DYNAMICS OF WOMEN’S RESERVATION IN INDIA
Posted on June 26, 2007
Filed Under Women Leaders | 18 Comments
Equitable representation of women in the highest decision making body is an urgently required measure to empower the women politically. No nation could stand proud if it discriminates against any of its citizens, and no society could claim to be part of the modern civilized world unless it treated its women on par with men1. In keeping with the point to provide gender equality in political arena the present government, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), has already promised in the Common Minimum Programme, and has been trying to bring consensus among all political parties in favour of the women’s reservation Bill. The government has introduced women’s reservation bill, in the year 2008, in the Rajya Sabha amidst protests from opposition parties. After this several attempts were made to introduce the bill in the Parliament but the government could not pass the bill, due to various political reasons.
The idea of reserving certain seats to women, it seems, was mooted by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the late 1980’s. In 1988, the National Perspective Plan for Women suggested that a 30 per cent quota for women be introduced at all levels of elective bodies. Women’s group insisted that reservation be restricted to the panchayat level to encourage grass-roots participation in politics. The consensus around this demand resulted in the adoption of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution in 1993. In 1995, the question of quotas was raised again, but this time the focus was women’s representation in Parliament2.
In 1996 the United Front government led by Deva Gowda introduced the reservation bill in the Parliament but the bill was rejected in an uproar with, some male politicians arguing that women should stay at home where they really belonged. The media had described the debate as the “battle of the sexes”.
Attempt to introduce the reservation bill in the Parliament reserving 33 per cent of seats for women have been scuppered by protests in the chamber of the lower house of the Parliament in the year 1998. Male opponents of the bill, who said it would benefit only middle-class city women, continually disrupted proceedings, forcing several adjournments. The then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee described the opposition reaction to the bill as “disgracefull”3.
The present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Congress party is was keen to give 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament4. The Prime Minister convened the meeting of UPA constituents and its supporting parties, including the Left parties, on the proposed women’s reservation Bill. The meeting did not produce consensus but several parties said they had agreed “in principle” with the idea of reserving one-third of the total number of seats for women in the state legislatures and also in Parliament5. The reservation bill has been referred to the Parliament standing committee headed by senior Congress party leader Sudarshana Natchiappan.
Trend at the International level
The recent UNO report shows that Women hold just over 18 per cent of the seats in parliaments around the world. This represents a 60 per cent increase since 1995 but it is still a long way to go to achieve equality with men in national legislative bodies, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has said in its annual report card. “We still feel that progress is slow,” said Philippines Senator Pia Cayetano, President of the IPU committee of women parliamentarians. She stressed that of there are 5 legislators there is only one women among them. “The challenges that women face in accessing politics are immense,” she told a news conference. “Prejudices and cultural perceptions about the role of society are among the greatest obstacles to women’s entry.”
During 2008, parliamentary elections and renewals took place in 54 countries and women’s representation increased to 18.3 per cent — up from 17.7 per cent last year and 11.3 per cent in 1995, the IPU report said. The U.N. Economic and Social Council had set a target of having a minimum of 30 per cent women lawmakers in all parliaments by 1995. According to the IPU, 15 per cent of parliamentary chambers reached the 30 per cent goal for the first time in 2008. That translates to 39 out of 264 chambers in 32 countries. Forty per cent of those chambers are in Europe, 33 per cent in Africa and 23 per cent in Latin America, the report said6 .
Lowest levels
At the other end of the spectrum, 25 per cent of parliamentary chambers have less than 10 per cent women members. In the recent election only, for the first time in the political history of Kuwait, four women MPs were elected to the legislature. Right to contest in the election was granted to women in Kuwait in the year 2005 only. Elections were conducted in Kuwait in the year 2006 and 2008, not even single woman MP was elected to the nation’s highest decision making body 7.
“It is unfortunate that we are not seeing progress being made across all parliaments of the world,” IPU President Theo-Ben Gurirab said in a statement. “While there were some impressive gains made in 2008, particularly in Africa, where Rwanda’s lower house elected a majority of women members, more needs to be done in those countries where women are largely absent from decision-making bodies.” Rose Mukantabana, Speaker of Rwanda’s Chamber of Deputies which is the only body to have a majority of women members — 56.3 per cent — told reporters that the high female representation is the result of a quota of 30 per cent of seats that was reserved for Women. Of the 2,656 seats won by the women in 2008, the IPU said 1,707 women were directly elected, 878 were indirectly elected and 71 were appointed8.
