Representation of women in politics through the Prism of

Constitutional Law and Feminist Jurisprudence

Submitted by: Supervised by:

Shubhada Patil Prof. Munshi Mam

Kirit P Mehta

School of Law,

2021

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 Declaration

I hereby declare that the work reported in this project report entitled “Representation of women

in politics through the Prism of Constitutional Law and Feminist Jurisprudence” submitted

at Kirit P. Mehta School of Law is an outcome of my work carried out under the supervision of

Dr. Munshi Mam. I have duly acknowledged all the sources from which the ideas and extracts

have been taken. To the best of my understanding, the project is free from any plagiarism issue.

Name of the Candidate

Shubhada Subhash Patil

Kirit P. Mehta School of Law, Mumbai Date 7-Feb-2021

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 List of Acronyms & Abbreviations
SCC Supreme Court Cases
SCR Supreme Court Report
U/S Under section
U.P. Uttar Pradesh
V Verses
Vol Volume
www World wide web
Hon’ble Honourable
% Percentage

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 List of Cases

1. Apparel Export Promotion Council v. A.K. Chopra, (1999) 1 SCC 759.

2. Bodhisattwa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty, (1996) 1 SCC 490 at 500.

3. State of Punjab v. Gurmit Singh, (1996) 2 SCC 384.

4. Maharashtra v. C.K. Jain, (1990) 1 SCC 550.

5. State of Haryana v. Prem Chand, (1990) 1 SCC 249.

6. Delhi Domestic Working Women's Forum v. Union of India, (1995) 1 SCC 14.(1996) 1

SCC 490.

7. Gaurav Jain v. Union of India, (1997) 8 SCC 114 at 119.

8. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, (1978) 1 SCC 248.

9. Joint Women's Programme v. State of Rajasthan, 1987 Supp SCC 707.

10. State of U.P. v. Ashok Kumar Srivastava, (1992) 2 SCC 86 : 1992 SCC (Cri) 241;

11. State of Punjab v. Iqbal Singh, (1991) 3 SCC 1 : 1991 SCC (Cri) 513.

12. Paniben v. State of Gujarat, (1992) 2 SCC 474 : 1992 SCC (Cri) 403.

13. Nandini Satpathy v. P.L. Dani, (1978) 2 SCC 424.

14. D.K. Basu v. State of W.B., (1997) 1 SCC 416.

15. Sheela Barse v. State of Maharashtra, (1983) 2 SCC 96.

16. Upendra Baxi v. State of U.P., (1983) 2 SCC 308.

17. Air India v. Nergesh Mirza, (1981) 4 SCC 335.

18. Neera Mathur v. LIC, (1992) 1 SCC 286.

19. State of Maharashtra v. Madhukar Narayan, (1991) 1 SCC 57.

20. T. Sareetha v. T. Venkatasubbaiah, AIR 1983 AP 356.

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 21. Harvinder Kaur v. Harmandil Singh, AIR 1984 Del 66. Return to Text - (1984) 4 SCC

90. (1996) 5 SCC 125. Ibid at 1884

22. Raghuban v. State of Punjab, AIR 1972 P&H 117.

23. Sucha Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1974 P&H 162;

24. Nalini Ranjan v. State of Bihar, AIR 1977 Pat 171.

25. Shahbad v. Abdullah, AIR 1967 J&K 120

26. Yusuf Abdul Aziz v. State of Bombay, AIR 1954 SC 321

27. Sowmithri Vishnu v. Union of India, 1985 Supp SCC 137(1995) 4 SCC 520 at 525.

28. Ammini E.J. v. Union of India, AIR 1995 Ker 252 at 268;

29. Pragathi Verghese v. Cyril George, AIR 1997 Bom 349.

30. Githal Hariharan v. RBI, (1999) 2 SCC 228.

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 List of Table

(Tabel-1): Women Welfare Index

(Tabel-2): Participation of Women in Lok-Sabha since Independence

(Tabel-3): Participation of Women in Rajya-Sabha since Independence

(Tabel-4): Participation of Women in State Assembly based on last election.

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 Table of Contents

 Women Self-Empowerment…………………………………………………………………..

Title:

Representation of women in politics through the Prism of Constitutional Law and

Feminist Jurisprudence

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 Abstract:

The Indian Constitution guarantees the equal opportunity, yet the representation of

women at legislative bodies and political participation of women at all levels is negligible.

Women still have only de jure rather than de facto access to these rights. Participation of women

in politics at decision making level may bring great impact in empowering women. While the

world average for women in Parliament stands at 23.1%, India is at the 145thplace out of 193

countries with a mere 12% representation. Within SAARC, India is at the 5 the position out of 8

countries. As compare to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the scenario of women Members for

Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) across all state in India is even worse. The average number of

women contestants is only 6.7% and only 7.51% of women represent around half the population

of India. This paper tries to analyses the facts related to representation of women in politics at

state and national level. The researcher also tries to find out the India’s position at world level.

The author has also made an attempt to highlight key issues and challenges and have tries to give

some solutions so as to increase the women participation in Indian politics based on finding.

