Part 4

Part 4

the occasion of International Women's Day 2015. It emphasizes national governments to

make national commitments to address the challenges that are holding women back from

reaching their full potential. This is programme is initiated by UN WOMEN.

Amartya Sen in his book, "India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity", observed

that, "Women's empowerment can positively influence the lives not only of women themselves but also

of men, and of course, those of children."

Political parties cannot remain indifferent towards women who constitute 586.5 million

population in India and nearly 48.46 percent of the electorate (2011 Census).

Former Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill's proposal was to make it mandatory for all political

parties to nominate at least a-third of women candidates for the seats deserves to be commended.

Politicians are not prepared to accept the principle of representation within their own parties, what

moral right do they have to advocate reserving parliamentary constituencies for women.

The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women's social, economic and

political status is essential for the achievement of both transparent along with accountable government

Women, Governance and Politics

Approaches to Increase Women's Democratic Participation &

Recommendations made at Different Global Meets regarding Women's Political Participation

as well as administration and sustainable development in all areas of life. Achieving the goal of equal

participation of women and men in decision-making will provide a balance that more accurately

reflects the composition of society and is needed in order to strengthen democracy furthermore

promote its proper functioning.

Equality in political decision-making performs an influential function without which it is highly

doubtful that a real integration of the equality dimension in government policy-making is viable. In this

respect, women's equal participation in political life plays a crucial role in the general process of the

advancement of women. Women's equal participation in decision making is not only a demand for

simple justice or democracy but can also be seen as a necessary condition for women's interests to be

taken into account. Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women's

perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be

achieved.

Globally, only 10 per cent of the members of legislative bodies and lower percentage of ministerial

positions are now held by women. Although women make up at least half of the electorate in almost all

countries and have attained the right to vote and hold office in almost all States Members of the United

Nations, they still continue to be seriously underrepresented as candidates for public office.

Milbrath and Goel observed that it is a tradition in almost all societies that politics is mainly an affair

of men and that women should fall in line with them politically. Women in politics and decision-

making positions in governments and legislative bodies contribute to redefining political priorities,

placing new items on the political agenda that reflects and address women's gender-specific concerns,

values and experiences, and providing new perspectives on conventional political issues.

Women, Governance and Politics

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5. Recommendations made at different Global Meets regarding Women's

Political Participation

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on 10th December, 1948, its Article 1,

proclaimed that, "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights". Article 2 provide for

equality of sexes. It declares that "everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of

sex." It is considered as a clarion call for the cause of women empowerment.

The U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women which is

considered as the Human Rights Bill of Women (CEDAW) came into being in 1979. This treaty

upholds the following rights of women:-

(i) Their right to vote in all general elections and referendums and to be elected to general

assemblies.

(ii) Their right to participate in the formulation, implementation of governmental policies and

to hold public offices, and

(iii) Their right to participate in non-governmental and socio-political organisation.

Women from the South began to organize around the impact of the economic crisis of the 1970s

caused by high prices of food grain and oil in the international market and a downturn in the global

economy. Their work led to the establishment of a network of southern women known as Development

Alternatives with Women for New Era (DAWN). DAWN is not only engaged in political advocacy,

using feminist knowledge, it also publishes analyses of the impact of global economic policy on

southern countries, focusing on southern women.

Further, adoption of the Gender Development Index (GDI) by the UN Human Development

Programme in 1995 was a significant step in helping to formulate policies to improve women's well

Women, Governance and Politics

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being. Another important step towards gender equality was the adoption by the UN and other

international intergovernmental organizations of a policy called gender mainstreaming. Gender

mainstreaming requires organizations that adopt it to evaluate the gendered effects of all aspects of

their institutional decision-making.

Milestones in Women's organizing

1975 First United Nations World Conference on Women, Mexico City, Mexico.

1976-85 UN Decade for Women.

1979 The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women

(CEDAW) adopted by the UN General Assembly.

1980 Second UN World Conference on Women, Copenhagen, Denmark

1985 UN World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for

Women Nairobi, Kenya.

1995 Fourth UN World Conference on Women, Beijing, China.

1996 Gender Mainstreaming adopted as official UN Policy by the UN General Assembly.

2000 Women 2000 : Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st century, also

known as 'Beijing + 5'. Held at UN headquarters, New York, USA.

2005 Review and Appraisal of the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing and Beijing

+ 5, Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), 49th Session, United Nations, New

York, USA

In 1996, the International Labour Organisation adopted a convention that set international

standards for the type of home based work. Pressure for adoption began with the organizing and

lobbying efforts of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a Trade Union based in

India composed of women engaged in small-scale trade and home-based work.

Women, Governance and Politics

Approaches to Increase Women's Democratic Participation &

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The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) is a women's labour union founded in 1972

in the city of Ahmedabad, India. It has grown into a community based movement organizing self-

employed women in 13 Indian states into labour unions, a lending cooperative, education, and

community-based empowerment initiative. It has also advocated for and achieved policy changes

in national and international forums.

At the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993), governments acknowledged that

women's rights are human rights and headed the evidence of widespread violence against women. At

the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Jainiero (1992) world leaders

accepted women's vital role in achieving sustainable development.

At global level, the Commission on the Status of Women was one of the first bodies

established by the United Nations after its foundation. It is responsible for organizing four World

Conferences on Women. They have contributed in strengthening the legal, economic, social and

political dimensions of the role of women.

5.1 Beijing Conference

The fourth world conference on women took place in Beijing in September 1995 followed by

Beijing +5 held in Geneva in 2000. Delegate discussed and adopted the Beijing Declaration and

Platform for Action. They also heard plenary statements and commitments from member states

regarding the actions they would take to promote equality, development and peace in world and with

the concern of the women of the world.

The theme of the Beijing Conference was "Action for Equality, Development and Peace". Aung San

Sun Kyi delivered the keynote address. Beijing Platform for Action aims at accelerating the

implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women and at

Women, Governance and Politics

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removing all the obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life

through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making.

The strategic objectives were to :

1. Take measures to ensure women's equal access and full participation in power structures and

decision-making.

2. Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership.

