Examine the role of statutory bodies like the National Commission for Women in institutionalising gender-responsive governance.

Gender-responsive governance means embedding women's needs and voices into law-making, budgeting and service delivery rather than treating them as a welfare add-on. The National Commission for Women (NCW), constituted in 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 [1], shows both the promise and the limits of statutory bodies in achieving this.

How statutory bodies institutionalise gender responsiveness

• Legal-safeguard review: the NCW's mandate is to review constitutional and legal safeguards for women and recommend remedial legislation, converting scattered demands into formal policy inputs [1].
• Grievance redressal: it facilitates redressal of complaints and can summon persons and examine evidence, giving women an accessible quasi-judicial forum [1].
• Capacity building of women legislators: through the pan-India 'She is a Changemaker' programme [2] and workshops on gender-responsive governance for women MLAs — covering inclusive governance, legislative traditions and gender-based violence [3] — it builds the skills that make representation substantive.
• Preparing for expanded representation: such training becomes critical as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Constitutional Amendment) reserves one-third of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats for women, operative after the next census and delimitation [4].
• Mainstreaming in the fiscal cycle: allied efforts such as national consultations on gender budgeting extend gender lenses into expenditure planning [5].

Constraints requiring attention

• Recommendations are advisory, not binding; the Commission cannot enforce compliance.
• Dependence on the executive for appointments and funds limits autonomy; it lacks constitutional status, unlike the SC/ST Commissions.
• Capacity-building reaches modest numbers — one flagship workshop trained 25 MLAs from six States [3] — against a vast pool of elected women.
• State women's commissions vary widely in capacity, weakening the federal chain.

Statutory bodies thus supply the institutional scaffolding — legal review, redressal, training and advocacy — that turns numerical inclusion into effective participation. Strengthening the NCW through greater financial autonomy, follow-up mechanisms on its recommendations and scaled-up training of elected women would let the coming reservation deliver genuine substantive equality under Articles 14 and 15(3), advancing SDG-5.