Women’s day brings parties together in Parliament

NEW DELHI: International Women’s Day brought all political parties together for a brief while in Parliament on Thursday to pledge support for gender equality and women’s safety, with many also seeking early passage of the women's reservation bill to provide 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies.
However, no business could be transacted for the fourth straight day due to the continuing protests over the PNB scam, a special package for Andhra Pradesh and constitution of Cauvery Water Management Board from parties like Congress, Trinamool, TDP, DMK and AIADMK, among others, leading to adjourned of both the Houses.

Lok Sabha plunged into turmoil as soon as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan finished speaking on the need to ensure women’s empowerment, but there was an hour-long discussion in Rajya Sabha in which members voiced concern over growing incidents of crimes against women while suggesting several steps, ranging from appointing the country’s first woman cabinet secretary to exempting sanitary napkins from GST. Cutting across party lines in Rajya Sabha, members also strongly urged Lok Sabha to pass the women's quota bill at the earliest.

While noting that Rajya Sabha had “done its duty” by passing the bill to amend the Constitution to reserve 33% of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women way back in 2010, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the government should “take forward the unfinished agenda of women empowerment in all walks of life”.

The “bill” alone will not suffice, Naidu said, adding that it would have to be followed by political “will” and then administrative “skill” to finally go for the “kill” of the “evil” practices against women in the country. He also agreed to a suggestion by some MPs to have a woman member in the deputy chairman’s panel for the Upper House.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, the senior-most minister present in the House, said she favoured the women's quota bill and continued to support it. Although women have excelled in many fields and entered areas so far dominated by men, but they still “continued to face injustice, which is shameful”. There should be a nationwide movement to break the prevailing mindsets against women, she said.

Sanjay Singh of AAP said, "Everyone should promise that the restrictions imposed on women by men will be abolished. On Valentine's Day, girls and boys should not be beaten. In the name of anti-Romeo squad, they are beaten in UP."

Businesswoman Anu Aga said, "I find it strange that we celebrate women's day. I am not in favour of this tokenism. I request all men to stop throwing crumbs at us… provide women with opportunities and treat them with respect throughout the year."

Though all members put their political affiliations aside to speak in a single voice on women's causes, a few did take swipes at the NDA government. Derek O'Brien of Trinamool, in the context of the PNB scam, said, “Earlier, people used to say, 'behind every successful man, there is a woman'. But now, the saying has become 'behind every successful man, there is a nationalised bank’."

“I must take the name of Periyar and Lenin who stood for empowerment of women,” said D Raja of CPI, in the backdrop of their statues being vandalised in different parts of the country in recent days.