Guest article on Gender Matters blog, December 2016
http://gendermatters.in/2016/
The most obvious reason for more women in parliament is that
women make up 50% of the population but have only a limited part of the
decision making share – India has 11% women parliamentarians, Asia 19.5% and the
global average is 22.9% (IPU statistics 2016). Indian women thus have far to
go. However there are so many other reasons to encourage women in the highest
decision making bodies.
Women are deeply impacted in atrocities and social changes
In war for example, it has become a common means of mass
subjugation to rape the women to break the mental resilience of the captured.
The number and scale of rapes of women in armed conflict zones in the world is staggering.
Revolutionary militants often use women as bargaining chips. In
2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 200 schoolgirls studying in Nigeria to use it as leverage
with the Nigerian government and secure the release of Boko Haram prisoners.
Only a few girls have returned to their homes so far, the large majority still
captives in a forest area.
ISIS, is known to keep a large number of women sex slaves in
captivity. One of the survivors of this harrowing experience, Nadia Murad is
now an ambassador at the UN. Said Nadia of her ordeal : “Their cruelty was not merely opportunistic. The ISIS soldiers came
with a pre-established policy to commit such crimes.” The ISIS shot several of
the Yazidi men in cold blood and kept the women as spoils of war.
So keeping
in mind that the survivors of war are increasingly women who are subjected to
long term suffering, it is necessary for many more of them to have a voice.
Likewise, Trafficking has
become a deeply entrenched social problem. The disruptive conditions of war and
local instabilities due to various reasons have led to a huge spurt in
trafficking. Almost 21 million adults and children are victims of trafficking
and women make up 98% of this. Not having equitable opportunities renders women
more susceptible to poverty and lack of support and easier to kidnap and
coerce. Once a woman enters into trafficking ,the mental and physical abuse
(drugs/violence/illness) she suffers results
in a downward spiral in health and confidence.
More women in power help draw stronger and more detailed
attention to this problem and help stem the tide of human trafficking.
Closer home in India, women are equally affected, if not more, by
the demonetisation that took place. The most poignant stories were of women who
saved carefully over the years for a rainy day for their families….carefully
collecting each rupee, only to have loves’ labour lost as a sum over a certain
amount deposited in the bank attracted questioning or fines. No one approved of
their little sacrifices and meticulous financial micro planning prompted by
love, in fact husbands criticized them for salting away the money behind their
back, and there was no one to represent this group to the government and save
their hard earned honest rupees.
In another example from India, skewed sex ratios have forced poor
women to enter into unhappy alliances:
Men in the state of Haryana which has one of the worst sex ratios
(877females/1000males) have resorted to finding brides for themselves from
neighbouring states such as Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. Typically, the girl is
from a poor or destitute family and the parents are only too happy to find a
groom since they don’t have much resources or prospects for their daughter. The
girls are often treated quite badly and are fairly devoid of any support system
to rescue them.
Humans affected by a particular issue may be the best placed
to take decisions about their own welfare.
There is no substitute for experience. Those who have lived
through an experience may be the right people to describe what they went
through and also articulate what help they would have benefitted from most and
what their current requirements are.
Women are very valuable strategists when planning social welfare
programmes as they may be able to bring a wealth of insights and plan the finer
details more skillfully. This could include a whole range of programmes from
water and sanitation to those developed for basic safety
for women.
We need a fresh, authoritative perspective on long standing
traditions:
Important religious texts and rule books such as countries’
constitutions have been interpreted more by male than female minds, often with
unhappy consequences
For example, in the recent past, because women have been at the
receiving end of unfair divorce laws, the religious books have been more
closely scrutinized and it was found that some practices, such as giving triple
talaq instantaneously was never sanctioned in the original book, the holy
Quran. The book advocated kindness in all dealings. It is safe to assume that
men have on occasion been intellectually dishonest and subverted information to
give an unfair advantage to themselves at the cost of women. We need to allow
more women to interpret laws that govern our daily lives and may well discover
that they interpret these texts in a more compassionate and truthful way.
Women bring a different skill set to leadership: having a
feminine influence will have better outcomes.
Several interesting studies have been performed to evaluate the
differences in leadership styles of men and women, typically by HR departments
of companies as well as by psychologists .
There is plenty of data to show a definite contrast in styles.
Among others, a white paper by the Caliper company highlights how
women were more collaborative in their
leadership styles, more team players, more likely to try new things (take
risks) and more empathic with colleagues .Eagly and Johnson’s 1990 review of
several studies found that women encouraged more participation and men were
more autocratic and directed performance. Women were also more likely to reward
good performance.
