Opinion: Are women benefiting by becoming vote bank or are they suffering losses, can they understand this trick of political parties?

Author: Dipankar Gupta
Men and women live in the same household, but election analysts and politicians would have us believe that they do not interact and perhaps live in separate silos. Perhaps this is why we hear of a ‘women’s vote bank’ but never of a ‘male vote bank’. If women can form a vote bank, why shouldn’t men have their own vote bank? Perhaps the thinking is that men are harder to convince than women because jobs top their wish list. On the contrary, it is easier to co-opt women into a vote bank by giving them the appearance of a mere gift of a sari, bicycle, cooker, etc. It is enough to say that there is no need to call a doctor, an aspirin is enough. But isn’t this insulting and completely hollow?

There has been an almost equal increase in the number of male and female voters. Women outnumber men by barely less than 1 crore. According to a Lokniti-CSDS survey, 36 per cent women voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while 3 per cent more men voted for the BJP. This clearly shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is popular among both men and women, yet the perception remains that his/her victory is due to women voters.

The survey data also showed that women from all sections, like men, chose the BJP across the country. However, there may be some quirks. For example, in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh election, the Congress voters had more women than men, while the situation was the opposite in the case of the BJP. This is despite Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’.

Whether pleasing women is as easy or difficult as pleasing men is confirmed by an India Today survey which shows that one of the most prized achievements of the NDA is that both men and women have the same level of satisfaction. However, even though they are underrepresented in the labour force, more women than men are worried about unemployment. The opposite was expected.

The same survey says that 44% men and 46% women voted for the BJP in 2019. The survey says that 57% women were completely satisfied with the BJP while the figure for men was 55%. Large-scale surveys consider a margin of error of only 2%. There is controversy over the fact that more men welcomed the Women’s Reservation Bill than women.

Nitish’s vote bank policies worked in Bihar as women voted overwhelmingly for JDU, but it must also be acknowledged that his/her decision to ban alcohol would have been supported by men as well. If most of them were alcoholics, the men could form a negative vote bank and vote against Nitish. Unless, of course, they were too drunk to go and vote.

Other schemes like 50% representation of women in local bodies are wrongly seen as vote bank rather than social justice. If the concept of ‘voter’ still appeals to everyone from BJP to Congress, it is because women are seen as deprived. That is why women are seen as vote bank. This message is not at all commendable.

Women appear to be the main choice as a vote bank as only 7% of them hold positions in top manufacturing companies. They account for nearly 17% of enrolments in ITIs and 76% of female graduates do not find work. Only 8% of women are blue collar employees and 52% of women between the ages of 15 and 29 are ‘not in education, employment or training’.

Why are women running away from voting this time in UP? Voting was low in 18 seats, Mathura saw the biggest drop
Those who form vote banks are never respected because they are won over with small, tempting promises. This explains why vote bank politics is easier than creating self-respecting citizens. Creating self-respecting citizens is a difficult task because it requires systemic change. So it is not surprising that political parties rarely take this path. On the contrary, the path of vote bank is a walk in the park.

Yet only 10% of candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are women. However, the larger problem is the operationalisation of ‘women’ as a vote bank as a general category. Surveys show that women in poorer states such as Bihar, UP and Rajasthan are more easily co-opted into vote bank politics than those in richer states such as Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

72% of women workers in industries are from the four more prosperous South Indian states. This could weaken vote bank politics in South India. Also, as the number of women entering the workforce increases when their husbands’ monthly income exceeds ₹40,000, they may not be as easily tempted by vote banks.

Enthusiasm was seen for voting in 7 seats in Delhi, Muslim women voted in large numbers
The current demographics will change, and that has already begun to happen. The number of female-headed households has even doubled between 1992 and 2022. The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey shows a 15% increase in women’s participation in the workforce over the last five years. The number of women executives in February 2024 recorded an astonishing 56% year-on-year increase.

In the future, politicians will have to change their strategy and stay away from vote bank politics to get women’s votes. According to a well-known election expert, Gen Z women are more focused on education and jobs while older women are not. Corporate boardrooms are also no longer just dark suits and ties, nor are company heads uniformly male. Soon men may emerge as a new vote bank!

The author is a sociologist.