{"id":54272,"date":"2025-09-16T20:30:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=54272"},"modified":"2025-09-18T11:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T05:52:16","slug":"women-political-participation-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-09-2025\/women-political-participation-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Political Participation in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/Society; GS2\/Issues Related To Women<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh emphasized a <strong>critical gap in the nation\u2019s political landscape<\/strong> at the <strong>first national conference<\/strong> on parliamentary and legislative committees on the empowerment of women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Women\u2019s Political Participation: Current Landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to <strong>UN Women<\/strong>, only 27.2% of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women, up from 11% in 1995.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In India, women hold <strong>14.7% of seats in Lok Sabha<\/strong>, but still far below the <strong>global average of 26.5% <\/strong>and ministerial representation is even lower, hovering around 10\u201311%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In <strong>State Assemblies,<\/strong> women\u2019s representation varies widely, often falling below 10%.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Chhattisgarh leads with 19 women MLAs<\/strong>, while <strong>Himachal Pradesh has just one<\/strong>, and <strong>Mizoram has none<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India is <strong>ranked at 148 among 193 countries,<\/strong> ranked 31st among 47 Asian countries, and fifth amongst eight SAARC countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Is Women\u2019s Political Participation in India Still Low?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Parties and Political Barriers: <\/strong>In the 2024 elections, only <strong>797 women contested<\/strong>, and just <strong>74 won<\/strong> \u2014 fewer than the <strong>78 elected in 2019.<\/strong> The root causes include:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Low ticket allocation<\/strong>: Parties often court women voters but fail to field adequate women candidates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Patriarchal party structures<\/strong>: Women face stereotypes, exclusion from leadership roles, and lack of internal democracy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Weak mahila wings<\/strong>: These exist across parties but rarely influence ticket distribution or policymaking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Patriarchal Social Norms &amp; Gender Stereotypes:<\/strong> Deep-rooted cultural beliefs often discourage women from pursuing political careers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Politics is still perceived as a male-dominated space, and women are frequently expected to prioritize domestic responsibilities over public life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Safety and Mobility Concerns:<\/strong> Women face heightened safety risks during political campaigns, especially in rural and conflict-prone areas.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It restricts their mobility, public engagement, and ability to build voter bases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low Female Labour Force Participation:<\/strong> India\u2019s female labour force participation rate has historically been low, which often correlates with <strong>limited civic and political engagement<\/strong>, especially among marginalized women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Related Government Initiatives &amp; Policy Push<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (2023): <\/strong>It reserves 33% of parliamentary seats for women. However, this reform will not take effect before the 2029 elections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments:<\/strong> These mandate one-third reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has led to over 1.4 million elected women representatives, making India a global leader in grassroots gender inclusion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the state level, 20 states have already raised<strong> local body reservations for women from 33% to 50%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nari Shakti-led Development: <\/strong>A policy framework that integrates women\u2019s empowerment across education, entrepreneurship, and leadership.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/national-policy-for-women\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/national-policy-for-women\/\">National Policy for Women (2016)<\/a>:<\/strong> It emphasizes leadership development and political empowerment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Training and capacity-building programs<\/strong> for elected women representatives through institutions like the <strong>National Institute of Rural Development.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital literacy and financial inclusion schemes<\/strong> such as Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDISHA), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Stand-Up India, and NRLM Self-Help Groups which indirectly support women\u2019s civic engagement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Enhance Party Democracy: <\/strong>Promote greater transparency and internal democracy within political parties to ensure women have a fair chance at leadership roles and ticket allocation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Civic Education: <\/strong>Expand civic education and institutional reforms to dismantle the socio-economic barriers that hinder women&#8217;s entry into politics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Reforms: <\/strong>Institutionalize gender audits within political parties and election commissions to monitor and enforce gender equality in their functioning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/andhra-pradesh-governor-says-india-lags-behind-in-the-participation-of-women-in-politics\/article70053450.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recently, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh emphasized a critical gap in the nation\u2019s political landscape at the first national conference on parliamentary and legislative committees on the empowerment of women.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Women\u2019s Political Participation: Current Landscape<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">According to UN Women, only 27.2% of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women, up from 11% in 1995.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">In India, women hold 14.7% of seats in Lok Sabha, but still far below the global average of 26.5% and ministerial representation is even lower, hovering around 10\u201311%.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">In State Assemblies, women\u2019s representation varies widely, often falling below 10%.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Chhattisgarh leads with 19 women MLAs, while Himachal Pradesh has just one, and Mizoram has none.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-09-2025\/women-political-participation-in-india\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54272"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54412,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54272\/revisions\/54412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}