Changing Role of Women in India

The Government recently introduced a bill in Parliament which would reserve approximately one third of the seats for women. While it was supported by two of the opposition parties , the BJP and the Leftist, it ran into resistance from some of the smaller regional parties. This was ironical since the leaders have a number of their own female family members standing for election at the state or central level.

Additionally some question the need for the introduction of such a bill since a woman is the President of the country Mrs. Prathiba Patil.Sonia Gandhi - the head of the ruling party Congress is regularly voted as the most powerful person in India.Her Mother-in-law, Mrs. Indra Gandhi after the Bangladesh war was shown on the cover of magazines as " The Empress of India ".

Further two regional politicians Mayawati and Jayalalitha have taken on the males in two of the most male dominated bastion states and succeeded. Then you have Brinda Karat the wife of the leader of Leftist Party and a active politician in her own right, who is at the best at haranguing the Government about the American bogey man.

Women are making an impact in the business world as well. The heads of HSBC, JP Morgan, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, the CEO of Britannia biscuits are a few of the many successful professionals.

On the owner managed business, those days are gone where the male member of the family participated in the management of the business. The princesses at Parle and HCL are two of the many women who are actively involved in the running of the family business.

On the entrepreneurial side, you have Kiran Mazumdar who started the leading bio-technology company in India and is a icon . Also there are hundreds of women entrepreneurs who might not have made it as big as Ms.Mazumdar but run smallish businesses successfully. I am aware of at least four . One started a Indian spicy pickle business in her garage ( shades of Hewlett- Packard, Steve jobs) and now has a established brand in North India and supplies to Walmart's operations in India. Another has a fashion accessories business supplying to chains in the UK. A friend runs a garment manufacturing business exporting to Europe and the last one's husband a IIT graduate who gave up his job to support his wife,who has a successful traditional Indian styled garments supplying to boutiques and organizing trunk shows overseas. The list of Indian billionaires includes Mrs. Kokila Ambani, Mrs.Savitiri Jindal and Mrs. Indu Jain.

While there are thousands of Indian actresses, it is rare to see a woman behind the camera, although they have been a few including Aparna Sen,Leena Yadav,Nandita Sen and others on the domestic scene. Gurinder Chadha, Meera Niar and Deepa Mehta are among the women who have made it on their own outside ( or perhaps because of it )of Bollywood. ( Yes, I know you will quibble that they might not be Indian citizens etc).

All that is good news, but on the other hand,honor killing ,female infanticide, lack of women education are just some of the many reasons why the Government felt the need to strengthen women's rights.

Two of the most prosperous states Punjab and Haryana have a skewered male: female ratio as a result of female as a result of sex selection during pregnancy.. This is forcing men to seek brides from other states. Hundred steps backwards for equal rights for women, but one tiny step for national integration. Hopefully these men will not repeat the mistakes of their fathers.

I could go on and on,but it is now pleasing to see the government making a strong determined effort to raise the level of women participation not just at the legislative level, but also at the village community management level - gram panchyat by having at least 50% of the seats for women. It is generally felt that by having women, there will be more attention paid to woman's education, health and hygiene, and hopefully reduce corruption. This should raise the quality of life overall at the rural level - Jai Ho !!!