Women Representation In Politics: Need, Significance, and Challenges

Context: 

This editorial is based on the news “Pakistan parties intensify efforts to form coalition government after split verdict in February 8 elections” which was published in the Hindu. This article highlights that the only way for increasing women’s political participation is to provide them reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies.

Why Women Representation In Politics Is Needed?

• Role of Political Parties: It is surprising that the political parties were not enthusiastic about giving tickets to more women candidates. 
• Role of Women Voters: The voters, too, did not seem keen on electing women candidates, even after the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed. 

Women Representation In Politics: The Case of Rajasthan

• The Statistics: In the current Rajasthan Assembly, the total number of women MLAs is 20 (nine each from the Congress and the BJP and two independents). 
• Voting & Share: There were seven Assembly constituencies and in these seven Assembly constituencies, the BJP polled 34% of the votes compared to its overall 42% vote share, though the Congress polled almost similar votes. 
  • This shows that voters seem to prefer male candidates to female candidates. 
• Reason of Reluctance: This low vote outcome to some extent explains why political parties may be reluctant to give tickets to women candidates and why mandatory quota within the party may not be the way forward for increasing women’s representation in politics.
• Other Concerning Trends: Female candidates have a relatively low strike rate if they had to face male candidates of the other party, which proves the existence of a male-dominated vote bloc. 
  • There were 13 Assembly constituencies where the Congress fielded male candidates against the BJP’s female candidates and at last BJP won 6 seats and Congress won 7.
  • Similarly, the BJP fielded male candidates against the female candidates of the Congress in 21 Assembly constituencies. Of these, the male candidates of BJP won in 15 Assembly seats and the female candidates of the Congress won in only 6. 

No Contagion Effect

• Distributing more tickets to women in the first-past-the-post system may not necessarily lead to more representation of women in legislature. There is hope of a contagion effect, but this has not happened. 
  • In the first-past-the-post system, if one party provides a gender quota, it does not incentivise other parties to follow suit.
• Example: The Trinamool Congress gave tickets to 46 women candidates in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections of which 32 candidates won. But the total number of women MLAs did not increase in the Assembly. Instead, it declined from 41 women MLAs in 2016 to 40 in 2021.
  • The Congress awarded 40% of tickets to women candidates in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, but this did not lead to a higher representation of women. 

Conclusion

Political participation by women is a critical indicator of gender equality and societal progress. From India to the far reaches of the globe, women continue to challenge stereotypes, break barriers, and make their voices heard in the world of politics. Providing a quota for women in Parliament and State Assemblies seems to be the only way to increase their political representation.