By Maya Palit
Being an MLA in Goa would take up all your time so women aren’t suited for it, according to the warped logic of Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Pareskar, which comes days after the Election Commission decided to send an all-women team to Goa to observe the upcoming assembly polls — the logic there being that men stand the risk of distraction in tourist ‘hot spots’ like Goa.
Women’s overall situation in the state has two sides as well. They comprise half the population in Goa says an Indian Express report which claims that although women have it better in terms of literacy rates and per capita income, things are looking bleak for their political position, as they are struggle to make it to the forefront of politics. The ruling party, BJP, has nominated just one woman candidate for the upcoming assembly polls in February. Although AAP has five, many of the regional parties have no women candidates, and a patron of a regional party, the Maharashtra Gomantak, claimed that his party was ready to give women tickets but hadn’t been approached by any women. So while the AAP manifesto promised to restore women’s dignity and focus on women’s issues, the minimal presence of women at the political forefront could do with some more quesstioning.