New Delhi: Rajya Sabha has decided to use gender-neutral words in answering parliamentary questions from the next session.
The announcement, which was made on Tuesday, came in response to a request made by Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi last month (August 8). In a letter addressed to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, Chaturvedi said the use of the phrase “no sir” in response to questions asked by women MPs was “concerning”.
The Maharashtra MP on Wednesday shared a screenshot of the reply received from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (dated 20 September) and said it was a “small step” but would make a “big difference”.
Small step, big difference. Thanks to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat for correcting the discrepancy in Parliament in answering questions ranging from ministries to women MPs. From now onwards the replies from the ministries will be gender neutral. pic.twitter.com/1m0hxBGmvn
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) September 21, 2022
The reply of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said, “As per the convention and rule of procedure and conduct of business in the Rajya Sabha, all proceedings of the House are addressed to the Chairman. Answers to parliamentary questions being part of the proceedings are also addressed to the Speaker only. However, ministries will be informed to submit gender-neutral answers to parliamentary questions from the next session of the Rajya Sabha session.
Meanwhile, when asked about the use of just “sir” in parliamentary responses, former Rajya Sabha Secretary General Desh Deepak Verma told ThePrint that he was not aware of such a practice and did not understand why the new What is “gender-neutral”. “The language will be
“It is so common knowledge that if Priyanka Chaturvedi is addressed, it should be ‘Madam’. easy. There is no need for any rule or law for such an obvious thing,” he said.
Pradeep Chaturvedi, Joint Secretary, Questions Branch in Rajya Sabha, told ThePrint, “As per rules, ministers address the chair. You must have seen how the Chairman of Rajya Sabha always reminds them (members) that they should address the chair while giving questions or answers.
The joint secretary also recalled how in the past there were two women speakers in the Lok Sabha and they were addressed accordingly.
“‘Yes madam’ and ‘no madam’ were used in questions addressed to Meera Kumar and Sumitra Mahajan. And in general, there is no need to write the salutation at all. Hence, sometimes only ‘Yes sir’ or ‘No. No sir’ is used and that too basically because of referring to the chair,” he said.
He also noted that the use of “gender-neutral” language may mean simply typing ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without a salutation, but the address would still be on the chair.
‘In relation to mainstreaming institutional gender’
Chaturvedi’s letter had also aroused the “principle of equality” in Parliament.
“In the answers given to questions raised in Parliament, the phrase ‘no sir’ is often used in cases where the answer is in the negative. As a woman MP, this is the temple of democracy – gender institutionalized by the Parliament itself. concerned with bringing it into the mainstream,” she wrote.
He had urged Rajya Sabha officials to “look into the practice” and requested “appropriate instructions” to address the MPs.
“While this may seem like a small change, it will go a long way in giving women their due representation in the parliamentary process,” she wrote in the letter.
Currently 33. Huh female member in the Upper House of Parliament. this is done saw Women in leadership positions are often referred to as “presidents” or “men of the party” and the “dangerous degree” of the use of masculine pronouns gives the impression of biased power structures.
“Despite certain reforms, both the Houses of Parliament and the Central Ministries have failed in a similar aspect. In a compilation of ministerial answers to questions of 75 women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha so far, it was found that 84 per cent of the replies using the salutation (Sir/Madam) referred to women MPs as ‘Sir’. editorial Said in The Hindu.
The editorial also said it was unclear whether the issues stemmed from “pure administrative errors or ignorance of the rules to address”.
Read also: Center told Lok Sabha, out of 22.05 crore applicants since 2014, 7.22 lakh have got government jobs