3. Women and the Media diagnosis emphasized on the strategic objective to increase the

participation and access of women to expression and decision making in and through the media

and new technologies.

4. Further, the girl-child diagnosis emphasized on the strategic objective to promote the girl-

child's awareness and participation in social, economic and political life.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action :-

The attainment of a consensus agreement on the platform for Action, which deals with,

identifies, analyzes, and invites action by Governments, was one baseline of success for some

participants.

Many saw this conference as a platform to consolidate and reaffirm commitments made at other

UN conferences in a single document focused on the role of women.

Delegates declared that systematic rape during armed conflict is a war crime and, in some

cases, a crime against humanity. They recognized the rights of women to exercise control over their

sexual and reproductive health and decision-making. Recognition was made that parental rights and

responsibilities must be qualified to ensure that adolescents and children enjoy respect, privacy and

access to counseling and other health-oriented facilities when required and that the best interests of the

child are a primary consideration.

Women, Governance and Politics

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Conference of Commitment :- This conference became a "Conference of Commitments". Credit goes

to a 1994 Australian proposal, supported by NGOs, to invite participating states to use their plenary

speeches to announce undertakings consisted with the objectives of the Platform for Action. The idea

gathered importance during the 39th session of the Platform for Action.

The Global process : There is a sense that women will not only be seen to take power but use it to

participate in a re-definition of economic, political and social life and re-make peace and development

in the image of a more balanced and just humanity.

Between Nairobi and Beijing, the women's agenda became a gender agenda. It was emphasized

that men's opportunities for different roles as nurturers must also be enhanced. The transition to a

universal agenda was captured in Beijing by the reaffirmation of women's rights as human rights. The

fourth world conference on women is a product of the UN system's advanced thinking on women's

issues, which has contributed to a recognition that gender is an indispensable component of its cross-

cutting programme of world conferences on the environment, population, human rights, and social and

economic development.

For the member states, the UN conferences on women (Mexico 1975, Nairobi 1985) and

agreements (Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979)

serve as a powerful mechanism, mediating between the demands of a worldwide network of women's

movements in civil society and national legislators. Government's attitudes toward women's

participation and the politics of gender vary immensely, as was witnessed during the Beijing

Conference.

For the vanguard of the women's movement(s), the UN process has fostered the

internationalization of their issues and provided unique opportunities for face-to-face networking,

agenda development and mobilization. It is interested in accessing and influencing both the

intergovernmental negotiations at the formal conference and maintaining their power to mobilize and

exchange ideas.

Women, Governance and Politics

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Nevertheless, those who have followed the process, reported that, issues that were once beyond the

pale for some delegations at international forum, including domestic violence and sexual rights are

now firmly on the agenda. The UN is currently conducting a review of its procedures for NGO access

to its negotiations. The evolving relationship between NGOs and the UN reflects the more global

movement in which women are setting their own agenda, taking action and encouraging governments

to follow.

In the Chapter IV of the Platform for Action, one of Section G is entitled as Decision making. This

Section notes that women's equal participation in decision-making and political life plays a pivotal role

in the advancement of women. Women are under-represented at most levels of the government and in

decision-making positions in nearly all other fields. Socialization and negative stereotyping have kept

decision-making in the domain of men. Women have gained access to power through alternative

structures such as NGOs. Actors are called on to:

 Create a gender balance in government and administration;

 Integrate women into political parties;

 Recognize that shared work and parental responsibilities promote women's increased

participation in public life;

 Promote gender balance within the UN system;

 Work toward equality between women and men in the private sector;

 Establish equal access for women to training;

 Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership; and

 Increase women's participation in the electoral process and political activities.

The final text says that women's participation in decision making is needed in order to strengthen

democracy and promote its regular functioning.

Women, Governance and Politics

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In 2014, UN Women began its commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Fourth World

Conference on Women with the "Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity, Picture it!" campaign,

also called the Beijing +20 campaign.

5.2 SOUTH ASIA WATCH (SAW)

It is a Non-Profit organisation to forge a greater harmony in South Asia Region. One of its

objectives is to promote female empowerment and assist disadvantaged population. One of its

Committees, Committee on Women, Population and the Environment at Adelphi University initiates

talk about Dangerous Contraceptives.

Through Depo Diaries, Community Story telling tool, women talk about their experiences with Depo

Provera. They emphasize on End sex section. In their Newsletters the issue of Afghanistan Women's

forced chastity belts and Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women in Guatemala

and its working has been highlighted.

5.3 Asia Pacific Women's Watch (APWW)

It is a regional network of women's groups which monitors governments and non-government

organizations (NGOs) in empowering women and advancing their human rights. With the Mission of

Gender Equality, Development and Peace, APWW aims to:

 Promote gender mainstreaming in all decision-making structures.

 Disseminate information on good practices and lessons learned in advancing the status of

women.

 Enhance women's leadership in peace-making.

In August 2011, APWW Training and Steering Committee Meeting 'Joining the dots –

Exploring the economic empowerment of women in conflict affected areas – combining UNSCR 1325,

Women, Governance and Politics

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CEDAW, BPFA AND MDGs', was held at Colombo, Srilanka. The Asia Pacific NGO Group

document "Voices from Asia and the Pacific" reflects NGO's vision for the transformation of society

so as to engender structures, processes and forms of governance that would empower women and men

to work together as equal partners towards equality, democracy, sustainable development and peace. In

April 2006, APWW was called to be part of the campaign for Gender Equality in UN Reform.

5.4 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)

In the majority of countries, the political arena remains largely dominated by men. Yet this neglects a

fundamental principle of democracy, which the Inter-Parliamentary Union incorporated in the

Universal Declaration on Democracy using the following word:

Text Box : (iii)

"The achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men

and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality

and complementarily; drawing mutual enrichment from their differences."

