Freebies Galore For Women But They Still Don’t Have Any Political Power |
Women have emerged as political stakeholders in their own right. Politics has ceased to be male-centric because women are now seen to hold the golden key to winning elections and are, therefore, being wooed across states. And yet this “golden key” has not been matched with political empowerment. Political parties are convinced that whoever cracks the women's vote in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam, and Kerala will set the playbook for the rest of the country.
Take the example of Tamil Nadu, where women outnumber men in over 90% of the 234 assembly constituencies. It is a different matter that political parties here allocated a disproportionately low number of tickets to women candidates, with the DMK, AIADMK, and Vijay’s TVK fielding just over 10% of women in these 234 constituencies. But the slew of freebies being offered, be it the strengthening of school nutrition programmes, controlling price rises, providing cheap housing, or free bus travel, all have been tom-tommed across every election rally because the direct beneficiaries of these schemes are women. Welfare schemes tied to everyday survival create durable loyalties, especially since women are running the households.
Poll promises in Kerala were no different, with parties offering women-centric freebies, including free KSRTC bus travel, Rs 1,000 monthly for college-going girls, and financial aid for women from poor households. But despite high literacy levels, Kerala’s enduring gender paradox in politics........