Women in politics

Shamsuddin Ahmed

We have been blessed with some indomitable ladies who are dominating the political arena over the last three decades. Thanks to the empowerment of women and equal rights to them, womenfolk have gained a lot of muscles.
Waves of empowerment of the weaker but fairer sex have emerged in all the countries. In our neighbouring Nepal, several radio stations fully owned and operated by women, are broadcasting programmes designed to promote women’s rights and give voice to their issues, also provide legal advice for women.

It is only in 1979 that woman suffrage was explicitly stated as a right under the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Woman adopted by the United Nations. But many states had introduced right of suffrage to women long before that.
The US State of Illinois has celebrated the centenary of women’s right to vote on June 13 with fanfare. League of women voters arranged the celebration with an ad: Stop by and enjoy a glass of bubbly, stay for a wine testing at Grand Cru Wine Merchants, Waukegan Road. It may be recalled that Governor of Illinois Edward F Dunne on June 26, 1913 signed the Voting Right Act into law allowing women to vote overriding strong opposition.
In fact, Finland, under the Russian Empire, was the first to introduce world’s first female members of parliament in elections of 1907. Norway followed, granting full suffrage to women in 1913. Late adopters of woman’s voting right are France in 1944 and Switzerland in 1971.
In the Indian sub-continent, women suffrage was introduced after the independence from Britain in 1947. Bangladesh has made world record of having female as prime minister for consecutive terms since 1991.
Woman suffrage was introduced in Western countries after prolonged debates. Opponents had argued and advanced many reasons. Those included: ‘Women are not capable of full citizenship for the simple reason that they are not physically fit for purposes of national defence’. Government ultimately rests on force, to which women, owning to physical limitations, moral and social reasons, are not capable of contributing.
Other arguments include: Interests of women are already and perfectly safe in the hands of men; women could not think out matters coolly and calmly; women would be corrupted by politics, feminine modesty and chivalry would die out; if women involves in politics, they would stop marrying, have no children and human race would die out; and women are by nature emotional, envious creatures, and incapable of making a sound political decision.
One may disagree but some of the arguments opponents had advanced more than a century ago do still hold good.
Lee Kuan Yew, one of the most successful leaders of the present day world who has built Singapore a rich and modern state, not swayed by the waves, held a different view on empowerment of women and equal opportunities for them. “Yes, but we should not get our women into jobs where they cannot, at the same time, be mothers…. Our most valuable asset is in the ability of our people, yet we are frittering away this asset through the unintended consequences in our policy and giving equal opportunities for women. This has affected their traditional role as mothers, creators and protectors of the next generation.”
According to Greek mythology, women had the right to vote in ancient Athens. But the right was taken away following a disaster. Story goes that once a female contested a male in an election. The female candidate was backed by a goddess and male candidate by a powerful god. All the gods and goddesses were seeing the contest from the highest peak of Mount Olympus where they had their abodes.
Incidentally, Athens had one female voter more than the male voters. So, woman candidate won the election. This enraged the powerful god who backed the male candidate. Furious, he caused disastrous flood. The citizens of Athens were convinced that the disaster had fallen on them as they invoked displeasure and curse of the Olympian gods by voting a female to power. They appeased the gods by taking away the voting right of the female.

Source: Weekly Holiday