POWER AND REPRESENTATION: WOMEN RESERVATION BILL
The women's quota (108th Constitutional Amendment) Bill providing for a one-third
women's reservation at the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies has been hanging fire for some
time and has now been put in cold storage. Feminist views on the government, democracy,
and conceptions of political equality and involvement have demonstrated that without
institutional processes to guarantee women's involvement in political structures, women will
not be able to cross formidable obstacles to their entrance into active electoral politics.
Democratization and representative institutions also provide the framework for political
activity, while setting the terminology for citizen participation. Inequalities that describe the
idea of political equity as a feature of our social structure are an important component of
every democratic agenda. The women's movement's platform encompasses an entire array of
issues ranging from the redistribution of resources to the redistribution of time and
obligations in the household, to improvements to the electoral process and to parliamentary
democracy. The social agenda embedded in the desire for women's political representation
and the wider struggle for equality also threatens democratic institutions. The
democratization phase has been opposed by shifting patterns of wealth, caste, and gender ties,
which follow their different and sometimes conflicting interests. A guarantee of equal status
and opportunities was the strongest attraction in a liberal democracy.
The major challenge in attaining these objectives was nevertheless the social and political
systems and other hegemonic activities in a multicultural and stratified society. The enduring
dilemma in a liberal democracy was the relation between the concept of political freedom and
actual social and economic differences. The basic values of democracy are constantly being
questioned by a culturally and ethnically diverse population (equality, social justice). People's
demonstrations were important in the transition of democracy and in portraying democracy
itself.
WHAT IS WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILL?
For almost a decade now, the Women's Reservation Bill has been a raw electoral nerve.
Throughout Congress and outside, it has always sparked heated debates. In order to extend
this reservation to parliament and legislative assemblies, there is a long-term plan.
Furthermore, in rare cases, women in India receive reservations or preferential education
treatments. It has opposed considering this unequal treatment of women in India as sexism
against them in education, college, and university admissions. A feminist group in India is
strongly in favor of giving preference to women to create a level playing field for all its
people.
The Women's Reservation Act or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, is a
pending action in the Indian Parliament intending to reserve 33 percent of all seats in the
lower house of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha, and in all the province's women's
legislative assemblies. The seats would be rotating and chosen by drawing lots so that only
one vote could be allocated once in three successive general elections. It said that women's
seating reservations will stop 15 years following the launch of the reformed rule. The
proposal was accepted on 9 March 2010 by Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha has never acted on the resolution, however. The legislation is pending because it has never gone to the Lok
Sabha
After a constitutional amendment in 1993, a reservation of 33% for women in Panchayati Raj
institutions was made compulsory. 19 states, including Bihar and Odisha, have increased the
reservation to 50%, according to the Panchayati Raj Ministry.
HISTORY OF POLITICAL RESERVATION FOR WOMEN
The initial phase of the women's movement coincided with the creation of three women's
organizations, the Women's Indian Association in 1917, the All India Women's Conference in 1927, and the Indian National Women's Council in 1925. In 1910, a number of local and
regional women's organizations formed, which eventually fusioned into national
organizations.9
The election campaign started in 1917 with Sarojini Naidu accompanying a female All India
delegate to Montague, Indian Secretary of State, who came to address India's parliamentary
participation demands. In 1924, a Reforms Enquiry Committee began recording facts and
thoughts on whether Indian women still wished to be a member of the legislatures. After the
moratorium had been removed in 1927, only a few weeks before the elections the state
legislature of the province of Madras opened its membership to women.
While the Committee voted it down for the constitutional reservation of women's
seats in legislatures by a majority, it proposed statutory women's village-level Panchayats due
to the lack of women in rural development programs. It also insisted on the political parties to
“adopt a clear policy on the percentage of women candidates to contest elections”. With the
1975 announcement of the national emergency, the derailment of constitutional democracy
sparked a number of grassroots organizations as a priority of the political process to defend
civil liberties and democratic rights and ensure that women and other marginalized
communities were more active. Many of the progressive projects and the grassroots
movements opposing government power are part of the democratic process and are grounded
in standardized social and economic ties in India. Since the 1980s, several mainstream
political parties have started to view women in their party forms and confronted them with
women's issues. Awareness of women's votes and the participation of women in the
grassroots movement, the pressure of the women's movement, and the grassroots dynamics
have been increased in the political parties. Organizations, legislative initiatives, and collective
executive action required them to comply with certain women's issues.