Many thinkers have been advocating that implementation of the ‘maternal culture’ at an International
level is imperative to the survival of the planet. Prof. Murata’s group from
Japan has presented a paper to the UN on the virtues of a maternal world order.
The maternal way of life relies on harmony, cooperation, a democratic
development of all stakeholders including the weakest and is in contrast to the
patriarchal way of life which is more about power, confrontation and subjugation. The patriarchal way of life
encourages more wars and violence and destructive utilization of resources,
something the planet can ill afford.
It is women who execute
the small everyday tasks that affect our daily existence
In most of the villages in India and likely in most other
countries, it falls on women to draw water from the wells or manage the water
resources at home if not in the fields. Water is one of the critical resources
for our survival and women have been the ones in charge of its utilization
since a long while. Similarly, the food and nutrition which keeps us alive is
largely prepared by women and without their effort we would starve.
From nature’s perspective, it is more of women who take to
gardening, who do creative ways of recycling and are the ones who actually make
the little compost pits on their balconies and gardens. Many schemes for conserving energy relying on
solar cookers and changing from traditional cooking stoves to solar energy are
addressed to women
Since women are overwhelmingly the people whose actions support
the greater longevity of the planet, were they the ones to make decisions on a
higher and more visible platform, they would be able to scale up on the level
of conservation and the entire planet would benefit.
Hence increasing women’s representation is both right and better.
Right, because it is fair and hands power to those most impacted by policy.
Good because the quality of decision making will be better and more inclusive.
The most obvious reason for more women in parliament is that
women make up 50% of the population but have only a limited part of the
decision making share – India has 11% women parliamentarians, Asia 19.5% and the
global average is 22.9% (IPU statistics 2016). Indian women thus have far to
go. However there are so many other reasons to encourage women in the highest
decision making bodies.
Women are deeply impacted in atrocities and social changes
In war for example, it has become a common means of mass
subjugation to rape the women to break the mental resilience of the captured.
The number and scale of rapes of women in armed conflict zones in the world is staggering.
Revolutionary militants often use women as bargaining chips. In
2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 200 schoolgirls studying in Nigeria to use it as leverage
with the Nigerian government and secure the release of Boko Haram prisoners.
Only a few girls have returned to their homes so far, the large majority still
captives in a forest area.
ISIS, is known to keep a large number of women sex slaves in
captivity. One of the survivors of this harrowing experience, Nadia Murad is
now an ambassador at the UN. Said Nadia of her ordeal : “Their cruelty was not merely opportunistic. The ISIS soldiers came
with a pre-established policy to commit such crimes.” The ISIS shot several of
the Yazidi men in cold blood and kept the women as spoils of war.
So keeping
in mind that the survivors of war are increasingly women who are subjected to
long term suffering, it is necessary for many more of them to have a voice.
Likewise, Trafficking has
become a deeply entrenched social problem. The disruptive conditions of war and
local instabilities due to various reasons have led to a huge spurt in
trafficking. Almost 21 million adults and children are victims of trafficking
and women make up 98% of this. Not having equitable opportunities renders women
more susceptible to poverty and lack of support and easier to kidnap and
coerce. Once a woman enters into trafficking ,the mental and physical abuse
(drugs/violence/illness) she suffers results
in a downward spiral in health and confidence.
More women in power help draw stronger and more detailed
attention to this problem and help stem the tide of human trafficking.
Closer home in India, women are equally affected, if not more, by
the demonetisation that took place. The most poignant stories were of women who
saved carefully over the years for a rainy day for their families….carefully
collecting each rupee, only to have loves’ labour lost as a sum over a certain
amount deposited in the bank attracted questioning or fines. No one approved of
their little sacrifices and meticulous financial micro planning prompted by
love, in fact husbands criticized them for salting away the money behind their
back, and there was no one to represent this group to the government and save
their hard earned honest rupees.
In another example from India, skewed sex ratios have forced poor
women to enter into unhappy alliances:
Men in the state of Haryana which has one of the worst sex ratios
(877females/1000males) have resorted to finding brides for themselves from
neighbouring states such as Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. Typically, the girl is
from a poor or destitute family and the parents are only too happy to find a
groom since they don’t have much resources or prospects for their daughter. The
girls are often treated quite badly and are fairly devoid of any support system
to rescue them.
Humans affected by a particular issue may be the best placed
to take decisions about their own welfare.
