Women's share in Houses rarely crosses half of 33%, Pg16

Key Highlights:

• The Lok Sabha rejected a Bill to reserve 33% of seats in legislatures for women.
• Women's representation in the 18th Lok Sabha (2024-29) is 13.8% (75 out of 543 MPs).
• The highest representation was in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24) at 14.4% (78 out of 543 MPs).
• Chhattisgarh is the only state with over 15% women MLAs (21.1%).
• India ranks 147th globally in women's representation in Lower Houses.

Detailed Insights:

• The share of women in Lok Sabha has seen a gradual increase, but it took 15 general elections to reach a double-digit percentage.
• Rajya Sabha currently has about 16% women MPs (39 out of 245).
• Among parties with at least 10 MPs, only Trinamool Congress exceeds the 33% mark in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• As many as 19 Assemblies have less than 10% women, including states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Karnataka.
• Globally, countries with gender quotas and proportional representation systems have higher female representation in parliaments.
• The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) report indicates that progress in women's representation in parliament has slowed in recent years.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Lok Sabha: The Lower House of the Indian Parliament, directly elected by the people.
• Rajya Sabha: The Upper House of the Indian Parliament, with members indirectly elected.
• Gender Quotas: Policies that set a specific percentage or number of seats to be reserved for women in legislatures.