India

Reservation for women is essential because in the absent of the quota, they would have not been able to enter politics and it would have always remained a man's domain,'' Mayor Bharti Vyas said here on Sunday at a discussion on women's reservation in Parliament and penalty for rapists. The programme was organised by the city unit of the BJP's Women's Wing.
Vyas said if it had not been for reservation, she might not have been elected the Mayor and not many women would have got the chance to be elected councillors. ``For effective functioning, women should have a clear perspective of what they want to achieve.''

Speaking on her experiences with the elected women members of the Sarpanch at various talukas, Shailaja Raizada of the Faculty of Social Work, M S University said, when they asked elected women what they intended to do for their community, most of them seemed ignorant.

``Most of them said they contested panchayat elections because their men folk wanted them to do so. A majority of them had no future plans and said they would consult the male members of the panchayat''.

Pointing out that if this was the result after reservation then there was no added benefit, she said, ``In fact, we should now think of how to utilise this government decision in a more effective way''.

Addressing the gathering, Member of Parliament, Jaya Thakkar said, ``It is true that not many women are aware of how to make optimum use of the authority given to them.'' Thakkar, however, was confident that with time women would be able to command better and fight for their rights.

Speaking on penalty to rapists she said, ``No judgement can be delivered without knowing the circumstances under which the crime was committed''.