Feminist movements, women's suffrage and political representation

Detail

1. Women's suffrage: the struggle abroad

• Women's suffrage means women's right to vote. In most Western countries, women had to fight for it. They held marches, signed petitions and protested. Some were jailed.

Country	Year women got the vote	Point to remember
New Zealand	1893	First country in the world
Britain	1918 (partial), 1928 (equal)	In 1918 the vote went only to some women over 30. In 1928 women got the vote on the same terms as men.
USA	1920	Given by the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution
France	1944	Given near the end of World War II
Switzerland	1971 (federal level)	A late case, even though it is a rich democracy

• Exam trap: the order is NZ (1893) → USA (1920) → Britain equal vote (1928) → France (1944) → Switzerland (1971). Britain's partial vote (1918) came before the USA's 1920 vote.

2. Women and the vote in India

• Before 1947: the Government of India Act, 1919 let the provinces decide who could vote. From 1921, some provinces gave the vote to women who owned property or were educated. Madras was the first. Only a small number of women qualified.
• After 1950: the Constitution gave universal adult franchise, which means every adult citizen can vote, whatever their sex, caste, religion, wealth or education.
• Article 325: one general electoral roll for each constituency. No one can be left off the roll, or put on a special roll, because of religion, race, caste or sex.
• Article 326: elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies are held on the basis of adult suffrage.

• Indian women got the vote together with men, without a separate struggle (NCERT Class 9).

• Voting age: at first it was 21. The 61st Amendment (1988) brought it down to 18.

• Class 9 caveat: having the vote does not mean women take an equal part in politics. Women vote, but few become candidates, MPs or ministers.
• Turnout today: in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, 65.78% of women voters voted, against 65.55% of men. Women's turnout was a little higher than men's [6]. This was only the second Lok Sabha election, after 2019, in which women's turnout was higher than men's [6].

3. Feminist movements: meaning and stages

• Feminist: any woman or man who believes women and men should have equal rights and opportunities.
• Feminist movements: organised campaigns by women (and men) for equality between the sexes. They went through three broad stages:
• Stage 1 – vote: winning the right to vote.
• Stage 2 – public life: better legal status, and equal access to education and jobs.

• Stage 3 – private life (radical feminism): equality inside the home and family, for example in housework, childcare and decision-making.

• Sexual division of labour and the public/private divide: society treats housework and childcare as women's job and public life as men's. Feminist movements challenged this. They argued that "personal" matters are also political.

• Scandinavian model: in Sweden, Norway and Finland, women take a large part in public life and hold many seats in parliament. NCERT uses these countries to show what equal participation can look like.

4. Indian feminist milestones

Year	Event	Why it matters
1974	Towards Equality report (Committee on the Status of Women in India)	It showed that women's status had fallen since 1950 in many areas, such as the sex ratio and political participation. This report started the modern Indian women's movement.
Late 1970s–80s	Campaigns against dowry and custodial rape	The Mathura case (rape of a young tribal girl in police custody; the accused were acquitted) caused nationwide protests. This led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983.
1985–86	Shah Bano debate	The question was maintenance for a divorced Muslim woman. It became a debate on a Uniform Civil Code versus personal law (see dpsp-fundamental-duties).
1992	Anti-arrack movement, Nellore (Andhra Pradesh)	Rural women campaigned against the sale of country liquor because it was linked to domestic violence and poverty.
1997	Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan	The Supreme Court laid down guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace.
2012	Nirbhaya protests, Delhi	Mass protests after a gang rape. They led to tougher criminal laws on sexual violence.

• NCERT's main point: women gained when their unequal treatment became a political issue. Politics helped bring change.
• NCERT's cartoon question: if casteism and communalism are bad, why is feminism good? The answer: casteism and communalism use social differences to set groups against each other. Feminism uses the gender difference to end an inequality.

5. Women in legislatures: the data

• Lok Sabha:

Election	Women MPs	Share
2019 (17th Lok Sabha)	78	14.36% (NCERT figure)
2024 (18th Lok Sabha)	74	13.6%, about 14% [2]

• 2024 profile of women MPs: about 16% are under 40. 41% (30 MPs) had been Lok Sabha members before [2].
• Rajya Sabha: about 13% of members are women.
• State assemblies: women are about 9% of MLAs across states (PRS, 2023). (NCERT: "less than 5%".)
• Global comparison: women are 46% of MPs in South Africa, 35% in the UK and 29% in the USA [2]. India is in the bottom group of countries, behind many African and Latin American states.
• Executive: cabinets have stayed mostly male, even under women Prime Ministers or Chief Ministers.

