The election of Bidya Bhandari as the first female head of state has rekindled the debate on the ability of women to participate in public life and their relation with the larger society. There are two schools on the participation of women in public sphere. One argues that women make it big by co-opting in the patriarchal structure and following the norms set by it. The other suggests that women can be heard and seen in society only if they challenge and smash the very structures they encounter and have to negotiate.Bhandari's elevation to the top political office falls somewhere in between. A sizeable section will continue to see her as a shadow figure of her male compatriots and acknowledge them for catapulting her to the helms of power. Those subscribing to this position will view Bhandari as a widow of a charismatic leader of the ruling CPN-UML, which helped her come to light. This may be partially true but it eclipses a very important aspect—her own capability in the party. Bidya Bhandari had won a by-election by defeating Nepali Congress top-dog Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in 1994. Of course, sympathy votes played an important role in her victory as her husband, Madan Bhandari, had died in a mysterious road accident.
But what about other elections? She has since won two other elections from important constituencies in Kathmandu. Those who see Bhandari as the nominal figure will find it difficult to account for this. Also, they will struggle to come up with a convincing answer when asked: what made her remain the central committee member of the party for 10 years, from 1997 to 2007, and secure consecutive wins as party vice-chairperson? There is no denying that family legacy plays an important role in South Asian politics and that applies to women too. But Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto and Chandrika Kumaratunga are prominent names in South Asian politics, all of whom made it big not just because they belonged to particular political dynasty but also on their own.
Bidya Bhandari's elevation as the head of the state also brings to bear the long drawn out struggle of women for greater say in the public space and to participate as an equal and dignified member of the community. Bhandari's win has to be viewed in terms of the changes in the Nepali social structure in the last three decades. The increasing tendency to invest in overall development of girl child is the first important step in reshaping the social relationship. In many cases, girl child is the first in family to attend school, which becomes her gateway to interact with state, market and society at large.
The tendency to invest in girl child's personality development has got further momentum following the increase in remittance. Children's education is an important area of investment of the remitted money. Parents often shift their residence to provide better education to their wards including female child. This investment starts to bear fruit as that child climbs up the social ladder and acquires social capital to be an active member of the society.
Apart from this, there are other indicators which point to changed relation in the social structure. There are ever increasing number of women acting as bread winners for the family. The government says there are 35,022 such women in Nepal. But this number doesn't account for many undocumented migrants. This process has broken the myth that women cannot be active earning members of the family. Labor migration is another dimension for women. With the absence of able-bodied male members in the family, women even plough the field, smashing the taboo.
The change in consciousness brought about by the decade-long insurgency has also played an important role in altering gender relations. The militarized form of womanhood that came to the fore challenged the meek portrayal of women as someone who cannot take up hard tasks. The induction of women by the rebels in its rank also compelled the state to follow suit in its security agencies. Besides, the peaceful movement for active participation of women also had an impact, as the call for their proportionate inclusion in state agencies is also being heard.
One of the major hurdles is to keep up the momentum following the election of Bhandari. This event could be seen as an exception and old nominal politics resume. To defeat the idea we have to actively promote participation of women in decision making, beginning with family. There are enough signs that tokenism will be the norm as far as women participation is concerned, at least in party politics. This is all the more evident while nominating members under proportional representation wherein near and dear ones make it to the list.
The author is assistant professor of sociology at Kathmandu School of Law
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