M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 55 Paper V M.A. (Women Study) Part-II Paper V

Lesson 2.3 Author: Dr. Satinder Kaur

DEBATE ON WOMEN PARTICIPATION

1. Introduction 2. Historical Background of Demand of Political Participation 3. Political participation in Contemporary Era 4. Conclusion

Introduction: Feminist historians growing concern with the interaction of gender with other forms of social hierarchy, notably of race and class, would express separate spheres models further in this direction. It stressing the range of gender identities that different conceptions of public and private have produced across both space and time. The notion of gender understood as a central axis of social organization comes increasingly fore. Women in many countries have organized to fight against male supremacy and to advance their interests which were arising from their unique life experiences. With the rise of multilateral institutions in the twentieth century, feminism emerged in a form with an internationalist orientation that sought to shape the agendas of international organizations and normative practise of global governance. Historical Background of Demand of Political Participation: The study of gender began a separate sphere when historians studies across religion, ethnic racial and religious lines, indeed construction of womanhood. It is studied that women’s hard lives were not mere product of happenstance or bad luck. Rather, they were shaped by interaction of three powerful and pitiless hierarchies- race, class and gender. The story of women is not only story of thrice victimized by slavery then poverty, racism and sexism. It is a tale of resistance, survival and creativity in the face of overwhelming odds.2 The study of gender is another aspect of women history. This is an understanding of how male and female are distinctively different and complementary to each other. First wave of feminism was a large, multi-faced, long-lived and highly effective political phenomenon. first wave feminism was limited by a commitment to liberalism, as far as these liberal feminists recognized that women were barred from equal rights with men because they were women they were implicitly using sex/class analysis and hence incorporated some aspects of radical feminist thought. Political awakeness within women was part of it. Campaigns included not only the famous one for suffrage but also for containment of predatory male sexual behaviour Christabel Pankhurs’s slogan was ‘votes for women, Chastity for Man’, access to employment; to training and education; reform of legal separation at the woman’s behest as well as that of the M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 56 Paper V husband; for collective rather than private organization of meal preparation among many others. About second wave we can say that politics was the motor that drove the rapid expansion of women’s history after 1968. Feminist strove build a new style of scholarly interaction, one that stressed cooperation and dialogue, as opposed to the competitive aggressive and individualistic styles associated with a male-dominated academy. One final consequence of this movement was it closed link between differences among women. The problem of difference, whether of race, ethnicity, class, religion or sexual orientation erupted early in the women’s movement, troubling would be smooth surface of feminist identity politics with the complicating factors of women’s highly varied social situations. Feminists lobbied national delegates and mad deputations to officials’ negotiations commissions. As a result of their interventions, the Versailles treaties codified such principles as representation of women in the new League of Nations, the international Labor Organization, governmental delegation, as well as “equal remuneration for work of equal value”. They also placed o n the agenda of new international organizations such issues as the protection of women’s, children’s and young persons labor as well as traffic in women and children. Women’s organizations campaigned throughout the 1920s and 1930s to ensure, among other things, that women and their rights would not be neglected. The League of Nations established a body for international legal protection of human rights of particular minority groups. The term “gender empowerment” has become a mantra in global world and international institutions. It is being used as a technique for responding to inequalities between women and men. The idea behind gender mainstreaming is that questions of gender must be taken seriously in central, mainstream, “normal” institutional activities and not simply left in a marginalized, peripheral backwater of specialist women’s institutions. The strategy implicates what Olympe de Gouges identified in the eighteenth century as the paradox of feminism: whether women’s rights are best protected through general norms or through specific norms applicable only to women. This dilemma pervades modern international legal responses to the unequal position of women. This was an attempt to improve women’s lives through general laws can allow women’s concerns to be submerged in what are deemed more global issues; however, the price of creating separate institutional mechanisms for women has been the building of a “women’s ghetto” with less power, resources, and priority than the “general” human rights bodies.4 There has been not only a third wave of democratization and immediate suffrage for women in the new democracies, but also an increase of women in existing parliaments.5 Against this backdrop of differential impacts of globalization on men and women, the strategy of gender mainstreaming in politics, economy, society etc. has attempted to create a just and equitable environment. M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 57 Paper V Political participation in Contemporary Era: Political participation of women goes under the process of the representation. This process began from legislation/policy making and implementation of those policies then followed by transformation of politics through change mind sets of people. In this process political parties can play determinant role. Then at the end is mobilization of those policies to elect women as representative. Sylvia Walby’s argument is that there are two major changes in gender issues in complex globalization. First, the transition in the gender regime has provided political opportunities within the state and formal electoral politics that have facilitated the mainstreaming of feminist demands. Second, globalization has facilitated new spaces, institutions and rhetoric where the notion of universal human rights is a powerful justificatory principle embedded in specific institutions. In the past, when legislature or decision making institutions were defacto and closed to women, feminist politics engaged in more radical separatist autonomous forms of politics. As these institutions have slowly admitted more women, there has been a growth in the kinds of politics that are oriented to the state. Liberal democracies are in the making, but are not yet consistently developed. In 1911, women were allowed to vote in just two countries of the world. Today, a century later, right to vote is virtually universal. Since 1945, there has been increase in the extent to which women are elected as representatives in national parliaments around the world. This process started from very low base indeed, and everywhere, women’s representation in parliaments is still lower than men’s representation. Nevertheless, there have been major changes. There was a continued increase in women representation in parliament around the world in 1945 there were 3%, 1955 there were 7.5%, 1965 there were 8.1%, 1975 there were 10.9%, 1985 there were 12%, 1995 there were 11.6%, 1999 there were 13.2%,8 2009 there were 17%, 2010 there were 18.4%. But there are regional patterns, although there are significant variations within each region. The Nordic countries have been highest representation of women, with female parliament membership in January 2011. Developed regions have reached near 30 percent critical mass for share of women in ministerial positions, but no region has achieved the mark for the proportion of women in parliament. The 30 percent critical mass mark for women’s representation has been reached or exceeded in 28 countries, of which at least 23 have used quotas. Only nineteen women were serving as elected heads of states or governments in 2011. These are impressive strides of some of the world’s poorest countries including those which are emerging from conflict. This data shows that progress depends on political will more than level of development. In a number of countries, including Costa Rica, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Rwanda, increases in women’s representation in parliament have coincided with significant legal reform on women’s rights. In 2007 Kenyan general elections saw a record number of women 269 women out of 2,548 candidates, compared to just 44 M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 58 Paper V

