South Asia

Mar 28, '14

'Sex symbols' a poor proxy in Sri Lanka
By Eve Aronson, Marlijn Meijer, Eleonora Maria Mazzoli and Filiz Dagci

A movie star, a beauty queen and a popular model are among candidates running in Sri Lankan's provincial elections on March 29, leading some Sri Lankans to accuse political parties of pushing "sex symbols" in the name of female political representation.

The arrival of models and actresses onto the political stage, with their pictures splashed across newspapers, is beginning to make


voters wonder about the political motivation behind such moves.

"Today, we must grapple with the possibility that celebrities, mainly women celebrities, are being used as smokescreens in politics," said Colombo-based human rights advocate Ayanthi, who did not want to be identified out of fear of repercussions by the government.

Sri Lanka does not hold a particularly boastful track record on women's representation in politics, and theit consistently low participation, with only about 5% of parliamentarians being female (compared with about 10% in India) adds to suspicions about the sudden influx of unconventional female candidates this year.

Former Miss Sri Lanka and popular model Gayesha Perera, singer Ginger (Judith White), actress Ruwanthi Mangala and Malsha Kumaratunga, daughter of Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (and former actor himself) Jeevan Kumaratunga, are all candidates in Saturday's voting.

Ayanthi notes that discourse on the issue used to be dominated by women gaining political clout through male relatives. "We have witnessed women enter the political arena following the bereavement of a husband and/or father who had been a political figurehead," she said. "That's been the typical pattern until recently."

The appearance of the current crop of female candidates on ballot sheets raises questions about whether they are simply being used as political puppets to attract votes and to quell simmering discontent over the continued lack of serious women's participation in the upcoming elections.

Ayanthi and other advocates of greater participation of women in Sri Lankan politics can only guess about campaign agendas that are formed behind closed doors, while noting that blatant objectification is not new to female representatives in Sri Lanka.

During a session in parliament last year, Minister of Transport Kumara Welgama publicly announced his attraction towards United National Party (UNP) MP Rosy Senanayake: "I am so happy to answer a question by a beauty queen like Rosy Senanayake," the minister said. "You are such a charming woman. I have no words to describe my feelings. But if you meet me outside parliament, I will describe them." [1]

A January article in the Republic Square noted that there are systemic challenges in Sri Lanka that make it almost impossible for women to win seats, whether cultural, religious, nepotistic, or financial, that would allow them to establish themselves as credible politicians. [2]

"Reports have revealed that a large number of regional politicians with years of experience behind them have been neglected in favor of 'sex symbols'," notes Sri Lanka's Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) on their organization's website.

CaFFE was established in 2008 to monitor and ensure democratic processes in Sri Lanka. The organization acknowledges that including more women on the ballot is a positive step towards more equitable politics.

Nevertheless, the campaign affirms that politicians are sexualizing female candidates at the expense of more experienced women in the party, resulting in a loss of faith in democracy. "Sri Lankan politics have a dearth of strong female politicians, and the current actions of main political parties have contributed to the increasing loss of respect to politicians among the voters, which has an adverse effect on peoples faith in representative democracy."

Sri Lanka is not alone in contentious political representation. In South Asia, only 7% of women are members of political parties. [3] Low representation of women leaders across South Asia include Bangladesh (18.5% women members) and Bhutan (8.5% women in the National Assembly).

Sri Lanka boasts a 97% literacy rate among women. With a female literacy rate of just under 60% in Bhutan and 86% in Bangladesh, the higher presentation of women in politics than Sri Lanka is indicative of a disconnect between a literate, education female population and representation in the political sphere.

According to the United National Party's Rosy Senanayake, Sri Lanka is one of the countries worldwide with the least amount of women represented in politics. [4] Senanayake said: "The president pledged to increase female representation by 25%. But the Ministry of Child Development and Women's Affairs still couldn't enact laws to increase female representation over 30%."

In response to Senanayake, Minister of Child Development and Women's Affairs Tissa Karaliyadda said the government will not support certain international and local conventions aimed at improving gender equality in the country. [5] "Women enjoy equal recognition and protection. Most of these conventions go against our culture and religion," he said.

Fred Carver, of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, a global organization, said in February that the Sri Lankan government was "not interested in constructive engagement at all".

