Empowerment of women through political participation in India

Abstract

Political participation is the hallmark of a democratic setup. Effectiveness of democracy depends on the extent to which equal and effective participation is provided to all its citizens. Women comprise about half of the population in India, this requires proper attention and due share in the political process. Citizens' active participation in political affairs strengthens the democratic fabric. Since women's presence is seemed to be low in Indian politics, it is the necessary to make women aware of their rights and motivate them for participation in mainstream politics. The constitution of India under Articles 325 and 326 guarantee equal right to participate in political activities effectively. However, lack of space for participation in political process has not only resulted in their absence in numbers of decision making bodies but also neglect their common issues and problems. For strong and effective democratic system, the participation of women is essential. There cannot be any real democracy if the voices and issues of women are ignored or sidelined. This paper analyzes the participation of women in politics and also analyzes whether or not women's voices and demands are articulated to the public as matters of importance.

Full text

International Journal of Academic Research and Development
728
International Journal of Academic Research and Development
ISSN: 2455-4197
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.22
www.academicsjournal.com
Volume 2; Issue 6; November 2017; Page No. 728-731
Empowerment of women through political participation in India
Zakir Hussain Naik
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, GDC Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Abstract
Political participation is the hallmark of a democratic setup. Effectiveness of democracy depends on the extent to which equal and
effective participation is provided to all its citizens. Women comprise about half of the population in India, this requires proper
attention and due share in the political process. Citizens' active participation in political affairs strengthens the democratic fabric.
Since women’s presence is seemed to be low in Indian politics, it is the necessary to make women aware of their rights and
motivate them for participation in mainstream politics. The constitution of India under Articles 325 and 326 guarantee equal right
to participate in political activities effectively. However, lack of space for participation in political process has not only resulted in
their absence in numbers of decision making bodies but also neglect their common issues and problems. For strong and effective
democratic system, the participation of women is essential. There cannot be any real democracy if the voices and issues of women
are ignored or sidelined. This paper analyzes the participation of women in politics and also analyzes whether or not women’s
voices and demands are articulated to the public as matters of importance.
Keywords: empowerment, political participation, representation, position of women, democratic system, reservation
Introduction
“When the history of India’s fight for independence comes
to be written the sacrifice made by the women of India will
occupy foremost place” Mahatma Gandhi
Democracy is a system of government where people
participate either directly or indirectly in the process of
governance. In this context, the problem of low participation
of women is of special concern; women’s participation in
decision-making system is essential for effective governance.
Therefore democracy implies equality for all citizens either
men or women. As against this basic notion of democracy
what is normally seen is that women are generally excluded
from different walks of life, and more visibly in Politics. The
U.N. observes that women constitute “world’s largest
excluded category". For the attainment of true democratic
spirit better political participation of women shall be ensured.
Democracy will fail in its objectives if women lack equal
opportunity to participate in the governmental decision
making process. They are to be equal partners in the nation-
building and political development. Citizens' participation in
political affairs is important because a situation which results
in high participation by members of a group normally has
higher potential for democracy. Equal treatment and
opportunity to women in political life should start from the
grassroots level. To provide training and practice in the
process of decision-making, the rural democratic institutions
are the ideal structures to begin with. The 73rd Constitutional
Amendment Act is to accomplish this purpose. The question
of political empowerment of women in rural India has
assumed considerable significance after the 73rd
Constitutional Amendment Act of India. This amendment
provides reservation of seats and posts of chairperson to
women in all grassroots level democratic institutions in the
country and this act has brought a silent revolution in the
political empowerment of women in India.
Objectives
1. To know the role of women in the political arena and their
political conciousness.
2. To examine the causes responsible for low level
participation of women in Indian Politics.
3. To explore the constraints faced by women in performing
their role in electoral politics.
4. To find out the position of women in National Parliament.
Research Methodology
The information for this paper has been primarily collected
from secondary sources i.e., Books, Journal, Government
reports and Internet.
Political participation before independence
In India, women have been given an exalted position in
society. During ancient times they were treated at par with
men even in political and philosophical spheres. However,
down the centuries, the position of women in society
deteriorated and politically they were pushed to the
background. It was only in the twentieth century, particularly
during the freedom movement under the charismatic
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, that involvement of women
was accepted as the natural course in India. In fact, Gandhi’s
notions and approach towards the role of women in the
freedom struggle stood in sharp contrast to the age-old
prejudices against them ingrained in the Indian psyche. The
social condition of women was quite appalling in those times

