Making room for women in politics demands a new political imagination
Source: The Indian Express
In September last year, when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Parliament, it raised hopes of a more gender-equal legislature. The near-unanimous support for a Bill that promised 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies seemed to frame a political class that had finally accepted an idea whose time had come. Yet, eight months on, with the 18th Lok Sabha set to convene for its first session in a few weeks, the number of women in the lower House has dropped, from 78 out of 543 (an all-time high) in the 17th Lok Sabha to 73. It is clear that greater efforts must be made to break from the boys-club mindset, which continues to dominate politics.
Since the 1991 general election, when the gap between male and female voter turnouts started narrowing, women’s imprint on the political landscape has only become larger and deeper. In the recent elections too, while the number of women who turned out to vote saw a dip in some phases, the overall gender gap was almost non-existent, with both male and female voter turnout pegged at about 66 per cent by the Election Commission. Women have used the power that comes with their participation to shape electoral outcomes, with even political parties recognising the growing importance of the “woman vote”. This recognition has mostly taken the form of targeted welfare schemes that have often taken campaign centrestage, including in the recent Lok Sabha polls: In West Bengal, for instance, the popularity of women-centric schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, a monthly cash transfer to over 2 crore women, is believed to have helped in sustaining the dominance of the ruling TMC. Earlier, the impact of Laadli Behna was seen to play a role in the BJP’s return to power in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.
Read here the full article published by The Indian Express on 8 June 2024.
Image by The Indian Express
In September last year, when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Parliament, it raised hopes of a more gender-equal legislature. The near-unanimous support for a Bill that promised 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies seemed to frame a political class that had finally accepted an idea whose time had come. Yet, eight months on, with the 18th Lok Sabha set to convene for its first session in a few weeks, the number of women in the lower House has dropped, from 78 out of 543 (an all-time high) in the 17th Lok Sabha to 73. It is clear that greater efforts must be made to break from the boys-club mindset, which continues to dominate politics.
Since the 1991 general election, when the gap between male and female voter turnouts started narrowing, women’s imprint on the political landscape has only become larger and deeper. In the recent elections too, while the number of women who turned out to vote saw a dip in some phases, the overall gender gap was almost non-existent, with both male and female voter turnout pegged at about 66 per cent by the Election Commission. Women have used the power that comes with their participation to shape electoral outcomes, with even political parties recognising the growing importance of the “woman vote”. This recognition has mostly taken the form of targeted welfare schemes that have often taken campaign centrestage, including in the recent Lok Sabha polls: In West Bengal, for instance, the popularity of women-centric schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, a monthly cash transfer to over 2 crore women, is believed to have helped in sustaining the dominance of the ruling TMC. Earlier, the impact of Laadli Behna was seen to play a role in the BJP’s return to power in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.
Read here the full article published by The Indian Express on 8 June 2024.
Image by The Indian Express
