Saturday, May 08, 2010

Womens Reservation- The debate

Women reservation bill was tabled and passed in the Rajya Sabha around a month or two ago and it was a major topic of discussion all around. One such discussion happened at office over coffee and one of my colleague voiced that he resented the bill and smugly asked that women allege that they want to be equal to men then why the need for reservation?

A question I am sure in the minds of many of the opposite gender.

Why reservation when you demand equality? Reservation do not exist in developed countries like the US, UK or Australia then why here in India?

Well I support the reservation and am firm advocator of equal rights for both.

In our country reservation is to help the down trodden, the socially and educationally backward in the society and I feel no one fits that bill better than women.

In our country womens struggle for survival starts from the moment she is conceived. If she is lucky enough then she gets to see this beautiful world as we all do or else her fight perpetually ends in the safe haven of womb itself. Coming into this world is not an end to her fight rather it is just a start. After birth starts her fight for survival, education, equality, honor, making her choices in life.

You might argue that it does not hold true in today’s India where people are educated and we read reports of women having achieved a lot.But I will have to disagree and say that it is still the same in most parts of our country. Yes there are a lot written about and we feel that a lot is happening in the right direction but that is for a very small percentage representing the humanity called women.

There are villages in India where it is difficult to find a single female offspring. They are either aborted or killed soon after birth. It is justified by the archaic village panchayats. How else could you justify the skewed sex ratio’s that are reported by the census and various other reports?

Why villages? There are a great sections in our cities that have a stigma attached to girl child. Be it by aborting them, abandoning them after birth, depriving them of education, prohibiting them from joining work and much much more.

Yes there is a slow and definite change in the mindsets happening today but to discard what was being followed from centuries will take time.

Reservation of women in the parliament is a small step in the direction to help women achieve the equality she demands. These women elected and representing the millions of women in the country would see to it that laws and rules are passed that would invariably help the women get better opportunities. Better education, nutrition, living conditions and much much more.

In countries like US, UK and Australia where there is no discrimination for being a girl child and where every opportunity is rightfully given to her there is no need for reservation but in a country like India where there is discrimination everywhere she turns, reservation is a necessity till she can stand shoulder to shoulder with man and demand for equality.

A blank canvas awaiting to be filled.............the random thoughts which seldom stop.....a spark