Women's Seat At The Table

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Women make up nearly half of India’s population, yet their representation in state assemblies remains minimal. Despite some regional political parties setting benchmarks for inclusivity, most still fall short. With upcoming state elections, calls for greater female representation are louder than ever. Can inclusive governance in terms of gender become more than just a promise? Or will it continue to be an unfulfilled ambition?

BJP Mahila Morcha | Source: BJP website

With the upcoming state elections in different parts of the country, women’s representation in state polls is still an issue looming over our urban governance structures. Recently, BJP Mahila Morcha in Shillong has called upon the state authorities to allot more tickets to women in the upcoming 2023 assembly polls. 

However, this is not the first time that parties in the state have requested to allocate more tickets to women candidates. In 2021, the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh announced that 40% of the candidates fielded by the party would be women.

As per an analysis conducted by the Election Commission of India, women’s representation in Lok Sabha has never reached more than 12%. This is despite the fact that women constitute 48% of the total population in India. The women’s reservation bill, which aimed to ensure 33% representation, is still stuck in parliament.

An analysis by the India Today Group concludes that only 2 parties across the country are fielding more than 33% women candidates. Naam Tamilar Katchi in Tamil Nadu is the only party that mandates a 50:50 ratio representing the country’s highest percentage of female candidates, followed by Trinamool Congress fielding a significant 37.8% women candidates.

While multiple reasons explain the low representation of women in governance structures, it does not discount the fact that we need to shift towards a more women-inclusive governance model.

Studies have concluded that increasing women’s leadership roles in governance results in positive outcomes.

Political parties in countries like South Africa, Australia, Germany, the UK, and Sweden have recognised this skew and have enabled policies that ensure more representation. In fact, our neighbours Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh have also reserved parliamentary seats for women to boost their representation in politics.

While we have observed women leaders holding and contesting for positions at the state and central levels, expanding on the current gender-inclusive policies and programmes in our urban governance institutions is critical. To read more about the Shillong elections, read.

In your vicinities, how many seats are occupied by women?

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