India Has An Abysmally Low Number Of Woman Politicians. Can Lok Sabha Polls 2019 Change The Game?
Women make 49 per cent of our population but their representation in Parliament and in elections is far lower. It took 48 years for Mizoram to field a female candidate in Lok Sabha elections the first being held in 1971 in the northeastern state. Women and women welfare schemes are in the manifestos of every political party.
It took 48 years for Mizoram to field a female candidate in Lok Sabha elections, the first being held in 1971 in the northeastern state. In the assembly seats, women outnumber men, but this is for the first time that a woman is contesting on the lone Lok Sabha seat from the state.
Women make 49 per cent of our population, but their representation in Parliament and in elections is far lower. From interviews to live coverage, it is men who mostly get all the limelight.
Women and women welfare schemes are in the manifestos of every political party. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is addressing women¡¯s safety, both BJP and Congress have promised to accelerate a legislature that guarantees 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha.
Even as national and regional political parties are yet to release the full list of Lok Sabha election candidates, the number of women candidates already looks dismal. With all the tall promises, it is imperative to know how many women are fighting national elections? How much do political parties promote their female candidates vis-¨¤-vis male candidates?
Let¡¯s take a look:
BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party¡¯s first list of candidates was released on March 21. The list of 184 candidates for parliamentary constituencies from 23 states features the names of merely 22 female candidates, including big names like Hema Malini and Smriti Irani. So far, women form 11 per cent of the total list of candidates released by BJP.
In 2014, BJP selected only 38 female candidates.
Congress
The Congress party has named 43 woman candidates out of the list of around 316 nominations for Lok Sabha elections so far. The figure translates to 3.6 per cent of the candidates the party has announced so far. The party is yet to announce more candidates.
AFP
Congress has promised to bring in 33 per cent reservation in the Lok Sabha by passing Women¡¯s Reservation Bill. The party has also promised to make a separate ministry for women by bifurcating the Women and Child Development ministry.
In 2014, Congress fielded a maximum of 60 female candidates.
AAP
Out of the six Lok Sabha seat from Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party has fielded only on female candidate. Atishi will contest from East Delhi seat.
BJD
Naveen Patnaik¡¯s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) would field 33 per cent women among its candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, terming the move a ¡°benchmark for women¡¯s empowerment¡± in the country.
Patnaik¡¯s decision will mean that the ruling BJD will field women candidates for at least seven out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. At present, there are three women Lok Sabha MPs from Odisha.
In 2014, BJD had won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats.
TMC
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee has announced that the party will field as many as 17 woman candidates in the coming general elections, taking their representation to about 41 per cent.
BCCL
"Everyone is talking about 33 per cent reservation for women, this time about 41 per cent of our candidates are women,¡± Banerjee said announcing the party¡¯s candidates for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.
In 2014, the TMC had nominated 35 per cent woman candidates.
Participation of women in Lok Sabha has remained abysmally low, though there has been a modest increase over the last couple of decades.
Regional parties are setting an example by giving more representation to women, but national parties still seem to lack will.
Traditionally, national parties have remained patriarchal and paternalistic. Regional parties like TDP, BSP, TMC have women at the helm yet there is a little participation of women as party candidates.
India is ranked 149th of 193 nations in 2018 on the percentage of women in lower house, according to data released by Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Data by World Bank data shows the proportion of seats held by women in the lower house of parliament increased to just 11.8 per cent in 2018 from five percent in 1990.
This is worse than the growth in countries like Afghanistan, which witnessed a jump to 27.7 per cent from 3.7 per cent and Nepal, where women¡¯s representation rose to 32.7 per cent from 6.1 per cent.