ROLE OF CSOS IN ADDRESSING GENDER GAP IN ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION Subhash Mendhapurkar SUTRA JAGJIT NAGAR H.P

Traditionally CSOs have not engaged themselves in mobilizing people to enhance their electoral participation-The Agency for this was the cadre of political party contesting elections Now we are looking for newer agencies for this purpose as inadequacy of this agency has been proved as far as women’s participation is concerned.

 The whole electoral process should pass 3A tests if it wants to enhance the participation of women with women’s perception  Accessible  Affordable  Acceptable

Various Stages within the Electoral Process Whether the pre-election environment is an enabler for women or is it women friendly? Whether the environment at polling booth is women friendly? Does woman standing in the queue feels empowered? These are the questions that needs attention of ECI and it needs to choose agencies who would deliver answers for this.

To enhance women’s participation in State and national level elections many CSOs in Himachal Pradesh came together and devised a strategy way back in They organised meetings with Mahila Mandals and developed a Women’s Manifesto and then Mahila Mandals campaigned for the same during election time We found visible difference in women’s participation

Since then, during every elections the Mahila Mandals and now the Ekal Naree Shakti Sangathans bring out their Manifesto and campaign for the same during elections. Preparations of Manifesto – is a process for not only debating issues but also educating women about importance of voting Getting `yes’ for their Manifesto from political parties increases their own stakes in election results

 Many CSOs now involve SHGs and Mahila Sanghas to develop a Charter of Demand and take it to the political party workers / candidates and hold debates with them. A responsive candidate gets their support by and large.  Political party workers also have understood this and they get prepared for such debates.

 Through these processes large number of women were accessed as well as women also accessed large information on electoral process, the importance of vote  These processes initiated by CSOs have been more or less acceptable to women as they know each other  This is also affordable to women as they could collect all the information within their group meetings

On the Day of Election Let us apply 3A Test for Polling booth

Now a day, accessibility to the polling booth is more or less assured as number of booths have been increased.

Can a woman afford to stand in queue with young child/ren? Can she afford to stand in queue feeling `safe’ Can she afford to spend time away from her `domestic duties’?

Ensuring Affordability Can we organise creches for young children- play houses? Can we have adolescent boys and girls as volunteers who can provide drinking water to women and their children? Can we have functional toilets at booths? Will there be adequate training to police to save women from `eyes’ of men?

Acceptability Is she accepted in the environment at polling booth as `voter’ and not as `woman’? Her spending time at polling booth- Is it acceptable to her Family? Her independent stand on `vote’ Is it acceptable to Family

To have affirmative answers to the above, CSOs should organise preparatory meetings between local election officers and reps of CSOs and CBOs (women Sanghas) and strategies need to be devised. There can not be one strategy as there shall be diversity in external environment.

 It has been observed that there is no problem in mobilizing women from marginalized communities for participation in electoral processes- Ms Razia Patel’s study shows that maximum Muslim women partake in electoral process

 The problem lies with educated upper and Middles class women.  There are very few CSOs who work with these sections of women.  Thus new ways need to find out to mobilize these women-use of technology (SMS)developing neighborhood association, using school going children as motivators

 Many CSOs are working with EWRs of Gram Panchayat or small town Municipal Bodies- can we use these women as an Agency for mobilizing and bridging the gender gap in electoral participation – some experiments in Karnataka have shown very positive results

 ECI should write letter to all the EWRs of Local Bodies inviting them to become Agency to bridge the gender gap  ECI may provide incentives for them- like issuing letter of appreciation at public functions after the elections are over

Thank you