The decision of the government to set up an all woman-PSU bank is an appealing idea.
Its immediate relevance is the pronounced patriarchy of Indian society. Where a woman’s ownership of her life is either not allowed or allowed only in part, there are high chances of her sense of enterprise being belittled.
Money is an important enabler. Not being able to leverage one’s capacity for enterprise or losing control of hard earned money, add to the overall lack of ownership of one’s life. On the other hand, women are more diligent at saving money. They also repay loans better. From this perspective, an all woman bank is not only welcome but logical. Further, at an emotional level, you are at a loss to say anything else after the hideous crimes against women. Against this reality, the new bank makes abundant sense.
GENDER VOTE BANK
The move will capture the imagination of people. It empowers women and provides them momentum. It also strengthens the push for an inclusive society, for one legacy of patriarchal dominance has been women denied full rights. Will the new bank translate to votes? I hope it does. The bank is so much more relevant to life here right now, than promising places of religious worship in election after election and baying for blood at the border. What I wonder, however, is – beyond the initial enthusiasm, what?
For centuries, the nation-state as an idea has been an unquestionable silo. You shake hands with somebody from somewhere; you contest with somebody from somewhere. The geographical and socio-cultural co-ordinates of the nation-state were as clear and unambiguous as one’s sex. It was a stockade. But as globalisation and cyber space proliferate, the co-ordinates defining our sense of community, the co-ordinates describing our circle of friends, the co-ordinates of self and belonging – they have all changed. You don’t necessarily empathise only with your community or your country. You empathise with a school of thought that is like a shifting cloud, straddling continents. You like something and agreement for that may not be in your neighbourhood, but two oceans away. A type of music for instance, despite origin in local context, has fans worldwide.
Increasingly, we are bits and pieces of things that is more than just the country and community you belong to. Can all those far-flung bits and pieces be nation state? Better still – should it be? Gender, I suspect, will eventually move the same way. The day we shift focus from who is doing what to what we are doing, you will transcend gender and be consumed more by what you are looking for in the world. Would it then matter to you as entrepreneur or account holder, whether your banker is male or female? For now, however, the all-woman bank is an interesting idea. Like reservation, gender-based banking is an essential interim measure for our patriarchal society, but one that should not become a permanent crutch or an institutionalised necessity for the female gender. After all, true inclusiveness is to exist comfortably without the need for protective silos.