US election 2020: In India, Kamala Harris' win sparks joy, puts spotlight on struggle for gender equality in politics

The election of the next US vice-president Kamala Harris, an American of Indian and Jamaican descent, has been described as "significant" and "awe-inspiring" by prominent female Indian politicians. But even as they celebrate Harris' success, her victory has put the spotlight on India's struggle for gender equality, especially in the political arena.

Actress-politician Urmila Matondkar said women leaders should feel inspired by Harris' tenacity and "self-trust", adding that the election result was significant as it came at a time when the US was displaying its most racist and misogynistic face to the world.

Kavita Krishnan, a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), said politicians should also look beyond Harris and take note of how other women of colour such as Georgia politician Stacey Abrams worked at the grass roots level to ensure President Donald Trump was defeated.

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Women are psychologically much stronger than men and can do "better" in politics, said Uma Bharti, a former member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one of the few women to rise to prominence in the party. But in India, women have to overcome major challenges to get there, she pointed out.

Bharti, a key BJP leader in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, is currently fighting speculation in political circles that she is not "physically fit" for active politics.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi was 63 when he fought the first parliamentary elections in 2014 but people want to write me off as a politician by spreading rumours when I am just 61. That's the difference in attitude towards men and women politicians in this country," she said.

India elected its first female prime minister, Congress politician Indira Gandhi, in 1966. Other prominent women politicians include Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, J. Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Yet despite their achievements, India is still falling behind in providing opportunities for women who aim high in politics. There are currently only 78 women in the 543-seat Lok Sabha - the highest number ever. The Women's Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women, was introduced in parliament in 2008 but has yet to be passed. At the local political level, 33 per cent of seats are for women but in many cases, the real power lies with their husbands.

According to Sanjay Kumar, a political scientist at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), it is difficult for women to get onto an election ticket because of the perception among parties that their chances of winning is low. And even if they do get onto a ticket, grass roots party workers barely listen to them, he added.

Political parties headed by women have not encouraged participation of women in large numbers either, Kumar pointed out.

Urmila Matondkar, a Bollywood actress-turned-politician, described Kamala Harris' win as "awe-inspiring". Photo: Reuters alt=Urmila Matondkar, a Bollywood actress-turned-politician, described Kamala Harris' win as "awe-inspiring". Photo: Reuters

Despite having women achievers in every sphere of life, India has been grappling with gender inequality for years. Male politicians across the political spectrum have made misogynistic and sexist remarks against their colleagues. Ironically, women have sometimes joined in.

Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP promised women's empowerment when it came to power in 2014, but women's participation in the workforce fell from 22.6 per cent in 2016 to 17.5 per cent in 2018, and is expected to fall further this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, the BJP denies it has a bad record on women's rights.

"The efforts that have been made by Indian government for empowerment of women and marginalised sections of the society cannot be undermined and overshadowed by certain unfortunate incidents," Vinay Prabhakar Sahasrabuddhe, a BJP MP and key force in building Modi's image outside India, told This Week in Asia last month.

Crime against women in India also soared by 23 per cent between 2015 and 2019. The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 88 rapes every day last year, with 11 per cent of these being lower-caste Dalit women. In September, three Dalit women in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh were allegedly raped by three men from the same upper caste as the chief minister of the state, the BJP's Yogi Adityanath.

In 2017, journalist Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of Modi's government, was killed at her home in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. That same year, a BJP's leader's son in the northern Indian state of Punjab was held for stalking and attempting to abduct a woman. In 2018, over 11 women journalists accused BJP politician and former minister M.J. Akbar of sexual misconduct when the #MeToo movement was at its peak.

In 2016, a Congress politician accused one of her male party colleagues in the northern Indian state of Punjab of sexual exploitation. A 2019 report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) found that 16 MPs and members of legislative assemblies representing the Congress party faced charges for crimes against women. It also found that 572 candidates with declared criminal offences against women contested in Lok Sabha and assembly elections on behalf of different political parties between 2014-19 and none of these candidates have been convicted yet.

Recently, Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty was demonised on television news shows for allegedly providing drugs to her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who reportedly killed himself in June.

Outspoken women regularly receive threats of rape and violence on social media, especially from right-wingers, meaning many are discouraged from voicing their opinions.

CPI-ML politician Krishnan said she has been threatened with physical attacks for speaking out against the BJP's fascist politics.

"Women who want to do progressive politics in India now either get killed or face organised threats from the right-wing under Modi," she said.

Matondkar was subjected to a political smear campaign by her rivals while running against a BJP strongman in Mumbai in the parliamentary elections last year.

"They called my husband a Pakistani and a terrorist because he is a Kashmiri. It doesn't seem to matter who you have married as long as you are a man. Only women are targeted. The political environment in India under BJP is at its worst right now."

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right, said the BJP's "outrightly misogynistic" ways stem from its ideological fountainhead, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which does not allow female membership. It runs a separate organisation, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, for women.

"RSS treats women as mothers or sisters but not as partners in political constituency building. They keep that job exclusively for men," said Mukhopadhyay. "The ideology of RSS is that women have a lower status than men. It's the same ideology with which Indian society is governed and controlled by the BJP. Under this regime, India has become much more regressive."

A Mumbai-based RSS member, who asked to remain anonymous, stressed that the organisation encourages "equal" participation of men and women in its social and intellectual activities for the "transformation of the society".

Bollywood actress Deepika Chikhalia, a BJP member of parliament in the early 1990s, recalled being approached by the "male-dominated" BJP because she was well-known for her role as Sita in the Indian mythological television series Ramayana. She said she regretted not having much scope to prove herself in politics.

"Men in political parties can never take orders from women unless they have achieved something," said Chikhalia.

For Matondkar, the saddest part is that "women themselves don't stand up for women at times when they need the support".

Irom Sharmila, seen here while on hunger strike in 2013, said women are treated as second-class citizens. Photo: AFP alt=Irom Sharmila, seen here while on hunger strike in 2013, said women are treated as second-class citizens. Photo: AFP

Activist Irom Sharmila, who ran unsuccessfully in assembly elections in 2017 and is best known for carrying out an indefinite hunger strike for 16 years in the Indian state of Manipur, echoed these sentiments.

"When men run the society, women will always be treated as second-class citizens and their issues will remain unresolved."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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