Advocacy & Lobbying
UN Women hailed India's passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill on September 18 as a landmark moment for gender equality, especially in terms of women’s political leadership. The passage of the bill is testimony to India’s commitment to women-led development, for which it mobilised global support during its G20 Presidency this year.
Calling it a “bold” and “transformative” step, Susan Ferguson, Country Representative of UN Women India, underlined the importance of political representation for women’s sustained empowerment, while hoping that the proposed Bill will be endorsed by all stakeholders, including Members of Parliament and civil society.
Click here to read the full article published by UN Women Asia Pacific on 20 September 2023.
Congress leader and former Bagalkote Zilla Panchayat President Veena Kashappanavar hailed the Women’s Reservation Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, and said it will pave the way for more women to enter politics.
“As a woman, I welcome the Bill. Rajiv Gandhi had raised his voice for women 25 years back. More women should enter politics, should be given equal representation, and thus help society,” Kashappanavar said.
Click here to read the full article published by Hindustan Times on 20 September 2023.
Since the days of monarchy in India, women have been kept away for state and administrative jobs. Women have been neglected in decision-making in the public and private spheres. Very few in history manage to break the stereotypes and rise as reformers and excellent leaders. It is usually the masculine figures that are preferred over feminine ones, even if women are more literate and experienced. The common masses prefer masculinity as their representative. However, the consequences lead to dangerous results. The rapacity of politics and the support of the population encourage contestants with serious criminal records and problematic views to be part of the decision-making process.
Click here to read the full article published by Feminism In India on 18 September 2023.
Violence against women in politics (VAWIP) is an urgent problem worldwide. At the time of this writing, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband had just been violently assaulted by a conspiracy theorist, shouting “Where is Nancy?” after breaking into their house. In Canada, women, Indigenous, Black, racialized, and queer political actors face harassment and threats on a regular basis. During the 2022 Québec provincial election, politician Marwah Rizqy received death threats from a man who allegedly called the police to inform them where they could find her body (she was pregnant at the time). In 2022, federal Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was accosted by a man who yelled profanities at her while she was with her all-women staff. These are not isolated incidents, and the political science community has an important role to play in addressing them.
Click here to read the article by Cambridge University Press on 15 September 2023.
For the first time in the history of independent India, the government is conducting a five-day-long special session of Parliament from September 18 to September 22. While special sessions have been called on several occasions in the past, from 1947 to mark India’s independence, to the latest in 2017 when the Modi government called a midnight session to roll out the goods and services tax (GST), never have these sessions been longer than two days. In all of the special sessions held in the past, the government has made its agenda known beforehand. However, this time, the Centre has remained tightlipped, with even its top ministers doing guesswork for the schedule of the Parliament session.
Click here to read the full article published by Outlook India on 13 September 2023.
India is a nation born out of a long freedom struggle that promised to function on equal representation of people from diverse genders, religions, ethnicities Etc. As a democratic nation, it promised to uphold the rights of every individual from varied backgrounds. If giving equal rights was a priority, so was the equal representation in the spaces that implement these rights in the first place i.e., Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
However, what soon followed was men taking care of these democratic bodies alone while the decline of women’s representation subsequently took place. In such a state of affairs came the need to implement the Women`s Reservation Bill in India.
Click here to read the full article published by Feminism in India on 12 September 2023.