Keywords: Representation of Women in Politics, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Assembly,

Gender Equality, Parliament, Etc.,

Structure of Project Report

We always talk about giving equal rights and position to women in society but never

thinking of whether women are enjoying it at all. In the 20th-century, women are enjoying more

legal, social, and economic rights, yet there is emptiness. Women are still considered to be

underprivileged, expected to take care of their families, their personal life, children, and official

chores efficiently without any difficulties.

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 They are more efficient in multitasking, but sometimes it feels like women are burdened

with several other responsibilities due to which they often forget to live their own lives.

Undoubtedly women might do all these things with lots of happiness. It is high time for all not

just to talk or make written rules to give equal rights to them but also change our mentality to

respect every woman in our society.

Let Us Discuss Women’s Role in Other Nations’ Politics, Spain has Europe’s largest

share of women in Parliament. After 2018, we saw a historical rise in the number of women

participation in the House of Senate of US, we saw six women announcing their candidacy for

the presidential election named as Kamala Harris, Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Kristen Gillibrand,

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Elizabeth Warren & Marianne Williamson, all of them coming

from different backgrounds but all are fighting for equality and women’s rights.1

It can be considered a good start for the USA, which ranks 75th out of 193 countries for

women representation in parliament. Likewise, recently the UK also witnessed the highest

number of female members participated and elected to the parliament in their general election.

Finland also recently welcomed its woman prime minister. 2 Some other countries like Brazil,

Bolivia, and Mexico also saw the highest rise in female candidates running for the general

election.

In India, too, we see a decent rise in women participation in the 2019 general election,

and 78 women legislators got the chance to represent in the Indian parliament. Despite the

increasing number of women participating in the general election according to the SDG gender
1
UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Only elected
Heads of State have been taken into account.
2
UN Women calculations.

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index, India still has a long way to become gender-equal when it comes to political

representation. 

Talking about the countries with the highest number of women representing in the

parliament, one thing we find in common is the factor of reservation. It helped all these countries

to acquire a higher number of female participation. Let’s take the example of Rwanda, a country

with 33% of reservation for female candidates, who achieved women’s domination in their

national legislature.

Likewise, countries like Mexico, South Africa, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, etc. also

implemented the same reservation policy or quotas that women are elected in their respective

parliaments. Similarly, Bolivia also constructed a new electoral law in which they made it

compulsory to have 50% of female candidates on every political party list. 

Argentina is the first country to adopt the world’s first gender quota law in 1991,

mandating every political party to nominate 30% of its electable position on their candidate lists

as women. However, the research paper of Tiffany Barnes titled ‘Women’s representation in the

Argentine national and sub-national government’ showed that the country is still fighting with

problems related to gender inequality, domestic violence and sexual harassment. This is one of

the main reasons for inequality based on gender because female parliamentarians have limited

powers and are most underrepresented. This scenario is pretty similar in many countries.3

Introduction

3
UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Some
leaders hold positions of both head of government and head of state. Only elected Heads of State have been taken
into account.

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 "I would boycott that legislature which will not have a proper share of women members".

Mahatma Gandhi

The Constitution of India (Article 15) attempts to remove gender inequalities based

religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and enshrining fundamental rights for all citizens. It is

unfortunate that women have not substantially availed of the constitutional provisions. Women

still have only de jure rather than de facto access to these rights.

Forget about the gender parity at all levels, India fails to become a nation wherein women

have proportional representation in legislation. Since independence, the Parliament hasn’t seen a

fair percentage of women members who can represent the almost half of the population of the

nation. No one can deny the fact that greater participation of women in the political process

would have positive impact on economic and social emancipation of women.4

Although of large number of women vote in the country, then too only a few of them

reaches to the top level in political parties. On the other hand, in few cases women have held the

posts of President and Prime Minister as well as Chief Ministers of various states in India, the

country ranks 145thin terms of representation of women in Parliament, as per the International

Organization of Parliaments report as on 1st Dec., 2016.5

Representation In Indian Parliament

In the last general election, a 71 years old lady named Pramila Bisoyi won the election

and became the MP from Odisha.6

4
Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women (2020). Women in politics 2020 map.
5
UN Women calculations
6
Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women (2020). Women in politics 2020 map

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 In every election, we have seen positive growth in the number of female members in

politics. And in the 17th Lok sabha election, India has seen many women MPs occupy the centre

stage, such as 78 women MPs being elected out of a total of 700 plus female candidates who

contested in the election of 2019.Out of which, 43% of women are coming from a political

background, and many others are contesting as independent candidates and breaking the age-old

norms of our Indian society.

In the last general election, a 71 years old lady named Pramila Bisoyi won the

election and became the MP from Odisha. She belongs to an economically lower class, but now

she is representing their constituency in the parliament.Similarly, Remya Haridas, a 32year MP

from Kerala, is the second-ever Dalit MP, breaking the age-old thinking of our society. In Bihar,

Ritu Jaiswal, an educated mukhiya in Singhvahini village, created another example of women

entering into politics without any political background.7

But these are only a few success stories of women representation in politics; India still

has a long way to go to achieve equal women representation in the parliament. Because when it

comes to their involvement and role in decision making, the power still lies in the hands of men.8

After creating the reservation quota system, there are still 176 male members in

comparison to 78 female representatives in Lok Sabha and 20 out of 240 male MPs in Rajya

Sabha.9

7
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020.
8
UN Women analysis
9
UN Women analysis.

