The Government of India has adopted a ‘whole-of-government’ and ‘whole-of-society’ approach to advance the holistic empowerment of women, including political empowerment. Through constitutional safeguards, legislative reforms, and targeted policy interventions, sustained efforts are being made to enhance women’s participation in governance and political leadership.
The constitutional vision of equality under Articles 14 and 15(3), read with universal suffrage under Article 326, provides the normative foundation for equal participation of women in politics. While universal suffrage was guaranteed at the inception of the Republic, the question of equal representation of women in legislative institutions has gained increasing importance. Despite substantial gains, women continue to constitute a minority in most parliamentary bodies and are underrepresented in top political leadership positions. With 2024 widely described as the ‘biggest year for democracy’, as nearly 45 per cent of the global population either voted, or prepared to vote, the question of women’s representation in politics and leadership roles has acquired renewed importance.
In independent India, women exercised the right to vote from the first general elections in 1951-52. However, representation in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies has historically remained far from satisfactory. The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023, formally the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023, popularly known as the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, marks a historic milestone by reserving one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, including the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Dehi.
This provision, however, will be implemented only after the completion of the next Census and the subsequent delimitation exercise and is, therefore, expected to take effect from 2029.
India’s experience must be viewed within a wider global context that include approaches, such as voluntary party quotas, legislated parliamentary quotas, and constitutionally mandated parliamentary reservations.
Global Context and the Long Road to Representation
The expansion of women’s political rights has been gradual and uneven across countries, with universal suffrage virtually non-existent for both men and women until the mid-19th century. Over time, men in several countries gained voting rights while women remained excluded.
New Zealand became the world’s first country to extend voting rights to women in 1893, followed by the USA in 1920, through the 19th Amendment to its constitution, and the United Kingdom granted equal voting rights in 1928.
By the onset of the Second World War, men had the right to vote in about one out of three countries, while women did so in only one out of six. Discriminatory laws were gradually repealed and the universal suffrage became the democratic norm in most countries.
Countries such as Rwanda crossed the 50 per cent mark for women’s representation in Parliament in 2008 and continue to lead globally with 61 per cent representation in the Lower House following the 2023–24 elections. Yet, globally, the proportion of countries led by women remains below 10–13 per cent. This divergence between legal equality and actual representation reflects the structural barriers embedded within the party systems, electoral framework and socio-economic norms. Only a few countries have women constituting about half of all representatives and, as of 2026, nearly 60 countries had 20 per cent or less women in Parliament and a few countries still have none. India’s experience must therefore be situated within this international debate between voluntary party quotas and constitutionally mandated reservations.
India’s Constitutional Promise and Parliamentary Experience
The share of female members in the Lok Sabha remained between 5 per cent and 10 per cent until 2004, rose to 12 per cent in 2014 and stands at around 14 per cent following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections (78 women MPs out of 543 seats in 2019; 74 women MPs elected in 2024). State legislative assemblies fare worse, with a national average of around 9 per cent.
At present, there are 42 women members in Rajya Sabha, accounting for roughly 17 per cent of the House. This is a significant rise from 13 members from 1952. Among parties with more than 10 seats in the Lok Sabha, 42 per cent of Biju Janta Dal (BJD) MPs and 39 per cent Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs are women, while in the Rajya Sabha, 17 per cent of Congress MPs are women. No state however, has more than 20 per cent women in its Assembly. Chhattisgarh had the highest share at 18 per cent while Himachal Pradesh has only one female MLA and Mizoram have none. Attendance data shows that both men and women have more than 75 per cent attendance in the Lok Sabha and there is no significant difference in educational qualifications between male and female legislators.
Although incremental progress is evident, the gap between formal political equality and legislative representation persists. The difference between descriptive representation, i.e., presence in terms of numbers and substantive representation, i.e. effective influence in decision-making, remains a primary concern to assess democratic path.
Local Governance and the Impact of the 73rd and 74th Amendments
The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992–93 marked a transformative moment by providing one-third reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities. Some 21 states have since increased this reservation to 50 per cent. At present, there are about 14.5 lakh elected women representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), constituting nearly 46 per cent of all elected representatives, a figure described as unparalleled in the world.
Empirical research over the past three decades indicates that reservation at the local level has significantly altered political socialising patterns. Although initial years witnessed instances of proxy representation—commonly referred to as the ‘sarpunch pati’ phenomenon—longitudinal studies indicated that elected women representatives have, over time, asserted their presence despite interference from male family members. The government has launched initiatives such as the Sashakt Panchayat-Netri Abhiyan to further strengthen women elected representatives by focusing on leadership acumen, decision-making capabilities, and their role in grassroots governance. Specialised training modules and a ‘Prime on Law Addressing Gender Based Violence and Harmful Practices’ for Panchayat Elected Representatives have also been prepared. The Model Women-Friendly Gram Panchayat Initiative seeks to establish at least one such Gram Panchayat in each district, incorporating gender-sensitive budgeting, grievance redressal mechanisms, and safe public spaces.
Additionally, over 10 crore women are associated with nearly 90 lakh Self-Help Groups, transforming the rural landscape economically and assuming greater leadership of women at the grassroots level. This broader socioeconomic mobilisation situates political participation within a broader framework of women’s empowerment.
