Women's reservation bill

Women's reservation bill

Author : Shalini  Gautam, BA.LLB  a  law  student  of  Chattrapati  Sahu  Ji  Maharaj  University  ,Kanpur nagar . 

INTRODUCTION :

The Women’s  Reservation Bill has made it’s way into public discourse yet again 23 years after it was first introduced in the parliament with leaders promising the passage of the bill .If their political parties are voted to power in this lok sabha election .

Especially , in Panchayats the positive  effect of bill on employment of women and on allocation of resources have shown after 72nd and 73rd constitutional amendments . 

HISTORY OF WOMEN’s RESERVTION BILL:

The Women Reservation Bill has had a difficult history .It was introduced in the parliament in 1996, and several times after that – 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2008.

 2008 (108^th amendment) women’s reservation bill :

• The women’s  reservation bill seeks to reserve 33% of the seats in the Lok sabha and state legislative assemblies for women .

• According to the bill, 1/3rd of the total number of seats reserved for schedules castes and scheduled tribes will be reserved for women from those groups .

• These reserved seats may allotted by a rotation to different constituencies in the state or union territories.

• The reservation will apply for 15 years after the bill is passed.

The most recent the bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010 .However , since  the Lok Sabha never voted on it ,as a result the bill lapsed when the 15th Lok Sabha dissolved in 2014.

However , this version of the bill that was passed by Rajya Sabha is reintroduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 september 2023 as a Women’s Reservation Bill or ‘Nari Shakti Vandhan Adhiniyam’, during the special session of parliament to fullfill the criteria of 2008 bill. This bill also proposes to introduce new articles  332A   and 330A. This move is a significant steps towards promoting gender equality in India’s political landscape.

 OBJECTIVE OF THE BILL:

This bill helps to improve the status of women’s representation  in political grounds .This affirmative action lead to empowerment of women and improve the condition of women . For example ,the 73rd constitutional amendment act which gave constitutional status for women to PRIs ( Panchayat rajya ) in india which  leds to gender sensitive decisions ,increased responsiveness. So that women freely participate on political grounds as well .

CURRENT STATUS OF WOMEN :

In the present lok sabha , 78 women members were elected which accounts for less than 15% of the total strenghth of 543.

In Rajya Sabha too,women’s representation is about 14% according to data shared by the government with parliament last December.

Several state assemblies have less than 10% women representation including Andhra Pradesh , Arunachal Pradedsh ,Asssam,Goa, Gujurat ,Kerela,Madhya Pradesh etc.

Bihar ,Haryana ,Punjab ,Rajasthan ,Uttarkhand,Uttar Pradesh  and Delhi had 10-20% women MLAs , according to the government data of December 2022.

Chattisgarh,West Bengal and Jharkhand led the charts with 14.44 % ,13.7% and 12.35% women MLAs ,respectively. 

NEED FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT :

• Articles 82 and 170(3) of the constitution needs to be amended.

• ARTICLE 82 – It provides for the readjustment of constituencies (number and boundaries) of both lok sabha and state assemblies after every census.

• ARTICLE 170(3)- It deals with composition of legislative assemblies.

This helps to improve women representation in Gram panchayat, Panchayat samities ,Zila parishadas ,Municipalities and Municipal Corporation as well as for the posts of sarpanch , Chairman  and Mayor. These provisions of constitution helps women involvement in decision making and preparation of plan for development.

The logical extension of the 72nd and 73rd  constitutional amendments 1992 ,1993, helps to reserved the one – third of all the seats and chairperson posts for women in rural and urban local government.

IMPORTANCE OF THIS BILL: 

 Political reservation for women is a justification of democracy itself and helps in improving the condition of women in society as women can also address the problems well that are faced by them in day to day social life .This bill provides opportunities for women to participate in nation building and development of society.

There exists a gender gap in political field leads to less entry of women in politics so this criteria of 33% of reservation helps to fill the gap between both respective gender.

This bill helps women for their self – representation and builds self – determination.

• According to GLOBAL GENDER GAP report 2022, India ranks 48th out of 146 in political empowerment.

Women are still under – represented in parliament , and reservations will ensures that women form a strong lobby to fight for issues that are often ignored. This leads a shape changing step by Indian government .

CRITERIA TO EVALUATE WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN INDIA :

• Women as voters:

Almost as many women as men cast ballots in the most recent lok sabha election in 2019 , marking a turning point in India’s journey towards gender equality in politics and dubbed a quiet revolution of self – empowerment .

• Women as candidates :

 Generally , the proportion of female candidates in parliamentary elections has increased over times but has renamed low when compared to males candidates . Less than 9%  of the 8,049 candidates running in the 2019 lok sabha elections were females . 

Women’s representation in politics in india has been a topic of  discussion for several years , and although progress has been made, there is still a long way to go.

CONCLUSION :

This bill plays an important role in shaping women status on  political grounds , creating awareness among women about their rights and the importance of their  participation in politics is essential . Also education programs and awareness campaigns can help to increase women’s political participation .Proportional representation and preferential voting systems helps to increase participation so that more women get elected .

As we know women legislators are less likely to have a criminal record than their male counterparts and can improve the economic performance of their constituencies and can improve the economic performance of their constituencies by 1.8 %.

So it’s mandatory to provide equal status to women on political backgrounds also.Hope the upcoming future would be better for the women participation in both political and social fields.