A 33 per cent reservation in Parliament will do little for women if leaders like Anandiben Patel make sweeping, sexist remarks.
Women reaching the top echelons of power are seen as a cause for celebration, an indication of women empowerment and a way to get women’s voices across in a male-dominated landscape.
Even if women in power fail to overtly further the rest of the community’s cause and speak up for them, the least they can do is not use the platform they have by virtue of their status to find reasons to deride other women.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel’s insensitive and unfounded remarks are, thus, not just disappointing but, in fact, are deeply offensive.
“Women in cities these days don’t breastfeed babies as they fear their figure will be affected, the baby is fed milk through bottles since birth. If children are bottle-fed, as bottles shatter, one day their naseeb (fate) will also shatter,” Patel said Wednesday. She was speaking at, hold your breath, an Anganwadi centre in Indore.
In ordinary circumstances, these remarks do not deserve to be dignified with any response but Patel is a Governor and has also been a democratically elected chief minister. It is important to call out such completely ill-advised, baseless and highly gendered statements made by women like Patel, who are in important positions and whose statements are heard by, and unfortunately taken seriously by, many sections.
Patel was the first and only woman chief minister of Gujarat, a fact that would have undoubtedly made many women in the state proud and hopeful. Her entry in politics was more accidental than planned.
Then a teacher, Patel jumped into a reservoir to save two girls from drowning during a school picnic, an act for which she went on to win the President’s bravery award. This also led to her joining politics.
She entered politics in 1987 and joined the BJP as the Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Morcha president, clearly marking herself as a politician who would give importance to championing women’s causes.
In mid-2016, Patel displayed her sensitive side when she broke down after listening to a young girl highlight the issue of female foeticide by reading out a fictional letter from an unborn girl child to her mother at a function in Kheda district.
Two years later, many women may break down after hearing Patel’s absolutely insensitive remarks. Given her trajectory, her remarks come as an even bigger disappointment.
Her statement, to begin with, has no basis. There is no research or study to corroborate her claims that women in cities increasingly do not breastfeed babies for the fear that their “figures will be affected”. It also shows complete disrespect for a woman’s agency – her choice to breastfeed or not, and her ability to judge what is best for the child and her.
This statement also shows a clear disdain for women’s concern for their figures (the issue of breastfeeding aside). Women, of course, should submit themselves to the cause of marriage and motherhood, and not be bothered about their fitness or well-being.
Further, Patel’s reference to women in “cities” seems like her own subtle way of talking about modern, independent women who need a rap on their knuckles for being precisely that.
Her statement is an insult to the many urban mothers who juggle work, home and babies. It is also an insult to their wisdom to choose what is best for them. But most chillingly, Patel tries to instil a sense of guilt and fear in mothers, who are unable to breastfeed regularly for whatever reason, by claiming that their children’s “fate will be shattered”.
Patel definitely isn’t the first person in politics to make a sweeping, sexist statement, and she won’t be the last. But each time women are rudely put down through such statements, it tells us that sexism and lopsided view on gender are deeply engrained in our mindset – at conscious and sub-conscious levels – and a mere 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament may perhaps achieve nothing in correcting this unfortunate psyche.
Not just insensitive but a completely inaccurate portrayal of how the modern Indian woman deals with her duties and obligations as a mother. Our daughter in law is a working woman based in Singapore, was in Bombay for her confinement, we have seen how, in the last eighteen months, her entire life has been tailored to her daughter’s needs. Motherhood is safe …