in the 2002 elections vying for a Parliamentary seat. For the political empowerment of women is as result of gender mainstreaming and, quota system for the under- represented sex has been introduced in Nepal, Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Spain. There has been a significant change in the political opportunity structures as a result of the slow opening of positions in parliaments to women. Feminist politics gave more political opportunity to women against gender inequality and masculinity- dominant political structure. There has been an increase in the proportion of woman involved in national assemblies elections. This has occurred in most, though not all countries around the world, including, especially Western Europe. Following table presents a picture as to how global politics has acknowledged the importance of the role of women in the political arena across some countries of the world and quota in elections and national parliaments.

Table Political Mainstreaming Share Year Ist Year of Share Share Electio Constit Woman Ist wome of of n law To utional elected woman n in wome women quota stand quota To (E) or presid minis n In In for Countries for for vote appoint ed terial parlia parlia nation electio national ed (A) to Over positi ment ment al ns parliam parliam parlia ons % % parlia ents ent ment % 1997 2011 ments 2010 Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia Albania 1920 1920 1945 E 2005 7 12 6 Yes -- Armenia 1921 1921 1990 E -- 11 6 9 Yes -- Bosnia and Herzegovin 1949 1949 1990 E 2009 0 -- 16 Yes Yes a Kyrgyzstan 1918 1918 1990 E -- 10 5 23 Yes -- Serbia ------2008 19 -- 22 Yes Yes Slovenia 1945 1945 1990 E -- 22 8 11 Yes Yes The former Yugoslav 1946 1946 1992 E -- 10 3 33 Yes Yes Republic of Macedonia Uzbekistan 1938 1938 1990 E 2008 3 6 19 Yes Yes Developed Regions Belgium 1919, 1921, 1921 2004 33 16 38 Yes Yes 1948 1948 France 1944 1944 1945 -- 26 9 20 Yes Yes M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 59 Paper V

Greece 1949, 1949, 1952 2004 31 6 17 No Yes 1952, 1952, Portugal 1931, 1931, 1934, 1934, 1934 -- 31 13 27 Yes Yes 1976 1976 Spain 1931 1931 1931 1999 53 20 34 Yes Yes East Asia and the Pacific Philippines 1937 1937 1941 -- 14 12 21 No Yes Republic of 1948 1948 1948 -- 13 3 15 Yes Yes Korea Latin America and the Caribbean Argentina 1947 1947 1951 1973 20 23 38 Yes Yes Bolivia 1938, 1938, Yes 1966 1979 20 4 30 Yes 1952 1952 Costa Rica 1949 1949 1953 1986 35 16 39 Yes Yes Dominican Yes 1942 1942 1942 1999 9 10 19 Yes Republic Ecuador 1929, 1929, Yes 1956 -- 33 4 32 Yes 1967 1967 Honduras 1955 1955 1957 -- 36 8 18 Yes Yes Mexico 1947 1953 1952 1994 11 14 25 Yes Yes Paraguay 1961 1961 1963 -- 22 6 14 Yes Yes Peru 1955 1955 1956 1995 22 11 28 Yes Yes Uruguay 1932 1932 1942 1963 21 7 15 Yes Yes South Asia Afghanista 1963 1963 -- -- 7 -- 28 Yes Yes n Banglades 1972 1972 1973 -- 16 9 19 No Yes h 1950 1950 1952 2009 10 7 11 No Yes Nepal 1951 1951 1952 -- 8 5 33 Yes Yes Pakistan 1947 1947 1973 2008 8 3 21 Yes Yes Sub-Saharan Africa Burkina 1958 1958 1978 -- 18 11 15 Yes Yes Faso Eritrea 1955 1955 1994 -- 25 21 22 Yes Yes Lesotho 1965 1965 1965 2000 32 11 23 No Yes Mauritania 1961 1961 1975 -- 23 1 19 Yes Yes Namibia 1989 1989 1989 -- 24 17 25 No Yes Rwanda 1961 1961 1981 2008 33 17 51 No Yes Sierra 1961 1961 -- -- 8 -- 13 No Yes M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 60 Paper V

Leone South 1930, 1930, Africa 1984, 1984, 1933 1994 34 24 43 No Yes 1994 1994 Uganda 1962 1962 1962 -- 32 18 31 Yes Yes United Republic of 1959 1959 -- 2010 27 17 36 Yes Yes Tanzania

