The Hindu - Karnataka 19.08.2009
‘Education will help empower women’
Special Correspondent
| It is more important than 33 per cent reservation in legislatures, says Selvi Das |
Less than 6.25 p.c. of legislators are women
‘Women IAS officers get insignificant postings’
— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM 
Capicity Building: The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore P. Selvi Das inaugurating a workshop in Mysore on Tuesday.
MYSORE: The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore P. Selvi Das has said that women’s education is more important for their empowerment than 33 per cent reservation in legislatures.
She was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on capacity building for women leaders organised by the International Centre and the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Mysore, here on Tuesday.
Ms. Das called for measures to help women develop self-confidence within the academic curriculum, which would also help them develop a greater sense of self-respect. She said there should be greater awareness and sensitisation of both men and women to women’s issues if society were to progress.
She, however, cautioned that women’s empowerment was not about wearing Western clothes or focussing on physical attributes. Empowerment came along with enormous responsibility towards one’s family and society. Indian culture should not be done away with, she added.
She said 62 years of Independence had not resulted in much advancement in the status of women in the country. “There is a general perception and a deep-rooted belief that marriage is the summum bonum of all existence, and that a woman increases in stature if she is married,” said Ms. Das.
Social stigma
“There is social stigma attached to unmarried women, which is not good. Incidents of female infanticide and female foeticide are a direct off-shoot of this belief,” she added.
Recalling her experience of dealing with women aspirants for the IAS when she was a member of the Union Public Service Commission, Ms. Das said that although women were found to be as competent as men, even after selection and completion of probation they were being given insignificant postings.
“So even educated women in urban areas perceive discrimination,” she said and added that the situation was worse in rural areas.
Ms. Das said discrimination against women in society was deep-rooted and pointed out that less than 6.25 per cent of all legislators in the States were women. The country had had only one woman Prime Minister in 62 years, one woman President and one woman Lok Sabha Speaker so far. Also, there were only two women out of 26 Supreme Court judges.
She said that although the country had passed various laws for women’s empowerment, there was little awareness among women on their rights, such as those relating to property. Ms. Das said the Women’s Reservation Bill to reserve 33 per cent of seats in legislatures for women had been kept in abeyance for more than 10 years. This only showed the attitude of political leaders.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore V.G. Talawar, the former Director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies V.K. Nataraj, and Director of the International Centre R. Indira were present.