An Open Letter to the Candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha Election

An Open Letter to the Candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha Election

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections we women, as citizens, take this opportunity to address those who seek to represent us and to share with them our concerns.

In recent years, our fundamental rights have considerably circumscribed. We have lost the freedom to choose what we eat, how we pray and how we live. Our constitution tells us it is our duty to promote scientific temper, but we are now a country that considers rationality and science anti-national. Our fellow-citizens are lynched, arrested and disappeared on flimsy grounds and there is no justice, nor even a simple condemnation. A culture of impunity prevails across all human rights violations and violence.

As citizens, we deplore the gradual transformation of our democracy to a political culture in which asking questions is anti-national. We raise questions about our rights, about the safety of our communities, about the environment we are leaving our children or about the future of our livelihoods. For this act of citizenship, we are denounced and pronounced as seditious. Women human rights defenders face the spectrum of violence, verbal to physical, in response to their work.

To us, therefore, this election is about who we are as a country, about our equality as citizens, about our freedoms and about our right to a good life.

We are citizens and we affirm our faith in the Constitution of India and its values. This is non-negotiable for us. In particular, we want those who would be our representatives to uphold the following provisions:

• The values of the Preamble, including secularism, equality, justice, liberty and fraternity, so that all Indians can enjoy full citizenship;
• The spirit of a federal Union where powers and resources are shared fairly across the Union so that states are not tempted to raise revenue through the sale of alcohol;
• The rule of law, so that all of us have equal access to justice;
• Fundamental rights, so that we may think, speak, believe and organise politically without being targeted for doing.

We are women and it is important to us that parties and candidates demonstrate their commitment to gender equality through:

• Gender parity in nominations and appointments;
• No nominations for those accused or charge-sheeted for gender-based and sexual violence;
• Zero tolerance for misogynistic speech;
• Meaningful and respectful inclusion of women in public affairs, including policy decision-making;
• Gender transformative rather than gender stereotype driven manifesto commitments.

A commitment to gender equality is a commitment that, in making policy, you will recognise gendered vulnerability; resilience and agency; and that your work will be informed by women’s and minority narratives.

Physical safety is important to us but we do not want to hear about how you will protect us. We want:

• Full utilisation of funds allocated to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, and transparent accounting for the same;
• A law to address gender-based violence arising from caste rivalry and conflict;
• Support services and structures for women who suffer domestic violence and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence;
• Sensitive, meticulous and time-bound investigation into cases of sexual and gender- based violence;
• Commitment to ending impunity and rape culture, and universalising access to justice.

We are deeply concerned about the erosion of our livelihood rights, which also impinge on our right to equality. All workers, formal and informal sectors, should enjoy these rights:

• The right to work with dignity and self-respect, irrespective of family and marital status;
• The right to safe, humane and equal workplaces that provide for transparent grievance redressal;
• The right to infrastructural facilities that meet women’s needs;
• The right to unionise and collective bargaining;
• The right to a living wage and social security;
• The right to gender-equal training for work free of stereotypes.

In the spirit of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, all workplaces should be required to create awareness among employees about their rights as workers. In the informal sector, this should be the responsibility of the local administration.

A minimum wage, universal health benefits and maternity and child care support should be available to all working women.

We would like to see the establishment of labour welfare boards that are dedicated to the rights and needs of unorganised workers. This board should oversee entitlements, allowances and benefits, and grievance redressal systems, ensuring representation of independent, non-party trade unions.

These elections are critical for us as women and as citizens. We are clear about the India we want. We urge you as candidates to demonstrate your commitment to the constitution through your actions and choices.

This statement has been drafted by the Penn Thozhilalar Sangam and Prajnya teams.

It is based on women’s consultations held in 2017-19, accessible here and here, and on the Prajnya Gender Equality Election Checklist.

Media reports:

Anushika Srivastava, When Women’s Groups Wrote An Open Letter To Lok Sabha 2019 Candidates, ShethePeopleTV, April 9, 2019.

#GenderEqualityElectionWatch: Manifest(o) Misogyny: The INC Manifesto for the Himachal Pradesh 2017 Assembly election

Election Manifesto 2017

In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is seeking re-election so their manifesto opens by asking: Why the Congress again in 2017? The answers are not very persuasive, the content repetitive and the language weak. But never mind, because this is a gender audit and what we really want to know is what the Congress is promising to women and what its approach is to gender issues. On that note, in the introduction we are told that with the UPA, schemes have been introduced and implemented for the welfare of every section of society including women. They have gone, we are told, beyond the promises of their last manifesto. The introduction reassures us that women will be provided with respect and safety.

