Context: As the assembly elections are undergoing and the women reservation bill, 2023 has been passed by both the houses, the issue of women representation in politics has become a subject of discussion.
Present status in India:
- Lok Sabha: Presently, 15% of the total members of the 17th Lok Sabha are women.
- State legislative assemblies: Women on average constitute 9% of the total members.
- The number of women MPs has increased from 5% in the first Lok Sabha to 15% in the 17th Lok Sabha; but the number continues to be quite low.
- Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act of 2023: It reserves by law 33% seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
Mechanism of political empowerment:
- Through legislation: Reservation of seats in assemblies for women.
- Quotas in political parties: Political parties on their own volition provide quota for women while declaring the candidates.
| Examples of provision of reservation route | Example of women inclusion by political parties |
| -Pakistan: 17% reservation for women· -Bangladesh: 14% reservation for women· -Nepal: 33% reservation for women. -India: 33% reservation for women. | - Australia: 38% seats are represented women.· - South Africa: 45% seats are represented by women.· - Sweden: 46% seats are represented by women.· - Mexico: 36% legislated party quota for women. |
Reasons for/ Merits of women reservation:
- Inclusive policy making: Proportional inclusion in the political system leads to inclusive policy making and ability to influence the decisions of various stakeholders.
- International obligation: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women mandates that discrimination against women must be eliminated in political and public life.
- Investment in public goods: A 2003 study about the effect of reservation for women in panchayats showed that women elected under the reservation policy invest more in the public goods closely linked to women’s issues and concerns.
- More meaningful contributions: The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law, and Justice (2009) observed that reservation of seats for women in local bodies has enabled them to make meaningful contributions.
- Committee also noted that concerns regarding women being proxies to men in local bodies have turned out to be baseless.
- Enhanced representation and involvement in the public sphere: The Inter-Parliamentary Union (2022) has noted that legislated quotas have been a decisive factor in enhanced women’s representation.
- Leadership: Countries led by women during Covid-19 did much better in comparison to those led by men.
- Better law making: Gender experiences are largely excluded from our law making, providing more space for women will make our laws more inclusive.
Issues with respect to reservation:
Constituent Assembly Debates: In Constituent Assembly Debates, Renuka Ray argued against reserving seats for women: “When there is reservation of seats for women, the question of their consideration for general seats, however competent they may be, does not usually arise. We feel that women will get more chances if the consideration is of ability alone.
Narrow outlook: Separate constituencies for women may not only narrow their outlook but lead to perpetuation of unequal status because they would be seen as not competing on merit.
Larger issues untouched: Mere reservation will not lead to political empowerment of women as the larger issues of electoral reforms such as measures to check criminalisation of politics, internal democracy in political parties, and influence of black money have not been addressed.
Restricted choice of voters: Reservation of one-third of seats for women in Parliament would restrict the choice of voters in the reserved constituencies.
Issues with Rotation of reserved seats: It may reduce the incentive for MPs to work for their constituencies as they could be ineligible to seek re-election from that constituency.
- A study by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj recommended that rotation of constituencies should be discontinued at the panchayat level because almost 85% women were first-timers and only 15% women could get re-elected because the seats they were elected from were de-reserved.
Linkage with delimitation: Due to its linkage with the new delimitation which will be done after 2026, we can say that the law looks good only on paper.
Sunset clause: It has a sunset clause of 15 years which can be extended further; however, critics argue that 15 years is a small time to make substantial change in the status of women.
Rajya Sabha exempted: The Act does not provide for reservation of seats in Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Councils.
Suggestions and way forward:
Reservation within Political parties: Although, the reservation is a welcome step, but another approach can be reservation for candidates within political parties (as some countries mentioned above do) in recently concluded assembly elections, no party has reached even 15% mark in giving tickets to women candidates.
- TMC: TMC has fielded more female candidates and won the assembly elections. (32 wins out of 46 women candidates)
- BJD: BJD also has a good track record of internal reservation for women candidates.
Dual member constituencies: Where some constituencies shall have two candidates, one being a woman can be an alternative.
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