Rwandan Parliament is believed to have the highest representation of women in the world with over fifty percent. The 2008 election for a constituent assembly in Nepal featured generous quotas for women candidates. Ellen Johanson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first female president, has been elected in Liberia. But when I look at a glance on whole world, I came to know that till 2011 only 21nations fulfil the requirement of more than 30% women representation in legislature and political decision making process. The past century has seen a transformation in women’s legal rights, with countries in every region expanding the scope of women’s legal entitlements. Nevertheless, for most of the world’s women the laws that exist on paper do not always translate into equality and justice. In many contexts, both in rich and poor countries alike, the infrastructure of justice – the police, the courts and the judiciary is failing to provide equalities to women. This manifests itself in poor services and hostile attitudes from the very people whose duty it is to fulfil women’s rights. As a result, equality between women and men is guaranteed in the constitutions of 139 countries. But inadequate laws and loopholes in legislative frameworks, poor enforcement and vast implementation gaps make these guarantees hollow promises. This has very little impact on the day to day lives of women. UN women annual report 2013-2014 showed that in Honduras 2013 poll boosted the portion of women representatives to 25 percent, it is up from just over 19 percent in 2009. Neighbouring El Salvador in 2013 passed a Political Parties Law that for the first time requires that women comprise at least 30 percent of the candidates on political party lists. Significant gains in other parts of the world included a doubling in the number of women in Cameroon’s National Assembly, to 31 percent of the total. With national partners in Afghanistan, UN Women trained 154 women provincial council candidates out of the 306 women running for the 2014 elections, helping them build networks to overcome common challenges. Beyond a massive voter registration drive, UN Women, along with UNDP and other UN partners, worked with the Election Commission to integrate gender equality in election management. Conclusion: From the above, It can say that of course in the age of globalization women have been mainstreamed in global politics. Women’s political empowerment process is going on in this globalized era. Women are still sufferer of M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 61 Paper V violence during election time too. eg. In Kenyan 2007 elections also saw unprecedented levels of violence. One woman, Alice Onduto, was shot and killed after losing her nomination bid in South Nairobi, and another woman candidate, Flora Igoki Tera, was tortured by a gang of five men. In most developing countries women are not free to enjoy their political empowerment whether it is right to vote or to be elected or to participate in core decision making. To some extent women are mainstreamed in political, economic and technology decision making aspect but it is not fully mainstreamed of women. Still gender inequalities are prevailing in the system. Achieving gender equality is our challenge. We are certainly a long way to achieve equality. Suggested Readings: 1. Sylvia Walby, “Gender, Globalisation, and Democracy”, Gender and Development. Vol. 8, No.1. March.2000. 2. Sylvia Walby, “Feminism in Global Politics”, Economy and Society, www.informaworld.com. 2002. 3. Anne Marie Goetz (2010). Who Answer to Women-Gender & Accountability, New York. United Nations Development Fund for Women. 4. UN Women. (2011). Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice, p. 122. http://progress.unwomen.org 5. C, Majtenyi, “Female Candidates in Kenya Say They Face Discrimination, Violence.” Voice of America, Nairobi. Retrieved on 15 July 2008, from http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-12/2007-12-24- voa28.cfm?CFID=13321298&CFTOKEN=90278710.