However, substantive women empowerment requires effective fiscal devolution, timely fund transfers, administrative autonomy and curbing the false representation of women in social sector. This is because evidence suggests greater prioritisation of social sector issues in women-led local bodies, entrenched patriarchal norms, informal power hierarchies, and bureaucratic dominance continue to constrain decision-making authority.
Most importantly, the local-level success in Panchayati Raj institutions has not been replicated the same way in Parliament and state legislatures, where women remain under-represented.
The Debate on Quotas and International Approaches
Across democracies, women’s representation is advanced either through voluntary party quotas or legislated candidate quotas in parliament through reservation of seats. Party quotas are seen as providing more democratic choice and flexibility, while critics of parliamentary reservation argue that it may be perceived as undermining merit and due to rotation of seats, may reduce incentives for MPs to nurture constituencies.
As of April 2024, India ranks 143 in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Monthly ranking of women in the national parliaments. The TMC has the highest proportion of women MPs in the current Lok Sabha at 38 per cent while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have around 13 per cent each. Naam Tamilar Katchi has followed a voluntary quota of 50 per cent women candidates in the last three general elections. Yet, voluntary or legislated party quotas have not yielded the desired representation, which explains why Parliament enacted the 106th Constitutional Amendment to reserve one-third of seats for women. This is expected to ensure fairer representation, increase gender sensitivity in parliamentary processes, and potentially raise the number of women ministers at the Centre and in the states.
Electoral Outcomes and Party Practices
Since the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2023, fourteen state assembly elections were held, yet women formed only about 10 per cent of candidates and a comparable share of MLAs, with statement figures ranging from 4.9 per cent to 13.9 per cent.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, merely 9.6 per cent of total candidates were women. This suggests that parties tend to support women candidates only when compelled by law. There have been some internal changes, such as efforts to include more women in party organisations and appointments of women to leadership roles in certain parties, however women continue to remain under-represented across party hierarchies.
The Rajasthan Assembly elections of 2023 exemplify this trend. Among the women candidates fielded by major parties, success rates were lower than those of male candidates and the total number of women MLAs declined compared to the previous Assembly. Constituency-level data indicated that women candidates performed relatively poorly when contesting against male candidates, a pattern linked to the persistence of voter preferences for male representatives. This helps explain party reluctance to field more women candidates and casts doubt on the effectiveness of voluntary party quotas in a first-past-the-post system.
Similar trends were observed in other states. In West Bengal, although the TMC allocated tickets to 46 women candidates in 2021, the total number of women MLAs decreased.
In Uttar Pradesh, in the 2022 state-assembly elections, the Congress allocated 40 per cent of tickets to women, but this did not translate into higher representation.
These cases demonstrate that one party adopting quotas does not necessarily incentivise others to follow the suit.
The 106th Constitutional Amendment and Implementation Challenges
In 2023, the 106th Amendment Act, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed by Parliament. The bill, introduced in September 2023, sought to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women including sub-reservation within SC/ST categories. Earlier efforts, including a Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, had lapsed. The smooth passage of the present law reflects a broad consensus.
However, the amendment’s implementation is contingent upon the next census and the subsequent delimitation exercise. Delimitation has been frozen since 1976 to ensure a level-playing field for states that controlled population growth. Southern states, which have done better on women’s empowerment indicators, may lose seats if delimitation is undertaken. This raises concerns about whether the law respects the states powers, ensures fairness to women, and raise doubts if it is legal to make a law that will work only if specific happens in future. There is also debate over whether a law could be contingent upon a future event and whether such conditionality delays substantive equality.
Political Empowerment, Capacity Building, and Social Context
Legal reforms are necessary but they are not sufficient. Deeply embedded social norms continue to influence women’s effectiveness within political institutions. A survey indicates that women spend substantially more time on unpaid domestic and care work than men, that limits their capacity for public life.
Programmes, such as the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Scheme in Tamil Nadu seek to recognise unpaid labour through monthly cash transfers and complementary measures, such as free bus passes to enhance mobility of women.
As women’s representation increases under the new law, capacity building for first-time representatives has become essential. International examples, such as EMILYs List in the US, demonstrate how mentorship and support can sustain women in politics. In India, the role of bodies, such as the National Commission for Women and the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women needs strengthening in order to ensure that the reservation does not remain merely symbolic.
Measuring Gaps and the Global Index
India ranks 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, with a parity score of 64.1 per cent to 64.4 per cent. While performance in economic participation, education, and health has been stable or marginally improved, political empowerment remains the weakest area. Female representation in Parliament and ministerial roles has declined in recent years, pulling down the overall score. This underlines that political will, rather than legal compulsion alone, remains critical for achieving gender parity in political institutions.
Conclusion
The trajectory of women’s political participation in India reflects a complex interplay between constitutional ideals, electoral practices, party structures, and social realities. From universal suffrage to grassroots level of reservation and now parliamentary quota reform, India has progressively expanded the architecture of inclusion of women in parliament and state assemblies.
The 106th Constitutional Amendment marks a decisive institutional shift, though its implementation awaits the Census and delimitation. Electoral outcomes reveal persistent gaps between intent and results, while broader social and economic constraints continue to shape women’s political participation.
Together, sustained legal reform, institutional support and sustained capacity building will determine whether India moves towards a more representative Parliament and State legislatures in the years ahead.
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