Women Empowerment in J&K is just a slogan
Raman Sharma
Women Empowerment in the state of Jammu and Kashmir possibly would remain a slogan for at least one more century. There appears no immediate ray of hope as all the political parties believe in lip service only. Till date, they have failed to do anything substantial in this regard. It is unfortunate that even after more than 60 years of democracy, only 3 women were elected to the Parliament of India.
In the recent history of the state, only three women from Jammu and Kashmir could enter Parliament of India, Krishna Mehta, Begum Akbar Jahan Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are the only names that come into thought when one explores political empowerment for women in the state. This is obviously a matter of concern that when there are more than 5,883,365 female citizens out of total 12,548,926 population and more than 31 Lac voters out of total 64 Lac combined electorate, still their presence in the power corridors of Jammu And Kashmir State remains almost negligible.
The discrimination is committed by each and every political party of the state with women. All of them are reluctant in giving them political opportunity to show their abilities and competence. It has been proved beyond any doubt when one looks at the list of 89 members of JK Legislative Assembly. There are only five female legislatures in the lower house whereas officially it is being informed that there are over 3 million female voters in the state. At present out of 30 members in the state upper house (Legislative Council) the female representation remains zero. The council of ministers in the state is also purely male dominated and there’s just one female minister namely Sakina Itoo. Out of total, 10 Member Parliaments there is no presence of any women candidates neither in the Lok Sabha whereas all the six seats are occupied by male members and even the four Rajya Sabha seats are shared among men.
In this troubled state, female folk are hardly accommodated even at the soft higher political posts such as vice-chairperson of community welfare boards like, Kissan Welfare Board, Pahari Speaking Board, Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjars and Bakerwals and other. These posts could easily be offered to the female political activists to show their ability and if they do well there, then they deserve to get some other chance as well.
Even at the Panchayat level, the scenario is no different; the approach of all the political parties is more or less same. Except National Conference and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, no other political party even gave mandate to any other female contestant for four MLC seats under the Panchayat quota. Amongst total 44 nominations filed for the MLC’s seat there are only 2 female Candidates. Activists and Experts feel that the powerful Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state could be the best option towards women empowerment and to provide them the opportunities to serve the communities and build up leadership character. But contrary to the experts’ opinion, the state government has not even given any honorarium to elected panchayat members.
In the 2011 Panchayat elections, a good number of female candidates successfully contested the elections. Now these elected Panches and Sarpanches are feeling being deceived because many of them were earlier earning their livelihood by one way or other but after being elected as Panchayat members they could not devote time there.
The political empowerment for women in the state is necessary not only to accommodate them or for their social and political empowerment but this is the need of the hour, The sex ratio in Jammu and Kashmir leaves a lot to be desired as it lags behind the national average by a huge gap. The female Sex ratio of Jammu and Kashmir is 883 females per 1000 males and the child sex ratio is also alarming 859 females per 1000 males. Even the female literacy rate is 58.01 % which is 7 % less than that of national rate i.e. 65.46%. When in our neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, we have female literacy rate of 76.60 percent and 71.34 respectively.
The Political bosses in the state must understand the fact that the women of Jammu and Kashmir are very competent. Every individual woman here is capable of making change and work in every sector and level of society. The women folk of Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps the most tolerant, courageous, talented and obviously beautiful and this is the reason that they are living in this troubled state with dignity and decorum despite the fact that in these past 25 years of protracted violence the state has witnessed 68000 violent incidents. Women suffered the most in this violence; they lost their spouse, son, father, mother, sister, brother and other dear ones but their will and strength remained intact. Unfortunately they were never rewarded for their courage. At present there are total 86 women members in the Parliament, 60 in the Lok Sabha and 26 in Rajya Sabha but not even a single from J & K. Why?.
There is an urgent need to bridge the gender gap in the state because no society and civilization can move forward without the participation of its half population as well said by Swami Vivekanand, “There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved.” Let’s hope that the state would also see a new era where women play more significant role and the state rise to new heights where there are no gender biases and male dominance. It is also desired that in the next Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and assembly elections, women of the state are given their due share and the blot on the state that it do not believe in empowering women gets washed away. Student activism at college and university level is the only hope to further raise this debate of women empowerment and removing discrimination.