Following data compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (1st May 2015) focused on some major

powers:

Table : 4 Percentage of Women in Lower/Upper House

Rank Country Lower or Single house Upper house

Seats Women %W Seats Women %W

1st Rwanda 80 51 63.8% 26 10 38.5%

2nd Bolivia 130 69 53.1% 36 17 47.2%

Women, Governance and Politics

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20th Germany 631 230 36.5% 69 28 40.6%

54th China 5959 699 23.6% - - -

58th United Kingdom

650 148 22.8% 791 191 24.1%

72th USA 432 84 19.4% 100 20 20.0%

105th India 543 65 12.0% 243 31 12.8%

116th Japan 475 45 9.5% - - -

According to this above data, the participation scenario is very depressing worldwide. Another study

made by IPU on 1st May 2015, reveal percentage of women in both houses and its world average is

very low.

Table : 5 WORLD AVERAGE

Both Houses Combined

Total MPs 44'943

Men 34'751

Women 9'838

Percentage of Women 22.1%

Single House or Lower House Upper House or Senate

Total MPs 38018 Total MPs 6925

Gender breakdown known for 37664 Gender breakdown known for 6925

Women, Governance and Politics

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Men 29237 Men 5514

Women 8427 Women 1411

Percentage of Women 22.4% Percentage of Women 20.4%

Regional Averages

Single House or

Upper House or

Both Houses

Lower House

Senate

combined

Nordic countries 41.3% - -

Americas 26.8% 25.8% 26.6%

Europe-OSCE member countries

25.3% 24.2% 25.1%

including Nordic countries

Europe-OSCE member countries

23.7% 24.2% 23.9%

excluding Nordic countries

Sub-Saharan Africa 22.5% 20.1% 22.2%

Asia 19.0% 13.4% 18.5%

Arab States 17.3% 7.3% 15.2%

Pacific 13.1% 36.0% 15.7%

Regions are classified by descending order of the percentage of women in the lower or single house.

However, in actual practice, one can find the progress only in procedural participation, not in the

substantive participation.

Women, Governance and Politics

Approaches to Increase Women's Democratic Participation &

Recommendations made at Different Global Meets regarding Women's Political Participation

5.5 United Nations Development Programme

UNDP through its support of various projects and forums to help, strengthen parliaments and

encourage female participation at the decision-making level. Its major recommendations are:

 Gender equality legislation can provide an important basis for promoting women's political

rights.

 Elected bodies should also review their interval procedures to ensure the inclusion of gender-

sensitive policies, including consideration of parliamentary sitting hours and the provision of

childcare and maternal facilities within parliaments.

Right now, 39 of UNDP's 68 parliamentary strengthening projects specifically promote

women's empowerment. UNDP held a workshop for women parliamentarians from 4 to 7 June 2013 at

Lesotho, to enhance their confidence and increase their participation in parliamentary debates. Major

recommendations of this meeting are:

 Women's caucus should raise awareness for women related issues in Parliament including

maternity leave, the Married Person's Equality Act and all laws of equal significance.

 Networking with other women in different Parliaments for skill sharing purposes and training

in conflict management.

In 2013, a milestone was reached in women's participation in Parliament, with one in five MPs in the

world now being female. In the same year over 300 women MPs from around the world met at the

European Parliament in Brussels for the Women in Parliaments Global Forum Summit. The discussion

in Brussels reflected on a number of factors contributing to why women are still politically under

represented, and why many still face obstacles in entering and advancing in public life. Violence in

Women, Governance and Politics

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politics, discriminatory institutional political, legislative and electoral frameworks that have

discouraged and disadvantaged women – all of these came up in the experience – sharing part of the

panel discussion.

While casting light on UNDP's comprehensive field, one can find the following work is being

implemented by UNDP Country offices:

 In Algeria, UNDP sponsored a parliamentary forum on effective and sustainable

participation of women in elected assemblies in December 2013, which facilitated the

launch of an Algerian Action Plan for women MPs.

 In Tunisia, UNDP supported Tunisian Parliamentarian's knowledge of international best

practice on gender equality, quotas and equality provisions. The new constitution of

Tunisia (adopted on 26 January 2014) is ground-breaking in its provisions to assure

women's equality.

 In Libya, UNDP facilitated intensive workshops for 180 women candidates who were

trained in media skills and electoral campaign management in advance of the General

National Congress elections; eight of these women are currently elected members of the

National Congress.

 In Argentina, UNDP helped to develop a toolkit for legislators on gender

mainstreaming,

 In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNDP assisted members of the Committee for Gender

Equality to come to an in-depth awareness of relevant international obligations and

national frameworks for the promotion of women's political participation.

 In Jordan, UNDP supported the finalization of a Gender strategy for the Independent

Electoral Commission. UNDP has also been promoting equal access for women

candidates to political parties campaign funding.

Women, Governance and Politics

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 In Nigeria, UNDP has supported the development of Nigeria's National Assembly

Gender Technical Unit (GTU), which supports gender mainstreaming and Women's

rights agenda at the Parliament.

 In Bangladesh, UNDP ensures gender messages are a central component of

parliamentary education initiatives, roundtable discussions focusing on the gender

aspects of the budget were held with parliamentary committees, and increasing their

understanding of their role in budgetary oversight from a gender perspective.

 In Pakistan, UNDP has supported the establishment of a Women's Caucus, whose aims

include cutting across party lines, allowing consensus-building around priority issues

concerning women and ensuring that gender concerns are addressed through legislation,

policies and programmes.

 In India, UNDP has called for the formation of a caucus of women political leaders

across party lines to enhance women's participation within political parties, and to

advocate for the Women's Reservation Bill. Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Country Director in

India commented, "The key ingredients of success for women's participation in politics

are money, mentoring, mobilization and men."

UNDP is cooperating with partners to host two global online knowledge platformsAGORA – the

portal on Parliamentary development and the International Knowledge Network on Women in Politics

(iKNOW Politics).

5.6 Commonwealth

Gender equality in politics is still a distant reality across the globe, with only one-third of

Commonwealth countries exceeding the global target of 30 percent women's representation in

Women, Governance and Politics

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Parliament. The 10th Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministerial Meeting Partners' Forum (10WPF)

made some recommendations:

 Stronger public-private partnerships, greater accountability and a participatory framework for

policy making that include the voices of women entrepreneurs.

 Active participation of women in economic decision-making, as well as women's full and equal

participation in public and political life that results in equitable outcomes for all.