There is no substitute for experience. Those who have lived
through an experience may be the right people to describe what they went
through and also articulate what help they would have benefitted from most and
what their current requirements are.
Women are very valuable strategists when planning social welfare
programmes as they may be able to bring a wealth of insights and plan the finer
details more skillfully. This could include a whole range of programmes from
water and sanitation to those developed for basic safety
for women.
We need a fresh, authoritative perspective on long standing
traditions:
Important religious texts and rule books such as countries’
constitutions have been interpreted more by male than female minds, often with
unhappy consequences
For example, in the recent past, because women have been at the
receiving end of unfair divorce laws, the religious books have been more
closely scrutinized and it was found that some practices, such as giving triple
talaq instantaneously was never sanctioned in the original book, the holy
Quran. The book advocated kindness in all dealings. It is safe to assume that
men have on occasion been intellectually dishonest and subverted information to
give an unfair advantage to themselves at the cost of women. We need to allow
more women to interpret laws that govern our daily lives and may well discover
that they interpret these texts in a more compassionate and truthful way.
Women bring a different skill set to leadership: having a
feminine influence will have better outcomes.
Several interesting studies have been performed to evaluate the
differences in leadership styles of men and women, typically by HR departments
of companies as well as by psychologists .
There is plenty of data to show a definite contrast in styles.
Among others, a white paper by the Caliper company highlights how
women were more collaborative in their
leadership styles, more team players, more likely to try new things (take
risks) and more empathic with colleagues .Eagly and Johnson’s 1990 review of
several studies found that women encouraged more participation and men were
more autocratic and directed performance. Women were also more likely to reward
good performance.
Many thinkers have been advocating that implementation of the ‘maternal culture’ at an International
level is imperative to the survival of the planet. Prof. Murata’s group from
Japan has presented a paper to the UN on the virtues of a maternal world order.
The maternal way of life relies on harmony, cooperation, a democratic
development of all stakeholders including the weakest and is in contrast to the
patriarchal way of life which is more about power, confrontation and subjugation. The patriarchal way of life
encourages more wars and violence and destructive utilization of resources,
something the planet can ill afford.
It is women who execute
the small everyday tasks that affect our daily existence
In most of the villages in India and likely in most other
countries, it falls on women to draw water from the wells or manage the water
resources at home if not in the fields. Water is one of the critical resources
for our survival and women have been the ones in charge of its utilization
since a long while. Similarly, the food and nutrition which keeps us alive is
largely prepared by women and without their effort we would starve.
From nature’s perspective, it is more of women who take to
gardening, who do creative ways of recycling and are the ones who actually make
the little compost pits on their balconies and gardens. Many schemes for conserving energy relying on
solar cookers and changing from traditional cooking stoves to solar energy are
addressed to women
Since women are overwhelmingly the people whose actions support
the greater longevity of the planet, were they the ones to make decisions on a
higher and more visible platform, they would be able to scale up on the level
of conservation and the entire planet would benefit.
Hence increasing women’s representation is both right and better.
Right, because it is fair and hands power to those most impacted by policy.
Good because the quality of decision making will be better and more inclusive.
The most obvious reason for more women in parliament is that
women make up 50% of the population but have only a limited part of the
decision making share – India has 11% women parliamentarians, Asia 19.5% and the
global average is 22.9% (IPU statistics 2016). Indian women thus have far to
go. However there are so many other reasons to encourage women in the highest
decision making bodies.
Women are deeply impacted in atrocities and social changes
In war for example, it has become a common means of mass
subjugation to rape the women to break the mental resilience of the captured.
The number and scale of rapes of women in armed conflict zones in the world is staggering.
Revolutionary militants often use women as bargaining chips. In
2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 200 schoolgirls studying in Nigeria to use it as leverage
with the Nigerian government and secure the release of Boko Haram prisoners.
Only a few girls have returned to their homes so far, the large majority still
captives in a forest area.
ISIS, is known to keep a large number of women sex slaves in
captivity. One of the survivors of this harrowing experience, Nadia Murad is
now an ambassador at the UN. Said Nadia of her ordeal : “Their cruelty was not merely opportunistic. The ISIS soldiers came
with a pre-established policy to commit such crimes.” The ISIS shot several of
the Yazidi men in cold blood and kept the women as spoils of war.
So keeping
in mind that the survivors of war are increasingly women who are subjected to
long term suffering, it is necessary for many more of them to have a voice.
