Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023

• Proposed reservation: 33.33% of Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly seats for women.
• Mandates 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies, and Delhi Assembly.
• Also reserves one third of seats for women within the existing SC and ST reservations.
• Seats reserved on a rotational basis; reservations cease after 15 years.

Criticism of the Bill:

• Complexity of implementation schedule.
• Effective only after delimitation and post Census figures are published, no clear election cycle specified.
• Excludes Rajya Sabha and state legislative councils, leading to underrepresentation of women.
• Historical criticisms against reservation for women:
• Risk of tokenism.
• Potential resistance and backlash.
• Limited impact on broader societal norms.
• Intersectionality concerns.
• Need to address systemic gender equality issues.

Significance of the Bill

• Promotes gender equality and empowers women.
• Increases political participation of women at all government levels.
• Ensures women’s voices on important issues.
• Provides role models for women and girls.
• Challenges traditional gender roles and stereotypes.
• Contributes to better governance and development.
• Addresses gender disparities in various sectors.
• Demonstrates commitment to international obligations.
• Encourages political parties to promote women leaders.

Global Perspective

• Women occupy 26.7% of parliamentary seats and 35.5% of local government positions globally.
• India’s move can positively impact global gender representation.
• India, as an IPU member, has 14.44% women representation in the Lok Sabha.
• As of October 2021, women represent 10.5% of total Parliament members according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) data.