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New Delhi, India ——”This is a special day in the history of our country…”
These are the opening remarks of the debate held in Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, on September 12, 1996.
On the agenda is to propose a constitutional amendment to try to reserve one-third of the seats for women in the House of Commons and the state legislative assemblies.
Similar versions of the bill were introduced in 1998, 1999, and later in 2008, but with the dissolution of these governments, all four versions became invalid.
Twenty-five years after the “Women Retention Bill” was first proposed in Parliament, it is still in a stagnant state and has not yet become a reality.
Political leaders and experts said that although the initial delay was due to concerns about cross-cutting issues, the core of the delay was the unwillingness to share power and the fear of losing the bastion of electoral support.
According to an analysis by the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reform (ADR), based on the results of the last state elections, female representatives accounted for less than 15% of the House of Commons and Legislative Assembly.
Research and experts agree that women’s lack of political participation will affect the diversity of policy making and decision-making.
within the globe, Ranked 148 in India in a list of 193 countries based on the percentage of elected women representatives in their national parliaments, as of June this year.
The same data shows that although the global average level of “getting off the cabin or alone” is 25.8%, India has reached 14.4%. Of the 543 Le Sabia representatives elected in 2019, 78 are the highest number of women.
The Indian Parliament is bicameral, with female members accounting for 11.6% of the House of Lords or Rajya Sabha.
Indian women activists protested for the passage of the Women’s Retention Act in 2016 [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]long wait
During these 25 years, every time the bill was proposed for discussion or passed, the Indian Parliament would see fierce drama and hostile resistance. From offensive comments about women to physical conflicts and grumpy debates-the bill has witnessed it all.
In earlier discussions, some of the political parties in India opposed the intersectionality of the bill, fearing that this comprehensive reservation would mainly benefit high caste candidates.
“The 1996 debate was not so much about supporting women or anti-women, as it was a debate around such a comprehensive reservation of women that would distort the caste combination of the parliament and favor the upper castes. It raised more questions than expected in 1996. Much more,” said Mary E. John, a professor at the Women’s Development Research Center in New Delhi.
A follow-up version of the bill in 2008 proposed that one-third of the seats would be reserved for women from groups such as predetermined castes and predetermined tribes.
Over the years, most major political parties in India have supported the bill in principle, but internal resistance continues.
In the past, parties of different shades have tried to pass the bill, including the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the United Front Coalition Government, which proposed the first legislation in 1996.
In 2010, the upper house of parliament passed a constitutional amendment stating that the reservation will cease to exist after 15 years of implementation. The bill then needs to be passed by the People’s Chamber and approved by half of the Indian Legislative Assembly.
However, due to a lack of political consensus, it expired after four years.
“I believe that every political party should have reservations within their organization,” Sushmita Dev, leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and former member of the People’s Chamber, told Al Jazeera that he had led the women’s department of the Congress party until last month.
She said that with 48.5% of the population, Indian women should be represented in elected institutions. “I think this is purely a lack of unreserved faith in women. Men don’t want to give up their seats.”
TMC manages the eastern state of West Bengal and is currently led by India’s only female chief minister, Mamata Banerjee.
Indian women activists protest demanding passage of women’s retention bill in New Delhi [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP]In the past ten years, the debate on the “Women’s Retention Act” did not occupy a prominent position in national political discourse, except for symbolic discussions and comments from political leaders on occasions such as International Women’s Day.
Experts worry that it will still take a long time to pass.
“On a global scale, the lack of the will to empower women will be a long journey. History has proven that no matter where this control (male) weakens, we will see space being created or women working hard. Create these spaces for yourself,” Ranjana Kumari, director of the New Delhi Social Research Center, told Al Jazeera.
Policy impact
Before the 2014 national elections, activists and women’s rights organizations gathered for “Women’s Day”, which focused on empowering women with socio-economic empowerment and greater political representation.
As a measure of public sentiment, the BJP and Congress expressed their commitment to the passage of the bill in the declarations of the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.
At least 20 Indian states give women 50% representation at the “panchayat” or village council level. This precedent has been used by several academicians to assess its impact on decision-making.
A sort of 2010 research It shows that female representatives in village committees have increased women’s participation and response to issues such as drinking water, infrastructure, sanitation and roads, without squeezing out other disadvantaged groups.
“There is sufficient empirical evidence that the feminization of political governance will lead to changes in public policy decisions and expenditure patterns. The study also found that this representation is conducive to women’s preferences in fiscal policy formulation,” New Delhi National Public Finance and Policy Lekha Chakraborty, a professor at the Institute, told Al Jazeera.
Chakraborty added that more female representatives bring more diversity to decision-making.
“From a heterogeneous perspective, 33% is critical to protecting diversity, talent and insight. The retention of women and gender budgets are very important for India’s future progress towards gender equality,” she added.
Vandana Chavan, a Rajya Sabha member of the Nationalist Congress Party, said that based on her experience, almost all governance-related issues have a gender perspective and more female representatives are needed.
“There are many women-related issues that are at the forefront, such as women’s safety and nutrition. We believe that if society must change, it must change as women, who make up half of the country’s population, are at the forefront.” Living in Western Malaysia Said Chawan of Pune, Harashtra.
She has always been a representative of the three levels of local autonomy, state and country.
Experts such as Kumari believe that the “bottom line” is that women need to be more fully represented, because unless women become a “critical group”, no real changes will occur.
“This can be proposed in any form, and if possible, different laws can be adopted. But equality must be ensured,” she told Al Jazeera.
All the experts and politicians interviewed by Al Jazeera agreed that, given that women-related issues have become the focus and the major political parties support the bill, the waiting should be ended and the bill should be submitted to Parliament for approval.
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, a member of the Lok Sabha of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, asked at a meeting in July whether the government proposed to propose the Women’s Retention Act and whether it could share its details.
“Gender justice is an important commitment of the government. The issues involved need to be carefully considered on the basis of consensus reached by all political parties before the constitutional amendment can be submitted to Parliament,” the Ministry of Law and Justice said in a reply to her.
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