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The 78 seats allotted to female candidates in Lok Sabha represents 14 % out of 542 seats and

don’t even fulfil the criteria of 33% of women representation in the parliament. The numbers of

MLAs are even worse. Out of these 78 MPs, only 3MPs got the Cabinet Ministerial position.  

Many prominent national parties like INC and BJP are selling the idea of reservation for

women on paper but failed to preach on their own words when it came to giving women

legislators more power. Regional parties with women leaders like TMC, BSP, & AIADMK;

under the leadership of late Jayalalitha have failed to field more women. The images of state

assemblies are gloomier than the parliament.  

The northeastern states, where we see the involvement of more women in the work front

and market places compared to any other parts of India, have the same scenario. The states like

Mizoram and Nagaland have zero female members in their assemblies.

In our constitution, the 73rd amendment act gave 33% reservation to women with an

impressive 46% share in the country’s panchayats. Does it erect a question in our mind that is

this reservation and the huge extent of involvement of women in politics creating empowerment

for women?

No, there are several challenges in the way to provide equality to women, such as the

proxy panchayat members. We all know that women members of panchayats are used as proxies

in the name of the male member of their families.

Women are so habituated with our patriarchal and male-dominated society that they don’t

find it odd upon getting deprived of, using the power and rights of their positions. They have

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forgotten their ability to fight for survival. Along with this, criminalization and investment of

enormous money in the election also restrict a woman from entering the field of politics.10

The role of constitutions in ensuring gender justice is being recognised in modern times.

It is most appropriate that the supreme law of the land should meaningfully address the woman

question and respond to the challenges by stimulating the whole legal system towards a greater

concern for, and protection of women. Feminism is a range of committed inquiry and activity

dedicated to (i) understand the extent of women's subordination, (ii) know the reasons therefor,

and (iii) plan and implement means of change for their better life. Constitutional feminism means

employing the constitutional powers and provisions for ameliorating the conditions of women.

All the wings and layers of government - legislature, executive and judiciary at central, state and

local levels - have the responsibility towards empowerment of women in the light of Article

15(3) read with Article 12 of the Constitution. Although Article 15(3) is an enabling provision

that authorises the state to make special provision for women, the discretion conferred thereunder

shall be exercised without fail, and be exercised reasonably. It is also fundamental duty of every

citizen to renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women. Thus social and individual

responsibilities for feminist cause are contemplated in addition to democratic solutions. No

doubt, democracy provides equal opportunities for all in the decision making process. Women as

free citizens, and constituting almost half of the population, are theoretically able to redress their

grievances through democratic means. But due to socio-economic reasons and cultural patterns

they are not effective players of the game of democracy. The disadvantages of democratic

process and risks of parliamentary majoritarianism make it imperative that a pro-woman and

anti-subordination interpretation of Constitution and laws shall be made. In a patriarchical social

10
UN Women calculation based on IDEA, Stockholm University and IPU, Gender Quotas Database, and
IPU, Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020.

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construction, where power dictates freedom, lack of power on the part of women because of their

position as incomplete agents in democratic participation is likely to marginalise their freedom.

To countervail this lacuna and make freedom worthwhile to women, empowerment emerges as

the true method of freeing women. Thus instead of uncritical reliance on democratic forces,

appropriate technique of interpretation can rescue their interests.11

Review of Literature

The 2003, United Nations General Assembly resolution on Women’s participation,

stipulated that steps should be taken by the member States including to: monitor progress in the

representation of women; ensure that measures for reconciling the families and professional life

apply at par to both men and women; develop training programmes and mechanisms

encouraging the women to participate in the electoral process and improving their (women’s)

capacity for casting informed votes in the free and fair elections; promote the participation of the

young people particularly women, in civil society organizations; to develop programmes for

educating and training women and girls in using the media and information and communication

technologies. The United Nations General Assembly on July 2, 2010, unanimously voted for

creating a single United Nations body tasked with picking up the pace of progress for the

achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The 2011 United Nations General Assembly resolution on women’s political

participation stated that, also called on the United Nations Member States for taking a variety of

measures including to review the differential impact of their electoral systems on the political

participation of women; to encourage strongly political parties for removing all barriers

11
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020. In December 2020, no women
were elected to the parliament in Kuwait.

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discriminating against the participation of women; to promote awareness and recognition of

significance of women’s participation in the political process; to investigate allegations of

violence, assault or harassment of women elected officials and candidates for political office, to

ensure accountability and to take appropriate steps for prosecuting those responsible; to

encourage greater involvement of women in decision-making as well as participation in the

politics at all the levels.12

United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) on 13 April 2012

states that, a United Nations System-wide Action Plan (UN SWAP) on gender equality and

women’s empowerment was adopted to be applied throughout the system of United Nations.