Some gains
Latin American women registered “some impressive gains,” taking a 26.5 per cent share of seats in the 12 chambers that were renewed — largely due to the success of women candidates in Cuba, Belize and Grenada. In the U.S., both houses of Congress elected their highest proportions of women members — 17 per cent in each chamber, the report said. But that still ranks the U.S. below the global average.
Europe, with Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands were the countries that stand first for women in parliament, sustained its “consistent pace of progress” with gains in Belarus, Spain, Macedonia, Monaco and France’s upper house, but there was a drop in women’s representation in Romania, Malta and Serbia, the report said. The IPU said African countries continued to make strides in 2008 with Angola electing more than 37 per cent of women members in its first election since 1992. Angola joins other southern African countries including Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania which have elected more than 25 per cent of women members to Parliament, the report said. “Asia has registered the slowest rate of progress in terms of women’s access to parliament over the past 15 years, reaching a regional average of only 17.8 per cent,” the IPU said. It cited significant gains in Nepal where women took 32.8 per cent of the seats, in contrast to Iran where women won just 2.8 per cent of seats. In the Arab world, women took just over 9 per cent of the seats, but the lowest percentage of women — less than 4 per cent on average — was in the Pacific island nations, the IPU said9.
Trend in India
As the available data shows clearly, the women representation in lower house of Parliament, the House of People, was not impressive in all the general elections. Over the Fifteenth Lok Sabha elections the representation of women has witnessed a very slow improvement, despite the fact that women comprise almost 50 per cent of India’s population10. As for Rajya Sabha from 1952 to 2002, 160 women have become members of the Rajya Sabha. However, the representation of women in Rajya Sabha at any given point of time has not gone beyond 30. In 1980, there were 29 women members out of a total of 242 members constituting 11.98 per cent of the House, which was the highest ever strength of women members in the House. At present, there are 25 women members in the Rajya Sabha.
15th Parliament and Women MPs
In the first general elections, held in the year 1952, out of 499 total seats there were 22 women members elected in the lower house of the Parliament which was 4.4 per cent of the total. A record of 59 MPs have been elected to the 15th Parliament the highest ever since independence and 17 of them are aged less than 40 years. A Majority of 23 MPs are from Congress. The BJP has 13 women members. Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 13 women MPs to representing the most populous state. It is followed by West Bengal with seven MPs. Fifteen per cent of 543 MPs in the present Parliament are in the age group of 25-40 years. While in the 14th Lok Sabha the figure was only 6.3 per cent, according to PRS Legislative Research Report. In all, 556 women had contested the 2009 general elections, of which 59 were elected11.
The following Table shows the trend since 1952 general elections:
The Women’s Representation in the Parliament
General Election
Year
Total No. of seats
No. of Women Members
% to the total
First
1952
499
22
4.4
Second
1957
500
27
5.4
Third
1962
503
34
6.8
Fourth
1967
523
31
5.9
Fifth
1971
521
22
4.2
Sixth
1977
544
19
3.5
Seventh
1980
544
28
5.1
Eighth
1984
517
44
8.1
Ninth
1989
544
27
5.2
Tenth
1991
544
39
7.2
Eleventh
1996
543
40*
7.4
Twelfth
1998
543
43
7.9
Thirteenth
1999
543
49
8.8
Fourteenth
2004
543
45
8.2
Fifteenth
2009
543
59
10.1
*One member was nominated by the President of India.
Source: The Hindu, August 28, 1999. p.5; Dinamani, May 18, 2004. p.7; Dinakaran, May 20, 2009.p.12).