International Journal of Academic Research and Development
729
and it was primarily due to the conscious efforts of the
leadership, at the forefront of the freedom struggle, that
women fought against the might of the British empire in
partnership with men. Gandhi believed that women have to
play a much meaningful role in politics, making it more
accountable, transparent and corruption free. Writing in
Harijan on 21 April 1946, he emphasized the need to ‘‘enroll
women as voters, impart or have imparted to them practical
education, teach them to think independently, release them
from the chains of caste that bind them so as to bring about a
change in them…If they will do this, they will purify the
present unclean atmosphere.’’ He prophetically said, “as long
as the women of India do not take part in public life, there can
be no salvation for the country.’’ Our freedom struggle was
viewed by the national leaders in a wider perspective of
restructuring the socio-economic and future political set up, to
provide in it, among other things, equality of both men and
women. It is worth mentioning that way back in 1920 Smt.
Sarojini Naidu and Ms. Margaret Cousins led a group of
women to demand equal rights of representation for the fair
sex in the Indian Provincial Legislatures. Tilak was of the
view that political action on the part of women could be
independent of their social status and that political action was
possibly more important than social reform in empowering
women.
Participation of women in post independent period
In post-independence India, large number of women’s
autonomous groups has sprung up challenging patriarchy and
taking up a variety of issues such as violence against women
greater share for women in political decision making etc both
at the activist and academic level. India has a rich and vibrant
women's movement but it has still a long way to go to achieve
gender equality and gender justice. Women’s empowerment is
still a debatable issue in India. She is still treated as a second
class citizen and the reason besides are illiteracy, customs,
traditions, poverty, ignorance, her own lack of interest in her
own political empowerment leads to such government
policies, which lack proper insight and direction. It is
important for the empowerment of women that the women
actively participate in the political process of nation.
Constitutional Provisions
The Constitution of India adopted a parliamentary form of
government and guarantees justice, liberty and equality to all
citizens (men and women). The Constitution not only grants
equality of treatment to women but also calls upon the state to
adopt measures favouring women neutralizing the socio-
economic, educational and political disadvantages that they
face. Therefore adoption of our Constitution heralded a new
era of equality for women of India. It guarantees equal
political rights including the right to vote to women. Almost
all the provisions contained in the UN Convention on the
‘Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’
are there in the Indian Constitution.
Not only does the Constitution guarantee equal political status
to women, there is even a scope for ‘positive discrimination’
in their favour as is evident in Article 15(3) of the
Constitution. There are many other provisions in the
Constitution which lay stress on equality between men and
women. Article 14 guarantees equality before law and equal
protection of law with in the territory of India. Art 15
prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste,
sex, place of birth. It is a guarantee against every form of
discrimination. According to article 15(3), nothing shall
prevent the state from making special provisions for the
benefit women and children. Article 16 guarantees equality of
opportunity for all citizens in matter relating to employment or
appointment to any office under state. Secondly no citizen
shall, on ground of religion, race, cast, sex, decent, place of
birth residence or any of them, be eligible for, or
discriminated against in respect of any employment or office
under the state and strength of workers, men and women, and
the tender age of children are not abused and that citizen are
not forced by economic necessity to enter occupations
unsuited for their age or strength.
Article 39 (a), states that the State shall direct its policy
towards securing equally to men and women the right to an
adequate means of livelihood, and 39(d) enjoins the State to
direct its policy towards securing equal pay for equal work for
both men and women. Article 42 provides for securing just
and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief and
Article 51(A) (e) refers to the fundamental duty of citizens to
renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women. The
73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments have provided
reservation of 1/3 seats for women in panchayats and
municipalities. Article 325 and 326 guarantee political
equality, equal right to participate in political activity and
right to vote, respectively. While the latter has been accessed
and enjoyed by large number of women, the right to equal
participation is still a distant dream. The lack of space for
participation in political bodies has resulted in their presence
in meagre numbers in this decision making bodies.
Women’s are the world’s largest excluded group in political
arena. 21.9 % of the members of national parliament
worldwide are women. Women hold 16.0 % of the seats in
Arab state parliaments and 21.8 % of the seats in Sub -
Saharan African nation’s parliament. In Americas women
hold 26.6 %. On the other hand in the developed nations of
USA, France and Japan 18.3 %, 26.2 %, 8.1 % respectively of
the House of Representatives of Lower House of parliament
are comprised of women. In India women comprised only
11.4 % of National Parliament.
Women in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
The 16th Lok Sabha in India (2014) comprised 62 women
members only 11.41% of the total Lok Sabha membership.
While it has increased from 10.86% in 2009, it is almost half
of the world average of 22.2%. The Rajya Sabha does not
much better representation, with just 29 women members
comprising 11.9% of the total membership in 2014. Again,
while this is an improvement from the 2009 figure of 8.97%, it
is far below the world average of 19.6%. It comes as no
surprise then that India is ranked 141 in the world rankings of
women in national parliaments, compiled by the inter-
parliamentary union. India’s rank is one of the lowest in the
region and falls below her neighbours, Nepal ranked at 40,
Afghanistan at 45, China at 71, Pakistan 86.