Thus, it is quite evident that women’s political participation has been the agenda of various

international conferences and symposiums. In order to improve the participation of women in

political decision making, various recommendations were made. At the international level, on

women’s issues, women’s political empowerment was at the center stage of all the discourses.13

Statement of the Problem

No one can deny the fact that gender inequality leads to deprivation of women. Women

are excluded from decision-making at every stage, starting from the household to the top layer of

policy making. Greater Participation of women in politics at decision making level may bring

great impact in empowering women. The Indian Constitution guarantees the equal opportunity,

yet the representation of women at legislative bodies and political participation of women at all

levels is negligible. This paper tries to analyses the facts related to representation of women in

politics at state and national level based on following objectives.

12
UN Women calculations
13
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020

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 Hypothesis

The first hypothesis tested in this study is the influence of the history of women’s

representation on gender differences in political participation as a long-term factor. This long-

term factor takes the form of the length of time since women have been able to access the

political system. The longer women have been allowed to take part in politics, the more likely it

is that citizens will be aware that women’s representation occurs. The passage of time since

women first gained the right to vote and run for office has a positive relationship with the

percentage of women getting elected in the national legislature. The earlier women achieved the

right to vote and run for office, the greater the proportion of women members in the national

legislature;it is argued that “the more the electorate is accustomed to seeing women compete for

political power, the more likely women should be elected.14

H1: The history of women’s representation hypothesis: A longer history of women having the

right to vote should be associated with smaller gender differences in political participation

H2: The women in cabinet hypothesis: A higher proportion of women in cabinet should be

associated with smaller gender differences in political participation.

H3: The presence of women in the legislature hypothesis: A higher proportion of women in the

legislature should be associated with smaller gender differences in political participation.

Conceptual Context-Comparative Analysis

14
United Nations Statistics Division. United Nations Global SDG Database. Data as of 1 January 2020, retrieved 1
August 2020.

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Source: The report is released by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security in

partnership with National Geographic.

(Tabel-1): Women Welfare Index

 The new global Women, Peace, and Security Index incorporates three basic dimensions

of well- being—inclusion (economic, social, political); justice (formal laws and informal

discrimination); and security (at the family, community, and societal levels)—and

captures and quantifies them through 11 indicators.15

 The report is released by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security in

partnership with National Geographic.16 

 India ranks at a low 133rd spot in the index and hasn’t performed ‘best’ in any of the

three categories of Inclusion, Security, and Justice.17

 In the Women, Peace, and Security Index 2017-18, India ranked 131 out of 153 countries

that covered around 98 percent of the world’s population.18 

15
UN women participation in politics.
16
United Nations (1995). Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Critical Area G, “Women, Power and
Decision-Making”.
17
UN Women (2013). In brief: Women’s leadership and political participation.
18
R. Chattopadhyay and E. Duflo (2004). “Women as policy makers: Evidence from a randomized policy
experiment in India,” Econometrica 72(5), pp. 1409–1443; K. A. Bratton and L. P. Ray. 2002. “Descriptive
representation: Policy outcomes and municipal day-care coverage in Norway,” American Journal of Political
Science, 46(2), pp. 428–437.

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Countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia rank better than India in the index. It was only on June 24

this year, when women in Saudi were granted the right to drive. Imagine a country with such

strict laws for women ranking better than India? This is definitely alarming for a developing

country like ours if it wants to continue its pace towards development. Today, near to 50 percent

population of India is women, and hence, no sort of development is possible without

their inclusion and betterment.

Iran ranks at 118th position in the index and one best factor in Iran is the financial inclusion of

women. More than 90 percent of women in Iran have a banking or other type of account. On the

other hand, Saudi Arabia ranks at the 120th spot in the index and is better than India in women’s

employment and their safety. As far as education is concerned, the top spot is captured by

Estonia, where women receive an average of 14 years of education, which is double the global

average.  Interestingly, Moldova, a country in Europe, has imposed a ban on the sexist ads in

media and ranks 64th in the index.

As The Middle Class Grow In India, The Son Bias Worsens

According to Jeni Klugman, managing director of the Georgetown Institute and lead

author of the index, “Son bias is basically sex-linked abortion. But you need assisted technology

to know the sex.” Ironically, in countries like China and India, “as the middle class grew, it [son

bias] actually got worse rather than better—people could actually do the ultrasound, find out

what the sex was, and have the abortion” if the baby was a girl. As per a study conducted in

2018, gender bias kills 2,39,000 girls every year in India. Moreover, the figure doesn’t include

girls who are aborted simply for their gender.

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 Methodology

Secondary Data Collection Methods

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the actual user. It means that the

information is already available, and someone analyses it. The secondary data includes

magazines, newspapers, books, journals, etc. It may be either published data or unpublished data.

Published data are available in various resources including

 Government publications

 Public records

 Historical and statistical documents

 Business documents

 Technical and trade journals

Objectives

 To analyze the representation of women at both the houses of parliament since

independence.

 To analyze the representation of women at state legislative assembly.

 To compare the representation of women at parliament in India with World.

