Women In Politics

Female Politicians, Family, and Celebrity, begins on an appalling note with “women should stay out of politics and out of diplomacy too. At best it is a dirty business” (p.87).

Same ramblings could be heard in India when Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan, was nominated for the position of head of the state. While Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton were facing sexist remarks in the US in recent elections, India had already taken a lead by appointing Pratibha Patil, as the first woman president of India.
Through this journal I will explore four arguments made in the chapter in the context of the contribution of women in Indian politics and show how women in politics have come a long way.



"Women and politics are antithesis of each other" (p.8a7).

It is widely believed that this line of thought is common in Asian societies, where politics is often considered to be a male realm and viewed as an arena where dishonesty, bribery, corruption and violence are rampant. But interestingly, it is here, that the world’s most powerful and influential political female icons have made a strong mark. From Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime minister of India to the first woman president of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Jayalalitha, Sheila Dikshit, Mamata Banerjee, Sushma Swaraj, Renuka Chaudhary, Vasundhara Raje Scinidia, Uma Bharati, to Brinda Karat, all exemplify the ability of a small group of highly educated Indian women to occupy the highest positions in the country’s politics. Women may be “traditional symbols of innocence and virtue”, but it is with these distinct characteristics that women have raised politics, especially in India to a much higher level.









This video about Delhi's Chief Minister, Shiela Dikshit, who won the state elections for the third time in a row stands testimony to the fact women in politics have not only arrived but are here to stay. Completely contrary to the stereotypical image of politicians in India, she is educated, level headed and not corrupt. She has and is leaving indelible marks on the political canvas of Delhi by becoming the most promising and consistent politician. This clearly shows that women and politics are not antithesis of each other. And also that a woman politician brings into politics, wisdom, balance, pragmatism, thrift and sensitivity to incorporate issues of traditional concern for women, like health, education and general welfare, which are the stepping stones for a progressive nation.


Another myth is that “for women in politics family life still is a concrete barrier for women’s participation in politics” (p. 89) and most of the women politicians tend to remain single or without children.


Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi

Looking back at Indira Gandhiwho became the first woman Prime Minister of India in 1966, the above statement appears to be in total contradiction. Indira joined politics when she was single and remained in politics even after her marriage. Her family, in no way was a barrier to her political career. Even after giving birth to two sons, she remained rooted in the Indian National Congress. Widowed at a very early stage of her political career, she continued to successfully run the country despite personal adversities. After her husband’s demise the whole responsibility of taking care of the children and heading the Indian National Congress came on her shoulders. And this was the time when she took both the responsibilities head on and proved her critics wrong by balancing both her career and family life aplomb. Her success is seen specially in the maturing of Rajiv Gandhi as the young face of modern India when he took over as a Prime minister.
Today she continues to be revered and respected as the Iron lady of India who made the world sit up and notice her.

Mahatma Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu (1930)

Sarojini Naidu was a freedom fighter and poet. She was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. What is to be noted here is that she had a happy family life, which at the same time epitomized a breakaway from the social norms of the times. She married Dr. Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu at the age of 19, at a time when inter caste marriages were not allowed. She was an active and avid political figure with a family with four children to take care of.


Examples of prominent leaders like Shiela Dixit, Sonia Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kriplani, Renuka Choudhary and Rabri Devi belie this statement, demonstrating how they never ever allowed politics to detract them from their families or vice versa.



“Female celebrity is still built primarily on the appearance of the body, and the instability of changing appearances is not the kind of reliable image that a politician would want to project for hersel” (p.94).

This is definitely not true of the country where I am from, because women may be objectified in the field of entertainment but female politicians are up on a pedestal. The only fashion statement that they make is through their reforms and new proposals to the Parliament. India has a tall history of women politicians like the queen of Jhansi, who while being exemplified as leaders are also worshipped and eulogized for their image of motherhood. Thus while in US parliament there is a hue and cry over Hillary Clinton’s cleavage show, in Indian parliament women traditionally clad do not defy the Indian culture.






Let us assess this video in the light of the above argument. Here Sonia Gandhi is the focus of attention by the media and in that sense, is a celebrity. But her celebrity status is not primarily based upon her appearance, body, or looks. It is her stature, her actions and her life history that make her a celebrity. The attributes of a strong woman are talked about in the video and not her appearance.

What is interesting is that be it Mayawati, the Dalit leader’s staid suit, Uma Bharti’s orange attire of a sanyasin, the face of the fundamentalist Hindutva, Priya Dutt’s khadi kurta or Sonia Gandhi’s cotton saree, these remain their never changing signatures. The consistent image in fact, reinforces that they mean business and are not here to draw attention to themselves but to their work. This very spirit ironically gives them a celebrity status.


“Controversial first ladies like Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and ultimately Hillary Clinton have all been perceived as taking the center stage at the expense of the husband’s position” (p.96)


Indian mainstream politics is often criticized for being an arena dynastic rule. Indira Gandhi took her father Nehru’s seat, Sonia Gandhi grew out of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi’s public stature. However, there are also many instances of women politicians who have come into their own by their sheer determination and effort, not as a part of legacy.





Mayawati, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, came from a non discript Dalit family and entered politics after completing her education in law and Administrative Services. In this video Mayawati clearly displays her determination for not only achieving effective administration in the most populated state of India but also to achieve her political ambitions.


One can point out many such examples from Indian politics like Sarojini Naidu, Jayalalitha, Renuka Chowdhury, Mamata Banerjee, Uma Bharati to name a few.

