On women’s representation, India’s overdue correction

(The article was originally published in Indian Express on April 11, 2026 as a part of Dr Madhav’s column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.)

The parliament is going to take up Women’s Reservation Bill next week in a special session. It is a historic step taken by prime minister Narendra Modi. Despite some efforts we failed to provide proper representation to women in Indian legislatures in the last seventy-five years. At the time of our constitution making there were suggestions that just like the Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes, women too should be given a special quota in our legislatures. Interestingly, those suggestions were rejected by leading women members of the Constituent Assembly themselves.

Prominent women members of the Assembly argued that women should get genuine equality rather than a protective discrimination. “We have never asked for privileges… what we have asked for is social justice, economic justice and political justice… To seek any form of reservation would be to admit that women are not equal to men”, Hansa Mehta, a prominent member from State of Bombay, argued. Renuka Ray, a member from Bengal too echoed the same sentiment saying that “We do not ask for reserved seats… because we want to stand on our own merit… The demand for reservation would be a confession of inferiority”. Durgabai Deshmukh, a renowned reformist, educationist and a member from Madras Province too argued against special privileges for women saying they might hinder long-term equality rather than promote it.

However, behind their rejection was the earnest hope that the Indian political system would naturally come forward to offer proper representation to the fair sex in due course. Having proved their mettle in public life during the independence movement, the women leaders expected men folk to allow greater space in the country’s governance establishment. Sadly, we belied their hopes and aspirations. Many object to the usage of the word ‘patriarchy’ for Indian society. But the experience of last seven decades allows critics to accuse Indian polity as patriarchal. Successful Western democracies like the US and UK have demonstrated will and maturity to provide greater, although not sufficient, space for women in their parliaments without resorting to any quota system. In the US, representation of women in the Congress was just 2 percent in 1950. It grew to nearly 13 percent by the turn of the new century and stands at almost 30 percent today. In the UK House of Commons too, women representation grew from 3 percent in 1950s to 18 percent in early 2000s. Today, it stands at a commendable 35 percent. In India, we began well with nearly 5 percent women members in the first parliament in 1952. But the growth remained stunted. In the 2004 Lok Sabha, there were 9 percent women members while in 2024 it grew to nearly 14-15 percent only.

Not that Indian women leaders have not proven their ability to manage political affairs. We had women in all high constitutional and political positions like presidents, prime ministers, governors, chief ministers, ministers, and speakers in the parliament and assemblies. Yet, we failed to allow them to enter the legislative bodies in sufficient numbers.

The saga of trying to get women in larger numbers into the parliament was not smooth. At least three earlier governments tried and failed in bringing this historic reform. First major success in providing for greater representation of women in elected bodies happened through the 73^rd and 74^th amendment of the Indian Constitution in 1992, famously known as the Panchayat Raj Act. Through this amendment women were provided 33 percent reservation in village panchayats and municipal bodies. That led to the demand that a similar provision should be there in the parliament and state legislatures too. The Deve Gowda-led government made a half-hearted attempt in 1996 to introduce the Women Reservation Bill. Strong opposition from its own allies forced the government to push it to the select committee where it was conveniently buried until the government fell in a year’s time.

The Vajpayee Government, during its tenure of 1998-2004, made several attempts to introduce the bill. But parties like the Samajwadi and Rashtriya Janata Dal put up stiff resistance insisting that a 33 percent quota should be earmarked for OBCs within the prescribed women’s quota. This was a clear excuse to block the reform because there is no reserved quota for OBCs in parliament or legislatures in India. The Manmohan Singh government was the third to attempt it, which got the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010. But soon Singh too developed cold feet and never introduced the bill in the Lok Sabha allowing it to lapse with the end of the tenure of the government in 2014.

It goes to prime minister Modi’s credit that he took a decisive step to get this significant bill for gender equality passed in both houses near-unanimously in 2023. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, as the bill was called, was the 106^thAmendment to the Constitution, which mandates 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

The proposed reservation for women was to become operational after the delimitation exercise expected to be completed before the parliament elections in 2029. Determined not to let this initiative lose steam, prime minister Modi called for a special 3-day session of the parliament from 16 April to give a final shape to the bill. In an Op-Ed, he bemoaned that while women play a prominent role in several walks of life, “their representation in the world of politics and legislative bodies has not always been commensurate with their role in society”. Calling for greater legislative unity in the implementation of the bill, Modi opined that “when women participate in administration and decision-making, they bring with them experiences and insights that enrich public discourse and improve the quality of governance”.

That has been the experience of parliaments that have organically higher representation of women like USA and UK or those like Rwanda, Nepal and Tanzania which have substantial quotas for women in their parliaments. India could have been in the first group. At least it shouldn’t hesitate to be in the second.