The 10th Commonwealth Women's Affairs Forum also acknowledges the improvements made by some

countries in addressing the rights of women and girls in areas such as health and education, in part due

to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A framework that can be adopted by the Commonwealth

is the UN Women and UN Global Compact Women's Empowerment Principles : Equality means

business. UNDP is currently working to strengthen Parliaments in 22 of the 53 members of the

commonwealth. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is an important partner in this work to

increase women's political participation. The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality

2005-2015 draws international commitments for the realization of women's rights.

It can be categorically stated that there has been a radical change in the scenario of women's

political participation at global level. Recognition is dawning that women are indeed becoming a

political force, both nationally and internationally. Although many countries have attempted to build

women organizations to secure their support and make their organizations more broad-based, but in

practice they have fielded much less proportion of women candidates in their elections giving them

proportionately much less representation in the legislative bodies than their actual population strength.

If we have to break the current political stalemate, we have to change the mindset, keeping in view the

gap between the myth and reality of women's participation in politics.

Women, Governance and Politics

Approaches to Increase Women's Democratic Participation &

Recommendations made at Different Global Meets regarding Women's Political Participation

Summary

 First ever world conference on women held at Mexico in 1975, second at Copenhagen in 1980

and third at Nairobi in 1985.

 Fourth World Conference on women took place in Beijing in September 1995 followed by

Beijing +5 held in Geneva in 2000.

 South Asia Watch is a Non-Profit organization to forge a greater harmony in South Asia

Region. One of its objectives is to promote female empowerment.

 Asia Pacific Women's Watch is a regional network of Women's groups which monitors

governments and non-government organizations in empowering women and advancing their human rights.

 Inter-Parliamentary Union compiled data on percentage of women in lower/upper houses

worldwide.

 UNDP through its support of various projects and forums to help, strengthen parliaments and

encourage female participation at the decision-making level.

 The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is an important partner in the work of

strengthening Parliaments in 22 of the 53 members of the commonwealth to increase women's political participation.

 CEDAW is considered as the Human Rights Bill of women, came into being in 1979.

 Political parties should adopt internal democratic structure. Mechanisms such as "zippered" list

should be used during elections.

 Governmental actors should ensure that political party laws and other election-related

legislation do not indirectly disadvantage women.

 International actors should assist in the training of women candidates.

 Civil society actors should develop cross party networks of women.

 Media should provide gender-sensitive coverage of elections.

Women, Governance and Politics

Approaches to Increase Women's Democratic Participation &

Recommendations made at Different Global Meets regarding Women's Political Participation

Paper-11 Module-10

Defining Political Representation

Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad

Paper Coordinator Prof Chandrakala Padia Chairperson ,IIAS, Shimla and Vice Chancellor MGS University Bikaner

Content Writer/Author (CW) Prof. Sonali Singh Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Content Reviewer (CR) Prof Chandrakala Padia Chairperson ,IIAS, Shimla and Vice Chancellor MGS University Bikaner

Language Editor (LE) Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad

Description of the Module

Women's Studies

Subject Name

Paper Name Women, Governance and Politics

Module Name Defining Political Representation.

Module Id Paper-11 Module-8

Pre-requisites The Reader is expected to have a basic understanding of the concept of state, government, elections and democracy

To make the Reader understand the notion of political representation, its key components, theories, types of representation, significance of representation and women's political representation

Objectives

Keywords Representation, democracy, elections, electoral system

Defining political representation

Introduction

Political representation is not easy to define as different scholars have tried to define it in different ways. There is a general and specific understanding of political representation. In a general sense representation means that when a group of people or individuals represents and acts on behalf of a group which is so large that all its members cannot directly participate in its deliberations, then this is the general understanding of representation. In the specific sense, political representation "is the process through which attitudes, preferences, viewpoints and desires of the entire citizenry or a part of them are, with expressed approval, shaped into government action on their behalf by a smaller number among them, with binding effect upon those represented."1 According to German social theorist, Robert Von Mohl, representation, " is the process through which the influence which the entire citizenry or a part of them have upon government action, is with their expressed approval, exercised on their behalf by a small number among them, with binding effects upon those represented".2 Hanna Pitkin provides, perhaps, one of the most straightforward definitions: to represent is simply to "make present again."3 On this definition, political representation is the activity of making citizens' voices, opinions, and perspectives "present" in the public policy-making processes. Political representation occurs when political actors speak, advocate, symbolize, and act on behalf of others in the political arena. In short, political representation is a kind of political assistance4. But there are many controversial aspects related to representation, for example what should be the objective principles to judge political representatives? Different models of representation provide different criteria for evaluating representatives. Further, there are several questions which arise: (i) what should be the autonomy of the representatives and those represented, (ii) how representatives can be made accountable to the represented, (iii) how much representatives be given freedom to act as per their discretion, (iv) under what conditions representatives can defy the opinion of the people represented etc.? Pitkin offers one of the most comprehensive discussions of the concept of political representation, pointing out its contradictory character in her The Concept of Representation.5 Pitkin maintains that in order to understand the concept of political representation, one must consider the different ways in which the term is used. Each of these different uses of the term provides a different view of the concept. Pitkin compares the concept of representation to "a rather complicated, convoluted, three–dimensional structure in the middle of a dark enclosure." Political theorists provide "flash-bulb photographs of the structure taken from different angles". From this perspective, Pitkin identifies at least four different views of representation: formalistic representation, descriptive representation, symbolic representation, and substantive representation6. Brief explanations of these different types are given below7:

Formalistic representation

This refers to the institutional arrangements that precede and initiate representation. Formal representation has two dimensions: authorization and accountability. Authorization is the means by which a representative obtains his or her standing, status, position or office. Accountability is the ability of constituents to punish their representative for failing to act in accordance with their wishes (e.g., voting an elected official out of office) or the responsiveness of the representative to the constituents.

Symbolic representation This refers to the ways that a representative "stands for" the represented — that is, the meaning that a representative has for those being represented.

Descriptive representation This means the extent to which a representative resembles those being represented.