 To figure out key challenges and to trace out the possible suggestions to increase the

representation of women in Indian Politics.

Research questions

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 1. Do you think women and transgender have equal opportunity in politics of election in

comparison with men?

2. What are social, economic and political barriers in giving equal opportunity to women

and transgender in politics?

3. What are different dimensions of feminist jurisprudence within constitutional framework?

4. How feminist jurisprudence is considered in india in historical framework of drafting of

electoral reforms?

4. What is historical background of feminist jurisprudence within constitutional framework?

5. Whether feminist jurisprudence is given predominance and satisfactory inclusiveness in

political ideology of different political parties in India?

6. Whether constitutions of different political parties gives satisfactory enlightenment over

Different issues of feminist jurisprudence?

7. What political and electoral reforms we need in today's generation to involve feminist

Ideology and jurisprudence in positive inclusive politics giving due weightage to feminist

Jurisprudence?

8. Whether statistical data that is available in India today suggest about impact of feminist

Jurisprudence on electoral reforms?

9. Whether opportunity barriers for women in politics and elections is supported by

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Statistical data?

10. What are future prospects of feminist jurisprudence within electoral reforms?

Secondary Data collection

The present study is primarily based on secondary data. The relevant secondary data has been

collected from Election Commission of India’s report, newspaper articles, and research article

and from various Government websites and reports.

Data Analysis

Women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to

achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.  However, data shows that women are

underrepresented at all levels of decision-making worldwide, and achieving gender parity in

political life is far off.

Women in executive government positions

 Women serve as Heads of State or Government in only 21 countries, and 119 countries

have never had a woman leader. At the current rate, parity in the highest decisions of power

will not be reached for another 130 years.

 Just 10 countries have a woman Head of State, and 13 countries have a woman Head of

Government.

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 Only 21 per cent of government ministers were women, with only 14 countries having

achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets. With an annual increase of just 0.52

percentage points, gender parity in ministerial positions will not be achieved before 2077.

 The five most commonly held portfolios by women ministers are:

Family/children/youth/elderly/disabled; followed by Social affairs; Environment/natural

resources/energy; Employment/labour/vocational training, and Women affairs/gender

equality.

Women in national parliaments

 Only 25 per cent of all national parliamentarians are women, up from 11 per cent in 1995.

 Only four countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower

houses: Rwanda with 61 per cent, Cuba with 53 per cent, Bolivia with 53 per cent, and the

United Arab Emirates with 50 per cent.

 A further 19 countries have reached or surpassed 40 per cent, including nine countries in

Europe, five in Latin America and the Caribbean, four in Africa, and one in the Pacific .

 More than two-thirds of these countries have applied gender quotas—either legislated

candidate quotas or reserved seats—opening space for women’s political participation in

national parliament.

 Globally, there are 27 States in which women account for less than 10 per cent of

parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including four single/lower chambers with no

women at all.

 At the current rate of progress, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be

achieved before 2063.

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 In Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Northern America, women hold

more than 30 per cent of parliamentary seats. In Northern Africa and Western Asia and

Oceania, there are less than 17 per cent of women in national parliaments. Women’s

representation is the lowest in the Pacific Island States as women hold 6 per cent of seats, and

they are not represented in parliaments in three countrie.

Women in local government

 Data from 133 countries shows that women constitute 2.18 million (36 per cent) of

elected members in local deliberative bodies. Only two countries have reached 50 per cent,

and an additional 18 countries have more than 40 per cent women in local government.

 Regional variations are also noted for women’s representation in local deliberative

bodies, as of January 2020: Central and Southern Asia, 41 per cent; Europe and Northern

America, 35 per cent; Oceania, 32 per cent; Sub-Saharan Africa, 29 per cent; Eastern and

South-Eastern Asia, 25 per cent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 25 per cent; Western Asia

and Northern Africa, 18 per cent.

Expanding participation

 Balanced political participation and power-sharing between women and men in decision-

making is the internationally agreed target set in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for

Action. Most countries in the world have not achieved gender balance, and few have set or

met ambitious targets for gender parity (50–50).

 There is established and growing evidence that women’s leadership in political decision-

making processes improves them. For example, research on panchayats (local councils) in

India discovered that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils

was 62 per cent higher than in those with men-led councils. In Norway, a direct causal

24 | P a g e
 relationship between the presence of women in municipal councils and childcare coverage was

found.

 Women demonstrate political leadership by working across party lines through

parliamentary women’s caucuses—even in the most politically combative environments—and

by championing issues of gender equality, such as the elimination of gender-based violence,

parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, and electoral reform.

Historical Background

WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT: PROGRESS SINCE

INDEPENDENCE:

Political representation of women in India, though in a small number, started with the

freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi played a significant role in women emancipation and was

instrumental for encouraging political consciousness in the illiterate, poor women and making

them to take part in the freedom movement.

Political representation may be defined as voluntary participation in political affairs

through membership, voting and taking part in the elections and activities of the political parties,

legislative bodies and/or politically motivated movements. The constitution of India gives equal

right to both men and women to participate in political affairs and exercise their rights. Then too,

numbers of women representatives are small in number. The successive election statistics shows

that the number of women who exercise their rights has increased since independence. Since last

two decades almost equal numbers of men and women have gone to the polling booths to vote.

