The Exclusivity of Women Inclusion

Why do acts aiming for inclusion look like exclusion at implementation?

Why Woman Empowerment seems to be a distant dream?

Government policies, as enabling as they seem by design, during on-ground implementation face limitations including modification, manipulation, minimization, exploitation for ulterior benefit. As a result, the goal that these policies are set to achieve, seem ever- distant from being completely achieved.

When INCLUSION in Theory is EXCLUSION in Reality:

I recently attended the W20 Inception Meet- a meeting in which representatives, exclusively women, visited different cities in India (the host of the year) to interact with different women entrepreneurs to understand the challenges they face and discuss on policies relating to economic development. The main agenda of including a separate W20 section in these G20 Meets was to ensure participation of women.

However, what adds to my curiosity, among many others is that, if participation is the goal, why are these meets designed exclusively for women? If we talk about equal participation, why does G20 not consider representative population of all genders sitting on under one roof, having an inclusive discussion?

During the Public Participation (Janabhagidari) session, emphasis was on the presence of a male participant on the stage quoting, “tolerating a male on a W20 stage”. How is this resistance and expectation of exclusive treatment going to achieve inclusion?

I believe inclusion is only possible when male are open to listen to a female on the table and consider her opinion, while empowerment is when a female firmly asserts her opinion in the presence of an audience in a fairly distributed inclusively gendered or for that matter, any kind of population.

Impact of attempts at Inclusion:

It is an irony that while public buses have one section of seats reserved for women, still women think twice before boarding a bus at night which is occupied only by men. Reservation of seats does not provide a sense of security. Reservations have succeeded, to some extent, in controlling women harassment by distancing the two genders, however, controls actually work towards delaying of harassment, with an increased intensity of impulse. News is enough evidence.

Highlighting vulnerability is not Empowerment:

It becomes apparent that security is provided to those who do not have the sense of security, due to factual reasons. Thus they are not designed to give a sense of security, rather just highlight insecurity in the minds of the vulnerable group.

When the Exclusion becomes EXCLUSIVE:

On the other hand, the effect these reservations have on the male population is the curiosity and attraction towards, not just the women now, but also the seats reserved for women. Men choose to sit or stand in the women’s section (despite availability of seats in the unreserved section) and argue, or wait for a woman to demand her rightful place. It is obvious response to something that is exclusively reserved for a special population. Thus exclusion has become exclusivity and exclusivity leads to curiosity, followed by misuse, abuse and exploitation.

The population excluded from EXCLUSION: Who is excluded, exactly?

Abuse of Policies aiming at Women Empowerment

Amusing part of this is when the weaker, more vulnerable sections of the society is provided with some provisions for their upliftment, the priveleged section of the society which is not listed in the reservations or special provisions, start feeling excluded.

Thus, the section identified as weaker in the policy is percieved as privileged in the public, and now, no one anymore wants to really be empowered. Everyone just wants the provisions, irrespective of who they are meant for (the weaker/ vulnerable section). So much so that they are also willing to change their caste through fake certifications, and manipulating policies to exploit the benefits meant for the female population.

In an interaction with Adv Swami, he questions, “Since 1950, women and children are classified as weaker section. Child, on growing into an adult is considered in the empowered group. What about women? When will they be considered empowered? Are they always going to be the weaker section? There is not statistics mentioning that during the period of Year x to year y, these many women have been empowered and have entered the mainstream.”

So the question that comes to one’s mind is, “When will we see, in reality and in perception in human minds, women as empowered? What is the definition of an “empowered woman”? When will one see a woman as empowered, when will we see a woman from the real weaker vulnerable section entering the mainstream? When will her opinion, her upliftment and her being be acknowledged?

Exploitation for ulterior gains:

It gets worse when these provisions and resources are exploited to fulfill ulterior motives. For instance, when businesses registered under women’s names are actually run by men. Registration is to seek benefits provided to the female population for promoting women representation in entrepreneurship.

Many women from the privileged society take benefits meant for the actual weaker section of the society, who are oblivious of their rights and provisions they can avail. In fact, at times they are also exploited by agents or intermediaries.

There are many women who are struggling to find the rightful exposure and make their place in the society, and economy. Attempts were made to influence the social and cultural restrictive norms through different policies. However, the manipulation and exploitation of the systems make it more and more tedious to implement these policies to achieve the set agenda of women empowerment and inclusion.

Conclusion:

India has been fighting caste- or gender- based discrimination through policies that aim for equity, equality, inclusivity and empowerment. However, equity and equality without empowerment and social inclusivity is like a sword in a scabbard. It is impossible for inclusive policies to work in the face of social exclusivity and biases.

Reservations have been one of its tools. Reservations have definitely helped in social mobility of a discriminated section of the society to some extent. However, what needs to be questioned is that can we eradicate the discriminatory perceptions about caste or gender through reservation policies? As inclusive as the policy of reservation seems, by design, on implementation, it just adds in to the shades of discrimination, biases and excluding beliefs of both the vulnerable and the dominating groups, with whomever the privilege lies.

The preventive measures are controls, while acts are implemented in the form of punishment. However, punishments can induce learning, may not necessarily induce mental readiness and behavioral change.

Unless we work on our beliefs and take steps towards understanding our co-habitants, it would be difficult to achieve inclusivity through change in policies, physical arrangements, reservations, laws and acts.