Only three women MPs march to Parliament from Tamil Nadu

Historically, Tamil Nadu has not exhibited a great record of sending women representatives to Parliament. At best, it has sent four women to the Lok Sabha. That figure has mostly waned, dipping to zero once, in the last 30 years. In fact, in 2019, a year that has seen an incremental rise in the number of women in the Lok Sabha, Tamil Nadu will have only three women in the House.

The three - DMK's Kanimozhi Karunanidhi from Tuticorin and Tamizhachi Thangapandian from South Madras and Congrss Party's S. Jothimani from Karur – however made a mark with their success, defeating their rivals, all heavyweights, by several lakh votes. Theirs was a strident victory, in that sense.

“All three MPs are well educated, they are litterateurs, and have sworn commitment to issues that they believe in. They are not coming in as hobbyists; instead they come across as serious people intending to make a difference, so we must celebrate this,” says Swarna Rajagopalan, founder of Prajnya, an organisation working on gender issues, and with a focus on women in polity. She advances the argument that perhaps this time, the quality of candidates is a measure that cannot be ignored.

However, she adds: “Quality is not a substitute for quantity in a numbers game. The point is we need quality women candidates, and more of them, to represent people in Parliament. Of course, we would also like to see more gender-sensitive male legislators, and to see proof of that with their statements and commitments.”

Only incremental increases are recorded in the number of women election after election, and yet these increases inspire celebration.

“We seem to be easily satisfied even with the crumbs. But what we need is the 33% reservation for women bill to be passed. Otherwise we will keep hearing from parties the excuse of ‘winnability’ as a factor for nominating enough women candidates,” she said.

In fact, this issue has been top of the agenda of Ms. Kanimozhi as a Rajya Sabha member. “There have been a lot of meetings and talk about the Women’s Reservation Bill, but it has not yet been passed. With this kind of a majority, the Union government can easily pass the Bill. I hope they will too,” she says.

The MPs from Tamil Nadu will be a key part of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, so they would have to step up on gender issues, and also initiate broader discussions on these issues. “We do hope that the women seek out misogyny in general in Parliamentary proceedings and feel confident enough to call it out,” Dr. Rajagopalan says.

While acknowledging their abiding interest in gender issues, Tamil Nadu’s women MPs are also mindful of their commitments to their constituents and the need to raise issues that need to be resolved.

“I have been talking about many important issues in the state during my tenure in the Rajya Sabha as well. Issues relating to women will also be important to me,” Ms. Kanimozhi says.

Gender sensitivity

Debutante MP and former English professor, Ms. Tamizhachi, who won from the Chennai South constituency, asserts: “Of course, I will be alive to gender issues as well. In fact, my thrust areas have always been gender sensitivity and related issues, and the welfare of rural women.”

Until the 33% reservation makes it mandatory for parties to allocate a portion of seats to women, States will depend on the women they elect to represent their grievances at the highest echelons.