The Women's Reservation Bill

I have been trying to figure out what I think about the women's reservation bill.  Straight off, I am anti-reservation.  I see it as a choice being made to educate/develop only some of the whole.  And I fail to see what justification there is for any education initiative not covering 100 per cent of our population.  Funny that there is no talk anywhere about expanding the education system to cover EVERYONE versus having the education of a few be a basic assumption and the talk is of 'now, who gets those opportunities and how we choose who get to progress in life?'


So in general I am anti-reservation.  Also, Brahmin but my objections to the reservation are not due to being born without choice into a caste.  I did not know we had a caste for a long time, though looking back, I should have known.  It was not spoken about or made anything of.  I was teased endlessly for my version of Tamil but figured it was par for the course since I did talk different.  As we know, different is not good in our society.

The women's reservation sticks in my craw.  Yes, I know I don't need it.  Could not get more privileged - not poor, educated well, got opportunities and took them and made choices that I can now live with.  I do not need anyone to give me any concessions....not even in a queue.  I refuse to use 'ladies' queues.  And those are disappearing fast.  A good development, in my opinion.  So this is my personal stance.

Then you look around and see everywhere how entrenched chauvinism is.  So with my privileged background and feminist views, I walk out into the world and end up dealing with people calling about to buy a car wanting to talk to my husband.  People who telemarket, call and find me unreceptive and have the gall to say, "May I speak to Mr. ____?"  Little do they realize that any chance of marketing for the next century just flew out of the window.

Women still have it bad and the piddly examples above are not what I am basing my statement on.  Laws are patriarchal.  And acknowledged as such by those in the field.  Social systems are definitely patriarchal, no need to even question this sentence (unless you are delusional!).  With this, I see women rising to the top and wonder how they do it.  I have not ever been told I can't do anything because I am a woman.  Having some one dictate anything, much less personal choices like dress, education, working or not, is not in my personal experience.  So who am I to take a call on reservation?  If a woman who needs the opportunity gets it and is interested in doing something with it, why not?

Except that a woman who will rise up enough to stand for election is herself not the population that needs to be helped.  Maybe she will help that population that needs help?  Maybe she will know what the population goes through and actually do something about it, because it hits her personally?  But what if she is just her husband's stooge, put there to save the seat for their dynasty for the next decade?

I guess all this will happen.  Every woman in politics that I know now is there because of a family presence - father/husband.  That in itself needs to change.  And I think the dynastic system probably exists because it has been the only way for interested women to actually get in the political door.  It used to bother the heck out of me...actually still does.  But if the women in power now are finally thinking beyond themselves to open the door for others, then why not?

I know that woman who is the husband's stooge will get highlighted by the Lalu Prasad Yadavs.  And I know that the women who are true rags to power stories will get highlighted by the Rahul Gandhis.  If we shout long enough and hard enough, that one woman might become an army?

I don't know.  I go back and forth on this.  Reservation is still not okay.  Personally, whatever I do will be general quota.  The current system is not working.  Women are not getting empowered.  I can see that they can't do worse than men.  If anything, expectations are higher of them...I know they are capable of more, mainly because their egos get put on the side when the issue is supreme.  They have enough practice, a pragmatic approach that is willing to defer or forego credit if the task at hand gets done.

I am sure they will be as good or better than men.  May be as bad, but honestly, how much worse can it get?! I still am unconvinced and uncomfortable with the women's reservation.  But as an experiment, why not?  Something has to be done....status quo is definitely not enough.