M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 62 Paper V

M.A. (Women Study) Part-II Paper V

Lesson 2.4 Author: Dr. Gurjit Pal Singh Chahal

Political Parties and Women Representation in BJP and Congress

8.0 Objective of the lesson :

(i) To study the women representation in Indian politics. (ii) To study the perspectives of Women Representation in BJP and Congress. 8.1 Introduction: “Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.” – Mahatma Gandhi.As Gandhi rightly pointed out that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion or any other status. However, it is most unfortunate that women have suffered inferior position to men in almost all societies of world. At the international level also, on women’s issues, women’s political empowerment was at the center stage of all the discourses, but still, in any political system, participation of women is very low as compared to men right from the developed to developing countries. No doubt, the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The Constitution of India guarantees adult franchise and provides full opportunities and framework for women to participate actively in politics. But it is pity that the decades following independence witnessed a decline in the participation of women in the politics. The state and society seem to be lagging behind in offering them political reservations that were long overdue. Though our Constitution and various other legislative enactments and different Commissions established for women from time to time have made a number of efforts for the achievement of the objective of gender equality, yet in actual practice, the planned efforts to emancipate women educationally, economically and particularly politically did not yield the desired results over the decades after independence. The term 'political representation' has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to 'Right to Vote', but simultaneously relates to participation in: decision making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc. Women in India participate in voting, run for public offices and political parties at lower levels more than men. Political activism and voting are the strongest areas of women's political participation. To combat gender inequality in politics, the Indian Government has instituted reservations for seats in local governments. Women M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 63 Paper V turnout during India's 2014 parliamentary general elections was 65.63%, compared to 67.09% turnout for men. India ranks 20th from the bottom in terms of representation of women in Parliament. Women have held the posts of president and prime minister in India, as well as chief ministers of various states. Indian voters have elected women to numerous state legislative assemblies and national parliament for many decades. The Constitution of India establishes a parliamentary system of government, and guarantees its citizens the right to be elected, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and form associations, and vote. The Constitution of India attempts to remove gender inequalities by banning discrimination based on sex and class, prohibiting human trafficking and forced labor, and reserving elected positions for women. The Government of India directed state and local governments to promote equality by class and gender including equal pay and free legal aid, humane working conditions and maternity relief, rights to work and education, and raising the standard of living. Women were substantially involved in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century and advocated for independence from Britain. Independence brought gender equality in the form of constitutional rights, but historically women's political participation has remained low. 9.2 Historical background: The roots of the present always lie in the past. In order to shed some light on the women’s right to political participation, one can look into the past history of the nation. In ancient India, the woman enjoyed equal status with men in all spheres of the life. Hymn XXI of the Rig-Veda extols the virtues of woman even greater than that of man. The description of the God’s head as half of man and half of woman in the concept of Ardhanari-Swara itself depicts the story of the equality of woman in the Vedic period. The Shakticult is also centered on destructive strength and superiority of the woman. But the status of women began to decline with the Smritis especially Manusmriti. There was a tendency to curtail religious rights and privileges of women. Their position continued to deteriorate apart from property rights to them. Sati became common among the warrior classes. Women were strictly confined to the four walls of their home. The Smriti period clamped down the freedom of woman which could be found out in his famous dictum such as; “The woman does not deserve independence.” Since women were started to be considered as ‘abala’ (dependant), she was to be protected by either father or husband or son throughout her life. According to Manu “A women must be her father’s shadow in childhood, her husband’s in her youth and her son’s in her old age.” Therefore, the historical analysis of the position of women in the ancient India showed that women did not share an equal position with men and that their position was subordinate to men. When Muslims invaded India, the situation changed for the worst during the 11th century. Therefore, the 11thcentury could be termed as the darkest age, where after the woman never acquired freedom and equality of the Vedic-age. In India, in the politics, the root for the participation of women can be traced back to 19th century reform movement. The condition of the woman was also M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 64 Paper V in the sorry state of affairs at the dawn of the Colonial Era. The British believed in the policy of least interference in the religious sentiments of the natives. However, only during British era i.e., in early 20th century, the crusade for the political participation of women became a significant part of the movement of the Indian women. The women leaders were of the belief that only through the means of political participation of Indian women, they could achieve additional support for social reform legislations because achieving social reform was their main target. Certain efforts were made to improve the status of women by the later movements like Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavaism, Veerashaivism and Sikhism. The Bhakti movement permitted women to undertake spiritual activities independently. Various social reformers thought that the social reform can be initiated by educating women and bringing progressive legislation. By raising consciousness and by making people sensitive to injustice done to women, social evils can be eradicated. Indian women participation in the political field started with the freedom movement. The membership was open to women with the establishment of the . The Swadeshi Movement in 1905 observed the entry of women into the independence movement. Annie Besant, who accelerated the process of women’s association in 1914 with her entry into Indian politics, was the first woman to be elected as president of the Indian National Congress. Sarojini Naidu too became active in Indian National Movement. Mahatma Gandhi was able to mobilizing large mass of women, cutting across caste and class lines, for playing an active role in the freedom struggle movement. Gandhi’s own position on women evolved over time and he finally urged women for fighting exploitation whether within the home or in the Congress Party. According to Gandhi, the freedom struggle was an economic and social reform but not merely political. He urged men and women are equal but not identical. Women are equivalent to the male intellectually, mentally and spiritually and they can participate in every activity. Thus, women were brought to the centre stage by the national movement. No doubt women actively participated equally with men in the Indian national freedom movement both in the moderate and extremist factions but the number of them who acquired positions of power or membership in the representative bodies were less compared to men. In the 1937 election, 42 women were elected from the reserved constituencies and eight from the general constituencies and when the provisional cabinet was formed, they became ministers.In Uttar Pradesh, Vijayalaxmi Pandit became minister for local self-government and later in Madhya Pradesh and Sindh, Absuyabai Kale and J.T. Sipahimalchi were appointed Deputy Speakers respectively. In Bombay and Punjab, offices as Parliamentary Secretary were taken by Hansa Mehta and Begum Shah Nawoy respectively. There were 14 women members in the Constituent Assembly which met in December 1946. However, as representatives or in power positions, there was no proportionate increase in women. For example, out of 350 delegates, only 16 were women in 1922 the All M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 65 Paper V India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting, 13 in 1937, 5 members were women in 1940 and only 14 members were women in the Constituent Assembly. Additionally, women who were active in the politics and politically successful, majority of them were from wealthy and progressive families and were supported by husbands or family members who were active in Congress. The practice is still being followed even years after independence. The transfer of power from British to Indian hand provided Indian women an opportunity for participating in the democratic process. The campaign for equal political participation in favor of women was divided into two phases. The first phase was regarding achieving female enfranchisement and being eligible for entering into the legislature during the period of 1917 to 1928. From 1928 to 1937, there was second phase in which the issues were the liberalization of the terms of equality rights of voting for women and also the enlargement of their representation in the legislature. In India, the context of colonial situation created two sets of political authorities before whom the women had to make an appeal – the British Government and the nationalist leaders in order to achieve their electoral demands. The right to vote was granted by the Government of India Act, 1935 for all women above 21 years of age by whom the conditions of property and education were fulfilled. In the year 1950, the Constitution of India granted adult franchise to all its citizens. 