In the current Lok Sabha elections one sore point that stands out is the paucity of women candidates. The longstanding Women’s Reservation Bill, which would have ensured at least 33 percent seats for women,was never cleared in the Lok Sabha. Just like in previous manifestoes both the major political parties have promised passage of this Bill in their current manifestoes too. It would have been easy for them to have passed the Bill in the last five years with both parties joining forces. One way of seeing this would be that the women’s networks and lobbying efforts have been found wanting. However, this would be a very simplistic analysis. We know of the various efforts and strategies to push for the Bill including signature campaigns, delegations, and what not. However,off the record decision makers candidly admit the futility of these efforts, at least at this point of time. Power sharing by women and men is not going to happen so easily despite all the public posturing!
Networks and Alliances specially in the Development and Social sectors have been attempted many times and very often after some progress it disperses. One may be critical of this trend, but pragmatically it is not possible for individuals and organisations to continuously engage with each other, specially when it comes on top of day to day functioning. However, where there is a clear issue or goal, which is time bound and somehow linked with everyday functioning there are better chances of success. Here, I would like to share a few experiences of positive collaboration which may not have remained formal but did build informal associations for mutual gain.
Way back in 1993 when the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act came, giving women 33 percent reservation in rural (Panchayats) and urban local bodies, there were many apprehensions regarding the same. At the same time few organisations and individuals all over the country took up the challenge of building and sharing mobilisation material to ensure active participation of women in local bodies. It took a long time for elections to be held in all the states as per the Act but one saw the spread of these collaterals in each and every corner of the country. Even after so many years one sees modified posters, training material and videos which are shared extensively and effectively.
Another example is the whole Beijing process wherein for the first time grassroot organisations and individuals had a say and participated in the International Women’s conference in 1995. The conference had far reaching impact in terms of well-articulated and nuanced agenda setting involving the voices of the marginalised. The twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action have proved to be a benchmark for review, and implementation of the commitments made by various countries at Beijing.
One shortcoming of the development sector is the lack of engagement with a large majority of people. We tend to work in silos within a set group or groups and assume this to be the universe. And even where we realise this shortcoming we are not equipped with ways and means of engaging with the other. In order to address this, at Friedrich – Ebert - Stiftung, India, we have been experimenting with various formats and methods to engage with larger audiences specially those not directly involved in the development sector. One such example is the Genderlogue series. Understanding, challenging and churning gender norms to move towards gender equality at the political, economic and societal level is the touchstone for these events. The Genderlogue is one channel to address our goal of social justice through talks, discussions, virtual space, and creative media in collaboration with FES partners and concerned groups and individuals. This is an outreach tool which is crucial for building allies.
One can think of many more examples and initiatives which would be either issue based, or goal based. Instead of looking at the factors and forces which divide it is better to concentrate on the ways of collaborating and working together. Ultimately, this will lead to sustainable networking and alliance building to bring about change.
-By Damyanty Sridharan
The author is Senior Adviser at Friedrich–Ebert- Stiftung, India Office.
This article does not necessarily represent the views of the organisation where she presently works.