In what comes as yet another alleged sexist remark, a woman leader of the Muslim League was informed last weekend that she could not address a gathering as she was a woman.
According to an NDTV report, The president of the Muslim League’s women’s wing Kamarunissa Anwar was speaking to a public gathering, sharing the dais with several male leaders, when the secretary of the party MC Mayin Haji told the 60-year-old leader, “it’s not in the League’s tradition for women to speak to men.”
The audio recording of the alleged conversation was leaked by unknown persons.
And Haji did not deny he said it. "Women do not address public gatherings. Women are given much more respect than men, the reason why we don't encourage them to be part of processions or late night events," he told the TV channel.
Women, Haji, said, "were welcome to speak to a specific audience like a delegation, but must not address public gatherings."
He furnished a picture of another well-known woman leader of the party addressing a delegation, with him on the stage to prove that he was not against women making speeches but only at public gatherings,
"I don't have any complaints. People have the freedom to speak whatever they want to," Kamarunissa Anwar told NDTV. She has been with the party for the last 20 years and said, "she did feel sad".
Out of the 140 MLAs in Kerala, only eight are women. The Opposition led by Congress has no women legislators in the current Assembly. Muslim League is an important ally of the Congress in Kerala and has 18 MLAs in the Assembly, but not one woman.