How to ensure the political empowerment of women in India?
Principal Elements of the Bill:
- Reservation of Seats for Women in the Lower House: The Bill aimed to incorporate Article 330A into the Constitution, drawing inspiration from Article 330, which allocates seats to Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the Lok Sabha.
- According to the Bill, seats earmarked for women may be distributed to various state or union territory constituencies in a rotating manner.
- The Bill proposed designating one-third of the SC/ST seats as designated for women, with a rotational system.
Women’s Seat Reserved in State Legislative Assemblies:
- The Bill presents Article 332A, which requires all state Legislative Assemblies to reserve seats for women.
- In addition, women must be given preference for one-third of the seats set aside for SCs and STs as well as one-third of the seats filled in the Legislative Assemblies through direct elections.
Reservations made abroad:
- Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal have chosen to take the legislative route.
- In terms of women’s representation in their legislatures, they are doing better.
- Pakistan: In its national assembly, 17% of the seats are designated for women.
- In its Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh has reserved 50 of the 350 seats.
- 33% of the available seats are designated for women by Nepal.
There are numerous nations where there are no legal requirements for female quotas:
- Political parties are mandated to provide female candidates with a specific proportion of their tickets.
- Australia accounts for 38%.
- 31 percent in Canada.
- South Africa (45%).
- Sweden (46 percent).
- In their parliament, there are no quotas that are supported by legislation.
- In the parliaments of the majority of these nations, there are above thirty percent female members.
India’s reservation policy for women:
- An earlier bill in the Upper House reserved thirty-three percent of the seats for women.
- The Lower House was unable to pass it.
- Through the enactment of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act of 2023, the government has opted for the quota method in order to empower women politically.
- 33% of seats in State Assemblies and Parliament are legally reserved.
Problems:
- The next Census and the ensuing delimitation process are prerequisites for the current law’s implementation.
- Delimitation and the census are more than just administrative affairs.
- Since 1976, delimitation has been suspended to give States equal playing fields and manage population growth.
- States that have demonstrated progress in empowering women may now lose their seats in Parliament in the event of a delimitation exercise.
- Legality of the contingency clause: The constitutional courts have the authority to decide whether a legislation can be dependent on an unforeseen future event.
- The law is linked to another future law, which might not be addressed until after the Lok Sabha’s subsequent general elections.
- Another method for reserving seats inside parties while providing tickets exists, and it works just as well for the political representation of women.
- This is a positive step towards the political empowerment of women: the distribution of tickets in the most recent Assembly election does not reflect the same level of commitment to women’s political empowerment as demonstrated by the leaders of the major political parties in Parliament.
- State elections: Compared to the required 33%, no political party has even come close to providing tickets to female candidates, at 15%.
- Rather than supporting and empowering women as lawmakers, political parties are more interested in seeing them as voters.
- The legislators of the day deserve praise for their initiative in passing the Women Reservation Act, 2023.
- As a result of its connection to the upcoming post-2026 delimitation, the legislation appears sound on paper but not in practice.
- Regional parties like the TMC have fielded strong candidates and won elections despite the absence of legislation.
