HYDERABAD NEWS: Women in Politics - Beyond numbers

పనిఁ హక్కు కల్పించాలి

పనిఁ హక్కు కల్పించాలి

Women constitute nearly 50 per cent of India’s population. Most women in India work and contribute to the economy in one form or the other. In fact, India has more working women than any other country in the world. However, more than 60 percent of women are chronically poor, and the figure would probably be higher if intra-household discrepancies in poverty levels were measured. For most women, their low status and lack of education and skill training opportunities limits them to a life of housework and agricultural labor. Although women in India work twice as hard and long as their male counterparts, their economic contributions often remain invisible and unrecognized. 96 per cent of women work in the informal and unorganized sector including direct and/or supportive works in the farms, handicrafts, unskilled labour, petty shops etc. The time women give to performing household chores including the significant time that goes into the most crucial job of raising children is largely unaccounted for. Females get into work relatively at a very young age than males.
In spite of legal provisions, women continue to receive lower wages than men. Women face legal discrimination in land and property rights. Most women do not own property in their own names, and are denied inheritance of parental property. If they inherit property, most cannot exercise control over it. Indian women are resource poor. Women in rural areas are highly dependent on land, forest, water and other common property resources for themselves and their families but hardly have any rights over them or even any decision making roles.
Maternal mortality is about 407 out of every 100,000 women mostly due to inadequate prenatal care, delivery in unsafe conditions with inadequate facilities and insufficient postnatal care. Severe anemia is responsible for more than 9 per cent of maternal deaths in India.
Only 60 per cent of girls get enrolled into schools and majority of them dropout before completing grade five. Only 54 per cent of the women can be considered literate in India.
Women are frequently subjected to violence both within and outside the family. The statistics of women rape, molestation, sexual harassment, and kidnap are simply alarming. A large number of women especially in rural households are now de-facto female-headed due to widowhood, desertion or male migration. Diseases like HIV/AIDS have directly and indirectly impacted women the most. Migration and displacement is hurting both women left behind and also those migrating.
In this backdrop, the women place the following demands to be pursued and fulfilled in the coming five years -
1. Equal wages for men and women.
2. Compensate 100% loss of wages for maternity leave up to 4 months to the mother from poor family.
3. No negative discrimination and more positive discrimination in recruiting women to any job.
4. 1/3rd reservation to women should be strictly implemented in PRIs, State Legislative Assemblies, Parliament, Political parties and all other political forums.
5. Gender budgeting in every department at both state and national levels.
6. 1/3rd of any budget in both state and center should be spent on women.
7. There should be no poor women outside SHGs.
8. Occupation-based women collectives should be built nurtured and empowered.
9. Women collectives should have exclusive rights over all common properties like land, water, tanks, forests etc
10. Compulsory and free education for at least 15 years of education (10+2+3).
11. Health and accident insurance for all poor women.
12. Health care and emergency services are the rights of every women and these need to be made available to her at no cost or payable from insurance. The insurance with low or no premium should be made available to all the poor women.
13. Current pension is inadequate for a decent living. This needs to be increased to cover the costs of a decent living.
14. Drudgery reduction should be national priority.
15. Add the value of home maker in the calculation of GDP.
16. Supplementary and supportive roles of women should be recognized and the value should be added in the calculation of GDP.
17. Free soft skills training for women
18. Increase the number and categories of vocational trainings in the country and ensure that at least 1/3rd are women.

prepared by Akshara Livelihoods Network, Hyderabad

WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

On 17 February 2009, women activists and leaders gathered in Hyderabad, India for an initial meeting to discuss issues critical to the women of Andhra Pradesh. The immediate goal was to articulate a series of demands in support of women’s equality and equity in advance of the state elections in 2009 April. This is, however, an ongoing, inclusive initiative and all women are invited to participate as the project moves forward beyond this election cycle.

WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

WOMEN’S MANIFESTO

We the women of Andhra Pradesh affirm our rights and demand a voice, face and name for all women who are denied equal opportunities and equitable outcomes as a result of their gender.

We are:
Mindful of the fact that women have been historically excluded from development processes and barred from the public domain as they are considered fit only for domestic roles in the private sphere,
Regretful that women and girls pay a heavy price for sexual assault, rape and other forms of gender-based violence,
Recognizing that women are faced with a myriad of problems including, but not limited to, rising food prices, economic crises, job loss and displacement due to infrastructure projects,

Convinced that these inequalities or exclusions are deeply institutionalized and unquestioned, hence requiring immediate, strategic responses

Acknowledging the contribution of women in bringing up children, supporting and building their communities, and conserving and protecting the environment,

Reaffirming our desire to achieve greater democratization of society and decentralized governance as a means to negotiate the sharing of power in decision-making across all sectors and institutions,

Recognizing that India—as a signatory of the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Millennium Development Goals, and other international treaties—is legally obligated to remove the social, economic and political barriers that prevent women from fully and freely exercising their rights, and

Declaring our commitment to fight for the equal representation of and role for women in all decision-making bodies that have an impact on our future.

