Women's political representation
Topic: Gender, Religion and Caste in Politics · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "Gender, Religion and Caste"
Meaning
Women's political representation means how many women sit in legislatures, such as Parliament and state assemblies, and in government. In India this share has stayed low by world standards. The reasons include parties giving tickets only to candidates they think can win ("winnability"), the role of money and muscle power, women's heavy care work at home, and harassment. To fix this, one-third of seats in panchayats and municipalities were reserved for women in 1992. The 106th Amendment (2023) provides one-third reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. However, it starts only after the next delimitation (redrawing of constituencies).
Example
Women won 78 Lok Sabha seats (14.36%) in 2019 and 74 (13.6%) in 2024. Women are only about 9% of MLAs. This puts India in the bottom group of countries.
Don't confuse with
- Women's suffrage: suffrage is women's right to vote. Representation is about how many women actually get elected. India has had equal voting rights since 1950 but still has few women legislators.