The way the 2024 general elections are playing out in West Bengal reveals a new narrative in the discourse on democracy in India, one focussed squarely on gender. Compared to many other states, the number of women voters here is higher. Women are also a visible and strong presence in political debates. The election picture coming out of the state has women firmly at the centre, though this is not unlike many other states, at least in the initial phases of the poll.
West Bengal provides one of the highest numbers of male migrant labourers in the country. Many villages, therefore, have a higher concentration of only women, children and the elderly. It is easy to infer why women are seen as vote banks and not as participants in the process of democracy by the ruling political parties in the state and at the Centre.
The ruling government in West Bengal is responding with a scheme called Lakshmir Bhandar — a state allowance for women. Pre-poll promises of a quantitative increase in the amount have also been made. The Centre is also responding to the question of the woman voter with the Lakhpati Didi scheme.
With all these schemes, are poll promises making a U-turn to return to and address the demands of the democratic women’s movement in the country? Affirmative action addressing gender discrimination was the mandate of the National Policy for The Empowerment of Women (2001) and the Gender Budget of 2005. These have been converted to poll promises in 2024. Has the history of the women’s movement demanding affirmative action been forgotten or the achievements lost in oblivion? How are the women of West Bengal responding?
The number of female voters in the 2024 polls is 968 per 1,000 males. This is higher than the national ratio which is 948 per 1,000 males. EC data shows that the turnout of female voters in the state in Phase I was 82.59 per cent, in Phase II was 77.99 per cent, in Phase III was 83.01 per cent, in Phase IV was 81.49 per cent.
Except in Phase II, the female turnout in West Bengal was the highest among all the states of the country in the initial phases of the polls. In Phase II, West Bengal and Assam were tied, where the percentage of female voters’ turnout was highest in the country. In all the phases, the percentage of female turnout was higher than male turnout. Female voters in percentage turnouts outnumbered male voters in the constituencies of Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Balurghat, Raiganj, Jangipur, Malda Dakshin, Malda Uttar, Murshidabad, Baharampur, Baharampur Purba, Birbhum, Bolpur, Krishnanagar and Ranaghat. These comprise mostly rural populations and are the source districts of migrant labour. The numbers of female voter turnout in these constituencies stand out clearly among all the parliamentary constituencies in the country.
Is this huge turnout of women a response to affirmative action schemes? Women are also seen to be vocal about problems like inflation, unemployment, lack of industries, and agrarian distress. Most rural families are indebted and women have to bear the brunt of this often. Their reality has pushed them and made them eager to participate in the political process.West Bengal along with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for more than half of the headcount of child marriages of girls in the country in 2021 according to a Lancet study. This is despite the many schemes targeted at the girl child. West Bengal accounted for 15.2 per cent of these illegal marriages. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Statistics showed that 49.9 per cent of girls in West Bengal between the ages of 15 to 24 stay in their homes and do not attend school as opposed to the 43.8 per cent in the rest of the country. The Kanyashree scheme, aimed at encouraging the schooling of young girls is a one-time grant and is failing to keep these girls in school as the burden at home doubles.
The precarity rural families live with is also visible in the data on the trafficking of women and girls from the state. According to the National Crime Research Bureau report 2022, on average, every day more than 172 girls went missing, another 170 girls were kidnapped, and almost three girls were trafficked. While more trafficked girls were rescued than reported in 2022, a large number of missing and/or abducted girls remained untraced and unrecovered. Across India that year, a total of 2,250 cases of human trafficking were registered and 6,036 victims were identified, of which 2,878 were children, including 1,059 girls. In West Bengal, 40,725 women and 10,571 girls went missing, the highest numbers among the states in the country.
There is a rise in violence and atrocities against women in the state with recent reports from Sandeshkhali surpassing many previous instances of violence against women. It is clear that women in the state are more than mere silent “beneficiaries” — they are part of the political conversation. The vulnerability of their living conditions has driven them to assemble, speak up, and express their opinions. It is a new gender narrative of reclaiming the political space and reinstating the democratic women’s movement, which is yet to be recognised by the mainstream social and political narrative in the country.
Mukhopadhyay is professor, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta and Khanna is independent researcher, Kolkata