The discrimination and prejudice with the women is not only committed by the political class even the state (government) directly or indirectly reminds the female population that they are dissimilar and treated differently. Only female college going students in our state are asked to wear uniform in colleges but no one has the justification or valid reason that why males are exempted from such restrictions.
The author is a RTI Activist and can be mailed at jkrtiact@gmail.com, 9796811012
The discrimination is committed by each and every political party of the state with women. All of them are reluctant in giving them political opportunity to show their abilities and competence. It has been proved beyond any doubt when one looks at the list of 89 members of JK Legislative Assembly. There are only five female legislatures in the lower house whereas officially it is being informed that there are over 3 million female voters in the state. At present out of 30 members in the state upper house (Legislative Council) the female representation remains zero. The council of ministers in the state is also purely male dominated and there’s just one female minister namely Sakina Itoo. Out of total, 10 Member Parliaments there is no presence of any women candidates neither in the Lok Sabha whereas all the six seats are occupied by male members and even the four Rajya Sabha seats are shared among men.
In this troubled state, female folk are hardly accommodated even at the soft higher political posts such as vice-chairperson of community welfare boards like, Kissan Welfare Board, Pahari Speaking Board, Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjars and Bakerwals and other. These posts could easily be offered to the female political activists to show their ability and if they do well there, then they deserve to get some other chance as well.
Even at the Panchayat level, the scenario is no different; the approach of all the political parties is more or less same. Except National Conference and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, no other political party even gave mandate to any other female contestant for four MLC seats under the Panchayat quota. Amongst total 44 nominations filed for the MLC’s seat there are only 2 female Candidates. Activists and Experts feel that the powerful Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state could be the best option towards women empowerment and to provide them the opportunities to serve the communities and build up leadership character. But contrary to the experts’ opinion, the state government has not even given any honorarium to elected panchayat members.
In the 2011 Panchayat elections, a good number of female candidates successfully contested the elections. Now these elected Panches and Sarpanches are feeling being deceived because many of them were earlier earning their livelihood by one way or other but after being elected as Panchayat members they could not devote time there.
The political empowerment for women in the state is necessary not only to accommodate them or for their social and political empowerment but this is the need of the hour, The sex ratio in Jammu and Kashmir leaves a lot to be desired as it lags behind the national average by a huge gap. The female Sex ratio of Jammu and Kashmir is 883 females per 1000 males and the child sex ratio is also alarming 859 females per 1000 males. Even the female literacy rate is 58.01 % which is 7 % less than that of national rate i.e. 65.46%. When in our neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, we have female literacy rate of 76.60 percent and 71.34 respectively.
The Political bosses in the state must understand the fact that the women of Jammu and Kashmir are very competent. Every individual woman here is capable of making change and work in every sector and level of society. The women folk of Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps the most tolerant, courageous, talented and obviously beautiful and this is the reason that they are living in this troubled state with dignity and decorum despite the fact that in these past 25 years of protracted violence the state has witnessed 68000 violent incidents. Women suffered the most in this violence; they lost their spouse, son, father, mother, sister, brother and other dear ones but their will and strength remained intact. Unfortunately they were never rewarded for their courage. At present there are total 86 women members in the Parliament, 60 in the Lok Sabha and 26 in Rajya Sabha but not even a single from J & K. Why?.
There is an urgent need to bridge the gender gap in the state because no society and civilization can move forward without the participation of its half population as well said by Swami Vivekanand, “There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved.” Let’s hope that the state would also see a new era where women play more significant role and the state rise to new heights where there are no gender biases and male dominance. It is also desired that in the next Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and assembly elections, women of the state are given their due share and the blot on the state that it do not believe in empowering women gets washed away. Student activism at college and university level is the only hope to further raise this debate of women empowerment and removing discrimination.
The discrimination and prejudice with the women is not only committed by the political class even the state (government) directly or indirectly reminds the female population that they are dissimilar and treated differently. Only female college going students in our state are asked to wear uniform in colleges but no one has the justification or valid reason that why males are exempted from such restrictions.
The author is a RTI Activist and can be mailed at jkrtiact@gmail.com, 9796811012
http://www.risingkashmir.in/news/women-empowerment-in-jk-is-just-a-slogan-37107.aspx
