That feel-good factor: Why women are turning up in big numbers at Bihar polling booths

By Badri Narayan Two phases of Bihar assembly elections are over. The interesting phenomenon in both was women voters outnumbering men at polling booths. In the first phase, while the total vote percentage was 57 percent, the turnout of women was 59.5 percent compared to 54.5 percent of men. Similarly, in the second phase the percentage of women voters was 57.5 percent compared to 52.5 of men. Thus, in both phases women voters outscored their male counterparts by five percent. The trend opens up interesting revelations. It challenges the ideals that emerge from the conventional patriarchal set up where women gender roles are bound to hearth, their interest in politics is negligible and they do not cast their votes. Let’s now find the implicit meanings of this extraordinary rise in ‘women votes’. It is accepted that political consciousness is deep among the male populace of Bihar. However, in the last 15-20 years the impact of state directed development has succeeded to percolate deep into the lowest layers of the social strata, inclusively incorporating women in the process of development. In this process, the state has created opinion groups both in its favour and opposition. Women have their own issues in politics. These revolve around the pursuit of a better livelihood in their day-to-day life rather than lust for political positions. Small reliefs that help mitigate their drudgery and hardship play a decisive role in their political decisions. In the present Bihar elections this very fact has emerged in an interesting way. Men from upper and middle class in urban areas motivate their female counterparts to cast their votes. In contrast, women from Dalit or poor families in the rural areas motivate their males to do so. In the course of my empirical research, I overheard one Dalit woman telling her spouse: “Aaj khet mein kaam bhale hi na ho, vote jaroor dena. Ek din kaam nahi hoga to vajra nahi gir padega”. (Let there be no work on the field today, but you must cast your vote. If you don’t work for a day, lightning won’t strike you)." Now, the question that kept haunting my mind was what motivates economically-backward Dalit and other backward caste women to cast their votes. [caption id=“attachment_2484686” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI image.[/caption] Virtually true is the fact that despite many shortcomings of the state-led development strategy, it has succeeded in penetrating deep. In many of the villages that have been electrified, women now have better options of cooking. In those villages that still remain dark; the state has taken initiatives to install electricity poles and wires. Many companies are involved in speedy electrification of villages in Bihar raising hopes of a better life among women. With electrification and freedom from kerosene lamps, women visualize a better future for their children, their studies and more ease in handling daily chores. Umrawati Devi, from a district close to Buxar district, says: “Nitish is educating our children”. Nitish Kumar has given bi-cycles school uniforms to girls, elevating their status at par with boys. Now-a-days girls are more visible in pursuance of education in comparison to boys. This sends clear indications that the success of schemes initiated by him to promote girl child education has had positive implications on women’s political participation and decision making. Women feel proud to see their girls going school. Umrawati further says, “I could not get education but I feel elated to see my girls studying.” From a remote village of Jahanabad a young school-going girl admits, “It is good that the government has given uniforms to all school girls. All girls from different economic backgrounds now look similar. Uniform has eroded all class distinctions. Else, we had to wear tattered and torn dresses to school wherein girls from well off families flaunted nice dresses. I used to feel very ashamed of myself.” Women understand the accounts of rising prices from their daily experiences in market purchases and also from their spouses. The rising prices of pulses, vegetables, onion, etc. strongly determine the political choices of women. It is possibly for this reason that the Grand Alliance is trying to transfer the onus of rising prices on the BJP government. Probably for this reason Lalu in all his public addresses terms BJP as “Party of Hoarders”. The political participation of women is largely associated with issues of their pride, self-respect and security. This is equally true of all women irrespective of whether they are urban working women or they are poor Dalit or backward class women from rural areas. Every woman aspires for a state and governance that ensures their respect, solidarity and security each moment. My field experience from the remote villages of Bihar indicate that in the last few years there has been a rise in sense of security and that women do not want to risk or gamble with this. Though they do not seem entirely satisfied with the present day affairs, they do not want to take the risk of changing the status quo. The women community is not homogeneous. In a multi-layered society divided by caste, religion, social category, women are stratified. In each stratum women have their own issues and concerns. Resultantly, their socio-political and development experiences differ, which have implications on their political reasoning. Truly speaking, all these opinions and political perceptions of women are not entirely autonomic. They are guided by their perception of spouses, children and their experiences. In the Bihar elections the impact of the state providing subsidy and relief in flood and drought affected regions is visible. This gift politics has played a major role in conditioning the political choices of people. Its impact can be visualized not only in Bihar, but also in Uttar Pradesh and even in several states of the south. The current revelations are that development is not a mere abstract feeling but it is a real feeling. This is true even for the uneducated women folks of rural India. Earlier they dreamt of development, now they have tasted the fruits of it. The urge for more with positive apprehensions has motivated the women in their political decision-making. The political choices of Muslim women have been conditioned by growing penetration of communal violence in society. Ultimately the role of caste, religion and sect positioning are directly or indirectly playing a vital role in conditioning women voters in the elections. Whatever the reasons, the trajectory of the male-dominated democracy in India is changing with apt representation of women. (Badri Narayan is a Professor at the Centre for the study of Discrimination and Exclusion in Jawahar Nehru University)