Women’s Reservation Bill
In News:
- Recently the Union Cabinet approved the Women’s Reservation Bill, which provides for 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies.
Background:
- The 81st Constitution Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1996. In this, there was a demand to reserve one-third seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies. The bill was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, but the bill lapsed after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
- In 1998, the bill was reintroduced in the 12th Lok Sabha. This time also the bill was canceled after not getting any support.
- In 2008, the Women’s Reservation Bill was reintroduced in the Rajya Sabha and later referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which recommended passing the Bill in its present form without any delay. In 2010, the Rajya Sabha passed this bill with a two-thirds majority.
- However, due to differences within the Cabinet, the Bill could never be introduced in the Lok Sabha and it lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
Why is there a need for women’s reservation in legislatures?
- This issue is becoming popular because the number of women candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections is continuously increasing, in the second Lok Sabha election (1957) there were only 45 women candidates, which increased to 726 in 2019.
- Voting percentage of women is also continuously increasing. In 1962, while there were 62% male voters, the number of female voters was 46.6%.
- Women outnumbered men in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with 67.2% voting compared to 67%. Correspondingly, the number of women candidates in Parliament has also increased.
Important facts:
- Out of total 489 members in the first Lok Sabha, there were 22 women MPs.
- The number of women elected in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is 78, the highest in previous Lok Sabha elections, but it is still only 14.36% of the total members. This is less than half of the 33% seats set aside for women by the Women’s Reservation Bill.
- According to Global Gender Gap 2023, India is ranked 127th among 146 countries in the index.
- In 1988, the National Perspective Plan for Women suggested that reservation be provided to women from Panchayat to Parliament level. Accordingly, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments to the Constitution were passed as a result of which state governments had to mandatorily reserve one-third of the seats in Panchayats and urban local bodies for women.
