India’s First Female President

I don’t know why whenever a woman is elected into the highest political office of the land, news reporters almost always said that the presidential position is only a “ceremonial” one with no real power. President of a country is very important, politically, because it comes to a person as a result of a democratic election, whether the person who won is a man or a woman. Indian men have had it so good for the last 60 years, holding the presidential posts after Independence. Throughout those years, I have never heard anybody said that the Presidential Post has no real power - only symbolic. Pratibha Patil, former governor of Rajasthan, has won last week’s election to become the first female President. Together with a large number of people, men and women who believe in fairness and justice, I want to congratulate Pratibha Patil for her important victory, bravely fought through a nation-wide election along side the male candidates. She has brought India a giant step closer to “gender equality”, which women around the World, for three decades, have struggled to achieve through four United Nations World Conferences on this issue held between 1976-1995.

Filed under Gender Issues |