Towards Equality? Cause and Consequence of the Political Prominence of Women in India

Abstract

SOME YEARS AGO a cartoon appeared in one of India's English dailies picturing Mrs. Gandhi seated at a table with a number of other politicians. Referring to Mrs. Gandhi's strong-handed leadership, a leadership which belied earlier expectations of some party bosses that she would rule in name only, cartoon's caption read, the only man in a cabinet of old women. Mrs. Gandhi's Prime Ministership symbolizes anomaly of women's position in Indian politics. On one hand, women appear to be prominent at an elite level of politics. On other hand, there persist gross inequalities between male and female in Indian society as a whole-testified to by an imbalanced sex ratio, severe differentials in wages and work participation, and a host of other factors. In analysis which follows, this anomaly will be examined from three perspectives: (1) by identifying extent to which women occupy elite positions in Indian politics; (2) by evaluating possible explanations for women's prominence in elite positions; and (3) by exploring impact which women's participation in politics has for social and economic position of women in Indian society at large.