International Journal of Academic Research and Development
730
Table 1: Status of women in Raj Sabha
Year
Total No Raj
Sabha Seats
Women
MPs
% of women
MPs
1952
219
16
7.3
1957
237
18
7.6
1962
238
18
7.6
1967
240
20
8.3
1971
243
17
7.0
1977
244
25
10.2
1980
244
24
9.8
1985
244
28
11.4
1990
245
38
15.5
1996
223
20
9.0
1998
223
19
8.06
2004
245
27
11.1
2009
245
22
8.97
2014
245
29
11.83
Table 2: Status of women in lok Sabha
Year
Total No of Lok
sabha seats
No Women
MPs
% of women
MPs
1952
499
22
4.41
1957
500
27
5.40
1962
503
34
6.76
1967
523
31
5.93
1971
521
22
4.22
1977
544
19
3.29
1980
544
28
5.15
1984
544
44
8.9
1989
517
27
5.22
1991
544
39
7.17
1999
543
49
9.02
2004
543
45
8.03
2009
543
59
10.86
2014
543
62
11.41
Women in Panchayati Raj Institution
The 73rd and 74th amendment of Indian Constitution have
brought about a silent revolution by the provisions related to
33% reservation for women in the institutions of local self-
government. They have brought a drastic transformation in
India as far as participation of women at the gross root level
politics is concerned.
Women in India are much better represented in the panchayati
raj institutions as compared to the parliament. States like
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan have
reserved 50 per cent seats for women in panchayats and
Sikkim has reserved 40 per cent seats for women. This indeed,
makes a historic beginning for the effective participation of
women in the decision-making process at the grassroots level.
The efforts and work of several women representatives in
panchayats in Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal have
been widely acclaimed. Thus, women are making significant
gains in the political sphere where increased participation is
rapidly empowering women.
However, women have not found an adequate representation
in the Lok Sabha. The percentage of elected women Lok
Sabha members has never exceeded 12 per cent. The presence
of women in the Upper House has been only slightly higher
overall, probably due to indirect elections and nomination of
some women members.
Most political parties agreed to introduce 33 per cent
reservation for women in Parliament and State Legislatures.
When the Bill was introduced in 1997, several parties and
groups raised objections. The objections focused around two
main issues: first, the issue of overlapping quotas for women
in general and those for women of the lower castes; second,
the issue of elitism. The Bill was first introduced by Dev
Gowda led United Front Government. The demand for sub-
quotas for OBCs and minorities is seen a way of stalling
reservation for women; there are no instances of political
parties having such quotas in their own cadres. The Bill has
already been introduced several times, but is stalled each time.
However, the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, took a ‘historic
step’ by passing this bill and provided one-third reservation in
Parliament and State Assemblies for women. The key feature
of the bill is that one-third of all seats on the Lok Sabha and
the State Assemblies will be reserved for women. The
reservation will work as a quota within quota – 1/3 of the seats
will be reserved for SC and ST women. Till today the bill
neither have been passed by the Lok Sabha nor ratified by one
half of the states before it comes into effect.
Conclusion
Women’s empowerment can positively influence the lives not
only of women themselves but also of men, and of course,
those of children. Political parties cannot remain indifferent
towards women who constitute 586.5 million population and
nearly 48.46 per cent of the electorate (2011census). Although
almost all political parties have attempted to build women
organisations to secure their support and make their
organisations more broad based, but in practice they have
fielded much less proportion of women candidates in the
elections giving them proportionately much less
representation in the legislative bodies than their actual
population strength. It is necessary to make it mandatory for
all political parties to nominate at least a-third of women
candidates in their party organisations and laid the foundation
of political participation of women. Women are the legal
citizens of the country and have equal rights with men.
Although the country’s constitution says women have equal
status to men, women are powerless and are mistreated inside
and outside the home. Gender equality in the realm of politics
continues to be elusive even today.
Therefore all the trends indicate that women's representation
in politics requires special consideration, and cannot be left to
the forces that presently dominate our parties and government.
Today, even the best of our female parliamentarians feel
sidelined and powerless within their respective parties. The
few women in leadership positions have not been able to
encourage the entry of greater numbers of women in electoral
and party politics, and are an ineffective minority within their
own respective political groupings. Therefore, it is urgently
required that we have to take special measures to enhance
women's political participation in ways that help them
influence decision-making at all levels of our society and
polity. Our democracy seriously flawed if it fails to yield
adequate space to women for their political empowerment.
References
1. Akhatar Majeed. Federal India: A Design for Good

