Almost half of India’s 900 million voters are women, but the number of woman lawmakers in Lok Sabha account to just 14%. This gives us the dismal rank of 143 out of 192 countries for which data are reported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Over the years_Female Participation:

• In the first-ever election, only 5% of the House consisted of women.
• Over the years, out of 15 Prime Ministers, Smt. Indira Gandhi was the only female Prime Minister.
• Similarly Smt. Pratibha Patil was the only female President out of all the 14 President of India
• Analysing on a regional level, the number of female chief ministers of India is just 16 and there

is only one incumbent female Chief Minister in India now

Legislative Provisions

• India in 1994 established quotas in constitutional amendments (73rd and 74th) to reserve 33% of seats in local governments for women
• The Women’s Reservation Bill (108th amendment) has been introduced in the national parliament to reserve 33% of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats for women. The bill has yet to be passed

Why Women should be represented :

• India’s vulnerable society consists of women, children. Better policies and
  implementation is possible if women are selected.
• The chances of corruption is comparatively less.
• It will further empower women

Measures to be taken :

1) Passing the 1/3rd reservation rule for Central and state legislature
2) For the PRI’s, though the women are selected, the prevalence of Sarpanch Pati system exists,
Hence strict action and awareness has to be taken.
3) Awareness to general public to let women into politics

Over 600 women have been legislators since 1962. Of the 543 constituencies, about half (48.4%) have never voted a woman MP since 1962. As many as 280 constituencies have voted at least one woman MP. This shows the grim nature of our country and this has to be changed through nudge policies and strong legislative actions