India’s journey towards gender equality in politics

 Dipak Kurmi

(The writer can be reached at dipaknewslive@gmail.com.)

This week, Parliament made an important decision to empower women. They passed a new law that says one-third (33%) of the seats in Parliament and state legislatures should be reserved for women. On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha, which is one part of Parliament, agreed to this law through a vote where they just said “yes” out loud. Out of the 543 Members of Parliament (MPs), 454 said “yes” to the law, and only two said “no.” This law is a big step forward in giving women more opportunities in politics. The next day, the Rajya Sabha, which is the other part of Parliament, also agreed to the law. All 215 members of the Rajya Sabha said “yes” to it. Since both parts of Parliament approved the law, people are congratulating the Prime Minister and all the lawmakers for this achievement.

Modi, who is the leader of India, praised the members of Parliament for their success in passing this important law, even though it was a bit challenging. He also gave credit to all the different political parties in Parliament for working together to make this happen. This shows that the Congress party and the BJP, which are two major political parties in India, need to cooperate and work together to pass any new law. Other political parties also said they had a part in making this law happen. Leaders from the Congress party, like Sonia Gandhi, celebrated the victory and said that this law is for everyone, calling it “Our Bill.” This is because they want to win over female voters before the upcoming elections. Even though India’s Constitution says that men and women should be treated equally, women make up almost half of the population, but they haven’t had enough representation in Parliament and state legislatures in the past. This new law is a step towards changing that.

The new law has had a tough journey so far. It has been brought up and then dropped many times because different political parties couldn’t agree on it. But the main reason it didn’t pass before is that male lawmakers were not too keen on it. They were worried that if this law passed, they might not feel as important as they used to.

In the past, there were arguments about how many women should be in Parliament, and this slowed down progress in making things more equal between men and women. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi started this process, and his wife, Sonia Gandhi, made some progress by getting part of it approved in Rajya Sabha, which is a part of Parliament. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in charge, a government minister named Sushma Swaraj tried to get everyone to agree on this, but some political parties like the SP and RJD disagreed with her. When they talked about the law, some people suggested having smaller groups of women within the bigger group, like giving a specific number of seats to women from certain backgrounds or for certain parts of Parliament. In 1996, a report suggested that women from OBC backgrounds should have reserved seats, and there should be reserved seats for the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils. But these ideas still needed to be added to the final law.

Some people worry that if women from disadvantaged backgrounds (called Other Backward Classes (OBC) don’t have enough seats reserved for them, only women who are already in a good position will get the benefits of this law. Male politicians are also against this idea. The discussion about reserving seats for women in politics is complicated. It’s because of things like how our society works, how politics is done, and what people believe in. It’s really important to make sure that everyone involved agrees on how to do this.

Even though things have gotten a bit better for women in India since they started celebrating International Women’s Day in 1975, it could have happened more quickly. Politicians from all different parties talk about supporting women’s rights, but they often don’t want to pass laws that would make women even more powerful.

The process of making this law started 27 years ago, in September 1996, when Prime Minister Deve Gowda introduced it in Parliament. Since then, different governments have tried many times to make this law, but it didn’t work because they couldn’t agree or didn’t really want to do it. In 2010, during the time when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, they got it approved in one part of Parliament called the Rajya Sabha, but it didn’t pass in the other part called the Lok Sabha.

Almost every political party has different opinions on this law, except for the Left Party. The main parties that didn’t like the law were Janata Dal-United (JD(U)), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Samajwadi Party. Some of the responsibility for this not passing also goes to women’s organisations, which didn’t want to agree to having 20 percent of seats reserved for women at one point instead of being more practical and accepting it.

Even though the law has been passed, women will have to wait until after the next census and some political boundary changes are finished in 2029. These changes will start happening after the next Lok Sabha elections. Some other political parties are worried that the BJP might use this to their advantage in the 2024 and 2029 elections. The Congress party might do the same, but people are giving credit to Modi for making this law pass in both parts of Parliament. Many countries around the world have taken steps to make sure that men and women have equal opportunities in politics. They do things like reserve some seats in their legislatures for women and encourage women to get involved in politics. India has agreed to international deals that say men and women should be treated equally, and women should have certain rights. Setting aside some political positions for women follows these promises.

The United Nations said good things about India after Parliament approved the new law this week. Susan Ferguson, who represents the UN Women organisation in India, talked about how important it is for women to be in politics to keep getting stronger. She called the law a big and important step towards making this happen.

In villages, one-third of the seats in local governing bodies (called Panchayati Raj Institutions) must be reserved for women. This rule also applies to one-third of the leaders (chairpersons) in all these local governing bodies, including in towns and cities. Because of this rule, there are now over a million women who serve as leaders at the local level. Having more women in these leadership roles means that decisions are made with more people’s input, making them fairer. It can also inspire girls and young women to think about careers in politics and public service when they see successful female leaders as role models.

People who are in favour of this law say that having a set number of seats reserved for women is really important. They think it’s needed because women don’t have enough representation in Indian politics and in places where important decisions are made. They believe that this law will make women more powerful, make things more equal between men and women, and let women have a bigger say in making laws and policies. Also, they see it as a way to fix the unfairness that has been there for a long time in Indian politics when it comes to women.

Some people think that reserving seats in Parliament just for women isn’t fair and might actually make things unequal. They worry that if these seats change every election, the MPs might not be as motivated to work hard. Also, there’s a concern that women might be picked for these special seats because they know important people, not because they’re really good at the job. This could make it seem like they’re chosen just to show that women are included without really giving them a fair chance.

Even though Parliament has approved the law, there’s still a lot to do to address all the problems related to gender. Real empowerment means changing how people think about these issues. It also means taking action against harmful practices like rape, certain traditional village councils, honour killings, and Sati (a harmful tradition).

Even though there are rules to protect women, they aren’t always enforced very well. Some women who are in powerful positions, like Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, and Mehbooba Mufti, help women who are not as lucky. These leaders could offer help and assistance to other women who need it. The 33% reservation for women is a valuable chance that should be used to its maximum to make things better for women.