Worrying stagnation

With the Lok Sabha elections 2024 underway, one major phenomenon is quite noticeable — the women voters are being wooed by all the political parties. What is the reason behind this not so sudden love and affection for the female folk? Well, it is in the numbers silly!

If one looks at the multiple welfare schemes offered by various political parties to the women electorate, one can easily decipher the motive behind the largesse. In the recent past, political parties in India have started wooing women voters but some parties have done better than the others.

It all started with Amma, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa, the mother of welfare schemes. She introduced 50 percent subsidy for women to buy scooters, gold for women getting married, maternity assistance, maternity leave and many other schemes for women voters. And even now the women voters of Tamil Nadu say nobody can match Amma when it comes to bestowing endless freebies to them. DMK’s financial support of Rs 1,000 to eligible women and free rides in state-owned buses cannot hold a candle to Amma’s generosity! Other political parties, realising that welfare schemes specially targeting women constituency is bearing a rich dividend, quickly followed suit. From BJP’s Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana (making clean cooking fuel available to rural and deprived household), MP Mukhya Mantri Ladli Behana Scheme (making women financially independent), TMC’s Laxmi’s Bhandar (basic income support to women head of the family), Kanyashree (to improve the status and well-being of the girl child) to BJD ’s Mukhyamantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (financial assistance to women self-help group), Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana (girls’ development in education and health), are all sops to court the special constituency of the women electorate. The other political parties are not far behind. In its election manifesto, Congress has also promised increased welfare incentives for women.

Almost all major political parties have special schemes targeting women voters. Over the years, there has been a steady rise in the number of women voters in this country. In a democracy, the majority always has an edge. The political parties have, naturally, devised a slew of schemes solely targeting the women electorate.

An SBI research paper predicts that from 2029 onwards, years will witness women voters outpacing men voters decisively in all elections, with 2047 culminating in a 55 per cent to 45 per cent ratio of women to men voters. In 2014, the voter turnout was 55 crores, of which 26 crores were women. In 2019, the voter turnout further increased to 62 crores, of which 30 crores were women. In 2024, the researchers project total voter turnout at the current rate of polling to touch 68 crores, of which women voters could be at 33 crores (49 per cent). In 2029, it is projected that total voter turnout at the current rate of polling will touch 73 crores, of which women voters at 37 crores could be outstripping registered men voters at 36 crores (>50 per cent). The inflection point would be a testimony of women getting their due share on socio-economic fronts and should be a harbinger of harmonised growth.

Washington Post, in an article dated April 18, said the emergence of the women voters marks a curious divergence between India and other democracies. It also speaks about the broader social changes underway in India, where women in particular have increasingly voted independently from their husbands and become a highly sought-after electorate of their own.

Now, let us look at women’s representation in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The picture is not so rosy when it comes to sharing of political power with women, and equality is a long way off. At present, the 17th Lok Sabha has 542 members, out of which only 78 (15 per cent) are women. Rajya Sabha has 224 members, out of which only 24 MPs are women. There are only 6 women in ministerial positions.

Among parties with more than 10 seats in Lok Sabha, 42 per cent of BJD MPs and 39 per cent of TMC MPs are women. In Rajya Sabha, 17 per cent of INC MPs are women. Albeit women’s representation in Lok Sabha has increased from 5 per cent in the first Lok Sabha to 15 per cent in the current Lok Sabha, the rate of growth of women Parliamentarians hardly calls for celebration. Compare this globally with other countries, and one notices that very few have done well. Only six countries have 50 per cent or more women in Parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda (61 per cent), Cuba (53 per cent), Nicaragua (52 per cent), Mexico (50 per cent), New Zealand (50 per cent), and the United Arab Emirates (50 per cent). Even Bangladesh (21 per cent) and Pakistan (20 per cent) are ahead of India in matters of female representation.

A further 23 countries have reached or surpassed 40 per cent, including 13 countries in Europe, six in Africa, three in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one in Asia.

Globally, there are 22 countries in which women account for less than 10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including one lower chamber with no woman at all

At the current rate of progress, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063, reports unwomen.org.

A few political parties had tried earlier to improve women’s representation in Parliament, without much success. The Constitution Amendment (106th Amendment) Act 2023, passed on 21st September 2023, reserves one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha, State legislative assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, including those reserved for SCs and STs. The reservation will be effective after the publication of the census conducted following the Act’s commencement and endures for a 15-year period, with potential extension determined by parliamentary action. This legislation is a classic example of too little, too late. When it comes to giving ticket to women members of a political party, there is visible reluctance. The reason often cited is lack of winnability of women candidates.

It is a well-known fact that an inclusive and diverse legislature, which has a significant representation of women parliamentarians/legislators, is more likely to bring in a broad, inclusive and diverse set of issues in the decision-making process, which is bound to usher in an inclusive and wider viewpoint in policy formulation and governance.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, after losing the 2016 US Presidential Elections to Donald Trump, said in her concession speech, “Now I know we have still not shattered the hardest and the highest glass ceiling but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.”

Thankfully, for India, that glass ceiling was broken by Indira Gandhi and there are many strong women leaders who made it on their own steam, who can be role models for young girls who want to pursue politics. Leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and many more are just a few examples in case. Perhaps, that day may not be far away when India will have many more women in the Parliament.

The writer is a former bureaucrat. Views expressed are personal