— By Velentina Brahma & Sidharth Yadav
The recent political declaration by Priyanka Gandhi of fielding 40% women candidates in UP assembly elections has raised the long-lasting predicament of women participation in politics of India. Although India already has a magnificent past where women have equally been contributing to the political decisions of the state. From a significant number of women ruling the Indian Princely states as great administrators to large participation of women in Indian freedom struggle to their contribution in Indian science and education, they have always played an extremely crucial role in Indian society. Women didn’t have to fight for their voting rights and representation in the electorates unlike their western counterparts. Due to the long history of Indian women discourse, the idea of giving women equal rights was innate in India since it gained independence but unfortunately, over the decades this discourse has seen serious distortions.
The 17 Sustainable development goals that aim at ending poverty, increasing good health and well-being and gender equality can be achieved effectively only through equal participation and leadership of women in political and public life, as reported by the United Nations. But there is a global underrepresentation of women in political arena at all spheres. Only 21 per cent of government ministers globally are women, with only 14 countries having achieved the target of 50 per cent or more women in cabinets. Data from 133 countries shows that women constitute 2.18 million (36 per cent) of elected members in local deliberative bodies. The reports in UN state that only two countries have reached 50 per cent, and an additional 18 countries have more than 40 per cent women in local government. India currently ranks 148th in the list of 193 countries based on the percentage of elected women representatives in their national parliaments. The current parliament constitutes of 14% women members in the lok sabha and 11% women in the upper house. Despite the low numbers, this has set a new record of women participation in Indian politics.
India in the past has witnessed notable women administrators and rulers. Raj Mata Ahilyabai Holkar, a noble queen of the great Maratha empire, Rani Chenamma, the ruler of Keladi of Karnataka, Rani Mangammal of Madhurai to name a few. After Independence, the democratic India witnessed Indira Gandhi as the first woman prime minister of India. Since then, Pratibha Patil became the first woman to be elected as the 12th President of India on July 25, 2007. Sushma Swaraj was the first female foreign minister of India appointed on May 2014 and Nirmala Sitaraman is the first full-time, female finance minister of India since 31 May 2019.
A classic example of Norway shows a direct causal relationship between the presence of women in municipal councils and improved childcare coverage. This could be caused due to the ability of women leadership to work across denominations of the party through parliamentary women’s committees, even in the most politically antagonistic environments, and their sensitivity towards issues of gender equality like gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, and electoral reform. A research published by UN on panchayats (local councils) in India also revealed that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62 per cent higher than in those with men-led councils.
Evidences through research have also shown that women leadership significantly improves the decision-making processes. The Reservation of seats in Panchayat for women candidates have resulted in more participation of women in decision making. Despite facing a lot of challenges Indian women colossally contribute to the political discourse of India. They represent 50% of the voting percentage of India. A large number of women do not work prima facie but are active at grassroot levels behind the electoral cloak.
While the country awaits the 33% women representation in the parliament through the constitutional amendment bill of 1996 pending ever since, it is strongly believed that it can be a pioneering step towards elevating the role of women in the political decision-making process of the country. Every three out of five illiterate Indians are women, two out of three globally. This can only be transformed with guaranteed representation in public spaces.
The past record of Indian elections has shown that the winnablity of women candidate in local elections is high and the strike rate of women candidates in the last general elections was 75.47%. Such evidences only establish capability of women leadership and assert to address the reasons holding this leadership back from public domain. This cannot be resolved through political gimmicks but rather through constructive engagement, counselling and training of young leaders. An ecosystem that encourages and provides equal opportunities for both men and women in political life can be the way ahead. Co-ordination and not confrontation will pave the way for this long- awaited balance in India’s political discourse.
((Velentina Brahma is PhD Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) while Sidharth Yadav is LLM Student, University of Delhi))
