Women’s double burden in politics

Don’t be fooled that equality has been achieved because some women made it to the top of male bastions.
Women’s double burden in politics

CHENNAI : Don’t be fooled that equality has been achieved because some women made it to the top of male bastions. Women like Indira Gandhi, Indra Nooyi and Kalpana Chawla opened up new realms for women, but turning them into role models is not going to be make it possible for every woman to chase the dream of her choosing.

The glass ceiling will truly be broken when we get rid of the double standards we set for women — when we ask not about Madam Gandhi’s private life, how Nooyi’s children perform at school, what Hilary Clinton likes to cook —when we don’t need to certify a woman ‘good’ enough for being a go-getter, when a woman does not need to be ‘holy’ to be a public figure, and when we don’t grade her progress in career based on productivity as a carer in the home.” This was part of a speech made by a friend post a Women’s Day speech contest for college students.

And I believe we could take a look if not a leaf out of this while we reflect on the headlines in the times of election fever. The one that is unmissable now is the ‘Khaki underwear’ comment made by SP leader Azam Khan against the BJP’s Jaya Prada. Such a remake immediately incites an imagination of the actor turned politician — the damage is done well before the EC can take note of it, and though Azam Khan maybe pulled up for it, no commentary on his character will follow.

Considering Jaya Prada ‘gives back as good as she gets’, as a popular news website suggests she can and does so literally with a similar scathing comment on the subject of underwear, I assure you it will be what is termed ‘political suicide’ —whether it is said to or by a woman politician, it only reflects badly on her.Similarly, take the case of actor and campaigner Khushbu Sundar slapping a man who tried to grope her at a rally. The video is viral now with several people reshaping it, lauding her courage to stand up for herself, and rightly so.

After having spent years at women’s colleges I am no denier of the fact that women grope too, especially when a male celebrity is involved but in this case it was no fandom, love or lust — it is power, and a reminder that a woman’s worth is in the body; a female politician after all a female body, where male politicians take a tenth of time to become larger than life leaders whose finger tips people want to touch. This is more or the less the secret behind positioning oneself as amma, akka or didi. The great thing about the above is that people are talking, rival parties are turning to great watchdogs, the EC has taken notice, Khushbu gave it right back and Priyanka donned a pair of jeans.

When we are aware that women become soft targets for ‘character assassination’ and that whatever it is women politicians do to de-sexualise themselves to be taken more seriously, so much so it is the male sartorial sense that sets the trend these days, we must keep in mind that women are never too far away from being reduced to their bodies.

Will having more women in the parliament may help? Maybe and ’May’ I stress, because simply putting women in power won’t work like magic, but that is a debate for another day. For now we need no more evidence that the personal is the political, so let’s recognise what Karur Candidate had to say — that the struggle is double for in politics — they have to be women and they have to be political. 

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