Reservation For Women In Politics
Context:
- Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, recently embarked on a hunger strike to demand that the lengthy Women’s Reservation Bill be passed as soon as possible. She did this the day before she was supposed to give a testimony in the Delhi liquor policy case before the Enforcement Directorate.
Political discrimination against women is not new:
- The subject of women’s political reservations initially came up during the Indian national movement. In a formal memo to the British Prime Minister that they sent in 1931, the heads of three women’s organisations Begum Shah Nawaz and Sarojini Naidu stated that “to seek any form of preferential treatment would be to violate the integrity of the universal demand of Indian women for absolute equality of political status.”
- The subject of women’s reservations also came up during talks at the Constituent Assembly, but it was brushed off as needless. In a democracy, it was thought that every group would be represented. Throughout time, policy discussions began to frequently include the issue of women’s reservations in Indian legislatures.
- For instance, the majority of the members of the Commission of the Status of Women in India, established in 1971, continued to oppose women’s suffrage in legislative bodies while unanimly supporting it for local government. Reservations for women in local bodies were gradually announced by many State governments.
- Women should be given reservations at every level, from the panchayat to the House of Representatives, according to the National Perspective Plan for Women of 1988.
- These suggestions helped pave the way for the historic adoption of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution, which mandate that all State governments designate one-third of the seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions for women and one-third of the chair positions in urban local bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions at all levels for women. Women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are given priority for one-third of these seats.
- Several States have implemented legislation mandating 50% female representation in local government, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Kerala.
Women’s Reservation Bill provisions:
- After municipal bodies, the next step was to establish reservation in Parliament, albeit this battle has been difficult. Women would be allotted 33% of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, per the Women’s Reservation Bill.
- It was first introduced as the 81st Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha by the Deve Gowda-led United Front government in September 1996. The bill lapsed when the Lok Sabha was dissolved even though it had been referred to a joint parliamentary committee.
- Due to a lack of support from both Houses of Parliament, attempts to approve the bill by the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2008 and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1998 both failed.
- In its 2019 agenda, the BJP reaffirmed its pledge from its manifesto from 2014 to grant women a one-third reservation. But, the government hasn’t changed anything here.
In support of the Bill:
- Political parties are basically patriarchal, according to the bill’s supporters, thus affirmative action is necessary to raise women’s status.
- Despite the leaders of the movement’s hopes, there are still too few women in parliament. By reserving seats, women will be able to form a strong lobby in Parliament and advance issues that are typically ignored.
- There is now evidence that women have dispelled social stereotypes, been more approachable than men, reduced alcohol’s dominance, made significant investments in public goods like drinking water, helped other women find more effective ways to express themselves, decreased corruption, prioritised nutrition outcomes, and changed the development agenda at the grassroots level.
- There are many crimes against women in India today, few women work, nutrition levels are poor, and the sex ratio is unbalanced. One argument makes the case that we need more women involved in decision-making to deal with all of these problems.
- The argument, according to proponents like Brinda Karat, is not only about a bill; it is also about upending powerful, entrenched interests in Indian politics.
Concerns with the Bill:
- Several people oppose reservations for women, arguing that doing so breaches the Constitution’s guarantee of equality. They contend that the presence of a reserve would prevent women from competing on the basis of merit, which may lower their status in society.
- As women are different from, say, a caste group, they are not a homogeneous community. Hence, the same arguments for caste-based reservation cannot be applied to women.
- The goals of other social, economic, and political realms are entwined with those of women.
- Reserving seats in the House of Commons, according to some, would restrict voters’ choices to female candidates. Due to this, substitutes including dual member constituencies and reservations for women in political parties have been proposed (where constituencies will have two MPs, one of them being a woman).
- Even these tactics, according to some parties, may not work since they may nominate women for seats that are unwinnable, they could run in elections but lose, or they could be downgraded to supporting roles.
- Women in politics, according to some, could destroy the “ideal family” because men currently occupy the majority of influential and powerful positions.
Conclusion:
- Only about 14% of women currently serve in parliament, which is the lowest ratio to date. In comparison to its neighbours Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka, India has a much lower percentage of women in the lower House, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
- Reservations for women may change the political environment for Indian women in this situation.
