Women’s Reservation Bill

Context: A politician from Telangana began a day-long hunger strike demanding the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

About Women’s Reservation Bill

• The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in May 2008 and was referred to a standing committee.
• In 2010, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha and transmitted finally to the Lok Sabha. However, the Bill lapsed with the 15th Lok Sabha.
• Origin: The original idea for this bill originated from a constitutional amendment which was passed back in 1993.
  • The bill is seen as a logical extension of the 72nd and 73rd constitutional amendments (1992,1993), which reserved one third of all seats and chairperson posts for women in rural and urban local governments.
• Need for the bill:
  • Under representation of women: Currently, just 14 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs are women (78 in total). And women make roughly 11 per cent of the Rajya Sabha.
  • Global comparison: Although the number of women MPs has increased significantly since the first Lok Sabha, it still remains much lower in comparison to several other countries.
    • According to data from PRS, Rwanda (61 per cent), South Africa (43 per cent) and even Bangladesh (21 per cent), are ahead of India in this matter.
    • India ranks 144 out of 193 countries in the representation of women in Parliament, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report.
  • Gender sensitization in law making: As a study by the American Economic Association showed, “countries with higher share of women in national parliament are more likely to pass and implement gender sensitive laws.”
  • Positive impacts: A 2010 study by the Harvard Kennedy School showed that female representation in village councils increased female participation and responsiveness to concerns such as drinking water, infrastructure, sanitation and roads.

Key Provisions of the Women’s Reservation Bill [The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008]

Key Issues and Analysis of the Women Reservation Bill

• Proponents’ views: Proponents stress the necessity of affirmative action to improve the condition of women.
  • Some recent studies on panchayats have shown the positive effect of reservation on empowerment of women and on allocation of resources.
• Opponents’ views:
  • Opponents argue that it would perpetuate the unequal status of women since they would not be perceived to be competing on merit.
  • They also contend that this policy diverts attention from the larger issues of electoral reform such as criminalization of politics and inner party democracy.
  • Reservation of seats in Parliament restricts choice of voters to women candidates. Therefore, some experts have suggested alternate methods such as reservation in political parties and dual member constituencies.
  • Rotation of reserved constituencies in every election may reduce the incentive for an MP to work for his constituency as he may be ineligible to seek re-election from that constituency.

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