Women have only 11% representation in India's Parliament

Women have a poor 11% representation in India's Lok Sabha and 10.6% in the Rajya Sabha, making India 108th among 188 countries covered in the annual analysis on statistics of women members of parliament (MPs) conducted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The global average of women in parliaments as of November 2013 stood at 21.3%, a slight increase over the numbers in the immediately preceding two years (20.3% and 19.5%). The IPU is an international organization of parliaments and works for the establishment of representative democracies.

Countries are ranked by the IPU based on percentage of women in the lower house of parliament. The top three countries in the 2013 analysis were Rwanda, Andorra and Cuba.

India fared poorly even when compared with her immediate neighbours. Here, Nepal, ranked at 24, led the pack, followed by China (55) and Pakistan (66).

With elections around the corner in India, several women groups have come together under the umbrella of 'Time for 33% Coalition' and are seeking passage of the women's reservation bill during the winter session which will start shortly.

The bill proposes to reserve 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. Various similar bills, introduced since 1996, have lapsed.

According to statistics released periodically by the Election Commission, for the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, the number of elected women increased from 49 in 1999 to 59 in 2009, with 11% representation in the lower house. In 2009, the number of elected women over total seats was maximum in Punjab (30.8%), followed by Madhya Pradesh (20.7%) and Haryana (20.0%). Against this, the number of women voters in India has increased from 44.3% to 45.8%.

 
"The patriarchal hereditary nature of Indian politics requires intervention at many levels and in many forms. A 33% reservation, which is the minimum mass required, will be one of the most significant changes in helping women attain their right to participate in Indian democracy not just as voters but also as leaders," stated Amitabh Kumar of the Centre for Social Research.

Vibhuti Patel, economist and president of Women Power Connect, said: "Even in highly patriarchal societies like Afghanistan, a reservation mechanism is in place. Appropriate representation of women is possible only through a quota regime, and this in turn will bring more transparency, efficiency and even decency in Parliament's functioning."

Many EU countries like Belgium, France and Germany, and other countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and Nepal legislatively provide for quotas for women candidates. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan reserve seats for women in parliament. Voluntary quotas adopted by political parties exist in countries such as Australia, Canada, Israel, Netherlands and the UK.

"Although quotas remain contentious in some parts of the world, they remain key to progress on a fundamental component of democracy — gender parity in political representation," said IPU secretary general Anders B Johnsson.

Quotas need to be ambitious and women candidates should be placed in winnable positions on party lists, the IPU said. In the Indian scenario, where the ratio of women candidates winning their contested seats is not yet optimal, this is a suggestion that needs to be followed.