Not getting their due share
By: Priyanka Saurabh
Women’s vote is 48%, then why only 14% seats have been reserved for women? Women Voters of India is a force to be reckoned with and political parties are racing to win women’s votes with promises of welfare schemes and concessions, but true empowerment remains elusive.
Unless political parties give tickets to more and more women, it cannot be imagined to increase their participation. The number of women voters in the voter list of the country is continuously increasing. But due to not getting tickets from political parties, they are not able to reach Parliament in this proportion.
Half of the voters are women. The increase in their numbers in the Hindi belt states in the last 15 years is having a profound impact on election results. Amidst all this, a question also arises why is the representation of women in the Parliament of India still less? Why do almost all parties still shy away from giving tickets to women?
The status of women in India has not always been equal. There have always been changes in this from time to time. If we assess the status of women, we will come to know that from the Vedic era till the present time, there have been many ups and downs in the social status of women and their rights have been changing accordingly.
The result of these changes is that the contribution of women is increasing day by day in the Indian political, economic, social, and cultural systems, which is a successful effort for an inclusive democratic system. The election can prove helpful in removing many political prejudices associated with women candidates. Besides, it will also prove effective in the political empowerment of women.
There is a huge difference between the words and actions of all the major political parties. Unless political parties give tickets to more and more women, it cannot be imagined to increase their participation. But during the distribution of tickets, all the parties have been trying to keep women away from contesting elections on one pretext or the other.
Unless this male-dominated mentality changes, the picture will not change much despite the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill. Women voters have never been as important as they are now. Women voters are increasingly being recognized as a constituency that can influence outcomes, there is no better symbol of this than the hasty passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Despite all the tall claims made on ‘women power’, only 10 to 15 percent candidates of the ruling party in five state elections in November were women. The same applies to other parties which have a pan-India presence.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, out of 542 MPs, 78 were women. Among these, a maximum number of 11-11 women won the elections in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. BJP, which got the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Parliament, has announced candidates for 417 parliamentary seats. Of these, 68 are women. That means the party has expressed confidence in only 16 percent of women. BJP had fielded 45 women candidates in 2009, 38 in 2014, and 55 in 2019. Congress has announced 247 candidates so far. In this, 35 candidates i.e. a little more than 14 percent are women. In the year 2019, Congress had given tickets to 54 women candidates. Of the 42 candidates announced by TMC in West Bengal, 12 are women.
Out of a total of 96.8 crore voters, 68 crore people can exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections. In this, 33 crore i.e. 49 percent will be women voters. 85.3 lakh women will vote for the first time. According to the report, by 2047 (likely elections in 2049), the number of women voters will increase to 55 percent (50.6 crore) and the number of men will decrease to 45 percent (41.4 crore).
The increasing participation of women in India’s political arena is one of the most significant developments of the last decade. Women voters are now playing a bigger role in elections than ever before. According to the report, now due to the increase in literacy, women are emerging as an important group of political decision-makers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to woo women voters with measures like the Women’s Reservation Bill, LPG subsidy, cheap loans, and distribution of cash have helped the BJP increase its votes.
The number of women voters has increased because their population and education have also increased. Political parties have also contributed to spreading awareness. It was also in their interest to make women aware and encourage them to vote so that their voting percentage could increase. The focus towards women also increased because men often go out in search of work and hence they do not come to their constituencies to vote.”
The Election Commission also worked in this direction and made it easier for women to reach the booth and cast their vote. Separate arrangements are also made for pregnant women at the booths. But this progress is so slow that India is still lagging behind many big countries in this matter.
The number of women voters has increased but their number as candidates and MPs is still very low. All political parties try to woo women with many special schemes. Like free bus rides, direct money transfers, etc., most of the parties are stingy in giving tickets to them. Except for Chhattisgarh and Tripura, the number of women MPs is very low in most of the states.
Swami Vivekananda believes that the best thermometer of the progress of any nation is the condition of its women. We should try to put women in such a situation where they can solve their problems in their way. Our role in the lives of women should not be to savor them but to become their companion and ally.
Because Indian women are capable enough to solve their problems themselves. If anything is lacking then it is only that we as a society should learn to trust their abilities. Only by doing this, we will be able to take India on the path of progress.
(The author is a Research Scholar in Political Science)
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