IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 24th Sep 2020

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

Dear Aspirants
IASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020.

EDITORIAL HUNT #154 :“Women in Leadership Roles | UPSC“

Bhaskar Dutta

Bhaskar Dutta is Professor, Ashoka University.

HEADLINES:

Weighing in on the efficacy of female leadership

CENTRAL THEME:

It is necessary to get rid of inherent biases and perceptions about the effectiveness of women in roles of authority

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1 : Issues related to Women and Society : Women Empowerment

MAINS QUESTION:

There is substantial evidence showing that increased female representation in policy making goes a long way. Substantiate -(GS 1)

LEARNING:

Why Germany , New Zealand have won half battle ?
Indian perspective of women in Politics.
Quota for Women candidates

INTRODUCTION:

What do Germany, Taiwan and New Zealand have in common? #women heading their governments.

BETTER MANAGEMENT : The three countries seem to have managed the pandemic much better than their neighbours.

Studies such as these do not establish the superiority of all female leaders over their male counterparts.

STEREOTYPES : All female leaders are not necessarily efficient, and there are many men who have proved to be charismatic leaders.
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS : The important takeaway from the recent experience is the necessity of getting rid of inherent biases about female effectiveness in leadership roles.

BODY:

INDIA’S GRAM PANCHAYATS

FEMININE APPROACH : In particular, they perform significantly better than men in implementing policies that promote the interests of women.

EXAMPLE

Women pradhans are more likely to invest in providing easy access to drinking water since the collection of drinking water is primarily the responsibility of women.

GENDER EQUALITY : In addition to the instrumental importance of promoting more space for women in public policy, gender equality is a sustainable practise too.

ABOUT SUFFRAGE

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE : Women were allowed to vote from 1950 onwards and so could participate on an equal footing with men from the first general election of 1951-52.
MATURE DEMOCRACIES : In the U.S., it took several decades of struggle before women were allowed to vote in 1920.
GENDER STEREOTYPING : Interestingly, a glaring example of gender stereotyping was the labelling of Indira Gandhi as the “only man in the cabinet”.
GENDER COMPOSITION : The female representation at the Centre is probably not very far from the typical gender composition in State governments.

Female members make up only about 10% of the total ministerial strength.

UNDERREPRESENTATION : The underrepresentation of female Ministers in India is also reflected in the fact that Ms. Banerjee is currently the only female Chief Minister.
MARGINALISED : The underrepresentation of women in Indian legislatures is even more striking.

Women constitute just over 14% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.

This gives us the dismal rank of 143 out of 192 countries for which data are reported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Tiny Rwanda comes out on top with a staggering 60% of seats in its lower house occupied by women.

THE WOMEN’S BILL LANGUISHES

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD : Since women running for elections face numerous challenges, it is essential to create a level-playing field through appropriate legal measures.

The establishment of quotas for women is an obvious answer.

RESERVATION BILL : Attempts have also been made to extend quotas for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies through a Women’s Reservation Bill.
UNRESOLVED IDEA : The fate of this Bill represents a blot on the functioning of the Indian Parliament.
CRITICISM : Male members from several parties opposed the Bill on various pretexts.
PROGRESS : Subsequently, Governments have reintroduced the Bill in successive Parliaments, but without any success.

IASbhai Windup:

STEPS TO REDUCING PREJUDICE

BOLD STEPS : The major party constituents can sidestep the logjam in Parliament by reserving say a third of party nominations for women.
INCREASING CABINET SHARE : This will surely result in increasing numbers of women in legislatures and subsequently in cabinets.

Indeed, voter perceptions about the efficacy of female leadership may change so drastically in the long run that quotas may no longer be necessary!

SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL HUNT | Women in Leadership Roles | UPSC

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