"What a gift it would be if in the centenary year of International Women's Day the Women's Reservation Bill were to be passed." Despite the noble intentions, the bill couldn't be passed in Rajya Sabha today. It is unfair to say that the issues raised by the opponents are not genuine. But in any case, women - whether they belong to upper castes or lower castes or middle castes - should be represented equally or adequately.
What does the bill say?
- The Bill seeks to reserve, as nearly as possible, one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies (including Delhi). The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by Parliament.
- As nearly as possible, one third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies shall be reserved for SC/ST women.
- Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of the Act.
- Reserved seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the state or union territory. If a state or union territory has only one seat in the Lok Sabha, that seat shall be reserved for women in the first general election of every cycle of three elections. If there are two seats, each shall be reserved once in a cycle of three elections. Similar rules apply for seats reserved for SC/STs. Of the two seats in the Lok Sabha reserved for Anglo Indians, one will be reserved for women in each of the two elections in a cycle of three elections.
- Opponents argue that it would perpetuate the unequal status of women since they would not be perceived to be competing on merit. They also contend that this policy diverts attention from the larger issues of electoral reform such as criminalisation of politics and inner party democracy.
- Reservation of seats in Parliament restricts choice of voters to women candidates. Therefore, some experts have suggested alternate methods such as reservation in political parties and dual member constituencies.
- Rotation of reserved constituencies in every election may reduce the incentive for an MP to work for his constituency as he may be ineligible to seek re-election from that constituency.
- Reservation would not lead to political empowerment of women because (a) larger issues of electoral reforms such as measures to check criminalisation of politics, internal democracy in political parties, influence of black money, etc. have not been addressed.
- it could lead to election of “proxies” or relatives of male candidates.
The proponents of the policy of reservation state that although equality of the sexes is enshrined in the Constitution, it is not the reality. Therefore, vigorous affirmative action is required to improve the condition of women. Also, there is evidence that political reservation has increased redistribution of resources in favour of the groups which benefit from reservation. A study about the effect of reservation for women in panchayats shows that women elected under the reservation policy invest more in the public goods closely linked to women’s concerns. A 2008 study, commissioned by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, reveals that a sizeable proportion of women representatives perceive an enhancement in their self-esteem, confidence and decision-making ability.
What is quota within quota issue?
To put it simple, quota within quota means, "sub-reservation for STs, SCs, OBCs and Minority communities within the 33 percent quota."
The main political parties who oppose the bill say that, the bill is a conspiracy by the Congress and the BJP to prevent Muslims, backwards and Dalits to get elected to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. Contending that the reservation would benefit only upper caste women, they have demanded a separate quota for OBC women. On this issue, PMK has given a written view that,
“...this means that within seats reserved for Scheduled Castes men one third seats will be reserved for SC women. This implies that other women belonging to Backward Classes, Minorities and other weaker sections of the society, who now enjoy benefits under various Government programmes such as education, employment, development programmes are deprived of political reservation. This is against the concept of equality and runs contrary to Constitutional provisions. It discriminates between women of different groups and will enable increased representation of only women from upper castes, which would perpetuate the already raging disparities among women. This unjust situation has to be remedied...."Noting that, "not a single Muslim was elected to Parliament from states like Gujarat, MP, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana", the opponents say, "how can a Muslim woman could be elected without reservation? This bill is dangerous as women have been included in reservation being extended to Muslims, OBCs and SC/ST. If this bill is enacted, especially Muslims and OBCs would be at the receiving end."
Under this context it is interesting to note what Nationalist Congress Party has to say,
"...we don’t find any need for reasons for special quota for OBC within the women’s quota as suggested from certain quarters. Now there are 429 seats excluding reserved seats for SC/ST category in the Parliament. There is no reservation for OBC in the abovementioned existing unreserved seats. But still there is good representation for OBC category in the Parliament at present. Same is the case of OBC category in the State Assemblies as well....."The way forward
If one takes a closer look at various opinions noted in the Parliamentary standing committee report, it is abundantly clear that, there is some truth in what the opponent parties like RJD and SP are saying. It may be foolishness to think of women empowerment if only women from political houses enter the houses of parliament and assemblies. The very idea of women reservation is to give opportunity to those who may not get that opportunity under normal circumstances. Reservation for women belonging Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribes in local bodies have given a fruitful results (with some exceptions though). It is the responsibility of the government to address these genuine concerns and those concerns are too big to be ignored.
But in any case it is important for us to note what National Federation of Indian Women says, "we want reservation for women, they may belong to upper castes or lower castes or middle castes. We won’t mind, but women should be represented equally or adequately....... we cannot reject the Bill on any of these issues that are being raised and sought to be solved within the ambit of the Bill."
Some are of the opinion that, "Women's reservation bill itself is a bias towards women" and they would be happier "if women could stand up for their rights on the basis of merit, and not on the basis of reservations." True, but they must understand that the equality of opportunity must be seen in historical and constitutional context (follow the link for more on that). There was a time when women expected nothing but oppression and discrimination in the society. Today, there is a need for "positive discrimination" for attaining gender equality.
"Reservation may be a blunt instrument, but no one has suggested anything better." Do you think of any better alternatives to reservation so that "good things" that come out of reservation can still be retained?
Also Read:
- Women's Reservation Bill - Not yet a dead letter "again"
- Women's Reservation Bill - The end of U turn?
- Women's Reservation Bill: Parliament set to create history
- Gender-less democracies - The Hindu.
This post has used the data and analysis already made by PRS Legislative Research.