On the contrary, when it comes to representation, the number of women filing their

nomination papers in any election, national or State, is only a fraction of the corresponding

25 | P a g e
number of men. Ultimately the numbers of women winning seats are too small that their

percentage in the legislative body is nominal.

Discussion i.e. critical commentary

During the first three decades after independence (from 1951 to 1977), the average

number of women contestant were 62 and average elected women were around 5 only. The sixth

Lok Sabha in 1977 witnessed the smallest proportion of women in Parliament at mere 3.5 per

cent. The number of women MPs increased from 22in 1956 to 62 in 2014.

26 | P a g e
Source: Election Commission of India

(Tabel-2): Participation of Women in Lok-Sabha since Independence

Participation of Women in Rajya Sabha (Upper House) :

In comparison with Lok Sabha, the figures at the Rajya Sabha are equally dismal. Table 2

depicts an overview of participation of women in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House). The

participation of women in the Rajya Sabha has, in fact, never exceeded 12.8 per cent since

Independence. The proportion of women Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Rajya Sabha has

increased by only from 7.3% in 1954 to 12.8% percentage in 2014 over the past seven decades.

In the 2014, Rajya Sabha has 31 women member, highest ever since independence.

27 | P a g e
Source: Election Commission of India

(Tabel-3): Participation of Women in Rajya-Sabha since Independence

Participation of Women in State Assembly (Based on Last Election):

As compare to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the scenario of women Members for

Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) across all state in India is even worse. The average number of

women contestants is only 6.7% and only 7.51% of women represent around half the population

of India. The best among them, Rajasthan (14%), Punjab (12%), West Bengal (11.6%), Bihar

(11.5%), while the worst states are Mizoram, Pondicherry and Nagaland, which have no women

MLAs at all.

28 | P a g e
Source: Election Commission of India

(Tabel-4): Participation of Women in State Assembly based on last election.

29 | P a g e
 It may be our perception that more literacy and better gender equality may bring more

women in politics; the above study indicates the interesting facts. While comparing the women

political participation in Kerala and Rajasthan, which lie at two opposite ends in terms of

literacy, as according to census 2011, the female literacy rates of Kerala is 92% per cent while

that of Rajasthan is 53%. It can be observed that Rajasthan has 14% participation of women at

assembly whereas Kerala stands at 5% only.

Significance of the study

The state and society seem to be lagging behind in offering them political reservations

that were long overdue. Of late, the Women's Reservation Bill has been a political ball for nearly

a decade and half. It has always triggered heated debates within Parliament and outside. The

proposed legislation to reserve 1/3rd seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures for women

was drafted first by the H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government. The Bill was introduced

in the Lok Sabha on September 12, 1996. Although it has been introduced in Parliament several

times, the Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus. Though our

Constitution and various other legislative enactments and different Commissions established for

women from time to time have made a number of efforts for the achievement of the objective of

gender equality, yet in actual practice, the planned efforts to emancipate women educationally,

economically and particularly politically did not yield the desired results over the decades after

independence. This paper deals with the women emancipation through its political participation.

Realizing women’s subjugation and subordination and affirmative discrimination against women

30 | P a g e
in general there has emerged the need of their empowerment – both political and economic. The

objective of this paper is to support and encourage the enactment of the Women's Political

Reservation Bill. Additionally its aim is to stimulate the initiatives for stopping corruption,

criminalization and communalization of politics, for enforcing stringent ceiling of funding

expenses incurred for election campaigns and creating awareness in the society in order to

inculcate the values of gender equality and gender justice. In order to achieve these objectives,

the present work is based heavily on United Nations reports, International norms and

conventions, Indian Constitutional provisions and other statutory enactments providing

favourable laws rendering special privileges for the benefits of women, Government of India

reports, NGO reports and important works by modern jurists who contributed a lot towards the

evolution and growth of feminist jurisprudence and studies.

Data analysis and interpretation

India Vs World:
The situation of India at world level is even worse. We stand nowhere in the picture. We

are even far behind than many small and less developing countries of the world. As per the data

compiles by Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) - an international organization of Parliaments,

while the global average for Women in Parliament stands at 23.1%, India is at the 145th place.

Out of 193 countries with a mere 12% representation. Within Asia (19.5%) also, India is at the

13th position out of 18 countries.19

It is further disapproving that even in SAARC India stands at fifth position after Nepal

(29.6%), followed by Afghanistan with 27.7% MPs. Pakistan (20.6%) and Bangladesh (20%)

each, ensure much better representation for women in their parliament. Looking out this

19
Inter-Parliamentary Union (2008). Equality in politics: A survey of men and women in parliaments.

31 | P a g e
scenario, India has to take immediate and strong initiative to increase the participation of women

in politics.20

Why do we need more Women Representation in Parliament?

