Vested interests delaying Women's Bill, says Margaret Alva

Mumbai: Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva said the Women’s Reservation Bill was not being brought to the Lok Sabha by vested interests and poor, rural women have been taken for granted by successive governments owing to lack of trade unions and lobbies rallying behind them.

“The bill for reservation of women in Assemblies and Parliament has been passed by the Rajya Sabha and the current government has an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha. It can be passed instantly but they are not bringing it to the Lok Sabha,” she said.

“However, the Bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha, it does not get lapsed as Rajya Sabha is a permanent house. All parties are committed. So you have people who are committed to give you the support. Why are they not bringing it? Because, they are afraid that it will be passed and they don’t want to give up their seats,” she said, during a discussion at the Tata Literature Live festival on Sunday.

The former Governor of Rajasthan said that discrimination against women is sanctified by religious practices and traditions. “It makes it even more difficult to break them when family laws, inheritance laws are made against women because women have not been made part of decision making. These are laws made by men for the protection of men and women have no say,” she said.

“The basic issue is the impact of poverty on the lives of women. I think that governments have just taken women, particularly poor and rural women for granted because they are not organised and they don’t have trade unions or powerful lobbies behind them,” she said.