Context: 

The Indian women’s movement has shifted focus over time, from a beacon for nationalism to a rights-based civil society movement to a state-led push for economic empowerment.

Background of Women’s Movement:

• All India Women’s Conference(1936): It was the hallmark of a nationalist movement that relied on women to serve as its face. 
  • The political history of the Indian women’s movement is written in photographs, women  satyagrahis being arrested during the salt satyagraha and the Quit India movement.
  • Mrinal Gore and her women protesters carrying rolling pins and protesting against the price rise.

• Women Activism:

• • The Quiet Revolution(1970s): It enhanced attention to women’s specific needs as street protests. 
  • For example: Self Employed Women’s Association began to unionize women in the informal sector. 
    • It leads to the advocacy for reforms in legal and social protection for women workers; 
    • It highlighted sex-selective abortion  
    • Discrimination in inheritance patterns led to legal reforms
  • Chipko, one of the earliest ecofeminist movements in the world, women clinging to trees to protest logging.
  • Nirbhaya 
  • Sabarimala

Current Scenario:

• Women constitute almost half of the world’s population. 
• Globally, they constitute 49.6 percent of the total population as against  50.6 percent of men. 
• As per census 2011, India’s population constituted 48.5 percent of women and 51.5 percent of men. 
  • In a country with deplorable levels of women in the workforce, getting involved in electoral politics is a far-fetched dream for most women. 
  • In the recent polls, women made up 8 percent of all candidates in Assam and 11 percent in the other four states. 
  • Roughly, one in every 10 individuals who contested the election was a woman.

ECI on women’s representation in Politics:

• As per the report of the Election Commission of India, women represent 10.5 percent of the total members of the Parliament. 
• The plight of women in the state assemblies is even worse, where they nearly account for 9 percent of the leaders. 
• Women’s representation in the Lok Sabha has not even grown by 10 percent since independence.
• Women workers abound in India’s main political parties, but they are often marginalized and refused a party ticket to run in elections. 
• Global Gender Gap Report 2020: India ranks 112th in educational attainment out of 153 countries, which reveals a stark involvement of education as a factor that determines women’s participation in politics. 
  • Women’s social mobility is influenced by their education. 

What hinders the inclusion of women in politics?

• There are several factors responsible for the poor representation of women in Indian politics such as:
  • Gender stereotypes
  • Lack of political network
  • Financial Strains
  • Unavailability of resources
  • Lack of political education amongst women in the country

What measures are required?

• Gender Equality
• Affirmative action
• Women Empowerment
• Enforcing Property Rights
• Social Awareness Campaigns

Women’s Empowerment:

• Based on the assumptions that women differ from men in their social positions and that those differences consist of asymmetric, unequal power relations between the genders, women’s empowerment refers to the process of increasing access to the opportunities that allow them fully to realize their capacities. 

Special Initiatives for Women:

• National Commission for Women
• Reservation for Women in Local Self Government
• National Plan of Action for Girl Child (1991-2000)
• National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001

News Source: The Hindu

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