Women-led development and the Women’s Reservation Bill

Authored by - Kalpana Sharma, former additional secretary, Lok Sabha, Parliament of India & currently senior advisor to BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

September 18, 2023, will be go down in the history of Indian Parliament as a memorable day when the Women’s Reservation Bill Constitution (108th amendment) Bill, 2008 got the approval from Cabinet and subsequently passed by the Lok Sabha during the current Special Session of Parliament.

Members of Parliament while voting on clauses of the women's reservation bill on demand of an Opposition MP in Lok Sabha during the Special Session of Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)

Support for implementing the Women Reservation Bill was always there. Bharat Ratna, the then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said, “The Government was definitely in favour of providing for women’s reservation....If the women’s empowerment is our motto, then their representation should be increased”.

Recently, the G20 New Delhi leader’s Declaration 2023 in para 6 states that the G20 reaffirms that gender equity is of fundamental importance and that investing in the empowerment of all women and girls has a multiplier effect in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Under India's presidency, G20 shifts its focus from women's development to women-led development, India is already committed to 2030 Agenda and working towards SDG'S target 5.5 which calls for women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political and public life.

Over the last several decades, it has been a matter of concern that women who constitute more than half of humanity are still underrepresented in legislative bodies. This democratic deficit is a serious obstacle in achieving fast track economic development. Therefore, it is all the more important to assign top priority to this matter in order to strengthen a participative, responsive, inclusive, equitable and accountable political decision-making process.

There is an old Ethiopian proverb which goes, "When a woman rules, streams run uphill.”

Following its spirit, African nations have made laudable advances in women’s leadership and established an environment where balanced participation of men and women exists. As of May 2022, the global average of women representation in national parliaments was 26.2 %. Most of the nations in sub-Saharan Africa surpassed the global average. The common factor for achieving higher representation among women is reservation of seats for women in legislative bodies. Today, Rawanda has the highest percentage of women representatives in parliament i.e., more than 60% higher than any other nation. Besides Rawanda, South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, Namibia and Mozambique have about 40 % or more of women’s representatives in their legislative decision-making process.

Bharat is undoubtedly the oldest, largest and the most vibrant democracy in the world. Way back, on December 9, 1946, when the Constituent Assembly met for the first time in the Constitution Hall (now the Central Hall of the old building of Parliament House), there was only one, woman Sarojini Naidu in the first row facing the presidential dais. Among the 207 representatives in the Constituent Assembly, there were only 10 women present. Decade by decade, there was slow progress in the number of women representatives in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. From 4.4% of women member in the first Lok Sabha, it took 15 Lok Sabhas to convert percentage of women representatives from single digit to double digit. In the latest 17th Lok Sabha, the highest representation of women achieved so far is still slightly less than 15%. The situation is more or less the same in the Rajya Sabha. The situation is far from satisfactory as it is much lower than our neighbouring countries i.e., Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan where the percentage of women’s representation is 20.7%, l 3.4% and 17% respectively. As far as, state legislatures are concerned, only 10 state assemblies have double digit percentage (well below 14%) of women's representatives and in the rest of the assemblies, the representation of women members is in single digit.

Enacting the Women Reservation Bill (the Constitution 108th Amendment) Bill, 2008 is necessary for the new India. Though the issue was earlier considered in 1996, 1997 and 1998, it could not be pursed either due to the dissolution of Lok Sabhas or due to lack of consensus amongst political parties. The current bill as passed in Rajya Sabha 23 years ago seeks to reserve one -third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. There is a need to widen the scope of the bill. Looking at recommendations of the Standing Committee on the bill, 2009, the reservation should be extended in Rajya Sabha and state legislative councils. Second, the concept of double-member constituency should not be accepted as it might result in women being reduced to subservient status.

Our experience by enacting 73rd and 74th Amendment to the Constitution which brought reservation of one-third of seats for women in our local bodies was an eye opener for other countries. Over a million elected women representatives have become active partners in the political economic process at grassroots level. Some Indian states have raised reservation for women in local bodies up to 50%. As per UN reports, the growing women leadership improves holistic and comprehensive development. Research on panchayats in India discovered that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-lead panchayat was 62% higher than in men-lead panchayat. Besides this, increased social benefits like improved gender ratio, risk free pregnancy, higher levels of girls’ education, growing capabilities and consciousness to venture in unconventional fields by women, easy access to financial resources reached to women widely due to women leadership.

Now it is our collective responsibility to politically empower women in true sense and without wasting further time. Women have proved themselves time and again in all fields and hopefully we will see higher percentage of women in Parliament and legislative bodies.

Authored by - Kalpana Sharma, former additional secretary, Lok Sabha, Parliament of India & currently senior advisor to BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry.