INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA AND CHAIRMAN, RAJYA SABHA AT THE MEETING OF THE WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS ATTENDING THE 89TH INTER-PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE

SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 1993 

Hon’ble Speaker, Hon’ble Chairperson of the meeting of the Women Parliamentarians, Hon’ble President of the Inter-Parliamentary Council, Hon’ble Ministers, Hon’ble Secretary General of the I.P.U., Hon’ble Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of the I.P.U., Ladies and Gentlemen:

This is a special occasion, a historic occasion, this august and at the same time charming assemblage of women Parliamentarians from all over the world meeting under the aegis of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. It one can see the empowerment of women at any one place it is here, for you are all representatives of your peoples empowered in democratic elections to guide the affairs of your respective countries.       As for my self I stand here a little perturbed, perhaps pleasantly perturbed, by the honour of having been asked to address you. Diderot, the French Philospher and Encyclopedist, in his essays on woman wrote: “When one writes about Woman, one must steep one’s pen in the colours of the rainbow, and scatter the dust from the butterflies’ wings on the page. With every movement of one’s hand a pearl must fall”. That was on writing about women. What shall one do when speaking to an elite gathering of women Parliamentarians? I shall simply say, with heart-felt sincerity, how delighted I am to welcome you all to this Conference and to my country.

I am glad that women Parliamentarians are holding a separate meeting of their own within the framework of IPU. It shows tht women have come into their own in politics. They are determined to function within IPU in a concerted way on issueds of direct interest to them. They are also keen to bring to bear upon IPU the view-point of women on broader issues of a general character. There is no doubt that need for these exists, espcially in a world dominated by man, particularly in the world of politics. Plato once said that those who disdain to engage themselves in politics would have to pay the penalty of being ruled by those who are inferior to them. Of course, Plato had no need for women in his Republic. There is, however, truth in what he said. If women desdain to engage themselves in politics, they will be ruled by men, often men who are inferior to them.

Women have been a rarity in politics and in Parliaments, notwithstanding a number of colourful and outstanding exceptions. I am told that only 11% of Parliamentarians in the world are women and that 3.5% of Cabinet Ministerial posts in the world are held by women. According to a study by the International Labour Organisation the share of women in higher echolons of political and economic power is negligible and at the present rate it would take five centuries for them to be on par with men.

Poltics hold the key to power in every major field of activity of the State. Without a share in political power women would find it difficult to get their due share be it in social, cultural, economic or professional fields. Women cannot reach such positions of power throught the goodwill of men. They have to do so by their own efforts, organization and agitation, if necessary. In democracies they hold a powerful weapon - the right to vote. With proper organization and leadership it should be possible for them to ensure the election of reasonable number of women to Parliament, and also of a number of men helpful to their cause. The cause of women is not something that is antogonistic to that of men and to the general public good.

On the contrary it is at the root of social development, of the well-being of society as a whole. Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, was fond of quoting a French intellectual who wrote: “If you want me to tell you what a nation is like, or what a social organization is like, tell me the position of women in that nation.” Nehru held that “the greatest revolution is a country is the one that effects the status and the living conditions of its women”. He advised women, lond before he became the Prime Minister of India, to free themselves from the tyranny of man-made customs and laws, to educate themselves not only for household duties and not to look upon marriage as woman’s sole economic refuge.

The revolution that touched Indian women most profoundly was the non-violent civil disobedience movement launched by Mahtma Gandhi for gaining the independence of India. In 1930 Gandhiji issued a call to women to join the movement: they came forward in response to his call and went to jail in thousands. It is interesting to recall that in 1931 the Indian National Congress passed a resolution expressing its admiration agratitude for the part they played in the struggle. It is due to this earl involvement of women in the mass movement for independence that their cause did not take a separate feminist form india, though within the India national Congress women’s organizations and leaders were emphasizing specific problems concerning women. In consequence political rights like universal adult suffrage and some of the basic social and economic rights came to them with the country’s independence without any kind of suffragette or feminist agitation as in the West. These were incorporated in the Constitution of India and special legislation was enacted later to invest them with equal rights with regard to marriage, divorce and property.

