following the recent state elections which saw a record number of women taking the top prize of chief ministership, this status message has been making the rounds of facebook
“Amma in South; Didi in East; Bhenji in North; Aunty in the Capital; Madam in Center; & “Wife At Home”… And yet people say.. It’s a Man’s World! what a joke!”
and it gets my goat every time.
this piece glibly sweeps over the fact that three out of the four chief ministers have never married. they had to choose between their ‘careers’ and their private lives. a choice a male politician never has to make. not only that, their political opponents think that it is okay to take jibes at their single status, making it out to be a personal failing just because.
the other more dangerous thing is that on the face of it, these women who have made it to the top actually provide ammunition to those opposed to making space for women in politics. they say ‘what’s so great about women politicians when they are as corrupt as males if not more?’ in fact, it signifies nothing but the fact that politics is still so patriarchal that to be successful, female politicians have to become proxy-males, and ultimately perpetuate the same standards of ‘leadership’ as males, examples being Jayalalitha and Mayawati. i don’t have hopes from Mamata either; her stint as the central minister was spent not doing her job and instead behaving in the most partisan way towards west bengal, in preparation for the state elections.
in short, whichever way you look at that message, it misleads and misinforms. it only reminds how far we are from a world that is just to both men and women.