9.3 Under-representation of women in India : India's women, who form 47% of the population, have consistently been under-represented in the . The elections of 2014 are no exception. Out of 642 women candidates, 60 won seats to the Lower House, only two more than in 2009. Arguably, the situation in the past was worse, with an all-time low of 19 women MPs in 1977. The representation of women has not yet gone beyond a third of the recommended 33% reservation in Parliament. Party-wise, the BJP sends 29 women to the Lok Sabha, the highest number from a single party ever. The Trinamool Congress sends the second-best tally of 10 women MPs, followed by the AIADMK and the Congress, with four women MPs each. In Kerala, where literacy rate is the highest in the country (94%), there were only four women contestants in 2009 for the 20 seats from all the three major national parties – the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Congress, and BJP. During 2004 and 1999 there were just three contestants. Incidentally, no one won their seat. This year, Kerala has managed to get one woman elected. In 2009, four major states did not have a single women MP (Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkand). In 2014, two states (Himachal Pradesh and Jharkand) have failed to elect a woman, while Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala have each elected one woman MP. Gender inequality leading to deprivation of power among women continues to be a political reality in India today. Women are perpetually excluded from decision- making at every step of the ladder, starting from the household to the top layer of policy making. Although the Constitution of India attempts to remove gender M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 66 Paper V inequalities by interdicting discrimination based on sex and class, and enshrining fundamental rights for all citizens, women still have only de jure rather than de facto access to these rights. There is no denying the fact that greater participation of women in the political process would be a pre-condition for their economic and social emancipation. However, even though a significantly large number of women vote in the country, yet only a few of them assume the reins of power. Paradoxically, though women have held the posts of President and Prime Minister as well as Chief Ministers of various states in India, the country ranks 20th from the bottom in terms of representation of women in Parliament, as per the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2012. 8.4 Women representation 8.4.1 Voting The movement for women’s suffrage began in the early 1900s in response to a national movement for suffrage, even though vast majority of neither men nor women had a right to vote the British colonial rule before 1947. After Indian independence from Britain, the Indian Constitution in 1950 officially granted women and men suffrage. Prior to universal suffrage, provincial legislatures had granted women the right to vote. Madras was the first to grant women’s suffrage in 1921, but only to those men and women who owned land property according to British administration's records. Other legislatures followed shortly after, but like Madras, the political rights were granted by British Raj to select few, and the London appointed Governor of each province had the right to over rule and nullify any law enacted by the elected men and women. The rights granted in response to the movement towards suffrage were limited to qualifications of literacy and property ownership, including property ownership of husbands. This excluded vast majority of Indian women and men from voting, because they were poor. This changed in 1950 when universal suffrage was granted to all adult Indian citizens. In 1950, universal suffrage granted voting rights to all women. This is enshrined in Article 326in our constitution. India is a parliamentary system with two houses: Lok Sabha (lower house) and Rajya Sabha (upper house). Rates of participation among women in 1962 were 46.63% for Lok Sabha elections and rose to a high in 1984 of 58.60%. Male turnout during that same period was 63.31% in 1962 and 68.18% in 1984. The gap between men and women voters has narrowed over time with a difference of 16.7% in 1962 to 4.4% in 2009. Voter turnout for national elections in the past 50 years has remained stagnant with turnout ranging between 50 and 60%. State elections have seen a growing trend in women's participation, and in some cases women's turnout is exceeding male turnout. Increased turnout of women was reported for the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections (legislative/state assemblies) with states such as Uttar Pradesh reporting 58.82% to 60.29% turnout. In the 2013 assembly elections, women’s overall turnout was reported to be 47.4%, and male turnout was 52.5%. Indian states of Arunachal M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 67 Paper V Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Daman and Diu, and Puducherry all reported higher turnouts among women than men in 2013. Increased participation is occurring in both rich and poor states in India. The sex ratio of voters has improved from 715 female voters for every 1,000 male voters in the 1960s to 883 female voters in the 2000s. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought to increase voter turnout by cleaning up electoral rolls and removing missing or deceased members. Voter outreach has included door-to-door voter registration, and in 2014 elections, voters will be issued a photo id with polling station information to increase voter turnout. Increased voter turnout in India is also partially due to the women voters. ECI has sought to encourage voter registration among women and participation through education and outreach on college and university campuses. Growing participation has also been attributed to increased security at polling stations. Women turnout during India's 2014 parliamentary general elections was 65.63%, compared to 67.09% turnout for men. In 16 out of 29 states of India, more women voted than men. A total of 260.6 million women exercised their right to vote in April–May 2014 elections for India's parliament. 9.4.2 Running for public office India has a federal form of government, with devolved powers. The electorate votes to elect a national parliament as well as state assemblies. In 2012, India had a minimal percentage of 10.9% women elected representatives in the national parliament, which is, but relatively higher than Hungary (8.8%), Brazil (9.6%),China (9.1%),and Malaysia (9.8%).Abroader measure of political participation includes number of women candidates who compete for elections and women in state assemblies.To remedy low participation of women electors, India in 1994 established quotas (reservations) in constitutional amendments (73rd and 74th) to reserve 33% of seats in local governments for women. The discussion of women’s reservations began in the 1920s and continued into the 1930s until a compromise was reached with Britain to allow women in urban areas to vote. Discussion of women’s reservations were again introduced in 1974 by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in India, but India did not fully establish quotas in local government until 1994. Local governing bodies in India are called Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and one-third of seats and leadership positions must be reserved for women. Stateslike AndhraPradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Kerala, Maharastra, Ori ssa, Rajasthan, Tripura, and Uttarakhand have increased reservations to 50%. The national government has also proposed to raise the level of reservations in PRIs to 50%. Seats reserved for women are rotated for assurance that each seat has an equal chance of being reserved. After the establishment of women's reservations, political participation went from 4-5% to 25-40% among women, and gave millions of women the opportunity to serve as leaders in local government. Odisha, an Indian state, established reservations prior to the 73rd amendment and they had 28,069 M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 68 Paper V women elected in 1992 and 28,595 women in 1997. Class differences have manifested with poorer women gaining presence in panchayats, but women of a higher class being elected as chairpersons (sarpanch).Concerns remain in reserving seats for women in elected positions. The issue of training has become an increasing concern with preparing women for the role of leadership. It was found in Tamil Nadu that women lack the education and training to understand procedures in panchayats. Family also plays a significant role in women's participation in government. Familial influence can be a barrier or a support system for female elected officials in terms of connections. Family connections can help women seek elected positions at both the national and local government level. There has been concern over the role of women as proxies for male family members, but women may still have important effects on policy decisions. The effect of reservation for women has been increase in the number of public goods, including water and roads. Drinking water and road improvements are issues that are most frequently raised by female elected officials. The most significant issues for men are roads, irrigation, education, and water. Women are also likely to bring welfare issues such as violence against women, childcare, and maternal health to consideration. 8.5 Women representation and Political Parties (BJP and Congress) 8.5.1 Female representation India has a multi-party system with the 24 registered parties at the national level. The two largest parties in India are the Indian National Congress (INC), the Bharatiya (BJP). Political parties have increased outreach among women voters as India's party system has become more competitive. This has included the creation of women's wings in the largest parties. The BJP's wing is the BJP Mahila Morcha, the INC's wing is All India Mahila Congress. Women's involvement in political parties is tied to the increasing demand for equal rights. The INC held power until the 1990s. As the INC moved away from welfare politics, other parties arose to challenge the INC using poverty as the center of their agenda. The INC regained power in 2004 with the help of women's participation. The INC has increased women's participation by instituting a 33% quota for women in all levels of the party. In June 2009, the INC nominated a woman to become first speaker of Lok Sabha, and also supported the election of Pratibha Patil, India's first female president. Women were involved in the early establishment of the BJP. The BJP has encouraged greater representation of women by developing women's leadership programs, financial assistance for women candidates, and implementing a 33% reservation for women in party leadership positions. BJP has received women's support by focusing on issues such as the Uniform Civil Code to extend equal rights to women and men regardless of religion. They have also spoken out against violence against Indian women. 