HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 113 : Model Answer

Question: Reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) has not translated into corresponding increase in women’s representation in India’s state legislatures. Bringing out the reasons for the same, discuss how under-representation of women in the state legislatures can be corrected. (20 Marks)

 Answer:

The 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, provided reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) with an aim to ensure increased participation and role for women in the governance structure in India. As many as 14 states and Union Territories have 50 percent or more elected women representatives in the Panchayats.

However, this reservation policy has not resulted in the corresponding increase in women’s representation in India’s state legislatures. The national average of women in state assemblies and state councils (upper house of the state legislatures) is 9% and 5%, respectively. Further,

Mizoram, Nagaland and Puducherry have no elected women representatives in their assemblies.

Reasons for low representation of women in the state legislatures include:

• Patriarchal nature of Indian society: Entry and vertical mobility of women in politics and political parties are restricted due to the patriarchal nature of the Indian society where power structure is biased towards males.
• Criminalization of politics: Dominance of money and muscle in politics, especially in the last 30 years, is another factor that discourages young and educated women to choose politics as a career.
• Shadow representation at the Panchayat level: Even though the Constitution provides for reservation for women in the PRIs, generally the male members of the family exercise their powers, leading to emergence of ‘Panchayat/Sarpanch patis’. This acts as a barrier for women in

subsequent representation in the state legislatures as well.

• Lack of a legal mandate: Unlike the PRIs, there is no legal mandate that prescribes reservation of a certain number of seats for women in the state legislatures. Therefore, the political parties are less inclined to give tickets to women for elections to the state assemblies.

In addition to this, a general lack of awareness of electoral politics among women is a major factor for poor representation of women in the state assemblies. This crisis of under-representation of women, which is a consequence of discrimination against women in politics, is a cause of concern for the world’s largest democracy.

In this context, the following measures can be undertaken to ensure gender parity in the state legislatures:

• Making Panchayats a supply line for the state legislatures: The political parties should encourage and promote women with experience of governance at the local Panchayat level to the state level. It will also help weed out the issue of proxy representation by male members in

the family.

• Quota for women in political parties: The proposal of the Election Commission of India (ECI) making it mandatory for recognized political parties to ensure a minimum agreed percentage of seats for women in State Assembly and Parliamentary elections needs to be implemented.
• Breaking social stereotypes: There is a need to deconstruct the role of women as limited to household activities only. It is important for all institutions (state, family and community) to respond to women’s specific needs such as bridging gaps in education, renegotiating gender roles including division of labour and addressing biased attitudes.
• Passage of Women’s Reservation Bill: All the major parties should reach consensus and ensure that the Bill that mandates 33 percent of seats in the Parliament and all state legislative assemblies for women be passed.

In addition to this, the parties should promote inner party democracy. Without party labels or independent resources to finance their campaign, there are few incentives or means for women who aspire to run for political office.

Thus, concentrated efforts by political parties for removing these roadblocks could go a long way in improving the gender balance of our legislatures.