It is interesting to note that in the all Lok Sabha elections, though the number of women’s representation in Parliament has not been very impressive, the women candidates’ success rate (% of contestants getting elected) has always been higher than the male aspirants. The following Table shows the gender advantage:
The Gender Advantage
General Election
Year
Total No. of seats
No. of Women Members
% to the total
First
1952
499
22
4.4
Second
1957
500
27
5.4
Third
1962
503
34
6.8
Fourth
1967
523
31
5.9
Fifth
1971
521
22
4.2
Sixth
1977
544
19
3.5
Seventh
1980
544
28
5.1
Eighth
1984
517
44
8.1
Ninth
1989
544
27
5.2
Tenth
1991
544
39
7.2
Eleventh
1996
543
40*
7.4
Twelfth
1998
543
43
7.9
Thirteenth
1999
543
49
8.8
Fourteenth
2004
543
45
8.2
Fifteenth
2009
543
59
10.1
Gender-wise data for 1952, 1999 and 2009 not available.
Source: The Hindu, August 28, 1999. p. 15, The Hindu, September 5, 2005. p.10.
For instance in 1957 general elections male candidates’ percentage of winning was 31.7 but at the same time women candidates’ percentage was 60 per cent. In the 1998 elections women candidates percentage was 15.7 whereas the male candidates percentage of winning was 11.2 only . In May 2004 elections 45 of 355 women contestants (12.6 per cent) won the elections compared with 498 of 5,050 men contestants (9.8 per cent). There were 30 women fielded by the BJP in the may 2004 elections, 10 (33.3 per cent) won. The female success ratio was 62.5 per cent for the CPI (M) and 26.6 per cent for the Congress 12.
Parties’ Stand over the Bill
Consensus still eludes women’s reservation Bill in meeting among the UPA constituents and its supporting parties. Several parties said they agreed “in principle” with the idea of reserving seats for women in state legislatures and Parliament. A Different tune was heard from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD), with the former asserting that it would oppose the bill in Parliament. The chief of SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, made three points. One, he favoured making it Mandatory on all parties providing 10 per cent of ticket to women; two, if inadequacy of representation was the issue why not reservation for Muslim women (three or only two in the present Lok Sabha); and three, if 33.3 per cent reservation was given to women when 22.5 per cent already existed for SC and ST, more than 55 percent of seats in Parliament would become reserved which would not be fair or just for other sections of the population. Later the SP announced its decision to mobilize the public opinion against the reservation Bill. But finally the party has come up with an idea to reserve only 15 to 20 per cent of the seats to women 13.
The RJD president, Lalu Prasad Yadav, said his party would not oppose “10 to 15 per cent reservation for women” under the old proposed Bill or the new proposal to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 900 and the state Assemblies by 3000. Further, he demanded quotas for Backward class and Muslims within the women’s Quota14. But the BJP was very much against the idea suggested by the RJD. Sushma Swaraj of BJP assured that the BJP would support a women’s reservation Bill in what ever form, “Provided there is no quota within a quota”15.
As far as the Left parties are concern, there was a shift in their stands. They had earlier stated their preference for the “original 1996 Bill” proposing reservation of one third of the current strength of all seats in legislatures for women without any sub quotas within this reservation. But later the CPI has made it clear that while they favoured the original Bill” the Left will not stand in the way of a consensus”. The DMK, a principle allay of Congress, wanted 33 per cent reservation for women to be implemented before taking up the demand for a quota for BC, MBC and Muslims within the overall reservation.
CONCLUSION
This study analysed the proposed reservation for women in the Parliament and state Legislatures. Worldwide scenario and Indian situation has been discussed in this study. In all the two categories women’s representation in the highest decision making body, the Parliament, has not been impressive always. At the international level except in a few countries the women’s representation was not at a satisfactory level. In India the highest percentage of Women representation was 8.8 per cent in 1999, 8.2 per cent in 2004 and in the present 15th Parliament it is only 10.7 per cent.
Since 1996 intensive efforts were made several times to introduce the reservation Bill in the Parliament but it faced with staunch opposition of the political parties. On the extreme, the government was prevented from introducing the bill in the Parliament in the year 1998 and 2008. Several reasons were cited for not enacting the legislation and most important one is the lack of consensus among political parties and their main argument was the reservation would benefit only middle-class city women and upper caste women. Substantiating the argument, a study reveals that in the Tenth Parliament most of the women MPs were members of the higher castes. For example, there were six women from the Brahmin caste. This represents a sizeable 17.14 per cent of the women MPs, while Brahmins comprise only 5.52 per cent of the population. Further, the number of women who are able to avail of India’s caste-based reservation system remains small. While 22 per cent of the Parliamentary seats were reserved for SCs, those women occupy only 4.1 per cent of the reserved seats16. But in other Lok Sabha elections women from across the section were elected to the Parliament and this is not enough or healthy reason to prevent the bill.