8.5.2 Female Representatives of Indian National Congress: Founded in 1885 under the guidance of British civil servant Alan Octavian Hume, the Indian National Congress (INC), popularly known as the Congress, is the M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 69 Paper V country’s oldest political party. Today it is one of the two major national political parties in the country. The Congress party operates on the ideology of Gandhian Socialism and Social Democracy. With the independence of India in 1947 and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru became the sole undisputed head of the INC in independent India. His daughter Indira Gandhi became his political successor. But she gradually became autocratic and dictatorial in her approach, as the Congress President as well as the PM of India, leading to factionalism within the Congress party. In the face of severe opposition, she proclaimed National Emergency in 1975. She lifted the emergency in 1977 when fresh elections were held. Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian rule led to the first electoral defeat of the Congress at the hands of the Janata Party in 1977. Indira Gandhi and the Indian National Congress however made a comeback to the Indian political scenario in 1980 when the masses chose the INC to again rule their country. Indira Gandhi with her son Sanjay Gandhi made some rather objectionable regulations when in power and had to pay the price for it, The country had lost a powerful leader in the form of Mrs. Gandhi and the Congress party was in disarray as her younger son, Rajiv Gandhi was still not a seasoned politician. The Congress party went through tumultuous times during the late eighties and early nineties when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1991. Lack of leadership hit the Congress party really hard as they kept on losing the national as well as a number of state elections during that time. In 1996, Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the Indian National Congress and aimed to take the party to the position where Indira and Nehru had taken it. The Congress party formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and came to power in 2004 General Elections and Sonia side stepped from the main frame and allowed Dr. to be the . Under the leadership of leaders like Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram, the UPA government successfully ruled the country for 10 years. The Congress party had to face a drubbing in the 2014 Indian General Elections, winning only 44 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP registered a landslide victory in the elections, accounting for 282 seats on its own. The present President of the Indian National Congress is Rajiv Gandhi’s wife, Sonia Gandhi, and her son Rahul Gandhi is the current Vice President of INC. The Nehru – Gandhi legacy has percolated to the party’s top leadership even today. The Indian National Congress has always been open to female politicians. Right from the time of Annie Besant, who was the first female President of the Indian National Congress to modern day politicians like . The Indian National Congress party has a female wing which is called the ‘All India Mahila Congress’. All the prominent members of the INC have at some point of time during their careers, held important posts in the ‘Mahila Congress’. The present President of the Mahila Congress is Shobha Oza, who is from Indore and is also the spokesperson of the INC. Former actress, Nagma Morarji is M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 70 Paper V the General Secretary of the Mahila Congress. Meira Kumar is a five time Member of Parliament representing the Congress party. She was elected unopposed as the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha and served it with utmost ease from 2009 to 2014.She is a lawyer and a former diplomat. Prior to being a member of the 15th Lok Sabha, she was elected earlier to the 8th, 11th, 12th and 14th Lok Sabha. She has also served as a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of Manmohan Singh’s first UPA government from 2004 – 2009. Ambika Soni is an Indian politician for the Indian National Congress. She represented the state of Punjab and served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting during the second UPA government. Soni began her political career in 1969 when she was co-opted into the Congress Party by Indira Gandhi at the time of the Party split in 1969. In 1975 she was elected president of the Indian Youth Congress and worked closely with Sanjay Gandhi. In March 1976 she was elected to Rajya Sabha. In 1998 she became the president of All India Mahila Congress. From 1999- 2006 she was General Secretary of All India Congress Committee. It has to be seen in the majority of cases here is the ‘Dynasty Politics’ that the Congress Party still practices. Majority of female leaders, who go up the rank in the parliament, usually have their husband or father who have been members of the political party. Whether this will change in the near future, is to be seen but for now the Congress Party needs stable hands to lead the party. Sonia Gandhi is still very much capable of handling the mantle, but needs able support, maybe from her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who still hasn’t ventured into full time politics. 8.5.3 Female Representatives of Bhartiya Janta Party : The ,is one of the most prominent parties in the country today. This major political party is strongly adheres to cultural nationalism through social and integral humanism. It is the most significant member of the family of active organisations known as the ‘’. The BJP was officially formed in 1980, under the political guidance and leadership of two of its most significant leaders, and Lal Krishna Advani. Both of them were members of the (BJS), the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), nationalist cultural organisation of independent India. The BJS was founded by Dr. Shyamaprasad Mookherjee in 1951, to combat the increasing political power of the Indian National Congress (INC), which was said to have initiated a number of compromises in the questions of political and cultural integrity and unity of India. The BJS, under the umbrella of RSS, began to grow in strength. But soon after, with Mookherjee’s death, the organisation started to decline in political importance. It was in this period that leaders like Vajpayee and Advani were groomed, who were able to take charge of the future political affairs of India. The Bharatiya Janata Party was formally announced in 1980, comprising members of the nucleus of Janata Party. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first President of the BJP. The BJP came to power at the Centre, by forming a coalition of parties M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 71 Paper V called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from 1998 to 2004. The present President of the BJP is . At present, it is the largest political party in the Parliament having won 282 seats in the 2014 General Elections and the NDA got a total of 336 seats and became the 14th Prime Minister of India. BJP Mahila Morcha is the Women’s Wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Most of the prominent female leaders of BJP have been associated with one way or the other with the BJP Mahila Morcha. Vijaya Rahatkar, former Mayor of Aurangabad is the National President of the wing. On 3 July 2015, was appointed as General Secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha. is an Indian politician, former lawyer and the current Minister of External Affairs of India, in office since 26 May 2014. A leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, Swaraj is the second woman to be India’s Minister of External Affairs, after Indira Gandhi. Having been elected to the Parliament three times, Swaraj is a veteran leader and the female face of the Bharatiya Janata Party for years. She became an MP at a young age of 25. Sushma Swaraj was the first female spokesperson of a national political party in India. She has many firsts to her credit as the BJP’s first female Chief Minister, Union Cabinet Minister, General Secretary, Spokesperson and Leader of Opposition. She has contested 10 direct elections from four states. She has been elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Sushma Swaraj has also served the role of Chief Minister of Delhi for a brief period in 1998. Sanjay Gandhi’s wife, Maneka Gandhi separated from the Indian National Congress after the death of her husband, and formed a party in her late husband’s name. She however later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and became a Member of Parliament from Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. Maneka is also an animal right activist, environmentalist and an author of a number of books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare. Even though Maneka is a member of the Nehru Gandhi family, she is vociferous in her protests against the dynasty politics of the Congress party. The present Speaker of the Lok Sabha is Sumitra Mahajan. Sumitra Mahajan is a politician representing the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been an eight time MP from Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Sumitra Mahajan was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Lower House and is the second female speaker of the Lok Sabha after Meira Kumar. Sumitra Mahajan is the senior-most female member in the present Parliament. She has also held various portfolio’s under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government including the Human Resource Development Ministry and the Information Technology Ministry. is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha and holds the important portfolio of Textile Ministry. Smriti Irani was a television actress and later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. She lost