The Women’s Reservation Bill seems to have been forgotten

Even as the debate rages on the need for protecting women in the country, the long pending issue of the Women's Reservation Bill seems to have been put on the backburner.

The Bill was first drafted in the Lok Sabha on September 12, 1996, by the Deve Gowda Government. It was then introduced in March 2010.

The Bill, having been passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, can become a law only if it is also passed in the Lok Sabha.

Proposed to provide reservation for women at each level of legislative decision-making, the Bill ensured that one-third of the total available seats would be reserved for women in national, state and local governments.

But why is that 12 years after its drafting, the Bill has still not seen the light of day? Why is it that a move to promote gender equality in decision-making bodies has not been allowed to get implemented?

Politicians camouflage their vested interests with the argument that the Bill would deny adequate representation for the backward sections of society. What they propose is a quota within a quota for certain classes.

India ranks 109 in the world classification of Women in National Parliaments, with 11 per cent in the Lower House and 10.6 in the Upper House.

This distressing state of affairs is an outcome of the continuous failure of women’s welfare policies. Most of them fail to take off due to improper planning at the grassroot level. Corruption and nepotism threaten to eat into the little good that has been done for women’s empowerment in this country.

That the socio-economic condition of women will improve only if they are also a part of the governing process is a fact that is widely accepted the world over. In spite of this realisation, gender sensitivity in administration is still struggling to get a foothold because of the general fear that women might surpass men in all spheres and also intrude in their political affairs, which is largely considered to be a male domain.

The individuals who oppose the Bill tooth and nail should be made to arrive at a consensus in the interest of the nation.

The Government must be gutsy enough to ensure the Bill is passed even if it is at the cost of losing its allies.

Only a nation which has empowered its women to be a part of all forms of governance can achieve true liberation and economic success. This can come about only by enacting the Women's Reservation Bill.

(Sahana graduated from Madha Engineering College, Anna University, Chennai, before joining the New Media stream at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.)

COMMENT NOW