Women’s Empowerment in India’s Parliament and Government in March 2011
Parliamentary democracies like India that practice one person one vote should ideally have people’s representatives in elected bodies such that the Parliament and the government reflect the gender composition of the population which is roughly 50-50. The International Women’s Day being celebrated on March 8 each year has prompted me to look into the facts which reveal that India has a big gap between the ideal and the reality on March 8, 2011. India’s Parliament has two houses: the Lower House (Lok Sabha) and the Upper House (Rajya Sabha).
Lok Sabha consists of 552 members of which 60 (almost 11 percent) are women; 59 represent 16 of the 28 states and 1 represents 1 of the 7 Union territories.
The state-wise distribution of the 60 seats is as follows:
State/Territory Seats Percentage
Uttar Pradesh 12 (20 percent)
West Bengal 7 (12 percent)
Madhya Pradesh 6 (10 percent)
Andhra 5 (8 percent)
Bihar 5 (8 percent)
Gujarat 4 (7 percent)
Punjab 4 (7 percent)
Chhattisgarh 3 (5 percent)
Maharashtra 3 (5 percent)
Rajasthan 3 (5 percent)
Assam 2 (3 percent)
Haryana 2 (3 percent)
Delhi 1 (2 percent)
Karnataka 1 (2 percent))
Meghalaya 1 (2 percent)
Tamil Nadu 1 (2 percent)
Total 60 (100 percent)
Political party affiliation of the 60 women parliamentarians in Lok Sabha is as follows:
Political Party Seats Percentage
Indian National Congress 24 (40 percent)
Bharatiya Janata Party 13 (22 percent)
All IndiaTrinamool Congress 4 (7 percent)
Bahujan Samaj Party 4 (7 percent)
Samajwadi Party 3 (5 percent)
Janata Dal (United) 2 (3 percent)
Nationalist Congress Party 2 (3 percent)
Shiromani Akali Dal 2 (3 percent)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 (2 percent)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1 (2 percent)
Independent 1 (2 percent)
Rastriya Lok Dal 1 (2 percent)
Shiv Sena 1 (2 percent)
Telangana Rashtra Samithi 1 (2 percent)
Total 60 (100percent)
The state-wise representation by a total of 26 women from 15 of the 35 states and union territories in the Rajya Sabha is as follows:
State/Territory Seats Percentage
Madhya Pradesh 3 (12 percent)
Tamil Nadu 3 (12 percent)
Andhra Pradesh 2 (8 percent)
Himachal Pradesh 2 (8 percent)
Orissa 2 (8 percent)
Assam 1 (4 percent)
Chhattisgarh 1 (4 percent)
Gujarat 1 (4 percent)
Jharkhand 1 (4 percent)
Kerala 1 (4 percent)
Punjab 1 (4 percent)
Rajasthan 1 (4 percent)
Tripura 1 (4 percent)
Uttar Pradesh 1 (4 percent)
West Bengal 1 (4 percent)
Nominated 4 (15 percent)
Total 26 (100)
Political party affiliation of 26 women members of Rajya Sabha is as follows:
Political Party Seats Percentage
Indian National Congress 11 (42 percent)
Bharatiya Janata Party 5 (19 percent)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 3 (12 percent)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 2 (8 percent)
Biju Janata Dal 1 (4 percent)
Telugu Desam Party 1 (4 percent)
Nominated by the President of India 3 (12 percent)
Total 26 (100 percent)
States and territories of (1) Andaman and Nicobar Islands, (2) Arunachal Pradesh, (3) Chandigarh, (4) Dadra and Nagar Haveli, (5) Daman and Diu, (6) Goa, (7) Jammu and Kashmir, (8) Lakshadweep, (9) Manipur, (10) Mizoram, (11) Nagaland, (12) Puducherry, (13) Sikkim, (14) Uttarakhand do not have any women member in India’ Parliament.
It is estimated that some 11 percent of all corporate chiefs India are women.
Clearly women’s representation at the top of the governing structures is low with 10 percent of seats compared with 90 percent representation made by men. Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party dominate women parliamentarians compared with other parties. The states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal stand out among the states with more women members of Parliament.