to in the 2004 General Elections, and to Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 General Elections. Smriti is said to be a close confidante of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. She had given a tough time to M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 72 Paper V her opponent, INC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 general elections in Amethi and reduced the victory margin for him to a mere one lakh votes. At the age of 74, Najma Heptullah is the oldest minister and the only Muslim face in the Narendra Modi Cabinet. She has been five time member of Rajya Sabha, the Upper House, between 1986 and 2012, and is best known for her role as Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha for 16 years. She started her political career by leading the All India Congress Committee and the National Students’ Union of India and eventually climbed up the ladder at Indian National Congress. In 2004, she left the Indian National Congress party due to the problems with the party leadership and joined Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2007, BJP led NDA fielded her as a candidate in the elections for the Vice President of India, which was won by Hamid Ansari. She was nominated by the BJP for the upper house, Rajya Sabha in 2012 from Madhya Pradesh, and assumed her office on 24 April 2012. Heptullah presently is a Cabinet Minister holding the Minority Affairs Ministry. The six-time Member of Parliament and an ex-Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharati is one of the most controversial leaders of BJP. She rose to national prominence when she became one of the major faces of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement alongside L. K. Advani. contested her first election at the age of 25 years (in 1984) but lost it in the Congress wave that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. However, in 1989, she was elected for the first time as Member of from the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat and retained it for the next three elections. It was only in 1999 that she switched the seats and contested from Bhopal constituency. She was a part of Cabinet of the Vajpayee Administration, and held various state-level and Cabinet level portfolios of Human Resource Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs & Sports, and finally Coal & Mines. In the 2003 Assembly polls, she led the BJP to a three-fourths majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and was appointed as the Chief Minister of the state, only to resign in 2004. She has won from Jhansi Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 General Elections and presently holds the Cabinet Ministry for Water Resources. The 54-year-old is the official spokesperson of the party since 2010 and well known for her soft and unruffled demeanour. Nirmala Sitharaman is the only woman representative among the ministers from southern part of the country. In 2003, she was nominated to the National Commission for Women in Delhi. When the BJP adopted a 33 per cent reservation for women, Nirmala came in touch with Sushma Swaraj and decided to join the BJP despite her family’s links with the Congress. 8.5.4 Difference between the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party 0n women representation : The major difference between the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party is that the former preferably includes female leaders into their ranks, on the basis of their family links with the party whereas the BJP usually selects female politicians who have had no past links with politics in their family, basically M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 73 Paper V dynasty politics. Leaders like Smriti Irani and Nirmala Sitharaman had no links with politics in their families but were elected into high ranks in the present government. The Bharatiya Janata Party for sure prefers unknown female politicians, but it is to be seen whether this trend will carry on once the party remains in power for the next few terms. 8.5.5 An analysis of the role of women within the organisational set-up of BJP and Congress : An analysis of the role of women within the organisational set-up of various Indian political parties reveals that the BJP has a much better track record of allowing women access to such positions than other parties. In 2006, following the recommendations of a committee led by current External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and comprising leaders such as Minority Affairs Minister and Speaker Sumitra Mahajan the BJP amended its party constitution to provide a 33 per cent reservation for women within its organisational framework. In 2010, this was furthered by another amendment that increased the representation of women in all cadre positions. These amendments also institutionalised the powers of the party’s internal women’s movement, the Mahila Morcha. At the national level, the president of the Mahila Morcha serves as an ex-officio member of the central election committee, which is responsible for making the final selection of candidates for legislative and parliamentary elections, and administering campaigns. This is paralleled at the state level. The result of these amendments is that, as of April, 26 of the 77 members or 33.7 per cent of the BJP’s national executive are women. Women also comprise 26 per cent of the party’s national office bearers, which though less than 33 per cent is higher than other political parties in India. Juxtaposed against the BJP, the representation of women in leadership positions within other political parties is meagre at best and nonexistent at worst. Within the Congress, only five of the 42 members (including special invitees) of the Congress Working Committee and six of the 57 members of the All India Congress Committee are women. Additionally, only four of the 14 members of the party’s election committee are women, and 30 of the 35 state screening committees for elections don’t have any female representation. Paradoxically, the Congress’s constitution contains several clauses that reserve seats for women within the party organisation. Article VI-A, for instance, calls for 33 per cent of seats in different committees to be reserved for women. Several rules specify that at least 33 per cent of the positions on the executive committee and the AICC will be reserved for women. Ultimately, the absence of women in party leadership positions reflects an apparatus that has been unable to nurture women leaders, failing to provide them the opportunity to gain political leadership experience and denying them access to decision-making processes. This, however, is an opportune moment for change. Women’s security and socio-economic concerns have never been as much in the forefront as today. Female voter turnout increased by nearly 10 percentage points in the 2014 elections. Now, M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 74 Paper V as political parties, after facing setbacks in the 2014 elections, ameliorate party structures, they must use this opportunity to accord women’s representation its due importance. At the very least, they must ensure they meet the stated goals in their own constitutions. The Election Commission must play a more proactive role in holding them accountable. The BJP, too, must address some lacunae. For instance, in the party’s various working groups, women are largely relegated to the Mahila Morcha, finding no representation on the economic, agriculture, security and legal groups, and only marginal representation in others. The BJP should also seek to translate the strides in the representation of women in party leadership positions to its candidates’ list, only 9 per cent of which, in these elections, were filled by women. Finally, there is onus on the women cabinet ministers to draw from their leadership experiences within the BJP as they seek to fulfil their ministerial obligations. In doing so, they must rise beyond the symbolism that their presence in the cabinet evokes, and use their power and influence to expand the discourse on women’s representation and rights. 8.6 Women Representation in National Parliament: To remedy the low participation of women electors, India in 1994 established quotas (reservations) vide the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments to reserve 33 per cent of the seats in local governments for women. It is believed that though increasing the number of women in national government may not guarantee an impact on governance, a critical mass of women in power can bring about transformation in leadership.The robust health of India’s democracy is also reflected in the increasingly large turnouts of women voters in progressive elections at both the national and state levels in the country. In the 2012 elections to Legislative Assemblies, for instance, Uttar Pradesh reported a turnout of 58.82 to 60.29 per cent of the female voters. The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Puducherry also reported higher turnouts among women than men in the 2013 Vidhan Sabha elections (Election Commission, 2013). The turnout of women during India's 2014 parliamentary general elections was 65.63 per cent, only marginally less than the male turnout of 67.09 per cent. In 16 out of 29 states of India, more women voted than men. This increased female participation was observed in both the rich and poor states in the country. However, this enthusiastic participation in elections does not ostensibly translate into proportionate electoral power for women. In contrast to the encouraging figures pertaining to women voters, the statistics on women’s participation in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, on the other hand, present a grim picture. The figures at the national level are dismal. Table 1 depicts an overview of participation of women in the Lok Sabha (lower house) and in the Rajya Sabha (upper house). The participation of women in the Lok Sabha has, in fact, never exceeded 12 per cent since Independence. The proportion of women Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha has increased by only 6 percentage points over M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 75 Paper V the past six decades. In the Rajya Sabha, it has been almost constant at 7 percent of the total seats, with the exception of the 1991 election where it rose to 15.5 per cent. In the 2009 election, only 59 women MPs were elected for a total of 543 seats, and this figure went up by merely 2 to touch 61 in the 2014 elections.

