Women at the helm

Meria kumar's elevation to the helm of speaker is a welcome move and in the right direction. She richly deserves the honor for having served the the nation in various capacities over the years. Though she had the advantage of being Babu Jagjivan Ram's daughter she did not flaunt and use it to her advantage like many of the scions of political families. I hope her humble and calm demeanor would help in creating a right impact on the parliamentary proceedings.

Though much is being made out of her Dalit background i think it is largley symbolic. Coming from a priveleged family i am not sure she was subject to the same discrimination and suffereings that the other dalit women face on a day to day basis. Having said that symbolism helps and i am sure she would inspire many more women from poorer backgrounds to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty and discrimination.

The issue is in India we do things symbolic and they remain that, consider that we had Indira Gandhi as the prime minister for 15 long years, i am note sure if she had done enough to legislate laws to empower women. In that sense Meira kumar's elevation itself may not have a significant impact unless she tries to use her influence to push laws which protect women's rights. The women's reservation bill would be a step in the right direction.

Coming specifically to the Dalit women the problems are humongous. Education is the most important assest that can assist this class to assert themselves and put them on the ladder of economic progression. There are other socio-economic issues that needs immedaite focus by ruling parties both the centre and state.

Coming back to the central point of women's welfare i think it is time to have a ministry to for women's welfare in the central and state levels to give priority and focus to the aspects of 1) Literacy 2) Health care 3) Employment etc. These are some of the steps that need to be taken to improve the well being of women of this country who constitute close 45% of the population, else such tokenism of elevating them to higher offices will remain token.