Women in Governance: Media's Role in Amplifying Women's Voice in Politics

Women may have held the most critical political roles in India like that of Prime Minister and President as against many first world countries but unfortunately it has been limited to one-off incidents in our 70 years of independence. Women’s political participation remains at a bare minimum and the discourse around reservation quota for women in politics only gains momentum during central and state election campaigns after which political parties conveniently puts it to rest until the next elections.

Over the years, there have been a few citizen-led campaigns that have consistently worked on reviving the discussion and pushing for higher political participation of women at all levels. One of the most prominent ones is Political Shakti led by Tara Krishnaswamy. One of the main operations of Shakti involves amplifying information about women in Indian politics in the media so the media is forced to hold debates and discussions around the subject. One of the goals for Krishnaswamy through Political Shakti is “to make such a fuss about this issue in every election that the media cannot ignore it and must make this a point of conversation”. To know more about how the media plays an important role in greater women’s participation in politics, watch this episode of Women in Governance with Tara Krishnaswamy.

(Interviewed by Poorvi Gupta, produced and edited by Tanvi Nang)