In this situation it is significant to note that, 33 per cent seats were already reserved to women in local bodies, by the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment bill. As the available data shows that the elected women members and chairpersons of Panchayats in different states, especially Karnataka, Maharastra, West Bengal and Kerala, have been contributing positively for the developments of their village panchayats. The then Union Minister for Panchayat Raj, Mani Shankar Aiyar, in his interview to Frontline in 2008, says that, at present we have approximately 12 lakh women in the Panchayats alone. As against the reserved quota of 33 per cent, their actual presence ranges around 38 per cent. This means that approximately 5 million women have been liberated from the kitchen and the courtyard and brought in to the public domain. This is an extraordinary act of social and political empowerment, said Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Though, Indian constitution says that reservation for women must be for not less than 33 per cent. Bihar is spoken of as a very feudal, traditional, socially backward backwater. But the credit must go to Bihar for being the very first state to have legislated that reservation for women may be increased up to 50 per cent. In the last elections, 55 per cent of the candidates elected to the Panchayats were women. The example set by Bihar has now been picked up by Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachala Pradesh. All these states have raised their reservation quota to 50 per cent. Sikkim has raised it to 40 per cent17.
The present effort, by the UPA government, to enact legislation on reservation for women in Parliament and state Legislatures has been facing so many hurdles. For instance, (i) The issue of 10 to 15 per cent reservation for women; ii) Quotas for Backward classes and Muslims; and iii) Whether to accept original 1996 bill introduced by UF government, or in Keeping with the proposed increasing of Parliament seats to 900 and state Legislatures to 3000. Women members of the Parliament are solidly backing the bill, regardless of their party affiliation. The proposed women’s reservation bill is possibly the most important measure to empower the women politically. But the present development has no sign of improvement, with each and every political party has different views and demands over the bill. All the objections, raised by the parties, will definitely elude reservation quota for women unless no series effort to bring consensus among political parties. The general feeling, among the women members of the Parliament as well as in Indian society, is that the issue has been hanging fire for too long. The government should bring the legislation in the Parliament with a consensus among political parties without diluting the real spirit and other issues such as quotas with in the quota may be taken up for discussion latter. The present situation, women’s representation in the Parliament, is not impressive even while compared with Pakistan and China. Unless there is a reservation women will find it difficult to get elected in large numbers.
Reference and Notes
- This statement was made by our Indian Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh while inaugurating a national workshop of voluntary organization on “Women’s Role in Nation Building – From Panchayat to Parliament”.
- Shirin Rai, Class, Caste and Gender-Women in Parliament in India.
- BBC News Online, July 14, 1998.
- Deccan Chronical, August 13, 2005. p.1.
- The Hindu, August 23, 2005. p.1.
- www.the hindu.com, 07/03/2009.
- Dinakaran, May 18, 2009.p.9.
- Dinakaran, May 18, 2009.p.9.
- www.the hindu.com, 07/03/2009.
- Times of India, July 30, 2005.
- IANS, New Delhi, May 19, 2009.
- The Hindu, August 28, 1999. p.15; The Hindu, September 5, 2005.p.10.
- The Hindu, August 23, 2005. p.1.
- Dinamani, August 24, 2005. p.8; The Hindu, August 23, 2005. p.1.
- The Hindu, August 13, 2005. p.1.
- Shirin Rai. Op.Cit.
- Interview: Manishankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Panchayat raj, Frontline, June 6, 2008.pp.21-22.
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About Author
Associate Professor in Political Science Annamalai University Annamalai Nagar – 608 002 Tamil Nadu India
Comments
18 Responses to “DYNAMICS OF WOMEN’S RESERVATION IN INDIA”
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Opps! I meant to say Sharese! I guess ‘Jackie’ was your name in the video!
You’re so wild and funny. That was a good Sarah you did there.
