Pratibha Patil started her campaign today to become president of India. Women gathered to welcome and support her.
UPA Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil today launched her campaign saying women were the backbone of every home and they contributed greatly to the progress and development of the nation.Addressing a massive women's rally organised by DMK here to support her candidature, she said even during independence struggle, women had contributed greatly and faced lathis and bullets even while feeding their families.
"Throughout my life, I have worked for the empowerment of women and this is a proud moment. It has been my privilege to serve society in many ways and capacities in the past 55 years", she said.
The nation is built on the body of the woman, on her labor, on her sacrifice. Amazing to hear a mainstream presidential candidate speak on it so candidly.
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Awesome News. I have been following her nomination and campaign. I found it very interesting that the opposition is against her now, because "she was nominated because she is a woman" ....
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/The_desirable/articleshow/2135531.cms
even as they talk about equality!
Awesome. And true. You advance rights for women, you advance rights for everyone.
She is a role model for women around the world!
I am not a cynical person, but it's pointless to look at Patil's remarks in isolation. Over the last month - she's proved that she's Islamophobic, and willing to distort history to suit her campaign.
The President of India is sort of a dummy post. She isn't being supported because she's a woman - incidentally. She's being supported because she's been a staunch supporter of the Congress - the most patriarchal political party in India and because she belongs to a particular region.
If anything, her nepotism has been a great disadvantage to women. Thanks to her, the idea of a bank to make loans easier for women becomes suspect.
She also advocated forcible sterilization for certain minority groups or people with hereditary diseases. Charming. Indeed, a role model for women around the world.
Men don't have the monopoly on horrible, for sure. Supporting a woman because she's got lady parts is just as bad as rejecting her for the same reason.
That said, why is it that most of the nations that have had female presidents/heads of state are what we in the good ol' US of A would call "developing countries"? We were apparently too busy becoming a world power to work on things like gender equality.
http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/00women2.htm
(FYI, this site only lists presidents, so people like Thatcher aren't on the list)
I've been following this news story with some interest. Quite frankly, it doesn't seem like that big of a step forward to have a female in a figurehead position. This is especially true when you remember that India has had at least one female prime minister (Indira Gandhi) who actually had power, and that, as nehavish said, Pail just doesn't seem like a very nice person.
Maggie: Isn't the country with the highest percentage of female politicians (I think over 50%) Rwanda?
I would not doubt that women still face horrible discrimination in these countries. But it's still really interesting to me that at least in one respect, they view women as fellow human beings rather than "the other" more than we in the US do.
That's precisely my point, Jessi. :) In American politics it seems like women are bargaining chips an supporting cast way more than we're actual, viable people with opinions and leadership skills.
Does anyone remember how horrified the nation was a few years ago when Dean's (?) wife, a doctor, decided that running a hospital was more important than following her old man around on the campaign trail?
nehavish, I looked for more info on her politics to avoid creating a story in isolation, but came up short. Do you have any sources I should read?