Kiru
Reservation for women in legislative bodies and in service
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” - B.R. Ambedkar.
Introduction:
Women represent more than half of the world's population and just less than half of the global electorate. Nevertheless, women constitute a marginal proportion of representatives in the world's legislative bodies.
A rare annual increase of nearly one percentage point in the global average number of women members of parliament (MPs) in 2012 has underlined once again that quotas remain pivotal to efforts redressing the gender deficit in politics.
According to the Inter –Parliamentary Union annual analysis on the statistics on women MPs ahead of International Women’s Day (8th March), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) found 2012 represented a year of higher than usual level of progress on women’s political participation. The global average of women in parliaments by the end of 2012 stood at 20.3 per cent, up from 19.5 per cent in 2011. With the exception of 2007, the average annual rate of increase in recent years has been 0.5 percentage point.
Indian Perspective:
In India, normatively, women have been given an exalted position in society. During ancient times they were treated at equal with men even in political and philosophical spheres. However, down the centuries, the position of women in society disintegrated and politically they were pushed to the background. It was only in the twentieth century, particularly during the freedom movement under the charismatic leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, that involvement of women was accepted as the natural course in India. In fact, Gandhiji’s notions and approach towards the role of women in the freedom struggle stood in sharp contrast to
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” - B.R. Ambedkar.
Introduction:
Women represent more than half of the world's population and just less than half of the global electorate. Nevertheless, women constitute a marginal proportion of representatives in the world's legislative bodies.
A rare annual increase of nearly one percentage point in the global average number of women members of parliament (MPs) in 2012 has underlined once again that quotas remain pivotal to efforts redressing the gender deficit in politics.
According to the Inter –Parliamentary Union annual analysis on the statistics on women MPs ahead of International Women’s Day (8th March), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) found 2012 represented a year of higher than usual level of progress on women’s political participation. The global average of women in parliaments by the end of 2012 stood at 20.3 per cent, up from 19.5 per cent in 2011. With the exception of 2007, the average annual rate of increase in recent years has been 0.5 percentage point.
Indian Perspective:
In India, normatively, women have been given an exalted position in society. During ancient times they were treated at equal with men even in political and philosophical spheres. However, down the centuries, the position of women in society disintegrated and politically they were pushed to the background. It was only in the twentieth century, particularly during the freedom movement under the charismatic leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, that involvement of women was accepted as the natural course in India. In fact, Gandhiji’s notions and approach towards the role of women in the freedom struggle stood in sharp contrast to