I should like to read out to you what Gandhiji said as early as 1918 on the status of women as he envisaged it: “Women is the companion of man, righted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in every minutes detail in the activities of man and she has equal right of freedom and liberty as he..... By sheer force of vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over women which they do not deserve and ought not to have. Many of our movements stop half way because of the condition of our women. Much of our world does not yield appropriate results; our lot is like that of the penny wise pound foolish trader who does not employ enough capital in his business.” Gandhiji not only wanted equal status for women, but believed that without harnessing woman power no great work could be successfully carried out in society.

It is because of our enlightened nationalist movement, the advanced ideas of Gandhi and Nehru and the progressive legislation carried out since independence that Indian women are able to play an important role in society today. It is well-known that we produced some great women who occupied high offices in government and public life like Indira Gandhi, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Sarojini Naidu and a galaxy of others. Today we have 6\56 women M.Ps in our Parliament which is rather low representation. But among them are leading figures like Dr. (Smt.) Najma Heptulla, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha and Smt.

Pratibha Patil, previous Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The first woman Deputy Chairman was Smt. Violet Alva, whose daughter-in-law Smt. Margaret Alva is now a Minister of State in the Government. The Lok Sabha has also distinguished lady Members like Smt. Sheila Kaul, Smt. Geeta Mukherjee, Smt. Vijaya Raje Scindia, to mention a few. One of the important steps taken by the Government is to ensure reservation of 30% of seats for women in the elected local self-government bodies like Panchayats. This is an important measure that would politically empower women at the level of grass-roots democratic institutions and prepare them for future leadership in public life.

With all this kind of progress I am afraid that much has yet to be done to uplift Indian women to an effectively higher status in politics and society. Literacy and educational levels among women in India are still very low and they are not in a position to avail of the rights and benefits conferred upon them by legislation and the policies of the Government. Many of the old social evils like the dowry system still persists and atrocities against women, like in several other parts of the world, have assumed deplorable proportions. It is a paradoxical and shameful phenomenon. When the world is supposed to be getting more advanced, educated and cultured a new barbarism has risen with reckless violence perpetrating atrocities against women and children.

Women are the first victims of any sort of war and conflict; they are also the first sufferers of cruelty and discrimination by man in times of peace. I am glad that you would be discussing this question of violence against women in order to provide Parliamentary support to the United Nations Universal Declaration on Violence against Women. IPU, with the active nucleus of its women members, can play a crucial role in arousing world public opinion against the menace of this new barbarism. I have quoted Mahatma Gandhi in this address. I must confess that India, the land of Gandhi, has a major responsibility to deal sternly with violence against women in our own country and to give a lead to the fight against it in the world under the banner of the United Nations.

I understand that IPU has a Plan of Action to correct current Imbalances in the Participation of Men and Women in Politics. You would be discussing the Action Plan in your meeting. I have dwelt earlier upon the importance of women’s participation and leadership in the political process. To achieve this at higher levels women Parliamentarians will have to act in an organized manner, and the male of the species in the Parliaments of the world will have to encourage, co-operate and help. May I say here that at the grass-roots level of the electoral process in India I have found refreshingly active interest by women in the electoral process. I have been touched by the way women dressed in their simple best queue up at the polling booths from early morning to cast their votes at elections. Theirs is a sincere participation with the glow of faith and hope in their eyes.

And once the elections are over the women expect their M.Ps to do something for those who have voted them to the Parliament. The other day a Member of the Parliament of India hailing from the Punjab told me an experience of his. A lady from his constituency telephone him and told him that there was a heap of garbage thrown on the road right in front of her house. She wanted her M.P. to have the garbage removed from the front of her house. The M.P. told her that it was simple job and she could have telephoned the local Sanitary Inspector to have it removed.

Pat came the retort from the lady constituent: “Oh, I did not want to go up that high.” The result was that the Hon’ble Member of Parliament had to have the garbage removed. Here is an example of an active woman constituent and a responsive Member of Parliament. I believe that both women voters and women Parliamentarians are active and persistent players in democratic politics. I ardently wish that the proportion of women in Parliaments and international bodies be steadily increased to 50 percent during the next decade as was suggested by the Inter-Parliamentary Symposium on the Participation of Women in Political and Parliamentary Decision Making Process held in 1989. May I also wish all success for your deliberations at this meeting.

Thank you