Substantive representation This refers to the activity of representatives—that is, the actions taken on the behalf of, in the interest of, as an agent of, and as a substitute for the represented.

In recent years, there have been changes in the traditional understanding of political representation with changing national and international scenario. At the international level, with the rise of transnational actors and non-governmental associations, the influence of formal representatives has reduced in policy formulations at the national and international level. Similarly, interest groups and social bodies are also playing important role in deciding the contours of policies along with the formal representatives.

Further there have been recommendations by scholars to rethink the traditional understanding of political representation as principal-agent relationship8. For example, Melissa William recommends understanding representation as "mediation". In particular Williams identifies three dimensions of political life that representatives must "mediate": the dynamics of legislative decision-making, the nature of legislator-constituent relations, and the basis for aggregating citizens into representable constituencies. Nadia Urbinati argues for understanding representation as "advocacy". For Urbinati, the point of representation should not be the aggregation of interests but the preservation of disagreements necessary for preserving liberty. Urbinati identifies two main features of advocacy: 1. The representative's passionate link to the elector's cause and 2. The representative's relative autonomy of judgement9. Hence, it is clear from above discussions that the issue of political representation is complex and it's any single definition of is it elusive. There are myriad ways in which representation can be understood. In addition, the criteria for evaluating representatives and the principles that should define representative-represented relationships are varied.

Key Components of Political Representation

Political representation, in general exhibits the following four components10:

1. Some party that is representing (the representative, an organization, movement, state agency, etc.);

2. Some party that is being represented (the constituents, the clients, etc.);

3. Something that is being represented (opinions, perspectives, interests, discourses, etc.); and

4. A setting within which the activity of representation is taking place (the political context).

The above four components constitute the basic features of any type of political representation. The first component is the party representing, which can be not only an individual but also a group, organization, movement or even a state's agency. There are certain terms and conditions prescribed by the government for being elected as representative at local, state and national levels. Like there may be age bar on representatives for contesting elections and there can be some educational qualifications also prescribed for them. There are different ways for electing representatives and sometimes they are even nominated by the people. The second component is the people or the constituency being represented and there are various ways of representing people like through territorial division, functional or proportional representation. When each and every individual was the power of electing their representatives, it is known as a democratic form of representation. Earlier, representation was not democratic but elitist in nature as only few propertied and privileged class had the power to elect their representatives. The third component is the purpose of representation, that is what for representatives have been elected and what functions they are to perform on behalf of the constituency. It can be general welfare to the fulfillment of specific objectives or functions and also building policies for the citizens. There are different viewpoints on whether representatives should simply carry forward the interests of the people or exercise their discretion to decide what is beneficial for their constituency. The fourth component is the political setting in which representation takes place. There can be many different contexts like representation may take place in a democratic or a non-democratic set up. For certain politicized and disadvantaged communities, representation may be a big issue for carrying forward their interests and they may voice for representation amongst their own communities.

In spite of differences within all the four components of political representation, they are linked with each other as the properties of each one of them determine the nature and outcome of political representation.

Nature of Representation

There is no consensus on the nature of representation. There are multiple theories which are based on different ideological and political considerations. For example, according to A.R. Ball,

the theories of representation may be put into two categories-liberal-democratic and socialistic or collectivistic-and the implications of the term 'representation' differ in both11. There are many principles guiding political representation and four models of nature of representation can be put forward12:

1.Trusteeship

2. Delegation

3. Mandate

4. Resemblance

Trustee Model Trustee is one who is vested with responsibility to act on behalf of other's affairs. It is assumed that trustee is educated and more conscientious than the common people and can act on their behalf. It is assumed that common man has less understanding of politics and governance and trustees are those who have the capabilities to deliberate on behalf of the people. Some of the important proponents of the trustee model have been Edmund Burke and J.S. Mill. According to Burke, the essence of representation was to serve one's constituents by the exercise of 'mature judgement' and 'enlightened conscience'13. Similarly, Mill reiterated that although all individuals have a right to be represented, not all political opinions are of equal value. Mill proposed a system of plural voting in which four or five votes would be allocated to holders of learned diplomas or degrees, two or three to skilled or managerial workers, and a single vote to ordinary workers.14

Some of the criticisms of this model are: first, it promotes an elitist model of representation which is antagonistic to the notions of democracy and equality. Second, it is wrong to consider that people are incapable of deciding about their matters because if it is so, then they should also be considered incapable of choosing their representatives.

Delegation In delegation, representatives are given the powers and instructions to work on behalf of others. They cannot act on their own and their powers and authority can be withdrawn any time depending upon the wish of the delegating authority. The people try to control the representatives by means such as referendum, recall and initiatives, regular elections and fixed terms in office. James Madison (1787–8) is one of the leading historical figures who articulated a delegate conception of representation. One of the advantages of delegate representation is that it comes very close to direct democracy though not same. Because the representatives totally represent the will of their constituency and have very less scope to exercise their own discretion. Disadvantages of this type of representation is that it gives very less leverage to the politicians to exercise their will and act as per their rational choice, that kills initiatives and creativity on the part of the politicians. It may lead to demagogy as representatives may try to manipulate the will of the people which may not be rational and beneficial to their interest.

Mandate Here the representative fights on behalf of a political party and he is chosen because of his party and its ideologies. Both the trustee and the delegate model have developed before the emergence of modern political parties and therefore view representatives as essentially independent actors. Mandate is a one of the most influential of the new theories of representation. It is based on the idea that, in winning an election, a party gains a popular mandate that authorizes it to carry out whatever policies or programs it outlined during the election campaign 15. The doctrine of the mandate thus guarantees responsible party government, in that the party in power can only act within the mandate it has received. This is a 'policy mandate'.16 One of the drawbacks of mandate system is that political parties call the shots and representatives have very less leverage to rise beyond party politics. Secondly, the political parties try to manipulate the opinion of the people.