It is obvious that women politicians are more likely to concentrate on issues that matter

more to women such as gender equality, safety and security, elderly care, children’s welfare,

women health care issues, etc.. It seems pretty intuitive that there are some issues that are more

important to women and affect them more. It also seems like common sense that women would

be more likely to focus on these issues than men.

With continuous increase in gender based violence against women such as rapes, physical abuse

and violence, etc., it is argues that greater representation of women in Parliament may have

controlling impact to it.21

A lesser-known fact about female politicians is that, at the global level, they are generally

less corrupt. Two studies (reference 1 and 2) have found a statistically significant correlation

between a higher proportion of women in government and a lower level of corruption at both the

national and local level.

Some Milestone Steps Taken by Government:

To remedy the low participation of women electors, India in 1994 established quotas

(reservations) vide the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments to reserve 33% of the seats in

local governments for women. There was widespread criticism during that time. People and

political parties especially had an opinion that it will be difficult to find such a big number of

20
AnandSwamy, Stephen Knack, Young Lee and Omar Azfar, Gender and corruption, Journal of Development
Economics 64 (2001, February), pp. 25–55. 2.

21
Kudva, Neema (2001). “Engineering elections: The experiences of women in Panchayati Raj in Karnataka,
India.” Paper presented at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Cleveland.

32 | P a g e
eligible women candidates all of a sudden, and the newly elected members’ performance may

not be befitting to the dignity of the post etc. Many local body elections have taken place since

then, now nobody is bothered about the women members of the local bodies.22

It is believed that a mass of women in power can bring about transformation in

leadership. An outcome of the reservation bill led the subsequent rise in political participation by

women, which went up from 4-5 per cent to 25-40 per cent among women, and gave millions of

women the opportunity to serve as leaders in local government.

The Women’s Reservation Bill (108th amendment) has also been introduced in the

national Parliament to reserve 33 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats for women, but the bill is yet to

be passed.23

The system of reserving for women 33 per cent seats in Parliament already exists in

Russia, Philippines, Korea etc. In certain other countries like Norway, Sweden, France, Germany

etc., the political parties take initiative to reserve 33% seats for women. Both ways it has worked

well. Unfortunately in India, no political party has come forward with the suggestion of reserving

the candidature for women.24

Key Issues and Challenges:

 Lack of Education: One of the key challenges faced by women is lack of education which

hinders their political involvement. Bridging this gap by providing quality education to

22
ParidaSubhas C. and NayakSasmita, “Empowerment of women in India”, Shodhganga

23
Alexander, Amy C. 2012. “Change in Women’s Descriptive Representation and the Belief in Women’s Ability to
Govern: A Virtuous Cycle.” Politics & Gender 8 (4): 437–434. doi:10. 1017/S1743923X12000487.
24
Atkeson, Lonna Rae. 2003. “Not All Cues Are Created Equal: The Conditional Impact of Female Candidates on
Political Engagement.” The Journal of Politics 65 (4): 1040–1061. doi:10.1111/ 1468-2508.t01-1-00124.

33 | P a g e
 women in the country is required. Awareness about their rights and privileges as

mentioned in the Constitution can only be ensured once women are appropriately

educated.

 Gender Based Issues: The issue of gender-based violence (such as rapes, physical abuse,

molestation, etc.) and provision of safety and security of women should also be addressed

on a priority basis to promote gender equality in the social and political arenas.25

 Women Self-Empowerment: As per late Ms. Geeta Mukherjee, the chairperson of the

Joint Parliamentary Committee, for the scrutiny of the Women’s Reservation Bill said

thatthe women put the blame on the patriarchal society. The men accept male domination

to a certain extent, but place the main responsibility for thus vicious situation on the

women themselves. The crux of the matter is that in politics a person who is not a

member of a political party is a lay person politically. Thus women self-empowerment

can help the women more than the men.26

 Low Women Membership: Membership of women in the political parties is extremely low,

which leads to low representation of women at higher level. The number of women decision

making post of the parties is very less. Due to very small representation, women issues will

obtusely be neglected oe will not be taken on priority basis.

25
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, and Nancy Carrillo. 2007. “More is Better: The Influence of Collective Representation on
External Efficacy.” Politics & Gender 3 (1): 79–101. doi:10.1017/ S1743923X0707002X.
26
Chadha, Anuradha, Political Participation of Women: A Case Study in India (May 25, 2014). OIDA International
Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 07, No. 02, pp. 91-108, 2014, Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2441693

34 | P a g e
  Male Dominancy in Politics: The Patriarchal system of our society has also influenced the

political party leadership. The male dominated political parties are interested only in the female

vote-bank. They are not interested to promote female membership in the party beyond a

certain limit so that men could hold maximum number of important positions.

 Lack of Women Support to Women Contentment: Data reveals the fact that the highest

winning percentage was 8% in 2014 at Lok Sabha election, highest ever since independence.

This implies that women contestant do not get much support by women vote bank. One of the

facts that, the poor women are not much aware of the mainstream activities of their respective

parties at all. On the other hand many of then decides their votes as directed by male member

of the family.

