Politics of Women’s Reservation in India

All over the world, women’s under-representation in politics has become a political issue, as this article has tried to shown. During the last two decades, a large number of countries have been introduced quotas for women’s reservation in public decision-making bodies. In the 19th century, women’s question has brought as cultural project in social reform movement in India. After the independence women’s question was subverted under the nationalist project. While Indian Constitution has provided women with important rights---- equality for women within the legal processes, right to vote etc ----- the implementation of these rights was patchy and lacked state commitment. Further, secular character of the Indian state has been challenged by personal laws especially by Muslim Minority. This created a situation where the Indian Constitution reflects unequal gender relations on the one hand while state rhetoric continues to insist upon equality between men and women irrespective of caste, class, creed etc on the other. By 1992, 73 rd and 74 th amendments to the Indian Constitution ratified 1/3 women’s reservation in rural and urban democratic bodies. However, women’s reservation bill of the proposed (108 th Amendment of the Indian Constitution), is still pending due to political consensus. In conclusion, it is argued that women’s reservation are to fulfil their potential for addressing women’s exclusion from political life, women’s struggle need to focus on women’s effective political representation in near future