Resemblance According to this model, representatives should resemble the group they represent. If the representative is from his own communities, then it will better represent the interests of that group. For example, it is believed that women can better represent women community, dalit representative is better capable of carrying forward the interests of dalit community. It is based on the assumption that in the government, there should be representatives from different sections of the society so that an inclusive government in the true sense of the term can be established. The benefits of this type of model is that it helps in providing representation to all segments of the society especially the minorities and socially disadvantaged groups. On the other hand, it promotes parochialism and narrowness in the society as representatives represent only small groups and it may lead to conflict of interests. Also it will be very difficult to develop consensus on policies amongst the representatives. Further, there is no guarantee that representatives from one community will always protect the interests of that group, for example, sometimes a Dalit representative may not be sensitive enough towards the welfare of his community.

Types of representation

Representation was practiced in some form or other since time immemorial. It was prevalent even in the ancient and medieval period but the nature of representation was different from the modern times. In the earlier times, representation was the privilege of the elite and the propertied class and they used to select representatives for the entire population. With the advent of democracy and extension of adult franchise to all segments of the population, now every individual has got the right to elect representatives. Many criteria have been developed for the basis of representation like territory, functions and gender to elect representatives and each one of them has its own merits and demerits. Some of them are described below17:

Territorial representation As per the number of seats in the legislature, the entire territory is divided into electoral districts, which are termed as 'constituencies'. The constituencies may be single member or multi-member constituencies, in proportion to the number of people living in that area. One of the features of territorial representation is that each representative must represent roughly an

equal segment of the population. To ensure this, each constituency is divided in such a way that they have almost equal population. One of the basic assumptions of the territorial representation is that people within a constituency are similar and have like-minded interests and a representative which they will elect by the majority will better represent the population. This type of representation is universally adopted by countries across the world. But this model of representation has many disadvantages also, like, since the representatives are elected on the basis of majority, the minority do not get a chance to be represented and their interests get sidelined. Secondly, it gives importance to the proportion of population in representation and ignores other factors like functions, occupations in the society. Thirdly, it does not ensure that women who constitute half of the population gets adequately represented. Fourth, the division of constituencies on the basis of population may lead to 'gerrymandering' where the constituencies may be divided in such a way that it may increase the winning chances of some candidates. Fifth, since in modern democracy the fight between representatives is actually a fight between major political parties, in such a scenario smaller parties have very less chances of winning elections and sending their representatives. Some of the shortcomings of the territorial representation has been addressed with functional and proportional representation which is explained below.

Functional Representation In contrast to territorial representation, where the representation is done on the basis of territory, in functional representation, the representation is done on the basis of occupations in the society. In modern society, there is tremendous functional and occupational specialization and any system of representation should represent the interests of these various occupational groups in the society. In the modern government, these different occupational groups should be represented by representatives belonging to them. It is believed that functional representatives can better represent the interests of different sections of the society. For this a census should be done to find out the different occupational patterns in the country and based on that representatives should be chosen. Like the teaching community would chose teachers, a business community will elect business representatives amongst themselves; workers will choose workers' representatives, etc. It is based upon the assumption that such a type of representation will help in choosing better and competent persons. Parliament is supposed to represent the general will of the people and territorial representation helps in choosing general representatives but it does not necessarily lead to representation of experts in the legislature. G.D.H. Cole is one of the most important proponents of functional representation. Though the idea of functional representation has many merits but it is having many disadvantages also. First, representation according to occupational interests creates narrow parochial groups in the parliament where there is always conflict of interests and it is very difficult to build consensus on any issue of national importance. Second, it is not congenial for the national integration as different occupational interests may work in opposite directions and pose challenge to the national interests. Third, it is very difficult to have census of different occupational groups and to have representatives representing all the interests.

Proportional Representation It stands on the principle that 'votes should be weighed, not counted'. It has three ingredients: 1. There should be a multi-member constituency, 2. A candidate should be elected not by

gaining an absolute or relative majority but by obtaining a quota of votes that is equivalent to the total number of votes cast and divided by number of seats to be filled, and 3. There should be a mathematically exact, as far as possible, representation of electorate in the legislature18.

Proportional representation is a system by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If 30% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly 30% of seats will be won by that party. The method of proportional representation is put into practice in two wayssingle transferable vote system and list system19.

The single transferable vote system was first devised by Danish minister Carl Andrae, but it was presented in a refined form by Thomas Hare of England in 1859. So it is also known as the Hare system20. According to this system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. To be elected, any candidate has to achieve a set number of votes. At the first stage, only the first preferences are counted and any candidate who has votes above the quota is elected. The surplus votes of the candidates that is which is above the quota are then distributed to the second preferences shown on the ballot papers. When no candidate has reached the quota, the bottom candidates are eliminated and his votes are transferred to the other candidates, according to the order of second preference marked on the ballot paper. This procedure continues until all the seats are filled up. The electoral quota is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by number of seats to be filled up plus 1 and then the figure of 1 is added to the quotient. The formula is given below21:

Total Number of Valid Votes + 1 = Electoral Quota

Total Number of Seats + 1

According to David Robertson, this is a method of election which seeks to ensure that minorities as well as majorities and pluralities are adequately represented in the legislature and which distributes seats or units of legislative representation in accordance with the proportion of votes recorded in the whole electoral division.22

The second method of proportional representation is the list system, in which the vote is cast for a party's list of candidates though in most countries the elector can also express support for individual candidates on the list. Each party submits a list of candidates which is equal to the number of seats to be filled up or even less than that. For the purpose of counting, the electoral quota is calculated in the manner as given above. Depending upon the percentage of votes secured by the parties the seats are assigned to them accordingly.

The number of votes won by a party determines how many candidates are elected from that party's list. The order in which the candidates appear on the list (usually decided by the party itself) governs which people are elected to represent that party. For example, suppose a party wins 10 percent of the vote in an election to a 150 seat assembly. That party will be entitled to 15 MPs, who will be top 15 candidates on its list. So list voting is party voting. This method therefore weakens the link between the representative and a particular constituency23. One of

the merits of proportional representation is that it gives representation to all sections of the people as far as possible. It also gives a sense of security to people belonging to minority groups or political parties. The demerit of this system is that it leads to a multi-party system in the country that may not be congenial for a stable government. It may also lead to increase in expenses and labor.