Suggestions

Indian policy makers and political parties can learn Rwanda (63.80%), which has highest

participation of women in politics. While it has 30% reservation for women at the Parliament,

there is active participation of women at all levels. There is also special encouragement from the

political leadership.Apart from Rwanda, amongst the Asian countries also Nepal has

29%legislated quota for women, Afghanistan has 28%, Pakistan and Bangladesh have 20% seats

reserved for women. Some European countries have voluntary political party quotas that

encourage and ensure women’s participation in the political process.

Thus based on the above study following are few suggestion which may help to bring more

participation of women in politics.

35 | P a g e
  Being a weaker section of the society, women could be given reservation of 33% seats

both at State and National level legislature.

 Without a fair proportional representation of women at the legislature, women related

issues would be neglected. The women should participate at all levels in political party,

start from having voting rights to taking political membership and representing the

women at different level in political system.

 Women should be motivated and trained by the women wing of different national and

state level parties such as Mahila Congress of the Indian National Congress, Mahila

Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party, National Federation of Indian Women of the

Communist Party of India etc. These wings should take more initiative at grassroots level

to increase the women participation.

 Some bigger leaders who are mass representative of women such as Congress President

Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister Mamata Benarjee, BSP

President Mayavati and many others should at least give chance to have more

participation of women by allotting more seats to them.

 Although the Government of India has initiated the National Mission of Empowerment

of Women in 2014 with the broad objective of gender empowerment, the progress of this

project is not up to the mark. It is thus imperative to strengthen its functioning and

implementation.

 There is need for capacity building of prospective women leaders by imparting

leadership training to the female members of political parties.

 Women have to change their mode of approach to political participation, if they aspire for

substantial representation in the legislative bodies.

36 | P a g e
 Conclusions

The exclusion of women from political position affects the ability to challenge the

deprivation of women in all its manifestation. Fair representation of women in politics at all level

is the need of the hour. Women have to represent in politics to challenge the power which has

excluded them since decades. Women who consist of almost half of the population need to be

represented significantly in decision making bodies; this will be possible only when more

number of women will take keen interest in representing weaker and deprived section of society.

Lacking this parity and due to this exclusion, goal of social development with equity and justice

cannot be achieved and as a result representation of women in Indian politics will farther be a

way ahead

References

[1] UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United

Nations. Only elected Heads of State have been taken into account.

[2] UN Women calculations.

[3] UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United

Nations. Some leaders hold positions of both head of government and head of state. Only elected

Heads of State have been taken into account.

[4] Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women (2020). Women in politics 2020 map.

[5] UN Women calculations.

[6] Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women (2020). Women in politics 2020 map.

[7] Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020.

[8] UN Women analysis

[9]  UN Women analysis.

37 | P a g e
[10] UN Women calculation based on IDEA, Stockholm University and IPU, Gender Quotas

Database, and IPU, Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020.

[11] Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020. In

December 2020, no women were elected to the parliament in Kuwait.

[12] UN Women calculations.

[13] Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as at 1 October 2020.

[14] United Nations Statistics Division. United Nations Global SDG Database. Data as of 1

January 2020, retrieved 1 August 2020.

[15] UN women participation in politics.

[16] United Nations (1995). Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Critical Area G,

“Women, Power and Decision-Making”.

[17] UN Women (2013). In brief: Women’s leadership and political participation.

[18] R. Chattopadhyay and E. Duflo (2004). “Women as policy makers: Evidence from a

randomized policy experiment in India,” Econometrica 72(5), pp. 1409–1443; K. A. Bratton and

L. P. Ray. 2002. “Descriptive representation: Policy outcomes and municipal day-care coverage

in Norway,” American Journal of Political Science, 46(2), pp. 428–437.

[19] Inter-Parliamentary Union (2008). Equality in politics: A survey of men and women in

parliaments.

[20] AnandSwamy, Stephen Knack, Young Lee and Omar Azfar, Gender and corruption, Journal

of Development Economics 64 (2001, February), pp. 25–55. 2.

[21] Kudva, Neema (2001). “Engineering elections: The experiences of women in Panchayati

Raj in Karnataka, India.” Paper presented at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning,

Cleveland.

38 | P a g e
[22] ParidaSubhas C. and NayakSasmita, “Empowerment of women in India”, Shodhganga

[23] Alexander, Amy C. 2012. “Change in Women’s Descriptive Representation and the Belief

in Women’s Ability to Govern: A Virtuous Cycle.” Politics & Gender 8 (4): 437–434. doi:10.

1017/S1743923X12000487.

[24] Atkeson, Lonna Rae. 2003. “Not All Cues Are Created Equal: The Conditional Impact of

Female Candidates on Political Engagement.” The Journal of Politics 65 (4): 1040–1061.

doi:10.1111/ 1468-2508.t01-1-00124.

[25] Atkeson, Lonna Rae, and Nancy Carrillo. 2007. “More is Better: The Influence of

Collective Representation on External Efficacy.” Politics & Gender 3 (1): 79–101. doi:10.1017/

S1743923X0707002X.

[26] Chadha, Anuradha, Political Participation of Women: A Case Study in India (May 25,

2014). OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 07, No. 02, pp. 91-108,

2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2441693

39 | P a g e