In the Lok Sabha, the Congress party introduced the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Bill 1991
with a number of amendments proposing that the new section IX (definition, the constitution
of Panchayat, etc.) and the eleventh Schedule (art 243 G concerning Panchayat functions) be
inserted in the constitution. Panchayati Raj was the election question when Congress took
over the government. In December 1992, in order to provide for a third reserve in the case of
PRIs, the 73rd and 74th amendment bills were finally adopted and all states ratified it by
April 1992.
Nevertheless, the appeal was accepted by all major political parties and included in their
election embodiments. It was also part of the Government of the Ruling Coalition's Common
Minimum Program at the national level. The United Front government introduced the Constitution (81st) Amendment Bill 1996, at the first session of the now-dissolved
parliament. The parliamentary debate on the Bill reflected strong resistance from several
quarters. The political threat to a male-dominated parliament's role, authority, and rights has
led to serious disagreements between lawmakers and different stakeholder groups.17
Despite a courageous public stance, it is reported that no one wishes to reveal himself, he said
that 'no internal debate has occurred on how the government plans to deal with this emotional
matter' Not many were satisfied as claimed by the women's movement that it would bring
‘social justice for women. Even the embattled prime minister relented, stating that 'rule of
such social importance cannot be enforced without consent, 'as it includes mediation and
accommodation'. The Bill was sent to Parliament's Joint Select Committee, composed of
representatives from both houses under Geeta Mukherjee's chairmanship.
Rajya Sabha or the Legislative Councils and Union Territories were not mentioned in the
original Bill. The Joint Select Committee presented its report in December (which was sent to
the two Houses on 9 December 1996) and recommended a variety of changes, including
quotas, in those states where there are less than three seats. This did not recommend how
reserved electoral districts were to be formed and it was left to the government and to the
Election Commission. The provision involving quotas for people belonging to other
retroactive castes was not approved.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORT
The 2008 Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. The Standing Committee on Employment, Public Grievances, Law and Justice issued its 36th
Statement on the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill 2008' on 17
December 2009. The President was Smt Jayanthi Natarajan. The Committee found it appropriate to have a reservation to ensure the women's
representation and to ensure the integration of the democratic process. It claimed that quotas
in Panchayats and municipalities have had positive impacts on women at the grass root and
argued that the need for women to be reserved in-state meetings and the parliament has been
further enhanced. In order for women to gain sufficient political representation in the parliament and state
legislatures, the committee suggested that the 15-year cap prescribed for reservation be reexamined. Methods have not been made clear in the Act to establish the seats reserved for women. The
Commission suggested that the government take this issue fully into account. The committee recommended that a quota of women in Rajya Sabha and Legislative
Councils and other disadvantaged groups be accepted by the legislature.
WOMEN RESERVATION BILLS PASSING OF PARLIAMENT OF
INDIA
Women's Reservation Act or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, is a pending act in
India that proposes reserving 33% of all seats in the Lok Sabha, India's Lower House, and
state legislatures. The law stipulates that the positions to be held in the rotation will be
determined in such a way that a seat will only be allocated for three consecutive general
elections.
In March 2010, this bill was adopted by the Upper Chamber of Parliament's Rajya Sabha.
The Lok Sabha and at least 50% of all state legislatures have to do this before the President of
India ratifies it.
Women's Bill of Reservation will still have to wait before our own members
know some of the steps and forms in which the rule of law can prevail and the legislative
decorum can be upheld. It's just the start of the emancipation of women. If women get 33
percent coverage, they're going to take the next move forward with their male counterparts to
get on a similar representation.
In Gram Panchayats and Municipal elections, women now enjoy a 33 percent quota. In fact,
women in India receive education and work quotas or special care.
For example, many law
schools in India have a 30 percent reserve for females. The political view behind women's
reservations is to promote competition for all their citizens. The claim is that social standards
strongly favor males and thus reserve for women should allow men and women equal
opportunities. The Bill is expected to offer certain advantages, such as greater women's
participation in politics and culture. Because of female feticide and women's health issues,
the sex ratio of 1.06 males per female is concerning in India.
