Quick Take | Will gender equality be a poll issue in Kerala?

The Left, the Congress and the BJP are focusing on women’s issues in a state where women outnumber men.

Viju Cherian

January 02, 2019 / 10:49 IST

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

Viju Cherian

How sincere are political parties in Kerala about gender equality? Looking at the recent developments one would say very much.

Kerala ushered in the New Year by building a wall and 20th century American poet Robert Frost would have been proud of this wall. Kerala’s wall was not “walling in or walling out” but the Women’s Wall (Vanitha Mathil) highlighted the need for gender justice and the need to revive renaissance values. The State-backed wall spread from the northern tip of Kasargod to the state capital Thiruvananthapuram in the south.

The ruling LDF’s Women’s Wall, in addition to the BJP-RSS’ Ayyappa Jyothi where lamps were lit across the state on December 26 and the Congress-led UDF’s Women Sangamam (meetings) on December 29, has set the tone for the 2019 elections in Kerala. With so much happening, it will be difficult for political parties in Kerala to ignore gender equality in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

However, is there a mismatch between what these political parties preach and practice? In the present 19-member Cabinet in the CPI(M)-led LDF government there are two women ministers. The 20-member Cabinet in the previous Congress-led UDF government had one woman minister. The BJP has not formed a government in the state, but, among its 11 core committee members there is one woman member. Remember that in Kerala women outnumber men with a male-to-female ratio at 0.99.