8.6.1 Women’s representation in the lok sabha and the rajya sabha :

It was a record of sorts in 2009 when 59 women were elected to the lower house of Parliament. 59 women MPs out of 543 meant the Lok Sabha was represented by 11 per cent of women. That was the highest number of women MPs elected to the Parliament since Independence. Simultaneously, Rajya Sabha witnessed 10.6 per cent women’s participation. In the 16th Lok Sabha, 61 women M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 76 Paper V leaders have made their way to the Parliament. This is the highest ever number of Lok Sabha seats won by women and constitutes 11.23 per cent of the total 543 Parliamentary seats. Going back to the initial days after independence, it appears that the situation had been more than grim. The first Lok Sabha had only 4.4 per cent women members. The sixth Lok Sabha in 1977 witnessed the smallest proportion of women in Parliament at mere 3.5 per cent. Although the number of women MPs increased from 59 to 61 under the Modi government, it still remains far below the global average of 21.3 per cent.In a recent study conducted by the Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU), India is placed at 111th position in the list of 189 countries having women representatives in Parliament. Even the lesser developed neighbors of India such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have around 20, 19 and 30 per cent women members in their respective parliaments. M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 77 Paper V 8.6.2 Women’s participation in the National Parliament at the International level :

Comparisons at the international level reiterate the abysmally low levels of women’s participation in political decision-making in India (see Table 2). Rwanda, M.A. (Women Study) Part-II 78 Paper V which exhibits the highest participation by women in the latest elections to its lower house, was the first nation to cross the halfway mark for women in Parliament, 7 percentage points ahead of Cuba, which occupies the second position. Alarmingly, women’s representation in Parliament in India is lower than even that of much smaller nations like Nepal and Afghanistan.One of the key challenges faced by women is lack of education which hinders their political involvement. We recommend bridging this gap by providing quality education to women in the country. Awareness about their rights and privileges as mentioned in the Constitution can only be ensured once women are appropriately educated. The issue of gender-based violence and provision of safety and security of women should also be addressed on a priority basis to promote gender equality in the social and political arenas. Although the Government of India has initiated the National Mission of Empowerment of Women in 2014 with the broad objective of gender empowerment, the progress of this project is not up to the mark. It is thus imperative to strengthen its functioning and implementation. In addition, there is need for capacity building of prospective women leaders by imparting leadership training to the female members of political parties. 8.7 Conclusion : Indian National Congress and BJP are the two largest political parties of India. Both parties have their own mahila wings and both parties fixed the quota for women at all levels of the party.But more efforts should be needed for INC and BJP to give equal representation to women.Both parties should give 50% representation to women at internal level of party and in the national elections and state elections. 8.8 Suggested Question: Critically evaluate the Women Representation in BJP and Congress. 8.9 Suggested Readings: The History of the Indian National Congress (1885-1935) by Pattabhi Sita Ramaiah The Election That Changed India 2014 by Rajdeep Sardesai