According to reports, the Union Cabinet at a meeting, held on Monday, gave its nod to the Women’s Reservation Bill. Though the discussion of the same is nowhere mentioned in the agenda for the Parliament’s Special Session, the demand for the reservation of women has been lingering around, sometimes actively for the past 27 years now.
The 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2008
The reservation for women in the Parliament was first brought about by the Deve Gowda led United Front in 1996 but the bill was unable to pass. The Bill was again introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh in 2008 as the 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill and was successfully passed in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Bill was never taken up by the Lok Sabha rendering it as an active document put to rest, until now.
The provisions of the 2008 Bill gave 33% reservation to women in the Parliament and in the State Legislative Assemblies with a sub-reservation for SCs, STs and Anglo Indians within the 33% bracket. The reserved seats were to be allocated to states and UTs on a rotational basis to different constituencies for 15 years after which the reservations would cease to exist.
Reservation as a Tool for Political Empowerment or Not?
The demand for affirmative action for women has often been done on similar lines of that of the SC and the ST community underlining the historical injustices inflicted upon women. The lack of representation of women in the Parliament and the State Legislatures is proof of the unequal space given to the female voice in matters of political importance.
According to the Global Gender Gap Index, 2024 published by the World Economic Forum, India’s position is 127th out of 146 countries and women in politics comprise only 15% of the lot. Their absence from the political sphere has been attributed to the patriarchal nature of politics.
While the Women Reservation Bill is a step in the right direction for it will cater to the female voices of the country and create a designated space for their participation, it also brings with it the fear of legitimising women as inferior beings, not capable of competing on the basis of their merit. Secondly, women are not a homogenous community. Their marginalisation in the society is intersectional and so a uniform categorisation might prove to be problematic.
When Rajiv Gandhi gave voice to reservation for women in Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies in May 1989 and when it fructified with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, the results numerically have been impressive with now approximately 15 lakh women acting as political representatives in Panchayats and Nagarpalikas.
But one often finds reports and discussions on how the woman’s authority within these political spaces created for her are mis-utilized by the men around or more so, render her as a pawn working for the larger patriarchal web she finds herself in.
This is not only prevalent in political bodies but also in kinship structures where the women of matriarchal settings are rendered powerless due to the overexerting influence of their brothers.
These instances merely exemplify that a change in the political structures if not coupled with social and psychological reform among the masses, will create variants of patriarchy that will become less visible to the naked eye and grow more aggressively within.
Additionally, it is important to note that the “dirty” nature attributed to the political space further distances women from entering the sphere. The absence of mere comfort in terms of their safety and well being that deters her liberty as an individual presence in society then forcibly pushes her away from platforms that need her voice the most.
The women, comprising 48.5% of the total population, close to 50% and approximately 85% of men shaping the country’s narrative and future, the patriarchy in India, then finds itself living up to its reputation. The Constitution which guarantees rights of freedom, liberty, justice and equality to all, patriarchy’s role as a distributor then deprives their equal accessibility to women of this country.
And so, while the Women Reservation Bill is a step in the right direction, education and economic empowerment coupled with the right socialisation of the Indian community will successfully empower the women of this country and with them, empower the country.
