Why in the News?

The 17th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has reflected that at the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to close the global gender gap and it is 149 years in populous South Asian countries including India.

Women in Leadership roles:

1. As proxy leaders
   1. Historical evidence reveals that women who have assumed leadership roles were allowed not merely for their sheer industry, competence and intelligence, but for the convenience of men to serve some political agenda.
2. Privileged women get opportunity for leadership positions. Such privileges include,
   1. higher education
   2. support of influential mentors or families, or belong to upper classes or castes.
   3. Nepotistic advantages
      1. For instance, Indira Gandhi who had the highest elitist advantage and politically active, was sworn in as PM only after the death of Shastri in 1966, but Rajiv Gandhi, by virtue of being the son and though not a politically active person was sworn in immediately fielded after Mrs Gandhi’s assassinations.

Bridging the gap:

1. Reservation
   1. It enforces affirmative action and equity as the first step to equality. 
   2. Though the claim that it leads to inefficiency or incompetency arise, they are short term, and can be removed soon after opportunity for skill building is made available.
   3. The claim of incompetence due to reservation is a misplaced notion, as statistics show that,
      1. women perform much better than men in academics
      2. women graduate from colleges than men
      3. more women enter the workforce than men.
2. Women’s Reservation (128^th Amendment) Bill, 2023:
   1. Though India was early to adopt universal adult suffrage, the role of women in political arena has been minimal.
   2. The no. of women in leadership positions dips low not because of their incompetence, but because of the hegemony of men.
   3. The bill shall act as the first step towards actualising gender parity.
3. The bill seeks to empower women who remain marginalised in the political discourse.
4. It shall pave way for a New Egalitarian society that envisages equal rights for both men and women as endorsed by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to achieve gender equality
5. Women-centric policy making and holding government accountable in women-related issues can become effective with more representation of women in the parliament.
6. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), considered an International Bill of Rights for women, in Article 7 upholds women’s right to hold political and public office.
7. Creates conditions for a revitalised democracy that bridges the gap between representation and participation

About:

Women representation:

1. In the first Lok Sabha elections of 1951, only 22 women MPs (4.41%) were elected out of 489 seats. It increased to 78 women MPs in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the highest ever (14.36%).
2. The no. of women candidates contesting Lok Sabha elections has slowly and steadily increased, from just 45 in the second Lok Sabha elections of 1957 to 726 in 2019.

Challenges in Women’s Representation in the Parliament:

1. Inaccessibility of Institutions
   1. Political tickets offered women candidates are less as this is a highly centralised process in a political party.
   2. Large section of women who win parliamentary tickets have family political connections, or are ‘dynastic’ politicians. Out of the 41% of all women candidates elected in the 2019 Lok Sabha 30% elected were dynasts.
   3. In political circles, it has been widely held that women candidates are less likely to win elections than men, which leads to political parties giving them fewer tickets.
   4. The male-dominated party structures in India dominated by patriarchal mindsets make it difficult for women politicians to obtain party nominations to fight parliamentary elections
2. Non-facilitating Structural Conditions:
   1. Election campaigns in India are extremely demanding and time-consuming and women candidates face problems such as,
      1. Family commitments
      2. Responsibilities of child-care
      3. A male-dominated political party structure
      4. Women are subjected to humiliation, inappropriate comments, abuse and threats of abuse
      5. Parliamentary elections can be extremely expensive, and massive financial resources are required and its is challenging to arrange for own campaign financing when party power do not support financially.
      6. Threat of criminalised politics is high, where the role of muscle power becomes paramount and offering unfavourable conditions for women participation.
      7. Women themselves can be influenced by patriarchal societal norms, a phenomenon known as ‘internalised patriarchy’ where many women consider it their duty to prioritise family and household over political ambitions.

What are the Criticisms involved?

1. Reservation for women would perpetuate the unequal status of women since they would not be perceived to be competing on merit.
2. The bill also diverts attention from the larger issues of electoral reform such as criminalisation of politics and inner party democracy.
3. Political reservation has increased redistribution of resources in favour of the groups that benefit from reservation.
4. Reservation of constituencies for women will result in them not being considered for general seats, despite their competency.
5. Women elected under reservation invest more in the public goods closely linked to women’s concerns rather than for whole-of-the-society.
6. The issue of proxy representation where women elected to office were being largely “controlled” by their male family members shall surface, an issue widely seen in local governments that has the 33% reservation policy for women brought through the 73^rd and 74^th amendments to the Constitution.