City women do not see Hillary’s defeat as setback to women
BHOPAL: “Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things: the rule of law, the principle that we are equal in rights and dignity, freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these values too and we must defend them,” said 69-year-old Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in her speech after conceding the 2016 presidential election adding that “to all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
While India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and many other so-called ‘less-developed nations’ have elected women as prime ministers and president, the world’s ‘oldest democracy’ let go of the opportunity.
Free Press Journal spoke to woman of the city to know why no female could ever become the head of state of the world’s oldest democracy.
Political thinkers of western countries didn’t give high place to women, like we did in India. We had Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil and many more. I think, India is more modern than western countries and women here are much stronger. We Indian are also much ahead of others in terms of our thinkers. I think, Trump won because he is against terrorism and it has become a global issue. And we talk about democracy then at the end of day our main concern should be reputation that’s all.- Bhakti Sharma, Sarpanch, Barkhedi
I was also hoping that Hillary would win. Initially, she was ahead but later Trump took the lead. The US electoral system is quite different from that of India and of other Asian countries. The people there were more concerned about their jobs and less about what will happen to the world. Trump had his hand on the nerve of Americans. I think the process of globalization will be reversed.- Renu Patidar, Professor, Political Science, government college, Karond
I don’t think it was male versus female election. I think, the people were asked to choose between two different political ideologies with their different notions of development and international policies. It was another matter that if Hillary would have won, she would have been the first woman President of US. But she did give a very tough fight.- Asha Shukla, HoD of Women’s, Studies Department, BU
I think it is all about acceptance. Americans accepted Trump because he was a strong candidate and a great businessman. He also got supports of Indians. It all depends on candidates rather than gender. I think, people have seen Mr. and Mrs. Clinton’s work .So now they wanted to some change.- Parul Sahu, MLA , Surkhi