Minority Representation Minority representation is one in which representation is given to minority on the grounds of religion, language, culture, race, etc. In democracy, the majority gets represented but there should also be measures to represent minorities as otherwise it will lead to iniquitous rule in the society. In a democratic government various measures are used for representation of minorities which are given below24:

Limited Vote System It requires that there should be at least three seats in a multi-member constituency and the voters be given votes less than the number of seats; they should also not be allowed to cast more than one vote for a candidate. In such a situation the position of the minorities is improved a little and they may have a chance of capturing one seat if they are fairly united and well organized.

Single Vote System It prevails in a multi-member constituency with one vote of each voter. The candidates are elected on the basis of the majority of votes. The position of the minorities is much improved in this system in as much as they may cast their votes for their own candidate, while the votes of the persons in majority would be distributed among different candidates.

Proxy Vote System Under it a voter may cast his vote for one candidate in a multi-member constituency. A minimum number of votes are fixed and a candidate securing that point is declared elected. It is also provided that those who vote for a candidate, who fails to be successful, may vote again for others so that the unfilled posts may be filled up. Obviously, this would require either a preferential ballot, or one which is most secret.

Cumulative Vote System Under this system a voter has as many votes as there are seats to be filled up and he is allowed to cast his votes either for different candidates or all votes for a single candidate. It is obvious that the persons in minority may cast all their votes in favour of a candidate of their community. It is also known as plumping vote system.

Weightage It means that the persons in minority may be given some extra benefits. That is, they may be entitled for more votes than those given to persons in majority. For instance, in India in preindependence days, the Muslims, the Sikhs and the Christians had one vote in the general constituency and one more vote for election in a separate constituency for the candidates of their own community.

Nominations/Reservations There may be a system of nominations by the head of the state or reservation of seats for the candidates of a particular class in minority. In India, some seats are reserved for the persons of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while two members of the Anglo-Indian community may be nominated by the President to the Lok Sabha and one member of this community may be nominated by the Governor to the State Legislative Assembly.

Why Representation is significant?

Representation is an important component of democracy and a necessary corollary of elections. Representation is significant in a democracy because representatives have status and authority derived from the people, have access to political power and privileges that make them powerful members of the society. Representatives have important decision-making powers and have considerable control over the resources and its distribution in the society. Therefore, it is understandable why people aspire to become political representatives and why it is important that right persons are chosen as representatives. It is ironical that since independence there has been rise in people having criminal and strong financial background contesting elections and becoming representatives of the people. Another unfortunate trend has been the continuous dominance of male members in the Parliament in comparison with female representatives across the world. Various factors like patriarchal mindset and criminalization of politics have deterred women from participation in politics. Invisibility of women in political sphere has led to unfair treatment of issues related to women. Another point is whether any representative can represent all segments of the society. In the context of women this is important because they constitute half of the population and have about 10-11% representation in parliament. Low representation of women has to be understood keeping in mind the lower and inferior standard of women in our society. Dominant male sections of the party control the process of elections by deciding who will contest elections and most often control the outcome through money and manipulative powers. It is a well-established fact that people with economic powers have often tried to control politics through the process of representation. The discrimination in representation is visible not only in the economic and gender field but in the social sphere also as some privileged castes have tried to dominate elections and representation for a long time.

The process of representation and the representatives are important because the latter act on behalf of people and is responsible of representing their interests and formulating policies in their favor. Further there is the question of the accountability of the representatives to the people that is invariably connected with the ways by which people can exercise control over their representatives. It is not simply majority representation that is important but each and every segments of the society should get a chance to be represented in the legislature. In this context, women's representation is significant question that is discussed below.

What is women's political representation?

Women's representation means the participation of women in the decision making process, exercising political power, political activism, rise of political consciousness, etc. They constitute half of the population but are not adequately represented in the Parliament. Till now women have a poor 11% representation in Lok Sabha and 10.6% in the Rajya Sabha, making India 108th among 188 countries covered in the annual analysis on statistics of women members of parliament (MPs) conducted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Though women have participated in the Indian national movement to a large extent, after independence the representation of women in politics has been very low. Though the Constitution of India has enumerated various provisions for the removal of gender inequality in India. In spite of low representation of women in politics in general, women have held the posts of the President and Prime Minister in India, as well as chief ministers of various states. Indian voters have elected women to numerous state legislative assemblies and national parliament but their number has been low. To increase representation of women at the local level, the government passed the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Bills in 1993 that reserved 33% of seats for women at local government level. After the establishment of women's reservations at local level, political participation went from 4-5% to 25-40% among women, and gave millions of women the opportunity to serve as leaders in local government. In contrast to the local level, at the national level, since long women groups are struggling for the passage of Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, which is a pending bill in India that proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women. The Upper House Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 9th March 2010. Till now, the Lok Sabha has not voted on the bill. If the Lok Sabha were to approve the bill, it would then have to be passed by half of India's state legislatures and signed by the President. Patriarchal mindset amongst the male members of political parties have led to various objections being raised by them on some pretext or other that have prevented the passage of this Bill till date. Whenever the Bill is passed, it will herald a new era for women's representation in politics, by not only changing the demography of our elected bodies but bringing new hopes for empowering women through power sharing.

****

References

1 Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.19, p.135 as quoted in J.C. Johari, Principles of Modern

Political Science, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 1989, p.365

2 J.C. Johari, p.365

3 "Political Representation", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as available on

webpage http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/political-representation/ accessed on 15th

August, 2016

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 A.R.Ball, Modern Politics and Government, Macmillan, London, 1976, pp.123-26 as

quoted in J.C. Johari, Principles of Modern Political Science, p.365

12 Andrew Heywood, Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, p.248

13 Ibid., p.249

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid., p.251

16 Ibid., p.252

17 J.C. Johari, Principles of Modern Political Science, p369-376

18 Ibid., p.371

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid. p.372

22 David Robertson, A Dictionary of Modern Politics, Europa, London, 1985, p.277

23 Rod Hague, Martin Harrop & Shaun Breslin, Comparative Government and Politics:

An Introduction, Macmillan, London, p. 102

24 J.C. Johari, Principles of Modern Political Science, p.375

Paper-11 Module-13

Women's Representation in legislative bodies

Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad

Paper Coordinator Prof Chandrakala Padia Chairperson ,IIAS, Shimla and Vice Chancellor MGS University Bikaner

Content Writer/Author (CW) Dr. Swati Sucharita Nanda

DAV PG College, Varanasi

Content Reviewer (CR) Prof Chandrakala Padia Chairperson ,IIAS, Shimla and Vice Chancellor MGS University Bikaner

Language Editor (LE) Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad

Description of Module

Subject Name Women's Studies

Paper Name Women, Governance and Politics.

