Politics and Gender in India

Lamneivah Kipgen *

Gender issues based on social and gender equality are some fews thing that are prominent in India. Gender issues have been prevailing in society for ages. It is an issue that exists socially, economically and even politically.

There has always been a gender gap and a sense of segregation between different sexes be it at home, community, workplace even at sports, corporate sector etc. It is a social construct that needs intensive study to understand and bring a sense of equity and equality for the development of the society.

India is the largest democracy in the world , participation of both men and women in politics is a positive effort. India was also a part of the 193 countries at a high level meeting of the UN general meeting held in September 2015 that set 17 sustainable goals under Agenda 2030 in which gender equality was also included.

The Indian Constitution states about equality irrespective of gender in Article 15. However in recent times, there has been a need to take the third genders into consideration and give them the acknowledgement that they deserve to be a part of the society and also get their deserved equality.

Therefore, the Supreme Court on 15th April 2014 in the National Legal Services Authority of India declared transgender to be in the category of “third gender” which gives the fundamental rights conferred by the Constitution of India has been made equally available to them. Although equality was given to every gender on paper, practically, it is a stark contrast.

The political sector has seen a very different scenario where there is a scarcity of proper representation for women and third genders. There is a mentality that men are to rule and women to be ruled. But however, in recent times we have seen that that does not hold true.

Any adult with a sane mind and perfect reasoning irrespective of sexes can participate in decision making be it at the household level or even upto the governance of a Nation.

Women and third gender participation is very less, especially in politics. The seats reserved in parties or Houses for women and third gender are also scarcely filled. This shows the reality of the situation that is prevailing in the country. A need for empowerment and support and representation is desperately needed.

A study and field experiment conducted by Florian Foos and Fabrizio Gilardi of the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science that was published in the Cambridge University Press stated that exposure to role models- politicians of the same gender with which potential aspirants can identify- has a positive effect on political engagement as well as political ambition.

They also stated that role models bring more women into electoral politics. Successful female politicians make other women more likely to consider running for office. They concluded that if civil society organisations can develop more effective encouragement and support, it would be highly likely that women would be willing to participate more in politics.

The same goes for third genders, more encouragement and representation will help them to get involved in politics and decision making. So far there has been little to no representation of third genders in the political sector. Although it has been written on pen and paper, third genders have also been prejudiced and oppressed with no proper support or presentation.

In order for a development and growth to happen in our society, we must create awareness, normalise women and third genders participating in politics so that the future generations will have someone to look up to as a role model like Kamala Harris or Jacinda Ardren and believe that they can also be a part of a changemaker in the society disregarding what sex they may be.

We as a society need to change our attitude towards genders. It is high time that we break down these stereotypes and misconceptions that a particular job is meant for only a specific group or sex.

It is only through proper representation and inclusion of everyone that we will be able to develop into a better and more conscious society. Gender must not be the basis in which anyone must be judged nor be accepted.