International Journal of Academic Research and Development
731
Governance, Manak Publications, New Delhi, 2005.
2. Bardhan Pranab, Mookherjee Dilip. (eds.) Decentralisation
and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A
Comparative Perspective, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 2007.
3. Barthwal CP. Good Governance in India, Deep and Deep
Publications, New Delhi, 2003.
4. Behar Amitabh, Kumar Yogesh. Decentralisation in
Madhya Pradesh, India: from Panchayat Raj to Gram
Swaraj (1995 to 2001), Working Paper 170, ODI, London,
UK, 2002.
5. Behar Amitabh. Madhya Pradesh Gram Swaraj:
Experiment in Direct Democracy’, Economic and Political
Weekly, 2001.
6. Blair H. Participation and Accountability at the Periphery:
Democratic Local Governance in Six Countries’, World
development. 2000; 28(1):21- 39.
7. Bryce James. Modern Democracy, the Macmillan
Company, 1921.
8. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, Duflo, Esther. Impact of
Reservation in Panchayati Raj: Evidence from a
Nationwide Randomised Experiment, Economic and
Political Weekly, 2004.
9. Haq Mahbub ul. Human Development Report, United
Nations Development Programme, 1990.
10. Jayal, Niraja Gopal, Prakash, Amit, Sharma Pradeep K.
(eds) Local Governance in India: Decentralisation and
Beyond, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2006.
11. Jeremy, Bentham. An Introduction to the Principles of
Morals and Legislation, Oxford Clarendon Press, 1907.
12. Jha SN, Mathur PC. Decentralisation and Local Politics-
Readings in Indian Government and Politics-2, Sage
Publications, New Delhi, 1999.
13. Joseph TM. Local Governance in India Ideas: Challenges
and Strategies, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi,
2007.
14. Kothari Rajni. Panchayati Raj: Re Assessment, Economic
and Political Weekly. 1961; 13:757.