Have Women Been Sidelined in Parliamentary Debates and Decision-Making?

Despite the 106th Constitutional Amendment ensuring one-third reservation for women, recent 18th Lok Sabha data reveals a stark gap between their presence and active participation in Parliament.

Women’s Representation in Parliament

• Historic Legislation: One of the major achievements of the NDA government has been the passage of the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, promising one-third reservation for women in both the Parliament and State Assemblies.
• Beyond Numbers: While political parties often flaunt the number of women MPs, MLAs, and local leaders as indicators of progress, true representation lies not just in occupying seats but in shaping debates, leading committees, and influencing decisions.
• Gaps : An analysis of recent parliamentary activity, particularly in the 18th Lok Sabha, reveals a significant gap between presence and participation. 
  • The conversation on women’s representation cannot end at numbers — it must be evaluated through the hours of active participation.

Participation of Women MPs in Legislative Debates

• Waqf Bill, 2025 Debate: The debate lasted nearly 14 hours, with 61 members participating. Only five women spoke, making up just 8% of the speakers.
• Speaking Time Disparity: Women MPs spoke for a combined total of only 32 minutes, about 3.5% of the speaking time. This is significantly lower than their 14% presence in the House.
• Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024: The debate lasted nearly five hours. Only one woman MP, Supriya Sule, participated, speaking for nine minutes.
• Exclusion Despite Numbers: Both the BJP and Congress, despite having many women MPs, fielded only male members for this discussion.
• Union Budget Debate: Despite the BJP highlighting its woman Finance Minister, no woman MP from the party spoke during the Finance Bill, 2025 debate.
• Contributions by Other Parties: Senior leaders like Supriya Sule, Iqra Choudhary, and Harsimrat Kaur Badal participated actively.
• Speaking Time Statistics: Collectively, women MPs spoke for around one hour during a discussion that lasted 8 hours and 43 minutes.
• Railway Ministry Demand for Grants: Out of 90 MPs, only 9 (10%) were women. Women MPs spoke for around 1 hour and 18 minutes during a session lasting 11 hours and 35 minutes.
• Lack of Equal Opportunities: There is a persistent structural bias in allocating speaking time to women MPs. Most parties, barring a few exceptions, do not provide adequate participation platforms to women leaders.

Party-wise Speaking Time Analysis

• BJP’s Allocation: The BJP, with 31 women MPs, had 145 minutes of speaking time. However, only two women from the party spoke for just 14 minutes.
• Congress’s Allocation: The Congress, with 14 women MPs, had 92 minutes allotted. Only one woman spoke, for just 4.5 minutes.
• Pattern Observed: Even when women MPs are listed as speakers, their speaking time remains disproportionately short compared to their male counterparts.

Use of Parliamentary Tools by Women MPs

• Parliamentary Interventions: Another crucial measure of women’s participation in Parliament is the number of parliamentary interventions they file that are subsequently balloted. One of the most frequently used interventions is during the Question Hour.
• Question Hour Analysis: An analysis of the fourth session of the 18th Lok Sabha revealed that women MPs asked 17.2% of the total starred questions. 
  • However, many of these questions were asked jointly with other MPs, meaning that only 7.5% of the questions were asked independently by women MPs.
• Private Members’ Bills: Out of a total of 628 Private Members’ Bills filed for introduction, a striking 572 bills — over 90% — were filed by male MPs. Women MPs filed only 56 bills, accounting for a mere 8.91% of the total.

Gender Gap in Parliamentary Committees

• Scarce Representation: Out of the 24 department-related Standing Committees, only two are chaired by women. In Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs), leadership remains overwhelmingly male-dominated.
• Examples of Male-Chaired JPCs: JPC on One Nation One Election chaired by P P Chaudhary.
  • JPC on the Waqf Act chaired by Jagdambika Pal.
  • JPC on Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 chaired by Sanjay Jaiswal.
  • JPC on Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 chaired by P P Chaudhary.
  • JPC on Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 chaired by Chandra Prakash Joshi.
• Critical Observation: All major legislative deliberations are being led by male MPs.
• Historic Underrepresentation: In the last 16 years, not a single woman MP has chaired the Public Accounts Committee or the Estimates Committee.
• Rare Exception: Only one woman, Meenakshi Lekhi, chaired the Public Undertakings Committee, and that too for just three years.
• Institutional Exclusion: This sustained absence highlights how women are routinely excluded from the most influential parliamentary bodies, despite being present in Parliament.

Gendered Challenges in Parliament

• Objectionable Remarks: Sexist and derogatory remarks targeting women are still common during political rallies and parliamentary debates.
• Infrastructural Neglect: Historically, parliamentary infrastructure overlooked women’s needs. The older Parliament building lacked separate washrooms for women journalists. A dedicated feeding room for women was not established until 2018.

Conclusion

The role of women in politics remains an area of deep concern. It is only through intentional reforms and active promotion of women’s leadership that we can hope to create a more inclusive and equitable political environment.