Ayanthi reaffirmed Carver stating that political participation with a focus on women has not been a top concern for successive governments. "We must engage in a very serious discussion with the government to increase women's political participation," she says. "Most certainly to prevent the potential erosion of women's rights and agency as held at present."

The March 29 elections will then be more than routine provincial politics. This year's campaign has planted seeds of resistance among Sri Lankans who are now, more than ever, questioning and challenging the old guard.

Notes:
1. Welgama enthralled by Rosy's charms, Daily Mirror, December 3, 2012.
2. Backlash over 'sex symbol' candidates shows why female representation is such an important issue in Sri Lanka, The Republic Square, January 27, 2014.
3. See here.
4. Karaliyadda: Women's rights 'against our culture and religion', The Republic Square, December 9, 2013.
5. As for note 4.

Eve Aronson, Marlijn Meijer, Eleonora Maria Mazzoli and Filiz Dagci have backgrounds in journalism, international development, media and communication and women and gender studies.

This article was developed from a research project commissioned by Oxfam on Women and Peacebuilding. The project is being carried out at Utrecht University Data School in Utrecht, Netherlands, and will be presented at a symposium in May.

(Copyright 2014 Eve Aronson, Marlijn Meijer, Eleonora Maria Mazzoli and Filiz Dagci) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-280314.html

India's women lose the election By Manipadma Jena

South Asia

Apr 22, '14

NEW DELHI - "Men just do not want to give up their seats, it's as simple as that," says 67-year-old candidate in the Indian election Subhhasini Ali, voicing a gloomy view across women's groups in India. Ali, a two-time member of Parliament and key functionary of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), an arm of the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M), is contesting from Barrackpore, a constituency in the eastern Indian state West Bengal. She is among a few women contesting. Political parties, even those vociferously supporting reservation for women in parliament, have failed to put up on average even one woman for every 10 males contesting India's 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. Women candidates are only 7% among 3,355 candidates in the first five phases of the nine-stage election, says the Delhi-based public interest organization, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), that is campaigning for greater transparency and more inclusive representation in Indian elections. Women activists looking at state-wise trends expect no improvement by way of inclusion of women in the final phases of the election. Women constitute 388 million, or 47.6% of the 814.5 million voters eligible to vote in the election running from April 7 to May 12. "When our presence is not considered important in the parliament, when decisions about our future are taken without consulting us, why should we cast our votes to elect another group of politicians who do not believe in the cause of women empowerment in this country," says Ranjana Kumari from the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research. "This election, we get the feeling that we have lost. Women are getting more and more sidelined," Jyotsna Chatterji from the non-profit Joint Women's Programme tells IPS. In the 15th general election in 2009, 556 women out of 8,070 contestants from 363 political parties were given tickets to contest, according to data from the Election Commission. That was just 6.9% of the candidates, making representation in this election hardly better. Fifty-nine women - 10.9% - won. This was the highest number of women contestants and winners since 1957. A 1996 Women Reservation Bill (WRB) proposing reservation of a third of the seats to women in the lower house of Parliament and in state legislatures has been stymied by various political parties for more than 18 years now. Women groups pushing for greater representation, for whom the failure to pass the WRB has remained a political raw nerve since, blame this on the entrenched patriarchal mindset of male politicians. If enacted, 180 berths in the Lok Sabha would be reserved for women. Political parties opposing the WRB say a quota within the quota should be given to women from backward communities. Dalits and tribal communities already have 120 seats reserved in the Lok Sabha. In 2009, 17 women got elected under this quota. "Many political parties had agreed to the WRB's stipulation about voluntarily giving 33% tickets to women members, legal quota aside," says Chatterji, who spearheaded the reservation movement in the late1990s with a group of other activists. Political parties have fallen far short of this. Given women's visibly increased participation in professional spheres, public debates, and also increased voting in elections, women groups say they had hoped political parties would walk the gender talk and give at least 15 to 20% tickets to women, recognizing the major socio-political changes under way. "Nothing is going to change in women's representation unless the [Women's Reservation] Bill is passed," says Ali. The three main political parties - the ruling Congress party, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party widely expected to form the new government, and the few months old Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man's Party) have all promised in their manifestos to pass the Women's Reservation Bill if voted to power. "Unless certain attitudes are overcome it is useless to expect individual parties to put up more women candidates, and moreover where no party is obliged to do it," Malini Bhattacharya, 70, twice member of Parliament and former member of the National Commission for Women, tells IPS. Ruth Manorama, 62, Dalit women's rights activist, who heads the National Alliance of Women, and is contesting from the Bangalore South constituency on a Janata Dal (Secular) party ticket, is more optimistic. "To give a bigger role to women in political decision making, we need to go step by step," Manorama tells IPS. Others argue for bolder change. "Political party structures and the election process itself need drastic change if women are to participate in large numbers," says Tapashi Praharaj of AIDWA. "Women's winning ability is consistently under question, without however attempting to build them up." "The huge funds required to fight an election today is another obstacle for women to contest elections," says Chatterji. The government raised spending limits for a candidate in this election to 7 million rupees (US$116,000). Chatterji says while male leaders argue they cannot find suitable women candidates, there are many eligible women who have not caught the eye of political parties. More than two million women have served in decision-making bodies in India's local governments, or panchayat raj, under the 33% seat reservation since 1993. In some states that quota has been raised to 50%. Urban local bodies too have reserved seats for women. These quotas have created a significant mass of grassroots women leaders. India, the world's largest democracy, has a mere 11.4% women in both houses of Parliament, compared to the world average of 21.8%. Afghanistan has 27.6% women in Parliament and Pakistan 18.5%, according to 2014 data from the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. (Inter Press Service) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-220414.html