Women in Bollywood

The Indian film industry, consisting mainly of Bollywood, has witnessed a sea-change in the portrayal of the female protagonist. Essentially male-centric, leaving very little space for the females to evolve, Bollywood still has been quite in step with Hollywood in terms of presentation of women, albeit a little too late.

Here I will analyze three essential characteristics of evolution of women in cinema, namely; the virgin-whore complex, femme fatale and finally women being urged to come out and work; in the backdrop of the classical era in Hollywood and the stages in the evolution of Bollywood that came later.



Virgin-whore complex


Cinema has played a critical role in being prescriptive yet, reflective of society. Thus, for a very long time, the films continued to portray the virgin-like image of the ‘good woman’, though lacking in variety and depth of the ‘female psyche.’ This image of the woman as the self-sacrificing good wife, mother, and beloved continued through the 1950s and 1960s. ‘Mother India’ and ‘Madhumati’ celebrated the extreme gracefulness and vigor of women despite personal adversity. In a way, Indian cinema has always celebrated and perpetuated its culture through films.

Parallel films also portrayed the whore, the other, the shunned, and the negative. Classical Bollywood era ushered in a negative representation of women especially in sagas like ‘Anarkali,’ where a dancer falls in love with the ruler’s son. Courtesans, the ‘nautch girls,’ or female dancers began sharing the screen with the pure and virgin-like homemakers. This was essentially done to bring forth to the audience the clear divide between a good and a bad woman. They co-existed but never meeting and therefore, would never share the same space. Usually, the man, as the main protagonist, was the center of these two contrasts. Virgins were confined to the veil and the whores took center stage as the entertainers for the kings in the precincts of the same court. Whores perpetuated the image of the pleasure providers and confined themselves to being objects of just that. They were seen as less than human and not worthy enough of having feelings or a family.


“Many men feel that good girls should be virginal and that men should not marry a woman too free with her sexuality” (p. 219)








For example in Devdas, the protagonist, disheartened upon failing to marry the love of his life Paro, goes to a brothel. There, Chandramukhi, the dancer/prostitute tries to lure him through her seductive dance.
While leaving the brothel, he tells Chandramukhi that “dancing to an audience of drunken men is shamelessness” and emphasizes that a woman can be a “mother, sister, wife, or friend and when she is none, she is a whore”. It is the stark reflection of the thought of the times that there are only two types of women in society, the virgin or the whore. It places the pristine virgin like women way above in the hierarchy, relegating the bad woman to much lower rungs in society.

An interesting difference in the representation of the whore in Bollywood is that she is usually vulgarly laden with clothes and ornaments to exemplify ill-gotten wealth of keeps. Usually adept in classical dance, since temple dancers were meant to appease Gods, her primary task was to appease men, on earth. Yet, she was not fit for the Gods.


Femme Fatale

The femme fatale of 1940’s of classical Hollywood era bloomed in India after Helen, who was born to an Anglo Indian father and Burmese mother, entered the film industry in the 1950’s. Having atypical looks, she became the third type, highly attractive capable of destroying those who succumbed to her charm. Cinema was ready to cash in on the femme fatale image she was able to carry with aplomb. Helen became the vamp capable of luring men and someone who would “just as easily murder a man as marry him” (p.232) thereby, providing the much-needed spice.
However, filmmakers remained restrained, with the fear of influencing and encouraging the woman in the audience to become like the screen siren. Ironically, the vamp was manipulated and contrived in such away that the femme fatale stood for all that an Indian woman should not be. She made inroads like a double-edged sword, giving the much needed fillip to the tad and boring storyline without bringing a bad name to the producers for trying to destroy the so-called Indian culture.

Play Don movie clip
In this clip from the movie Don, Helen, a dancer, tries to seduce the protagonist and gives him alcohol and offers him sexual services. She is at her seductive and sleazy best, provocatively enticing him through her charm which he resists indicating that he has scant respect for women who are ever ready to sleep with people.


In this clip, Helen, tries to engage the protagonist through song and dance and by giving him alcohol so that he stay there till the time the police arrives to catch him something he has not done. in the end of the song the protagonist looks outside the window and realizes that he has been deceived. He leaves Helen at the end of the film, put off by her promiscuous and wanton behavior, to return to his girlfriend. And she Helen eventually pays the price of her overtly manipulative nature by getting killed in the end.

Encouraging women to join the work force

In Hollywood, “a composite propaganda figure was used in print and media campaign to promote the idea that women should leave their homes and enter the workforce” (p. 231), at the time of the II world war. Similarly, partition in 1947 rendered many homeless and hungry. It is in this vein that films like ‘Mother India’, encouraging women to take to the fields, were made exactly ten years after independence.







In this film, the protagonist Radha’s family is reeling under the pressure of a debt which gets compounded when her husband’s arms get crushed under a boulder. Not wanting to be a burden on the family, he leaves never to return. Soon a storm in the village destroys the harvest, and kills Radha's youngest child. The villagers, eager to migrate, decide to stay on the urgings of Radha. She encourages them to start their lives all over again. The most famous scene has the protagonist dragging a plow because she did not have money to buy cattle to plow the land.





Film posters of this image motivated women across India to share the work in the fields alongside their husbands. Just like Rosie the Riveter which is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in war factories during World War II, Mother India became an inspiration for the rural women who till now were confined to the four walls of their homes. A landmark of sorts, it is usually credited with ushering in the green revolution of the 1960’s.