SHILLONG: An academic interaction session on ‘Women and Electoral Politics: The Good, Bad and Ugly’ was held in NEHU on Friday. The session was organised in the context of developing societies, gender is critical to their understanding of the theory of development, the formulation of development policies and the implementation of development practice.
Prof. S. Ravi (Professor and senior fellow at Brookings Institution, Washington D.C, USA), Prof. R. Ravi (Associate Professor at John Molson School of Business, Canada), Prof. Mudit Kapoor (Associate Professor ISI, Delhi) and P. Mukhim (Journalist and Chief Editor, The Shillong Times) were invited to reflect on this important issue.
Prof. Ravi and Prof. Kapoor initiated the discussion with an insightful presentation based on their research works in this field. Issues such as: why fewer women contest elections in India? Is the reservation policy proposed to be passed in the Indian parliament needs to be passed and if it is passed, will it serve the purpose? were discussed and examined based on facts, figures and critical economic analysis.
Prof. Ravi mentioned that there are 20% missing women in the electorates which could be one of the reasons why there is a less chance for them to win.
The presentation also showed that there are on average more male voters in the Indian democracy which is also a hint to the fact that male contestants would have more chances of winning than woman contestants.
Another important aspect mentioned in course of the presentation, is the costs involved in contesting elections. Irom Sharmila losing the election in the recent Manipur elections was brought out as classic case of this cost factor.
Patricia Mukhim, the other noted speaker, threw some light on the issue of less women participation in the electoral politics of Meghalaya despite being a matrilineal society.
