Bihar’s female literacy rate, at 53.33 per cent as per the 2011 Census, is the second lowest after Rajasthan’s 52.66 per cent.
Did women help win this election for the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance? While that awaits an analysis, the fact is more women cast their votes in this assembly election than ever before in Bihar’s history. And this, despite the state’s dismal record when it comes to the economic empowerment of women, particularly in labour workforce participation.
According to Election Commission data, 60.57 per cent of the state’s female electors voted this time, as against only 53.41 per cent for males. Even in the 2010 polls, the female voter turnout percentage (54.49) was more than that of males (51.12), though not by as much.
This is the lowest for any state and also way below the labour force participation rate of 78.5 per cent for men in Bihar.
The same disparity is visible in the proportion of working-age women in Bihar who are actually employed (8.4 per cent), vis-à-vis the corresponding figures for women in other states and also for men in Bihar.
Even among those employed, there is a higher ratio of women in Bihar engaged in casual labour (as opposed to regular wage/salaried work or self-employment) and agricultural activity than the corresponding national average or the numbers for men in the state.
Connected with economic empowerment is also literacy.
Bihar’s female literacy rate, at 53.33 per cent as per the 2011 Census, is the second lowest after Rajasthan’s 52.66 per cent. The male-female literacy rate gap (20.06 percentage points) for the state is also above the national average of 16.68 percentage points.
How do these obvious indicators of lack of economic empowerment square up to high levels of political consciousness manifested in voter turnouts?
Bina Agarwal, a development economist and former director of the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi University, believes that “political rights”, unlike “economic rights”, has a long history of recognition in India, extending even to women.
In Bihar, this process received added impetus through reservation for women in panchayat bodies. The state under Nitish Kumar in 2006 was, in fact, the first to provide 50 per cent quota for women in all tiers of the panchayati raj system.
“Suddenly, you had women mukhiyas and pradhans assuming leadership roles. They may have been voting earlier in state or national elections. But now suddenly, they saw they could be netas in their own village,” said Agarwal.
Besides, between 2001 and 2011, female literacy rates in Bihar rose over 20 percentage points — more than the increase for all-India or even males in the state. This again — aided by the Nitish Kumar government’s free bicycle schemefor school-going girls — would have gone some way in raising political consciousness. Nitish Kumar’s latest victory may owe no less to these young beneficiaries, who would have turned voters themselves, if not a major influence on their mothers, sisters and aunts.
Yet, being able to exercise political agency is one thing. Nitish Kumar’s major challenge is going to be delivering economic rights that Bihar’s women would increasingly demand.