Can the First Woman President Close the Gender Gap in India?

Can the First Woman President Close the Gender Gap in India?
By Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S.
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=072607110618

The election of Pratibha Patil as the first woman president of India is not only a big victory for the Congress party because she who with the two-thirds majority, but it has also weakened the BJP in a big way because of the rift with its biggest partner. The Shiv Sena crossed ranks and voted for Pratibha Patil because she is a Maharashtrian. This rift has sown the seeds for a future widening gap between the BJP and Shiv Sena and may weaken the two party system and create favorable conditions for the emergence of a third front.

For the first time, India has a woman president. However, the question remains: can a woman president close the gender gap in India? Women are the most oppressed section of the society. There is a very big gap between the women from the elite classes compared to the women from the poor and lower middle classes. The rich and upper middle class women are getting thoroughly westernized. This segment of society is being promoted by Bollywood as the newly liberated women. However, the vast majority of the Indian women do not fit into this Bollywood version of the Indian woman. The women from the lower classes suffer dual oppression, economic and gender. These women have to work to generate income to run their families. They are also expected to take care of the household and take abuse from the abusive husbands. Some of these abusive husbands are addicts and some have sex with prostitutes who have AIDS, and then force AIDS on their wives.

Female feticide is another very big problem, particularly in Northern India. It is because of this problem that Punjab now has the lowest female to male ratio in the country. Killing the unborn females is the most cruel form of oppression of the women. It is even worse than the dowry deaths because many times there is no feeling of guilt associated with female feticide. Moreover, the dowry deaths are generally confined to the poor and the lower middle classes, whereas female feticide can involve all segments of society.

The growing gap between the male and female population in Punjab and the other Northern Indian states can destabilize the society and create many future problems. Already, some bad effects are becoming apparent. There is a marked increase in the number of cases of rape in the North. There have been scandals in Punjab where women from the other states have been sold in Punjab. This medieval practice of slavery may be revived in the twenty-first century.
The Bollywood version of women’s liberation has not helped with the cause of the women. This is seen more as obscenity, vulgarity, and commercialized exploitation of women rather than true emancipation. The women of India do not need to be westernized in order to be liberated. They have to find their own path that is compatible with the Indian culture and value system. Education and participation in the productive work are the key to women’s liberation. Having a woman as the head of state can help the cause of women if it acts as an impetus to focus on the women’s issues.