Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam: Progressive law or a 15-year setback?

In sci-fi movies, there are the ‘chosen ones’, selected for their special attributes, and groomed for a purpose.

Soon to be released in our theatres of democracy are Ladies Legislatures, where women will be the chosen ones. By design of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (NSVA), 2023, which limits legislatures to utmost two-thirds male representatives, a critical threshold of women will serve as MLAs and MPs.

Ladies Legislatures has a long curtain-raiser. Census 2027, followed by delimitation, and application of rotational quota for women. The swell of female aspirants will be discernible in the run up to the polls.

The first-day-first-show of Ladies Legislatures will witness encomiums for the Act, heralding of an epoch, lauding of yin and standing ovations for female legislators. A media blitz will erupt on maiden Ladies Legislatures across India. How many women are elected, how many speak, what issues do they raise, how many get ministerial and cabinet berths, are ‘women’s issues’ foregrounded (my favourite patriarchal tripe, as if roads and jobs aren’t women’s issues), and the all time box-office smasher, how many are ‘dynasts’ (as if sons and nephews aren’t de rigueur).

Once female legislators have been counted and measured, a lot will be left unsaid.

New dawn: Ladies Legislatures

To intervene on the floor, especially on bills and hefty business, legislators are at the mercy of their parties, which decide who speaks and for how long.

Parties are likely to pass the mic to new women MLAs/MPs in the first few sessions for comments that align with party positions. While talking heads may scrutinise their performance as a yardstick of legislative competence (they don’t hold that zoom lens to male newbies), it isn’t entirely in the womens’ hands.

The very presence of female peers in every third seat will have social, psychological and legislative impact. Changed composition and perspectives will shape the business of law-making, psyche of male legislators, and normalise women steering decisions. However, change hinges on sustaining this diversity of representation.

Old wine: Political parties

Usually, male candidates make the cut based on a combination of mass support, caste and dynastic equations and purchasing power. They build support by apprenticing for years, as hangers-on of MLAs and MPs.

Women aspiring to candidacy will have few options for such apprenticeship. Parties are not preparing rosters of female cadre to level up either. Instead, cometh the hour, cometh the tried-and-tested recipe from local bodies: Party picks man; man picks the chosen one from his family. While some female leaders may get tickets, this modus operandi will largely remain in vogue. In the medium term, a reserved seat will see a man, in his wife, daughter or mother’s garb.

The wheels of change will gradually reform political parties, as the thrust of female aspirants pushes up against them. However, sustaining such pressure is resisted by lacunae in the Act, mentioned later.

Double dhamaka: Effect on the electorate

Voters electing a female MLA/MP may get dual-member constituencies. In some cases, the wife, mother, daughter, sister or daughter-in-law’s constituency will be the hegemony of the male wannabe. Unlike local bodies, where male wannabes trespass into meetings, entry into state and Union legislative halls will be verboten.

Instead, a neat division of labour will likely be devised. He navigates the turf (men are territorial), that is, constituency and constituents, while she manages the house—mirroring the classic household hierarchy where the world is his oyster and the house her pen.

Bad news: Women’s legislative careers

The NSVA mandates rotation and a sunset clause of 15 years, the lacunae alluded to earlier. Rotation will forestall women building loyal voter and cadre bases, precluding longevity, as, without demonstrable mass leadership, earning a re-election ticket will be a pipe dream. Added to the sexism of political parties that favour fielding 80 to 90 per cent male candidates across elections and chronic patriarchy of male wannabes, this ordains a curtain fall on reservation in 15 years.

When data shows gender-based lag along any social, economic and political axis of democratic development for 75 years, how can this Act deliver a level playing field for women in 15 years?

Way forward: Nurturing green shoots

Voters are the beacon of hope. Despite the parsimony of parties in fielding female candidates, voters have sent women to assemblies and Parliament, often with a greater hit rate than men. In local bodies, 23 states/UTs have raised womens’ quota to 50 per cent, and many women win in general seats. It is eminently possible over time that more than the allotted share of women become legislators.

Over time, is the key phrase.

Ingrained sexism that political parties have failed to curb in 70 years, and pernicious patriarchy that society has failed to surmount in centuries cannot be wished away in 15 years. The very motivation for the Act is the struggle of male politicians to accept women as autonomous political entities.

The issue here isn’t only where it leaves women, but, where it leaves India. What is the point of a progressive law that flips us back to square one in 15 years?

Junking the sunset clause will engender long-term socialisation of male politicians to female leadership. Excising rotation will ensure that women are given their due place in houses and cancel male wannabes in one fell stroke. In addition, abiding processes to accord requisite importance to private member bills will fillip the women’s touch in legislation.

As it stands, the NVSA cannot deliver social justice; it will be a fleeting freebie.

The government needs to awaken to the realities of a so-called women’s quota. What the Act really delivers will be an upper limit on male-dominated seats and a lesson on representation. A guide to sharing, if you will, for male politicians. If amendments are enacted to fix the lacunae, the Act can herald renaissance, rather than the recycled, testosterone-ridden legislatures that feature women as limited-edition showcases.

The writer works on gender and politics and tweets at @tarauk.