Many questions come to mind foremost among them being why there is such a low percentage of seats held by women, how it can be improved and comparison of India with other countries in terms of percentage of women in top authority and decision making positions in society. These questions will be addressed in future blogs.
It is noteworthy that India’s President, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and president of the Indian National Congress party are all women. There are 3 women in a Union Cabinet of 35 Ministers, 1 of 6 Ministers with Independent Charge, 3 of 37 Ministers of State in Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government. There are no Supreme Court judges. There are 3 Governors/Lt. Governors/Administrators of 35 states and territories, and 2 Chief Ministers of 29 states and territories. Overall women occupy about 10 percent of all top political positions in India. It is a long march towards 50 percent.
The entire process has to be streamlined and strengthened with financial support and training to develop leaders. The present quota system at the local level based on gender, caste, etc. is largely abused by men.
School curriculum, colleges, and MLAs, MPs not connected to men leaders have to be developed through genuine education and skills with scholarships, training programs and centers of study, research, degrees like Bachelor and Master of Public Admin, Leadership, etc.
Institutions and programs are needed but men leaders like the PM also have to give a chance to women and put them on top! 10 percent is too low. It will take much longer to have up stream flow of women leaders from grassroots to the top. Even many of the present district level women leaders, MLAs and MPs are relatives of men leaders. It is much easier and faster to put shining examples in the cabinet, ministers, commission members, Vice Chancellors, some professors, civil leaders at district levels, etc.
There are only about 10 most popular women leaders today as examples to 600 million women in India- Pratibha Patil, Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Girija Vyas, Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Sushma Swaraj, Meira Kumar, Najma Heptulla, Kiran Bedi, Shabna Azmi, Hema Malini, and Brinda Karat, along with a handful of another 50 or so at the national level. Majority of these are there because of their father, husband or another relative.
It is a waste of potential national resource not to have more women leaders and a pipeline of future leaders in business, government, politics, and science. On this International Women’s Day, best wishes to women in the next year and all the years to follow.
Parliamentary democracies like India that practice one person one vote should ideally have people’s representatives in elected bodies such that the Parliament and the government reflect the gender composition of the population which is roughly 50-50. The International Women’s Day being celebrated on March 8 each year has prompted me to look into the facts which reveal that India has a big gap between the ideal and the reality on March 8, 2011. India’s Parliament has two houses: the Lower House (Lok Sabha) and the Upper House (Rajya Sabha).
Lok Sabha consists of 552 members of which 60 (almost 11 percent) are women; 59 represent 16 of the 28 states and 1 represents 1 of the 7 Union territories.
The state-wise distribution of the 60 seats is as follows:
State/Territory Seats Percentage
Uttar Pradesh 12 (20 percent)
West Bengal 7 (12 percent)
Madhya Pradesh 6 (10 percent)
Andhra 5 (8 percent)
Bihar 5 (8 percent)
Gujarat 4 (7 percent)
Punjab 4 (7 percent)
Chhattisgarh 3 (5 percent)
Maharashtra 3 (5 percent)
Rajasthan 3 (5 percent)
Assam 2 (3 percent)
Haryana 2 (3 percent)
Delhi 1 (2 percent)
Karnataka 1 (2 percent))
Meghalaya 1 (2 percent)
Tamil Nadu 1 (2 percent)
Total 60 (100 percent)
Political party affiliation of the 60 women parliamentarians in Lok Sabha is as follows:
Political Party Seats Percentage
Indian National Congress 24 (40 percent)
Bharatiya Janata Party 13 (22 percent)
All IndiaTrinamool Congress 4 (7 percent)
Bahujan Samaj Party 4 (7 percent)
Samajwadi Party 3 (5 percent)
Janata Dal (United) 2 (3 percent)
Nationalist Congress Party 2 (3 percent)
Shiromani Akali Dal 2 (3 percent)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 (2 percent)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1 (2 percent)
Independent 1 (2 percent)
Rastriya Lok Dal 1 (2 percent)
Shiv Sena 1 (2 percent)
Telangana Rashtra Samithi 1 (2 percent)
Total 60 (100percent)