Likewise, Trafficking has
become a deeply entrenched social problem. The disruptive conditions of war and
local instabilities due to various reasons have led to a huge spurt in
trafficking. Almost 21 million adults and children are victims of trafficking
and women make up 98% of this. Not having equitable opportunities renders women
more susceptible to poverty and lack of support and easier to kidnap and
coerce. Once a woman enters into trafficking ,the mental and physical abuse
(drugs/violence/illness) she suffers results
in a downward spiral in health and confidence.
More women in power help draw stronger and more detailed
attention to this problem and help stem the tide of human trafficking.
Closer home in India, women are equally affected, if not more, by
the demonetisation that took place. The most poignant stories were of women who
saved carefully over the years for a rainy day for their families….carefully
collecting each rupee, only to have loves’ labour lost as a sum over a certain
amount deposited in the bank attracted questioning or fines. No one approved of
their little sacrifices and meticulous financial micro planning prompted by
love, in fact husbands criticized them for salting away the money behind their
back, and there was no one to represent this group to the government and save
their hard earned honest rupees.
In another example from India, skewed sex ratios have forced poor
women to enter into unhappy alliances:
Men in the state of Haryana which has one of the worst sex ratios
(877females/1000males) have resorted to finding brides for themselves from
neighbouring states such as Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. Typically, the girl is
from a poor or destitute family and the parents are only too happy to find a
groom since they don’t have much resources or prospects for their daughter. The
girls are often treated quite badly and are fairly devoid of any support system
to rescue them.
Humans affected by a particular issue may be the best placed
to take decisions about their own welfare.
There is no substitute for experience. Those who have lived
through an experience may be the right people to describe what they went
through and also articulate what help they would have benefitted from most and
what their current requirements are.
Women are very valuable strategists when planning social welfare
programmes as they may be able to bring a wealth of insights and plan the finer
details more skillfully. This could include a whole range of programmes from
water and sanitation to those developed for basic safety
for women.
We need a fresh, authoritative perspective on long standing
traditions:
Important religious texts and rule books such as countries’
constitutions have been interpreted more by male than female minds, often with
unhappy consequences
For example, in the recent past, because women have been at the
receiving end of unfair divorce laws, the religious books have been more
closely scrutinized and it was found that some practices, such as giving triple
talaq instantaneously was never sanctioned in the original book, the holy
Quran. The book advocated kindness in all dealings. It is safe to assume that
men have on occasion been intellectually dishonest and subverted information to
give an unfair advantage to themselves at the cost of women. We need to allow
more women to interpret laws that govern our daily lives and may well discover
that they interpret these texts in a more compassionate and truthful way.
Women bring a different skill set to leadership: having a
feminine influence will have better outcomes.
Several interesting studies have been performed to evaluate the
differences in leadership styles of men and women, typically by HR departments
of companies as well as by psychologists .
There is plenty of data to show a definite contrast in styles.
Among others, a white paper by the Caliper company highlights how
women were more collaborative in their
leadership styles, more team players, more likely to try new things (take
risks) and more empathic with colleagues .Eagly and Johnson’s 1990 review of
several studies found that women encouraged more participation and men were
more autocratic and directed performance. Women were also more likely to reward
good performance.
Many thinkers have been advocating that implementation of the ‘maternal culture’ at an International
level is imperative to the survival of the planet. Prof. Murata’s group from
Japan has presented a paper to the UN on the virtues of a maternal world order.
The maternal way of life relies on harmony, cooperation, a democratic
development of all stakeholders including the weakest and is in contrast to the
patriarchal way of life which is more about power, confrontation and subjugation. The patriarchal way of life
encourages more wars and violence and destructive utilization of resources,
something the planet can ill afford.
It is women who execute
the small everyday tasks that affect our daily existence
In most of the villages in India and likely in most other
countries, it falls on women to draw water from the wells or manage the water
resources at home if not in the fields. Water is one of the critical resources
for our survival and women have been the ones in charge of its utilization
since a long while. Similarly, the food and nutrition which keeps us alive is
largely prepared by women and without their effort we would starve.
From nature’s perspective, it is more of women who take to
gardening, who do creative ways of recycling and are the ones who actually make
the little compost pits on their balconies and gardens. Many schemes for conserving energy relying on
solar cookers and changing from traditional cooking stoves to solar energy are
addressed to women
Since women are overwhelmingly the people whose actions support
the greater longevity of the planet, were they the ones to make decisions on a
higher and more visible platform, they would be able to scale up on the level
of conservation and the entire planet would benefit.
Hence increasing women’s representation is both right and better.
Right, because it is fair and hands power to those most impacted by policy.
Good because the quality of decision making will be better and more inclusive.