6. Local bodies: where reservation already works

• The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) reserve at least one-third of seats for women in panchayats (Article 243D) and municipalities (Article 243T). These quotas cover seats and chairperson posts (for example, sarpanch or mayor).
• 21 states have raised women's reservation in panchayats to 50% through their state Panchayati Raj Acts. They include Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal [7][8].
• Out of about 31 lakh elected representatives in local bodies, about 14.5 lakh (46%) are women [7][8].
• Limitation (Class 9): in some places the husband acts for the elected woman. This is called "sarpanch-pati" or proxy rule.

7. Women's Reservation Act: the 106th Amendment (2023)

• Name: the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, also called the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. The government notified it on 28 September 2023 [9].
• What it does:
• Article 330A: reserves one-third of directly elected Lok Sabha seats for women. This one-third includes seats for SC and ST women [4].
• Within the seats already reserved for SCs and STs, one-third go to SC and ST women [4].
• Article 332A: the same one-third reservation in state Legislative Assemblies [4].
• Article 239AA: the same rule for the Delhi Legislative Assembly [4].

• Article 334A: sets the start date, the time limit and rotation (explained below) [4].

• When it starts: only after the first census taken after the Act, followed by delimitation, which means redrawing constituency boundaries on the basis of that census [4].

• How long: 15 years from the start date. Parliament can extend this by law [4].
• Rotation: the seats reserved for women change after each delimitation, so the same seats are not reserved every time [4].
• What it does NOT cover: the Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Councils, and a separate quota for OBC women.
• Failed attempt to bring it in early (2026): the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was introduced on 16 April 2026 [5].
• It would have dropped the need to wait for a new census. Women's reservation could then have used a delimitation based on the 2011 census [5].
• It would also have let Parliament decide by law when delimitation happens and which census it uses. It would have raised the maximum Lok Sabha size from 550 to 850 [5].
• The Lok Sabha defeated it on 17 April 2026 [5].
• Result: women's reservation still waits for the next census and the delimitation that follows.

8. Why so few women are elected

• Party gatekeeping and "winnability": "winnability" is a party's guess about whether a candidate can win. Parties often assume women cannot.
• Women were about 3% of Lok Sabha candidates in 1957 and only about 10% in 2024 [3].

• In 2024, the BJP had the highest share of women candidates among national parties (16%). Among big regional parties, the BJD (33%) and RJD (29%) had the highest shares [3].

• Money and muscle power: elections cost a lot, and some involve violence. Women usually own less property and have weaker networks.

• Care burden: housework and childcare leave women less time for politics.
• Violence and harassment: women in politics face abuse online and in person.
• Reform proposals (NCERT Class 10):
• Make parties give one-third of their tickets to women.

• Set quotas for women in party bodies (party organisation posts).

• Parties that chose to field many women: the BJD and TMC gave women many tickets. Women were 42% and 39% of their Lok Sabha MPs in 2023 (PRS).

Prelims Hooks

• First country to give women the vote: New Zealand (1893). USA: 19th Amendment (1920). Britain equal franchise: 1928 (partial vote in 1918). Switzerland federal level: 1971.
• First Indian province to give some women the vote: Madras (1921), under the Government of India Act, 1919.
• Article 325: no exclusion from the electoral roll because of sex. Article 326: adult suffrage. 61st Amendment (1988): voting age cut from 21 to 18.
• 106th Amendment (2023): inserted 330A (Lok Sabha), 332A (state assemblies) and 334A (start date, 15 years, rotation), and amended 239AA (Delhi). It does not cover the Rajya Sabha or Legislative Councils, and has no OBC sub-quota.
• Article 243D: women's reservation in panchayats. Article 243T: women's reservation in municipalities. Both require at least one-third. 21 states give 50% in panchayats.
• Case–principle pair: Vishaka (1997) → guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace. Mathura case → Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983.
• Towards Equality (1974): report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India.
• Women MPs: 78 in 2019 and 74 in 2024. 2024 turnout: women 65.78%, men 65.55%.
• Trap: the 131st Amendment Bill, 2026, which tried to start women's reservation early, was defeated in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026. It is not law.

Mains Points

• Women vote, but few are elected: women's turnout is now equal to or higher than men's (2024). Yet women hold only about 14% of Lok Sabha seats and about 9% of assembly seats. The barrier is at the candidate stage, where parties pick candidates on "winnability", and not at the voter stage. Use this for "suffrage is not equal participation" answers.
• Delayed reservation: the 106th Amendment depends on a new census and delimitation, which pushes reservation years into the future. The defeat of the 131st Amendment Bill (2026) shows that women's reservation is now tied to the politics of delimitation (for example, southern states losing seats). One answer is to separate the two issues.
• Local bodies show it can work: about 46% of panchayat representatives are women. This shows reservation can create women leaders. Proxy rule ("sarpanch-pati") shows that quotas need support such as training, money and protection from harassment.
• Gaps and reforms: the Act leaves out the Rajya Sabha, Legislative Councils and OBC women. Other reforms: a legal one-third quota for women in party tickets and party bodies, state funding of elections to cut money power, and action against violence in politics.