The long-pending bill to reserve seats for women in India’s national and state legislatures could give a much-needed boost to the role of women in the country’s electoral politics. Women’s representation in the Lok Sabha has gradually increased over the years, but India has not quite kept pace with progress in the rest of the world, a Mint analysis of data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) shows ).
A total of 82 members of the House of Commons, or 15.2%, are currently women. Although the number is dismal, it is a significant increase from just 4.4% in the first Lok Sabha which took place between 1952 and 1957. This figure reached double digits for the first time only in the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014).
However, despite this progress, India is among the bottom 25% of countries in this area, down from the bottom 40% in 1997, a historical analysis found. For historical comparisons, percentiles and not rankings were used as the number of countries in the IPU’s coverage was different each year.
According to India’s current position in this area, India ranks 141st out of 185 countries for which the IPU has provided data as of September 1, 2023. The ranking refers only to the House of Representatives in unicameral countries. IPU is an international organization of national parliaments. The total share of women in Member States’ parliaments is 26.7%.
The Center was expected to table the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) 2023 in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday during a special parliamentary session that began on Monday. The bill seeks to reserve 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures for women. An earlier version of the bill had been passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, but lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, which never discussed it.
The bill received consistent bipartisan support and was adopted in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto ahead of both the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
. than a third of the 185 countries have a female representation of 33% or more in their own parliament or lower house, the IPU data shows. The list includes India’s northern neighbor Nepal (33.1%).
Rwanda tops this list with 61% women in the lower house. Advanced countries such as Canada and the US also have shares of less than 30%.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, West Bengal (26%) and Uttar Pradesh (14%) had the highest share of women MPs, a state analysis showed.
The legislative assembly elections in the state have also seen an improvement in women representation, with Nagaland getting women members of the legislative assembly (MLA) for the first time in the most recent elections earlier this year. However, any gains are small, gradual and recent – and the legislation could pave the way for faster improvement.
A 33% women’s share in the Lok Sabha would take India to 54th position among the 185 countries in the IPU list. But don’t forget that if the change didn’t happen until the 2029 general election, as is likely, other countries would have made gains too.
