Do Women Have it Tough in Communist Systems? What Shailaja’s Absence in Pinarayi Cabinet Tells Us

All political parties in India, with a singular exception, are feudal and patriarchal. Now, in more evidence of the Left parties’ scant respect for independent women who make it under their own steam, in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dropped K.K. Although, as Niloufer Bhagwat, a Left ideologue, says, in the context of Shailaja Teacher per se, it might be too early to write off the Communist leaders as patriarchal for Vijayan has dropped his entire cabinet including a highly performing male finance minister. “I am not against the policy of inducting fresh blood into the cabinet and preventing vested interests from growing by giving endless terms in office to one person,” she says, “But it is also true that the Communist parties’ record with regard to women in leadership positions is dismal and they are notorious for pushing them into areas where they will not interfere with the male hierarchy.” For example, says Bhagwat, over the decades whenever a woman leader in the Communist parties has shown promise, she has been promptly shunted to work with the women’s wing where she would be no competition to the men. “It has taken a while but women are getting there and this is true of not just the Left but all political parties.” On Shailaja, both Bhagwat and Gill agree that one must wait and watch what role the party defines for her in the future, it is too simplistic to presume that she has been sidelined or dropped from the Vijayan cabinet for her competence that might have ruffled some male feathers across the state or party.