Monday, Mar 10, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram: For decades, there has been only one answer to the question: which among the larger states in India has a majority of women?

But despite the power of their sheer numbers and the fact that Kerala has among the most empowered women in the country, females are out of the picture when it comes to winning or even contesting in the Parliament elections.

Candidate lists are yet to be finalised for most Lok Sabha constituencies in the state but, as always, it appears women will be a minuscule percentage of the contestants. Those who will run face very long odds to figure among the winners.

Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha constituencies, and presently it is an all-male fiefdom. The saving grace is that there is one woman parliamentarian from the state now — the Communist Party of India Marxist MP, T.N. Seema — who represents the party in the Rajya Sabha.

A decade ago, in the 2004 Lok Sabha, there were two women MPs from the state, P. Satheedevi and C.S. Sujatha, both CPM members.

State president of the Mahila Morcha, Shobha Surendran, has been quoted as saying that it is “highly unfortunate” that women in the state are given poor representation in the Lok Sabha polls.

But all hope is not lost, though. In early rounds of discussions regarding potential candidates, at least the Aam Aadmi Party appears to be considering several women candidates. Among those on the AAP’s potential candidates’ list are journalist Anita Pratap and writer Sara Joseph.

Pratap, who has worked with Time magazine and CNN and is well-known for her interview of the late LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran, is speculated to be a candidate from Ernakulam, while Sara Joseph who has won the Sahitya Akademy Award and the Vayalar Award may be fielded from Thrissur.

Kerala has an electorate that is 23.8 million-strong, of whom 12.4 million are women and 11.4 million are men. The total number of voters this time is two million more than in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, when the total strength was 21.8 million. And in all but the Idukki constituency, women outnumber men.

Why would parties shy away from fielding women candidates in a state where women constitute 52 per cent of the electorate? Perhaps they take history as a pointer: Though there were 15 candidates from all parties in the 2009 polls, none got elected. The only one who put up a good fight was Sindhu Joy of the CPM who contested unsuccessfully against Congressman K.V. Thomas.

Interestingly, the chief electoral officer for Kerala is also a woman — Nalini Netto, a 1981 batch IAS officer.

Netto was in the news over a decade ago, when she alleged that she had been sexually harassed by the then minister for transport, Neelalohitadasan Nadar.

By Akhel Mathew Correspondent

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