Reservation for women in the country’s legislatures is now a step closer to becoming reality. This is set to change the arithmetic and chemistry of state assemblies across the country.
Once the constitutional amendment comes into force, the number of women in the Maharashtra assembly is certain to rise from 11 to 96 in a house of 288. Reluctant political bosses, who often dismissed the role of women in the assembly as “ornamental”, will be forced to give 33% of the space to them.
The women’s reservation bill, which was approved in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, will now require the mandate of the Lok Sabha. Once it is passed with a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, it would be forwarded to assemblies across the country for ratification. Officials in the Election Commission and constitutional experts said more than half the states and Union territories would have to support the bill. Then the bill would be placed before the president for her consent.
As the Congress, BJP and the left parties together constitute an overwhelming majority in the 28 states and seven Union territories, a positive mandate for the bill is almost a certainty.
Once the president gives her assent to the bill, it would become law. In Maharashtra, however, the earliest date for introducing the change would be 2014, when the tenure of the current assembly expires.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan described Tuesday’s developments as a “big leap forward” in the empowerment of women in electoral politics.
State NCP vice-president Bharati Lovekar said, “The biggest challenge for any woman was to get the right opportunity. The reservation provides the platform from where women will get a chance to prove their merit.”
The state, which championed a comprehensive policy on women in 1994, has so far not been able to give women their due in political or social sectors. The Democratic Front government with 42 cabinet ministers has only two women members, Varsha Gaikwad (Congress) and Fauzia Khan (NCP).
At the grassroots there are more than 10 lakh women engaged in various social and political activities. But none of the mainstream parties have given them proportional representation.
The scenario is much the same in the bureaucracy. Additional chief minister (home) Chandra Iyengar said women account just 7% of the state’s police force. In the civic bodies and state administration, numbers are better (15-30%), but top posts remain a distant dream. Despite its progressive image, Maharashtra is yet to have a woman chief secretary or a woman police chief in Mumbai.
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