We place the following demands to all political parties who are contesting the coming elections and urge them to incorporate these demands in their in their election manifestos to be pursued and fulfilled in the next five years.

Charter of Demands

1. Secure and sustainable livelihoods for all women in rural areas through the provision of job cards to all women and 150 guaranteed working days per woman.

2. Clear policy on providing basic amenities (ration cards, water, electricity, access to primary healthcare and primary education) at receiving sites to all displaced people and migrants.

3. Thirty-three percent reservation for women in all elected bodies from the panchayat level to the legislative assembly and ministerial positions. Ongoing capacity building to women aspirants to and incumbents in panchayats.

4. Implement the new education bill to the fullest extent and make education compulsory up to the age of eighteen. 100% government-subsidized compulsory education for all girls through intermediate level in a school of the girl’s choice. All the girls, irrespective of caste and economic status, should be covered under this policy.

5.
Ensure implementation of the domestic violence act by providing dedicated police control rooms to address cases of violence against women; provide protection and financial support to women victims; reduce delays in investigation and prosecution.

6. Provide universal health care services to all; bring all health services, including reproductive health and child vaccination, under Arogya Sri; upgrade PHCs to include inpatient and emergency care in rural areas and provide better incentives to doctors to work in rural areas.

Invite to meet on Women and Democracy

Warm greetings!
Globally women are celebrating 20 years of advancement in women’s rights since the Beijing Conference on the Declaration of Women’s Rights. This is the right time to bring demands of women to the attention of the political parties and the public. Fielding of women candidates by all political parties, announcing free sops to women, Abhaya Hastham- pension scheme for women, pavala waddi, have made it crystal clear that women are considered an important vote bank in the coming elections.
Women are also using their power of vote to bargain for housing, loans, etc. and can influence this election. In this election, women will come out in more numbers as political candidates. But this is just the beginning. Today the question is not about more women candidates or exercising their vote. The question is how do we influence and participate in the decision making process itself. We are at the end of the decade, in which women and girls have paid a heavy price for sexual assault, rape and violence. Women are faced with a myriad of problems including rising food prices, economic crisis, losing jobs, losing lands for infrastructure projects, gender based violence etc.

It is perhaps right time for us to review this decade long journey of women’s rights and put forth our demands to the political parties. The solution for women’s problem is not just fielding more women candidates in the elections. In order make a difference with our votes, we need to create access and participate in the decision making process in determining our political and economic future of the state. Hence, we need to get together, talk with one another, create discourse on issues and put up our own agenda.

Academics, NGOs, activist groups, students and employees are requested to participate in this discussion. Together we can sustain this group through this upcoming election and beyond to engage meaningfully on the issue of women and democracy. I hope the group will create informed discourse that will go a long way in strengthening women right’s movement.

We invite those participants working on specific issues to initiate a discussion in their niche area and help the group to brainstorm. In the second half of the meeting, the participants will join groups that will work on education, health, livelihoods, legal aspect, etc to prepare a charter of demands to the political parties for incorporating in their election manifestos.
The “Women Manifesto” which is prepared after consultations will be released to the public on March 8th 2009
On behalf of Openspace forum we invite you to the meeting on “Women and Democracy” to be held on 17th February 2009.

Women and Democracy

Building Bridges for Equality – Mediating for Human Rights of Women
When we affirm our rights, we should do it ourselves not through the proxy of a male. If women have the power to affirm their will, and if women can articulate their individual rights clearly, then women would not be under the shadow of de-facto male relations……..
This is an attempt to review the bases of women’s historic exclusion from development processes and outcomes, and identify internal and external factors and conditions that hinder women’s participation in formal structures and processes. Women’s contribution in development processes and decisions remain insignificant even though women constitute more than half of the world population.

Traditionally, women are kept outside the public domain of politics as she is considered fit only for domestic roles in the private sphere. And private sphere is considered non political and always kept away from the purview of public. Though women in 20th century had the right to vote, they were not able to impact public policy as they remained confined in the private sphere.
Women need abilities
· to enter public sphere and negotiate for greater role in the politics
· to build a strong women’s movement and strengthen civil society
· to achieve greater democratization of society and decentralized governance
· to mobilize resources from a range of organizational domains – from the immediate family n kinship to the more distant community, market and state which enable women claim space and participate in the decision making process.

It is equally critical to understand and take advantage of various government programmes that specifically address women development. It is also crucial to create spaces and utilize existing spaces to come together, network, communicate and mobilize action.
But this exercise should not be confused with or limited to asking for inclusion in politics.
The struggle to achieve equity in development is a political project and it is essential to think strategically about it. It should be borne in mind that these inequalities or exclusions are deeply institutionalized and are unquestioned, hence require immediate, tactical moves from our side.
Let us take this opportunity of the upcoming elections to bargain for meaningful role, where we can decide on our future. Most of us present are well experienced in working on the rights of women. This forum is planned to help us put our experiences together. The need of the hour is to think, learn and fight together for our rights. To realize our objectives, we have to think collectively.