Women need safety, education, not sops: Activists

Dr Swarna Rajagopalan, Founder, The Prajnya Trust, which released a check-list focussing on women subjects, said that most parties still talk of protection of women and other gender minorities, instead of steps to curb gender-based violence. A majority of them focussed on marriage and maternity. “Not all women are mothers or are married. The gold for thali scheme shows that it is presumed that all women will get married. Amidst these, schemes like subsidy on mopeds for women are welcome measure.”

“Gender inequality affects everybody – men, women and other genders as well. We think about maternity leave – what about men, who may have to take off when their children or parents are sick” asks this political analyst.

L Ram, a rights activist, said that most of the schemes look women from a male’s view. “There is no assurance from any party to make all places safer for women, including their houses. The schemes announced so far are tokenistic,” he says. 

Siva Kumar, Co-founder of Nirangal, said most of these parties still look women as how they were in the previous centuries and restrict them to traditional roles. “Members of the transgender community too have been long ostracised. Women and the third sex persons need education and jobs. Though we have powerful women leaders, still representation for them in is marginal,” he said. 

Feminist writer V Geetha said, “None of the leaders have a vision for what needs to be done in the next 5 or 10 years. There is nothing substantial for women - no comprehensive plan for safety, no policy to ensure speedy justice, or proper healthcare or education schemes.”