Examine the Crisis of Under-representation of Women in Indian Parliament and State Legislatures.
- Women represent 5% of the total members of the Parliament.
- The scenario for women Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) across all state assemblies in India is even worse, with the national average being a pitiable 9%.
- In the last 75 years of independence, women’s representation in Lok Sabha has not even increased by 10%.
Causes
- Lack of Political Education:
- Education influences the social mobility of women. Formal education such as provided at educational institutions creates opportunities for leadership, and impart leadership essential skills.
- Because of a lack of understanding of politics, they do not know about their basic and political rights.
- Stereotypes:
- The role of managing household activities has been traditionally assigned to women
- Work and Family:
- Uneven distribution of family care responsibilities means that women spend far more time than men in home and child-care.
- Lack of Resources:
- Because of their low proportion in the inner political party structure of India, women fail to gather resources and support for nurturing their political constituencies.
- Unfriendly Environment:
- Rise in criminalization, corruption, insecurity has driven women out of the political arena.
- Absence of gender-neutral language
- For instance – in the Rajya Sabha, the Rules of Procedure continue to refer to the Vice-President of India as the ex-officio Chairman, stemming from the lack of gender-neutral language in the Constitution of India
- The alarming degree of usage of masculine pronouns assumes a power structure biased towards men.
- Lack of gender-neutral Acts
- Acts have made references to women not as leaders or professionals (such as policemen), but usually as victims of crimes.
Government measures
- Reservation for Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions:
- Article 243D of the Constitution ensures participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions by mandating not less than one-third reservation for women out of total number of seats to be filled by direct election and number of offices of chairpersons of Panchayats.
- Parliamentary Committee On Empowerment Of Women:
- The Committee on Empowerment of Women was constituted for the first time in 1997 during the 11th Lok Sabha of the Parliament for improving the status of women.
- Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha
- In 2014, under the leadership of the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, and the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha were made entirely gender neutral.
- Since then, each Lok Sabha Committee Head has been referred to as Chairperson in all documents.
- The Women’s Reservation Bill 2008:
- It proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 1/3rd of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women.
Looking ahead
- Bring women quotas in political parties
- Promoting Inner party democracy
- Passage of Women’s Reservation Bill
- Fighting stereotypes
- Bringing gender neutral languages
The pre-requisite of inclusive society is inclusive parliament, the need of the hour is to have equal participation of all the sections of society in mainstream political activity and decision making.
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