The Congress manifesto has a section “For Women” in which it promises:

• Academic support to meritorious girl students.
• Hostels for working women in cities.
• Pension schemes for orphaned girls, girls and women with disabilities and widows.
• Appropriate justice and administrative measures to fast track cases of harassment and misdemeanours against women.
• Access to credit for self-employed women.
• Self-defence training centres in every district to train women.
• Women’s police stations in every district.
• Anganwadi Centres in every village to take care of women and children.
• Expansion of the free ambulance service for pregnant women.
• A ‘Woman Safety Application’ will be operationalised for women’s safety.
• Women’s organisations will be strengthened in every way.
• The grant given for the marriages of the daughters of widowed women will be expanded.

Under the category of health care, it is promised that more women will be trained as nurses.

Overall, there is less text devoted in this manifesto to women (as compared to the BJP) but women for the Congress are students, workers and entrepreneurs. They are professionals—police and nurses. Their health-care needs, at least as mothers, are addressed. Self-defence and safety are addressed here, rather than the patriarchal attitudes that lead to violence, but the tone is less paternalistic.

Going by the Prajnya Gender Equality Election Checklist however:

• Again, the numbers of candidates are low.
• It is not clear how much support they are getting.
• Misogynistic speech is a non-issue.
• There is no promise to end impunity or to bar those who are charge-sheeted for crimes against women.

#GENDEREQUALITYELECTIONWATCH: Uttarakhand

Again, this is getting written on election day in Uttarakhand. What that means is that it will largely end up being an account of numbers–how many women and how many mentions in a manifesto. The lack of consistent, everyday monitoring means that we do not get to track campaign speeches for misogyny. This election watch project has also missed out on checking out criminal charges of candidates. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, I would say it is worth finishing what we started so here is a gender analysis of the election in Uttarakhand.

How many women? 

Last update:	Feb 15, 2017
Assembly size:	70
Source:	elections.in
	Seats contested	Women nominees
Samajwadi Party	51	NA
Uttarakhand Kranti Dal	70	NA
BJP	70	5
Congress	70	9
BSP	24	1
Rashtriya Lok Dal	3	0

What is left to say about the low percentage of women nominees?

Gender in the manifestos

As hard as it is to find gender sensitivity in party manifestos, it is hard to find the manifestos themselves. What is the point of a manifesto that cannot be easily found in the public domain? It must be to minimises traces of promises made and the opportunity cost of accountability.

Based on a news report, the Congress manifesto promises 33% reservation for women in government jobs. The other promise with gender transformational potential is to set up five aapda mitra (in every village?) or disaster relief workers. If 2-3 of them were women, that would alter the face of disaster mitigation, relief and rehabilitation in Uttarakhand. However, we have no way of knowing more.

The BJP manifesto, also culled from a newsreport, includes a cash gift to girls: “Rs. 5,000 for every girl child born in poor families” and a removal of the age bar for widow pensions at Rs 1000. Very interestingly, it promises that, “The opinion of all women on triple talaq will be taken and placed in front of Supreme Court.”

For the other parties, there did not even seem to be reports on the manifesto release. Did they not bother?

#GenderEqualityElectionWatch: Punjab Congress Manifesto Notes

On January 9, 2017, the Indian National Congress released its Punjab manifesto. This is a 129-page epic for which they could not find an editor, but never mind that–after all, if someone gets their gender politics right, we won’t care how they write!

Simplifying the word ‘gender’ to mean ‘women’ (which we will end up doing everywhere, I suspect!), I found only one section called ‘Women Empowerment’ whose provisions were extended and elaborated twice. In the nine-point opening summary, this is what we read: “Women Empowerment: 33% reservation for women in jobs and educational institutions”.

Further down, on page 26, this is extended to include allocation of residential and commercial plots. Moreover, reservation for women in urban and rural self-government would go up to 50%.

Finally, on page 110, the Manifesto makes seven additional promises, including livelihood training for widows of farmers who have committed suicide; free education for girls; Safe Cities for women and Crisis Centres; a stronger State Commission for Women and a State Policy on Women’s Empowerment.

There is one other provision that applies to women–it is the promise to require registration of NRI marriages as a protection for brides.

Women do not appear anywhere else in the Manifesto. The list of poll promises is as generic as it gets. There is little clue that anyone gave gender issues or gender equality any thought. Hardly very surprising, and perhaps this is what we can expect from all the Manifestos, which makes it a very good reason to audit them for their gender provisions and call them on their shortcomings.