Only you’re a lot more gorgeous than her!! I love the Rambo bit at the end!! That was cool and funny!
) You’re so entertaining and a lot of fun and have a beauty beyong compare! 
) I’d love to see you take on the bad guys with that outfit and bandana and all. 
Sharise you’re awesome!
LOL
fantastic
Baloney.
Sarah Palin has done very well.
You are only upset because she has been an effective campaigner.
If John McCain were an effective campaigner he would not be as far down in the polls as he is.
You remind me of the drunk divorced men who sit on bar stools complaining about their ex wives as their ex wives do their best to raise the children, pay the mortgage and hold down a full time job because their ex husbands are behind in their child support payments.
Really? Oh. I forgot. We attacked Obama based on race? Duh!
You're picking "examples" where race and gender are unrelated.
I never heard anything even vaguely like that, unlike the crackpot
lunatic filth I am hearing about Sotomayor or Obama.
Get used to it: Your team got beat because it was insane, incompetent, and just plain out of it. And there's more coming.
These lies of yours are just proof how ignorant and misinformed and
genuinely demented you are, and scum like Limbaugh may try to reinforce this madness. All that will do is illustrate the psychopathology of the reactionary, neo-Nazi, sophistic ultra-right reactionaries clustered in the shambles of the Republican Party.
In short, you're screwed.
"Why should women go into politics?"
For the same reason most men get into it: The power and the ability to make whatever changes they see fit.
"Are there any specific characteristics they can offer that men can't? "
No. Contrary to popular belief, women aren't going to necessarily add a "softer" and "gentler" side to politics. Evil exists in both genders.
"Specifically, women can understand problems more, are more compassionate and understanding,"
Again, not necessarily. It's a nice stereotype, but a stereotype, nevertheless.
"Why should we have more women in politics?"
When people say that we should have more minorities (women, people of color, etc.) in politics, it's not necessarily because they'll add something new, it's because they feel that the government should be as diverse as the people who helped create it.
EDIT: Luna
Ummm…Hilary IS a mom.
the fuck is this? is it supposed to be a political joke or a political rant? If i wanted to hear this i’d just walk into topshop
Now for a historically-based answer:
Because women didn't own property and the founding fathers felt that it was unfair for non-property owners be allowed to participate in voting for taxs measures that affected property rights. Since women couldn't own property they would not have a vested interest in insuring fair taxation laws for those that DID own property.
And there you have it.
If the above genius that claimed that men are idiots was right, then why did men later give women the right to vote? It certainly wasn't women that passed this Amendment was it?
By not voting them in. That is all you can do.
Election through proportional representation from candidate lists.
Candidate lists voted within the parties, implementation of quotas or party policy on woman's participation
Earlier universal suffrage
Party leaders that have been women
Female Prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland
Progressive politics (Scandinavian socialism) put female friendly issues much higher on the agenda, attracting more women into politics in the first place. Childcare provision and similar make it easier for all women irrespective of social background to have a career
By westward expansion, do you mean like the colonisation of the 'new' world? There is an excellent book called Britannia's Daughters by Joanna Trollop about the opportunities that opened up in Australia, America, Canada, etc – there was less fussiness about dress and behaviour codes for women, since they were expected to get on with the gruelling work alongside men
There were some significant woman rulers during the Renaissance period, who were involved in politics. queen Elizabeth I of England is of course the most famous, and another important woman ruler was Catherine di Medici, who was regent of france for two of her sons, frnacois II and charles IX, and who. Mary of Guise, who was Queen Regent of Scotland for many years during the childhood of her daughter mary, Queen of Scots was anothr significant woman in political life.
katherine of Aragon, first wife of henry VIII, was siginficant in political life becdause her refusal to agree to the annulment of her marriage, led to henry's seperation from the Roman Catholic church, which was of great political significance.
Sarah Palin is an idiot, an attractive idiot, but still an idiot. You may want to give a little more credence to the ‘feminists’, as they are the number one reason why you are considered a human being and are able to vote.
Hey Jackie, your talents are being wasted on Youtube. Your a natural! You need to be on a primetime sitcom!!
LMAO! 5 Stars!
So many great points but Rambo Jackie?!
I can’t stop LOL…10*’s for Jackie…!!!