Women's Reservation Bill - From the moment I heard about this bill, I have been against it.
I have been trying to convince myself that this is a good thing - but I know it is not!
Lets start with seat reservation in public transport.
I was not ok with the fact that there are reservations for women in buses. If we are looking at equality of gender, how does reserving some quota of seats in buses constitute for equality?
Aren't we being overly partial to women when we reserve seats for them? Isnt the "equality balance" out of balance?
After much thought and some discussions with a few friends over lunch, I came to the conclusion that maybe I am wrong with reservation of seats in buses. Maybe thats ok - given the kind of men who travel in buses and take advantage of the fact that a woman is next to them.
Volvos dont seem to have "women only" seats- which kind of makes sense given the kind of people who use volvos. This proves that the "reservation in local buses" is actually to prevent eve-teasing and that these reservations in buses dont necessarily have anything to do with equality.
So as of now, I'm FOR "reserved for women" seats in buses..
Coming back to gender equality:
What does equality mean? Is equality achieved through reservations?
Isnt equality something in the mind? Would merely reserving a few seats for women in every field make sure equality is achieved?Is it even a stepping stone towards achieving equality?
I doubt it.
Coming back to Women's Reservation Bill:
Why am I against it?
a. In the name of gender equality and equal rights the wives and daughters of existing ministers will come into power. They most probably would become puppets in the hands of their fathers/husbands. Where's the equality?
b. If a woman really had it in her, to raise to power on the political front, she could do it all by herself without having to use reserved seats!
c. What happens after women get elected due to the 33% reserved quota? Will they be able to handle all the pressure and the dirty politics? If they cannot get elected to the assembly seats on their own(and have to rely on reservations) how will they fight and sustain their positons?
In a nutshell, reservation of assembly seats for women - WONT work.
Aggressiveness is the key - not reservations.
If women are not agressive enough to get to the seats on their own, then they should not!
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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