Modi's Idea Of Women's Passport Rights Has Us All A Little Confused

In a refreshing announcement yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that Indian women can now obtain passports in either parents’ name and without having to produce a marriage license. This statement came during the IMC Ladies Wing’s 50th anniversary celebrations and was met with widespread approval. He added that he wanted women to be at the centre of developmental schemes, and agencies like Ujwala and Mudra are working towards making women an efficacious segment of the Indian economy. While it’s heartening to see the powers that be publicly addressing the gender disparity in India’s judicial procedures, the air of grandeur masked the fact that any implementable aspects to his speech were lacking.

Women in India are under no obligation to take their husband’s surname. Marriages can be legally registered in the partners’ chosen forms, ‘maiden’ or otherwise. In November 2016, an inter-ministerial panel informed the Ministry of External Affairs that women should have the right to obtain passports without having to provide the details of their father, mother or spouse.

What is perhaps interesting is that he suggests now women are free to use their mothers’ maiden names, however as previous generations didn’t have that opportunity the process of obtaining official documents as proof of such a name may be a challenge. Additionally, as of May last year it was no longer a necessity for a biological fathers’ name to be a requirement for the issuing of a passport and I suppose we’re wondering how Modi’s new statement implies anything different.

It is of course wonderful to see women gaining some ground in an arena which has been forcibly male-dominated for so many years and we admire the Prime Minister’s efforts to equalise a country that for so long has considered women unwanted elements. We hope that this announcement is followed through as a marker of changes yet to come but can’t help but worry that it’s a palliative measure for a much more insidious problem.