Women Reservation Bill: A Bill of Representation, not Reservation
Mita Nath Bora
(mitanathbora7@gmail.com)
Swami Vivekananda rightly said, “Women must be put in a position to solve their own problems in their own way. No one can or ought to do this for them. And our Indian women are capable of doing it as any in the world.”
The space of politics has always been questioned on the representation of women, on women-led development politics, and on women-led governance. The passing of the Women Reservation Bill (WRB), or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, is an affirmative action towards empowering women that will cement the rightful representation of women, helping them break the glass ceiling of politics. It is a step forward towards gender balance and gender justice, encouraging the participation of women in politics.
The Bill specifies that the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008, seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as is prescribed by Parliament. One-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. Reserved seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the state or union territory. Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this Amendment Act.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who helped pass the bill, said, “With the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament, we usher in an era of stronger representation and empowerment for the women of India. This is not merely legislation; it is a tribute to the countless women who have made our nation. India has been enriched by their resilience and contributions. As we celebrate today, we are reminded of the strength, courage, and indomitable spirit of all the women of our nation. This historic step is a commitment to ensuring their voices are heard even more effectively.” “I was delighted at the passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha with such phenomenal support. I thank MPs across party lines who voted in support of this bill. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is historic legislation that will further boost women’s empowerment and enable even greater participation of women in our political process.”
The bill was supported by almost all MPs across parties and got 454 votes in favour, with the exception of only 2 votes against it. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and his party MP Imtiaz Jaleel voted against the women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha. The Rajyasabha also passed the WRB unopposed by 215–0 votes.
Women, as we see today, are excelling in almost all sectors along with their male counterparts, and history is witness to the brilliance of women in all major fields. But when it comes to politics, the participation of women is quite low, in spite of the fact that India has seen many strong female political leaders, from Smti Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, Smti Sushma Swaraj as the first female Chief Minister of Delhi, to the youngest female MP, Smti Smriti Irani, to Smti Pratibha Patel, and now Smti Draupadi Murmu as India’s female President.
Women’s participation is low not only in India but globally too. Only 24% of the global legislative body comprises women. And India, out of 193 countries, stands in the 150th position in terms of the total percentage of women as legislators. In the lower house, women constitute 12.6% of total members, and in the upper house, they constitute 11.5% of total members. The obstructions and barriers to entry for women legislators are much higher as they contend with several social, cultural, economic, institutional, and structural issues. One way to overcome these challenges was through quotas, or reservations, as rights.
Women in general avoid politics for multiple reasons, from perceived notions to misinformation to discouragement. Be it socio-cultural norms, traditional outlook and structures, household and marital barriers, lack of political knowledge (most women don’t know how politics work or how the institutions govern the people and themselves), gender imbalance leading to concerns of safety and issues of comfortability outside the home structure, religious preaching that imposes that politics is supposed to be a male-dominated area and women are not supposed to participate in state affairs, political parties themselves who prevent the rise of women or belittle the diligence and labour of female party workers, difficult resources, etc. Importantly, it is seen that even when women are able to access formal political power, it is not always coupled with considerable political participation. This is because the informal homosocial networks remain strong and constantly work to keep women out of the political reach.
The current ruling dispensation, the BJP, however, has taken the approach to eliminate all such fears and encourage more women to have political say, rejecting the traditional male mindset. Gender balance has always been encouraged within the BJP as a part of long-term reform. Empowering women and harnessing female talent are central to the party’s growth strategy. Often, every department within the BJP would be asked to look out for female candidates. In 2019, it fielded more female candidates than any other party and appointed more female ministers than any of the previous governments. It also revamped the party’s organisational structure, brought in quotas for women, and expanded its social base to fit in more women from rural and poorer backgrounds.
The BJP has a history of enabling its female politicians to take leadership roles in strong ministries, such as the late Smti Sushma Swaraj, who served as the first female Chief Minister of Delhi, besides holding positions as Minister of External Affairs and being the only second person to complete a 5-year term as the Minister of External Affairs after Jawaharlal Nehru. Smti Nirmala Sitaraman is the first full-time female defence minister and now holds the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs. Smti Smriti Irani has been serving as Minister of Women and Child Development since 2019 and also as Minister of Minority Affairs,havingo previously served as Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Textiles, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was the youngest minister (at age 43) in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second ministry in 2019. and has been a MP since 2011, serving in the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat from 2011 to 2019, and since 2019 serving as a member of the Lok Sabha from the Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh. And presently, it is the BJP led by PM Narendra Modi that pushed forward and brought the WRB to the light of day, which failed to be passed for 27 years by all previous governments, despite stiff opposition, roadblocks, and delaying tactics by the opposition.
From the present 102 women MPs, WRB will help increase women MPs in parliament to 181 and more outside reservation, ushering in equality as enshrined in our Constitution.