Women’s Political Representation in India: Trends, Challenges and Future Prospects

Authors: Abhijith Prasobh

Country: India

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Abstract: One of the most important markers of democratic inclusion is women's political representation, that of constitutional equality and substantive citizenship. India is the largest electoral democracy in the world but women's representation in formal political institutions has been unequal across levels of governance. National level: Women representation has slowly increased in the Lok Sabha from approximately 4-5% in early years after independence to approximately 14-15% in the 17th Lok Sabha. Representation was also not substantial in the Rajya Sabha and state legislative assemblies, and the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution have provided for a more substantial local government that has demonstrated better numbers of its own. This paper explores the trends, challenges and future prospects of the political representation of women in India up to February 2024. It believes that India has come a long way in women's participation in the electoral process, representation at the grassroots level and constitutional reforms, particularly the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, or the Women's Reservation Act. But descriptive representation has not yet completely been realised politically as equal power. Bottlenecks persist, such as legal male dominance norms and poor party nomination systems, limited campaign financing, political violence, proxy representation, intersectional exclusion, and delayed party implementation of legislative quotas. The paper finds that constitutional reservation can make significant contribution towards improving political representation for women in India, if put into practice; internal gender quota in political parties; expand campaign finance of women representatives; capacity building for women representatives; and institutional measures to counter harassment and tokenism.

Keywords: Women's political representation in India, Lok Sabha, Women's Reservation Act, gender quota, Panchayati Raj, political participation.

Paper Id: 233171

Published On: 2024-02-03

Published In: Volume 12, Issue 1, January-February 2024

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