Get me a bride, take my vote: Haryana bachelors tell candidates

Some Lok Sabha candidates in Haryana, which has the country's lowest sex ratio, are facing a strange demand from bachelor voters -- "get us brides in return for our votes".

"Bahu dilao, vote pao" (Get us a bride for our vote) is the demand of Avivahit Purush Sangthan (Unmarried Union). The outfit was set up by Bibipoor village panchayat head Sunil Jaglan in February, to look into the issue of gender imbalance, caused by female foeticide.

Members of Avivahit Purush Sangthan are putting forward their demand to candidates of different political parties who are coming to their constituencies for campaigning. But so far they have failed to get any positive response from the candidates.

"This (female foeticide) is a very serious problem which, if not tackled now or if proper action is not taken, will have disastrous consequences in the near future," Jaglan told PTI.

On the slogan, he said, "The slogan itself does not mean that all the youth are going to get their partners right now. But it's an effort to attract the attention of the political parties towards the problem."

But Jaglan said, "Except the AAP, prominent candidates from Jind have come to our village seeking votes, but none of them uttered a single word on our demand. Political parties are not interested in serious issues."

According to the 2011 Census, Haryana has 879 females per 1,000 males. Radha Rani, wife of Indian National Lok Dal candidate from Rohtak Shamsher Kharkara, said, "Female foeticide is not an election issue. It's a social problem which can be addressed through social awareness."

Jaglan, who organised an 'anti-female foeticide Mahapanchayat' in Bibipoor a few years ago and is now a proud father of two girls, said, "There are 7,000 villages in the state and in every village on an average, at present, 50 boys are unmarried. It means, around 3,50,000 males are without life partners."

In 2009, the female foeticide issue was raised by a group of youths who took out a march, but it failed to achieve the desired results. According to Jaglan, "Since 2009, the problem has grown manifold."

In Bibipoor village, at the Chaupal, a huge poster welcomes people with a message: "Netaji janiye, Haryana main kunwaron ka ganit (Netaji have a look at the data of unmarried youth in the state)."

The poster gives a glimpse of the total population of the state, the male and female ratios and the number of unmarried youth. In the Sonipat Lok Sabha seat, under which the assembly constituency of Jind comes, Jagbir Singh Malik of Congress, the Bhartiya Janata Party’s Ramesh Chander, Padam Singh from Indian National Lok Dal and Jai Singh from Aam Aadmi Party are in the fray.

Avivahit Purush Sangthan, which has a presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and also Whatsapp, has attracted lots of unmarried males to its fold, Jaglan claimed.

According to theatre personality Naresh Prerna, "No major political party has included this issue (female foeticide) in their poll agenda and there is total lack of any honest movement at the grassroots level."

Although Left parties have shown some seriousness, but their base is very limited in the state, Prerna said.

http://m.rediff.com/news/report/ls-election-get-me-a-bride-take-my-vote-haryana-bachelors-tell-candidates/20140409.htm

http://epaper.jansatta.com/161767/Jansatta.com/19092013#page/1/2