male politicians across the political spectrum have made misogynistic and sexist remarks against their colleagues. Ironically, women have sometimes joined in.
“The efforts that have been made by Indian government for empowerment of women and marginalised sections of the society cannot be undermined and overshadowed by certain unfortunate incidents,” Vinay Prabhakar Sahasrabuddhe, a BJP MP and key force in building Modi’s image outside India, told This Week in Asia last month.
Explainer | Who is India’s Narendra Modi and why is he so popular?
In 2016, a Congress politician accused one of her male party colleagues in the northern Indian state of Punjab of sexual exploitation. A 2019 report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) found that 16 MPs and members of legislative assemblies representing the Congress party faced charges for crimes against women. It also found that 572 candidates with declared criminal offences against women contested in Lok Sabha and assembly elections on behalf of different political parties between 2014-19 and none of these candidates have been convicted yet.
Outspoken women regularly receive threats of rape and violence on social media, especially from right-wingers, meaning many are discouraged from voicing their opinions.
CPI-ML politician Krishnan said she has been threatened with physical attacks for speaking out against the BJP’s fascist politics.
“Women who want to do progressive politics in India now either get killed or face organised threats from the right-wing under Modi,” she said.
Here’s what Kamala Harris faces as a ‘first’
Matondkar was subjected to a political smear campaign by her rivals while running against a BJP strongman in Mumbai in the parliamentary elections last year.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right, said the BJP’s “outrightly misogynistic” ways stem from its ideological fountainhead, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which does not allow female membership. It runs a separate organisation, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, for women.
“RSS treats women as mothers or sisters but not as partners in political constituency building. They keep that job exclusively for men,” said Mukhopadhyay. “The ideology of RSS is that women have a lower status than men. It’s the same ideology with which Indian society is governed and controlled by the BJP. Under this regime, India has become much more regressive.”
A Mumbai-based RSS member, who asked to remain anonymous, stressed that the organisation encourages “equal” participation of men and women in its social and intellectual activities for the “transformation of the society”.
What links Kamala Harris to Alphabet and the Nobel Prize for Physics?
Bollywood actress Deepika Chikhalia, a BJP member of parliament in the early 1990s, recalled being approached by the “male-dominated” BJP because she was well-known for her role as Sita in the Indian mythological television series Ramayana. She said she regretted not having much scope to prove herself in politics.
“Men in political parties can never take orders from women unless they have achieved something,” said Chikhalia.
For Matondkar, the saddest part is that “women themselves don’t stand up for women at times when they need the support”.
Activist Irom Sharmila, who ran unsuccessfully in assembly elections in 2017 and is best known for carrying out an indefinite hunger strike for 16 years in the Indian state of Manipur, echoed these sentiments.
“When men run the society, women will always be treated as second-class citizens and their issues will remain unresolved.”