The state-wise representation by a total of 26 women from 15 of the 35 states and union territories in the Rajya Sabha is as follows:
State/Territory Seats Percentage
Madhya Pradesh 3 (12 percent)
Tamil Nadu 3 (12 percent)
Andhra Pradesh 2 (8 percent)
Himachal Pradesh 2 (8 percent)
Orissa 2 (8 percent)
Assam 1 (4 percent)
Chhattisgarh 1 (4 percent)
Gujarat 1 (4 percent)
Jharkhand 1 (4 percent)
Kerala 1 (4 percent)
Punjab 1 (4 percent)
Rajasthan 1 (4 percent)
Tripura 1 (4 percent)
Uttar Pradesh 1 (4 percent)
West Bengal 1 (4 percent)
Nominated 4 (15 percent)
Total 26 (100)
Political party affiliation of 26 women members of Rajya Sabha is as follows:
Political Party Seats Percentage
Indian National Congress 11 (42 percent)
Bharatiya Janata Party 5 (19 percent)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 3 (12 percent)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 2 (8 percent)
Biju Janata Dal 1 (4 percent)
Telugu Desam Party 1 (4 percent)
Nominated by the President of India 3 (12 percent)
Total 26 (100 percent)
States and territories of (1) Andaman and Nicobar Islands, (2) Arunachal Pradesh, (3) Chandigarh, (4) Dadra and Nagar Haveli, (5) Daman and Diu, (6) Goa, (7) Jammu and Kashmir, (8) Lakshadweep, (9) Manipur, (10) Mizoram, (11) Nagaland, (12) Puducherry, (13) Sikkim, (14) Uttarakhand do not have any women member in India’ Parliament.
It is estimated that some 11 percent of all corporate chiefs India are women.
Clearly women’s representation at the top of the governing structures is low with 10 percent of seats compared with 90 percent representation made by men. Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party dominate women parliamentarians compared with other parties. The states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal stand out among the states with more women members of Parliament.
Many questions come to mind foremost among them being why there is such a low percentage of seats held by women, how it can be improved and comparison of India with other countries in terms of percentage of women in top authority and decision making positions in society. These questions will be addressed in future blogs.
It is noteworthy that India’s President, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and president of the Indian National Congress party are all women. There are 3 women in a Union Cabinet of 35 Ministers, 1 of 6 Ministers with Independent Charge, 3 of 37 Ministers of State in Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government. There are no Supreme Court judges. There are 3 Governors/Lt. Governors/Administrators of 35 states and territories, and 2 Chief Ministers of 29 states and territories. Overall women occupy about 10 percent of all top political positions in India. It is a long march towards 50 percent.
The entire process has to be streamlined and strengthened with financial support and training to develop leaders. The present quota system at the local level based on gender, caste, etc. is largely abused by men.
School curriculum, colleges, and MLAs, MPs not connected to men leaders have to be developed through genuine education and skills with scholarships, training programs and centers of study, research, degrees like Bachelor and Master of Public Admin, Leadership, etc.
Institutions and programs are needed but men leaders like the PM also have to give a chance to women and put them on top! 10 percent is too low. It will take much longer to have up stream flow of women leaders from grassroots to the top. Even many of the present district level women leaders, MLAs and MPs are relatives of men leaders. It is much easier and faster to put shining examples in the cabinet, ministers, commission members, Vice Chancellors, some professors, civil leaders at district levels, etc.
There are only about 10 most popular women leaders today as examples to 600 million women in India- Pratibha Patil, Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Girija Vyas, Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Sushma Swaraj, Meira Kumar, Najma Heptulla, Kiran Bedi, Shabna Azmi, Hema Malini, and Brinda Karat, along with a handful of another 50 or so at the national level. Majority of these are there because of their father, husband or another relative.
It is a waste of potential national resource not to have more women leaders and a pipeline of future leaders in business, government, politics, and science. On this International Women’s Day, best wishes to women in the next year and all the years to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment