Gender issues in the Indian bureaucracy: a case study of the women in the lAS

Abstract

In India, the bureaucracy has an important role to play in generating policy options. It is one of helping the political leadership in policy formulation, essentially to focus on areas of social development and education. Unfortunately in the pecking order of glamour and choice for the Indian bureaucrats especially the lAS it is ministries like commerce, economic affairs etc. which provide for foreign posting and foreign assignments that are rated high. Next to come are regulatory postings like Home and Defence. The social sector is not given the priority it deserves. It has been pointed out that those areas like rural development, education, health etc., which have a maximum bearing on public welfare, are the ones, which are the least popular in the bureaucracy. The purpose of the research was to study women in the premier level of the bureaucracy, how and why they join the lAS, and whether they have problems gaining equal opportunity. It is seen in this study that there has been no quantitative increase in the number of women inducted in the lAS from 1947 to the present. Indeed for some years the numbers have actually fallen and most people attribute it tothe fact that in spite of India's overall development wherein women may now enjoy certain rights they still suffer extreme discrimination. The study identified ten cases of women at various levels and took them through the various stages of their professional lives to understand whether women join the service for the same reason that their male counterparts do and once they are in whether they have equal opportunity to develop their skills and capacities and consequently offer government bodies and organizations their managerial, professional and technical talent; whether they are given equality in access, and to voice so that their ability to influence and contribute to the development process is facilitated to the extent that their male colleagues are given access. The underlying question was, what is the career growth of women once they join the lAS?. Besides the autobiography of the ten women in the lAS, to see whether there is a gender bias, this research interviewed 25 women and 15 men who were all involved with the women in their official capacity, that is, either superiors of women officers, their immediate subordinates or their colleagues in the same department /organization. It is seen from the study of women across the various batches that whether they are in their early, middle or senior years they have all indicated that women face a gender bias in the conditions of service. While rules in the civil service are supposed to be gender neutral, they are actually made with a male-headed family and a single breadwinner model in mind. Women have also indicated that there is a gender stereo typing of posts. Equal opportunities would imply that men and women have equal access to all the positions within a service but in practice the bureaucracy tends to reproduce some of the biases of the society at large. Women are given the social sector sometimes called the 'soft' sector or the 'welfare' posts because there is a perception that some posts are more suitable for men and some are more suitable for women. In looking at the issue of sexual harassment, this study looked at whether this prevailed in the lAS which is the highest most respectable service in the country and whether this was the cause of stress and concern for women. The study seems to suggest that both men and women think there is a problem but the problem is not one of physical violence, rather it is more subtle, usually a woman is the butt of a joke, a lewd remark or a statement of intent in the lAS. However, this study also found that there recognition of meritous and committed officers irrespective of their gender. Both men and women respondents admit that their services have been recognized that they have been allowed to further enhance their capacities, use their skills and have received rewards and this is not a gender specific issue.