Rethinking the woman voter

It looks, at first blush, like an exciting new winning political formula. Empower women – with cash grants, free transport, and safety both in public places and within the family – and the votes will come pouring in.

- ADITI PHADNIS

It looks, at first blush, like an exciting new winning political formula. Empower women – with cash grants, free transport, and safety both in public places and within the family – and the votes will come pouring in. The central premise is that female voters no longer vote as directed by the male members of the family. Instead, they have emerged as independent-thinking entities who vote driven by considerations of employment, financial autonomy, welfare of the family and – dare we say it – personal ambition.

It is hard to ignore the evidence. In Bihar Nitish Kumar has reaped a huge dividend from the votes of women over the years, especially from low-income groups. His scheme in 2005-06, providing free bicycles for girls, was an electoral super hit. In 2006, his government introduced 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions. The jury is out on the women-empowerment element of this scheme, as cases of men taking decisions by proxy have also been reported. But in 2015, his promise of prohibition, projected as a way to protect women from violence and penury, saw women outnumber men in poll turnout figures.