The Bill is expected to change
society in order to give women equal rights.23
Women are reportedly more immune to corruption, so this bill could prove a factor limiting
corruption's growth. In terms of political power, the importance of women within internal
party structures is perhaps more significant than the proportion of women fighting Lok Sabha
polls. Females in all parties are usually still less represented here. There has not been a deliberate step towards the inclusion of many more women at the decision-making levels and
roles within the party except in All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
The Women's Reservation Act, on the other hand, will lead to a partial approach to the
democratic process. We can undermine women's self-respect and contribute to a lower level
of respect for women in society. The efficiency of leaders can also be decreased. The fact that
males can feel deprived of certain rights may create a new kind of animosity between sexes,
and in turn, create social problems. Another concern for the political parties is whether the
women are involved in the overall partisan agenda and the rest of the issues relating to all
people, in contrast to women alone. There is no way of preventing discrimination against men by finding women who tend solely
to women's issues or, in other words, to men. In fact, powerful male party members will be
tempted to find female relatives to "reserve" the seat on their own.
Therefore, it is believed
that reservation will only allow elitist women to gain seats, leading the poor and the
backward classes to further inequality and under-representation.
Some politicians, such as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Sharad Yadav,
have fiercely opposed the Bill in its present form. They claim a quota for the women of
backward class with the 33 percent, i.e. within a reservation we call for a reservation.
Regardless of whether or not the bill comes into force, women are under-represented as ever
in the electoral fray and the structures of the party. After independence, very little has
improved on one point. The members of the various political parties are still predominantly
male; only 5-10% of candidates in all parties and regions make up women. This is the same
specific trend found in nearly all the country's general elections.
This is the case despite the
hubbub of the Bill on women's reservations made even last year on the Constitution (84th
amendment). The very parties which are most strongly in favor of calling for the reservation
of women put up the same proportion of women in elections as usual, and definitely not more
than other parties that oppose the Bill. Nevertheless, today women play an important role in
Indian politics. This is most apparent in the prevalence of women leaders and in the reality
that they clearly cannot be overlooked, even though some of them growing lead relatively
small parties in the national sense.
What is even more relevant is that these women leaders have not arisen in many instances
through the traditional dynastic advantage model of South Asia. Clearly, Sonia Gandhi is a
clear example of a dynastic monarchy, with a particular almost legendary pattern. One of the
misconceptions that the role played by such women leaders quickly destroys is that women
have dramatically different leadership from men’s political leadership. In reality, most of our
women's representatives are great or worse than men. Therefore, all this indicates that
women's political advancement not only still has a long way to go, but it may also have little
to do with the Indian electoral democracy's periodic carnivals.
CONCLUSION
The Women's Reservation Bill's trajectory in India was characterized by a high war drama
with phrases repeated many points over and over without agreement. As a consequence,
women's empowerment has lost the whole problem. No doubt, the Bill of Reservation was
one of the most controversial pieces of legislation ever presented in any house of the Indian
Parliament. This is noteworthy as one of the rare instances in which the three major national
parties-Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, and the Left — have formed a political consensus.
The passage of the Rajya Sabha Women's reservation bill is not only a warm movement for
India but also an impetus for women's empowerment throughout the world. One of the
problems, for example, with the Lok Sabha approval, is that of the legislation.
This matter is urgently needed, as the challenge of enforcing the law based on rights–food,
education, safety, sanitation and supply of water, clean energy, demographic change, and
jobs-will definitely be increased and incorporated by women. Women's active engagement in
local self-governing bodies demonstrates that many women are good leaders and spend more
time and effort in them. Improved women's political participation will help them fight the
violence, inequality, and disparities they face. Women's organizations need to be constructive
and put pressure on the government to implement the bill.
Men should also make room for women in the decision-making process without any
prejudice, apart from all of these, the key issues related to the policy of reservation must also
be discussed with dispassion. In India, which is a male dominant society, women's quotas
will definitely act as a catalyst for change.It can only start to change, but progress will come
if society changes its attitude towards women. Women's political empowerment is seen as an
effective and necessary weapon to eradicate gender inequality and discrimination