Now, lessons in politics for Indian women

Shillong, Feb 5 (PTI) In a first-of-its-kind endeavour,
a select group of Indian women will be imparted a special
capacity-building training to contest and win elections.

Noting the poor representation of women in Parliament
and state Assemblies, the Centre for Social Research has tied
up with other NGOs for a project to create a pool of women to
participate in state and national electoral politics.

The project, christened 'Enhancing the Role of Women in
Strengthening Democracy', aims to create a pool of 1000 women
who will be motivated to contest elections, giving them gender
parity in politics.

"The total number of women contesting the 2004 general
elections from recognized political parties were just 174, out
of which only 45 got elected," Hasina Kharbhih, the team
Leader of Impulse NGO, CSR's partner in the project for
India's northeastern states, said.

"This is just 8.2 percent of the total strength of the
Lower House of Parliament. The average percentage of elected
women in 14 state Assembly elections held in 2004, 2005 and
2006 is 6.62 percent," she said.

Referring to the pending Women Reservation Bill, Kharbhih
said absence of any quota or affirmative action to promote
participation of women in the democratic process is
responsible for the deficit.

In this context, Kharbhih said, it was critical to
enhance the capacity of women to fight elections, reduce and
remove preventive barriers and to introduce new affirmative
steps that can enhance the participation of women in politics.

Under the project, the core strategy of 'Train, Contest
and Win' would be implemented at three levels. At level one,
women's leadership capacity would be built to reduce the
gender deficit and create a pool of 1000 women leaders.

In level two, advocacy and lobbying with political
parties will be undertaken to increase seats for women within
parties. At level three, the learnings from the project would
be shared with South Asian partners to build a stronger
foundation for democracy in the region.

As part of level one, women aspiring to join the
political bandwagon are being profiled around the country.
"Interested women affiliated to political parties and those
from other fields (aged between 20-45) are also being
profiled," she said.

After this, 1000 women from all over the country would
be short-listed for a special training. Of these 80 per cent
would be from political parties and 20 per cent would be from
other spheres, Kharbhih said.

A group of resource persons, including psychiatrists,
political leaders etc., would conduct a training for the
select group.

Dr Swati, who is assisting the profiling process in the
Northeast, says generally it is seen that women take up
politics for three reasons - they have no bitter experience,
they have nothing else to do or they want influence in
society.

"We have to help them realise their potentialities and
articulate their interests. They have to be armed adequately
to face the male dominated system," she said.

The minimum qualification criteria for getting selected
for the United Nations Democracy Fund-sponsored training is
graduation or a good career graph in politics. PTI RTJ