Women ‘Empowerment’ Bill
While passing of Women Reservation Bill is laudable, the focus should be on women empowerment, the bill acting as a tool. — Dr. Jaya Kakkar
This month (September 2023) both the houses of parliament passed the 128th constitutional Amendment Bill to provide for reservation of 33 percent seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women. But this will come into effect only offer the delimitation exercise is completed; this means the reservation will not come into effect at least until 2029 polls. Once in force, it will remain in effect for 15 years, though the Parliament can extend its life.
The 1971-74 committees on the status of women seeded the idea of such reservation. Many states started to reserve seats for women in local bodies. Then Margaret Alva Committee recommended in 1988 that seats be reserved for women in elected bodies. The Narsimha Rao government amended the constitution (1992) to reserve a 33 percent seats in panchayati raj institutions. It was the Deve Gowda government that, for the first time, proposed that a third of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats be reserved for women.
Later, Gujral government, Vajpayee government (in both its avatars), and the UPA government tried to pass the bill; however, in face of stiff resistance, the bill could not be passed. Mnay male politicians have opposed it since its early days. It was suggested that the bill would merely benefit urban educated women from the better off sections rather than the more deserving rural poor women who actually needed empowerment through such reservation. Notwithstanding, it has been passed in a special session of the Parliament, the bill being sweeping in scope.
As said earlier, the bill will come into effect after the delimitation exercise is complete, which, in turn, is contingent on the completion of the census. But this delay may actually work to the advantage of the subjects of the bill since this will provide the government with enough time to carve out the ruler and regulations with utmost care.
In recent past (expanding) affirmative action has actually been used by the political masters of all hues as an instrument of self interested political mobilization. Well, there is a real danger that the latest reservation may also lead to similar – unintended or intended – outcome; this can be avoided only if the objective of women’ssocio-economic upliftment is pursued with fulvigour – which is the main purpose behind any affirmative action. Otherwise, it will degenerate into reservation clauses for SC/ST class, these are provided a fresh breath of life every now and then but the class having enjoyed little tangible benefits.
Thus, while the support to the bill is near unanimous, the government has to ensure that it is not a cosmetic exercise to show India’s ranking on global indices in better light. Nor, for that matter, should it be used as a vote catching move.The real aim behind passing the act is to ensure that through this reservation the law makers, executive, and the society at large generate enabling environment in which women gain access to a better and more fulfilling life through access to education, employment, health and nutrition. This will ensure that the ‘other half’ of India’s population realizes its full potential and contributes its might in making India a better place to live, including for women.
When women will gather power, such transformation should be possible, although the task may remain daunting. In 2013 the women parliamentarians had cut across party lines and ensured the passage of a more stringent rape and workplace harassment laws. At the same time the disconcerting fact is that the numbers of women legislators are poor. While the percentage share of women MPs in Lok Sabha has gone up from 8 percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2019 it is much shorter than 33 percent. More importantly there lies a bigger challenger in states and union territories. No state matches the national average. Surprisingly, in the matrilineal societies (Northeast, Kerala) the percentage ranges from zero to nine. Infact India’s parliament has the least gender diversity among key emerging market economies (though many of the country’s local bodies boast better women representation). Only 15 percent of the Lok Sabha and 14 percent of the Rajya Sabha members are women. In comparison, women account for about 45 percent of the lower house in South Africa, and 27 percent in China’s single house.
On the flip side, however, there are large number of women in local governance. Thus the lowest number (31.0%) is far Ladakh, and highest (56.0%) for Uttrakhand. This is largely due to implementation of such reservation for women having come into effect a long time ago. Between 2004 and 2019 the share of women in Lok Sabha has gone up from 8% to 15%. Long way to go thus.
A word of caution here. While such constitutional provisions help, these have limited effect in generating positive gender dynamics. Remember while India had marched ahead of even many advanced nations to gift voting rights to eligible Indian women, this has still not translated into sufficient women emancipation; the challenge to empower them politically and economically remains formidable.The Indian women have the dubious distinction of lowest female labour force participation rate (at 24.0%, contrasted with 62% for Australia) in G20. Majority don’t own assets: only 42% owned house and 32% owned land during 2019-21. In contrast to China whose 19% women have faced violence in life time, the figure for India was 35%. In 2000 National Commission for women faced 5268 complaints; this number went up to 30,257 in 2022.
Even in parchayats the real participation by women is rather dismal. Infact in advanced economies of US, UK, Australia, etc. where either the parliamentary quota is not mandated or there are voluntary provision the gender equality record is better than in a country like India. Similarly, many countries with reserved seats for women (Nepal, Pakistan ….. there is a long list) have little to boast about empowerment of women. If there is a single lesson to be drawn from these case studies is that economic growth – as in Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh – will be the most important enabler for women empowerment. At the same time it is true that countries with higher female representation have shown a remarkable ability to enact policies that promote social inclusion, gender equality, and overall societal development. A vacuum in voluntary action on the part of the society at large in ensuring that women get their deserved place and space in all walks of life has forced the government’s hands to bring this bill. It is in reaction to the existence of decades of unfulfilled promises and persistent gender bias. The move deserves two cheers at least.
Share This
