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Should we be celebrating the passing of the Women's Reservation Bill?
As India's parliament approves the Women's Reservation Bill 14 years after it was first suggested, we give the good, the rowdy and the better-late-than-never sides to this story
The idea for this historic bill was formed way back in 1996. The idea was that a third of all seats in the national parliament and state legislatures should be reserved for women and other backward classes (OBCs). Now, as the dust settles after its clearing, some are questioning if this really represents a democratic move, or just highlights how undemocratic India still is.
CNN's story highlights:
- Bill critics want a sub-quota for Muslims and the most disadvantaged women, to acheive the fairest results as was envisioned in 1996
- India has a female president, opposition leader and speaker in its lower house
- Women make up just 11 percent of the members of the lower house
- Authorities: Half of India's female population cannot read nor write
There was some shameful, rowdy opposition and drama in the upper house of parliament when seven Members of Parliament (from the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party) were suspended for disorderly behaviour including shouting slogas, throwing and ripping papers on the chairperson's table, where India's Vice President Hamid Ansari was seated. (CNN video)
But Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, poses the most important question in his perfect essay in the Indian Express.
He says, "Quotas will certainly open up the political system in expected and unexpected ways, although their political effects are indeterminate. Indian democracy has improvised solutions, even if they are messy and ad hoc, and this bill is better than many other ad hoc improvisations. But while we celebrate this desirable normative leap we are about to take, we should just wonder, whether we are celebrating it because we take justice seriously, or because we don’t take it seriously enough."
Considering the mad behaviour in parliament on Monday, which is now being shared around the www, and the fact that this bill took over a decade to pass, Mehta is right. Let's think about why we're celebrating.
