'Parties must inspire women to be involved in politics for reservation Bill to succeed'

Women's reservation bill

Professor Sanjay Kumar, Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), told Moneycontrol that to ensure the effectiveness of the Women’s Reservation Bill, political parties must start motivating women to take part in active party politics.

He noted that they should not restrict women to softer positions.
“Parties need to give at least 1/3rd of tickets to women candidates. To get these numbers, parties should start motivating women to take an active part in party politics.”

He stated that to make women candidates win elections, parties should start involving them in active politics right from the beginning.

Noting that the political parties have a decade to prepare for the women’s reservation Bill’s implementation, (REPHRASED. IS IT OK?) said, “This would make women politicians motivated and effective to contest elections and be seen as strong candidates.”

Former MP of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev, who participated in the panel discussion with Kumar, weighed in, saying, “Women are generally seen to handle softer positions; this must be done away with.” She noted that parties must concentrate on capacity building to field the requisite number of women candidates.

Dev noted that the ability to make a woman candidate win the elections, or ‘winnability’ is very important for the Bill to be effective. Hence, parties should start giving women more responsibilities and positions to succeed in elections.

According to Dev, like any other walk of life, politics is very competitive, and there are gender biases within political parties. She said, “Unless there is a reservation Bill, you cannot ensure that women get enough representation in parliament. Irrespective of who wins, a woman goes into parliament.”

Dev said, “The significant place for a woman to be a policymaker is to be in the parliament or the assembly. Everyone supports the fact that there should be more affirmative action for women's representation in government.”Women’s Reservation Bill

The Women's Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, was passed by both houses of parliament in the special session that concluded on September 22.

The current Lok Sabha comprises a total of 542 members, of which 78 (14.39 percent) are women. In 2022, in response to a question in parliament, the government said that the average number of women MLAs in state assemblies across the country is a mere 8 percent.

However, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal recently indicated that the women’s reservation Bill will be implemented after the delimitation process that is set to take place after 2026.

Watch the entire pane discussion here