Women in Indian Politics

Hello again all, after talking to Ron, I decided my first article summary was just barely bordering on politics, so I have decided to write another short blog. This is an article that I found very interesting but I would like to hear what women think about it, because I will never have that perspective.

Additionally, I found a great, and easy resource. If you simply Google "India News," a couple links down will give you this link: http://news.google.co.in/. Its a great website that compiles many sources all into one Google page. Very cool, and very easy.

http://sify.com/news/rahul-wants-more-women-in-politics-news-national-kjqwEdfidha.html

While this is a short article, it involves many different subjects that I found very compelling. The first issue is one of how the government works. We have all learned how diverse India is, and we have learned that this provides a number of hurdles to politics, as well as the more obvious development. The article follows Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to West Bengal, where he spoke to encourage young people to become engaged in government. He went further than that though, he encouraged women to get involved. Why? Not because of feminist issues but because Women are better suited to be politicians. He specifically said, "Women are more sincere and difficult to corrupt." While the western world has spent decades pushing for women to become more involved, they always say its because men and women are equal. Yet, here is a high-ranking Indian official saying women are BETTER, not equal, but BETTER.

The truth is that I have always thought that considering men and women the same is a fallacy. My life experience has led me to believe that while men and women are certainly equals, they are not the same. Women indeed do many things better than men, and vice versa. Are these different world views really important or just differences in fine print? Both Western and Eastern cultures have suppressed women for centuries, with similar (bad) results. Western culture address this by spewing equality. While Indian culture, or at least Mr. Gandhi is willing to ditch equality and in some cases say women are simply better than men. Who do you think is right? Has "21st Century Feminism," simply passed the Feminist Movement of the 1960s? Or is it an example of different cultures acting differently?