he former First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama said, “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” Rightly so, every woman has the ability to crush the barriers of the single largest world ‘religion’, patriarchy.
A Goan woman who has worn many hats during her lifetime from being a daughter, sister, wife, mother, radio jockey, etc, paved the way for yet another one for the women of the State. UshaNaik, who lost her husband PanditYograj during the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2021, overcoming the pressures of patriarchal traditions became the first woman in Goa to perform the marriage rituals of her daughter, Dr Gautami.
In October 2022, RoshniNaik from Bandora-Ponda broke the shackles of traditions by lighting the funeral pyre of her husband, RohidasYashwantNaik. Roshni, who did not have any children, is among the first few widows in Goa to conduct her husband’s last rites. Her progressive move was supported by her relatives and villagers, who lauded her for her bravery and composure at a trying time. Before that, in July 2020, YutiAmonkar, daughter of Goa’s former Health Minister Dr Suresh Amonkar, had performed the last rites and lit his pyre when he passed away and was amongst the first victims of the Covid-19 pandemic in the State.
From birth to death, the role of the ‘better half’ of society has been undermined and therefore has always been discriminatory. From being the first to wake up in the morning to perform all the chores of the house to being the last to eat dinner, women have been at the receiving end at all levels, including social and political. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, India stood at a low of 36.7% on gender parity related to ‘economic participation and opportunity’. India ranks 142 out of 146 countries on the health and survival sub-index. India also performs poorly on the political empowerment sub-index.
Goa being the smallest State in the country can show the path ahead for the rest of the country by being the ‘first’ on many fronts. In the education sector, Goa has consistently ensured a higher gross enrolment ratio (GER) for girls and the results year after year are a testimony that girls have been outnumbering boys at all levels of education from secondary to the university.
On the other hand, despite having a high literacy rate and a high per capita income, Goa’s position as an equal opportunity player for women in employment has been on the slide. The Union Minister of Labour and Employment in a reply in RajyaSabha in March 2023, informed that Goa’s female participation rate in the workforce registered a significant decline from 28.2% in 2019-20 to 20.7% in 2021-22.
The LokSabha on September 20, 2023, passed the Women’s Reservation Bill, 27 years after it was first introduced in Parliament. It has been a long wait for the passage of the Bill and it may well take yet another term of the LokSabha before the law is implemented. However, while politicians celebrate Usha’s commendable step to break free from the clutches of traditions, it is equally important that the political class takes the lead in providing the first platform of political equality by giving atleast 33 per cent of tickets to women to contest elections across levels, even without reservation.
On the eve of Independence Day last year, President DroupadiMurmu in her address to the nation said, “Economic empowerment strengthens the position of women in the family and society.” Thus, while we have a lot of firsts, it is high time that there are sustained policy changes to ensure the participation of women across sectors and from across the sections.