Module Name/Title Women's Representation in legislative bodies.

Module Id Paper-11 Module-13

Pre-requisites The Reader is expected to have the knowledge of issues relating to women's political participation.

Objectives To make the reader understand the need to integrate women as people's representatives and the challenges they face with special reference to India Keywords Politics; Representation ; Legislature; Inclusion/Exclusion

Women's Representation in legislative bodies

Introduction

Post-independent India has been witness to debates on how to make the legislature most representative of various sections of population especially the marginalized groups. One of the most important debates among these has been related to the representation of women in the legislative bodies such as the parliament and the state legislatures.

Modern democracy is rooted in the idea of separation of power between the three branches of government, viz., legislature, executive and the judiciary. Among these three branches, the legislature formulates the will of the state by making laws. The functions of the other two branches are contingent upon the legislature and its functions. If there is no law, there is no need for the executive to enforce law and for the judiciary to interpret law. Thus, the legislative branch of the government is the most significant in the modern democratic framework.

At the most basic level, legislatures are organized either on the principle of unicameralism or bicameralism. At another level, large states have separate legislatures for the union or federation and the constituent or provincial units. The basic idea in both the cases is to make the legislature as much representative as possible.

India has adopted the principle of bicameralism at the level of the union while a mix of unicameralism and bicameralism is found at the state level. The central legislature known as the Parliament is divided into two housesthe Lok Sabha (House of the people) and Rajya Sabha (Council of states). Members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house, are elected directly by the Indian citizens for a term of five years while members of Rajya Sabha, the upper house, are indirectly elected. In Indian democratic set-up, Lok Sabha is considered as a much more significant house than the Rajya Sabha because its members are directly accountable to the citizens.

As the highest law-making bodies, the Parliament at the center and the assemblies (and councils) at the state level determine the direction in which the democracy ought to proceed. It is through the laws made by these legislative bodies that the status of various sections of the society is decided. It is through the legislative bodies that an inclusive polity could be established, sustained and preserved in a democracy. Since representatives are the ones who run the democracy through the government, it becomes very important as to who or what do the representatives represent? It is necessary for the legislative bodies to reflect diverse voices of the citizens – the mainstream as well as the margins. In other words, representation of all sections of the society is essential for a successful democracy. It is against this background that the following sections discuss the representation of women in legislative bodies. The first section presents data from across the globe as well as from India to demonstrate the status of representation of women in legislative bodies. The second section discusses the need for the inclusion of women in politics, in general, and in the legislative bodies, in particular.

Representation of women at various levels

As per data compiled by Inter-parliamentarian Union in 2016, Rwanda tops the list of having 63.8% women in its lower house. Bolivia is ranked second with 53.1% in its lower house.

Belgium has most women in its upper house with 30 out of 60 seats going to female representatives while Zimbabwe is ranked second with 47.5%. (IPU, 2016)

As per data made available by the UN, there are wide variations in the average percentages of women in legislative bodies in each region across the chambers. In 2015, countries of the Nordic region such as Norway, Sweden and Finland had 41.1% while the rest of Europe (excluding the Nordic region) had 24.4 per cent. The Americas (both North & south) had 25.5% per cent representation of women in their legislative bodies while sub-Saharan Africa region accounted for 23.0 per cent followed by the Asian region that had 18.4 per cent. Middle East and North Africa had 17.1 per cent while the pacific region had the lowest representation of women in the legislatures with 15.7 per cent. The global average for women in parliaments stands at 22 per cent.(UNWOMEN, 2016)

Women's representation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha does not paint a very bright picture. As per the data compiled by the Inter-parliamentary Union, India is ranked at 141 with 12% both in Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. (IPU, 2016)Yet, the percentage is better than what has been seen in the past. It is also better than what one finds in the state legislative assemblies. The national average of the representation of women in state legislative bodies stands at 9%. Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana fare comparatively better with 14% representation while Pondicherry and Nagaland have no women in the state legislature at all. (Rao, 2016)

When contrasted with other SAARC countries, India occupies fifth position with Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka following our country. Nepal tops the list with 29.5% followed by Afghanistan with 27.7% and Pakistan with 20% and Bangladesh again with 20 % (Rao, 2016).

India does not fare well even in comparison to the five BRICS countries where it occupies fourth rank with only Brazil to follow with 9% representation. At the level of the Asian region, countries like Saudi Arab fare better than India. This is surprising given the fact that women's lack of freedom at the societal level in Saudi Arab has been a hot theme within feminist debates (Rao, 2016).

Need for representation of women in legislative bodies

Before we turn our attention to the reasons of women's lack of better representation in legislative bodies in most countries in general and in India in particular, let us try to understand the arguments in favour of women's representation. First, women's representation is important for furtherance of human rights conditions. A real democracy is one where all sections of the population get the opportunity to present their demands. If democracy is to be made vibrant and just, women have to be incorporated at different levels. This fact was realized way back in 1952 at the UN convention on political rights of women. This has been reiterated in the World Plan of Action in Mexico (1975), the Copenhagen Plan of Action (1980), World Conference on the UN Decade of Women in Nairobi (1985), and the World Congress of women in Beijing (1995).

Second, women's representation is needed to change the existing rules of game in politics. Politics, in most countries, is seen as a dirty arena of corruption and muscle power. This is largely due to the predominance of what are considered as masculine values such as 'competition and confrontation' as well as 'winning and losing'. Women have the potential to bring about changes by promoting values of 'cooperation and collaboration' and 'compromise'. After all, in

their daily lives, these are the values that women practice to keep the families and the societies intact. Women's inclusion into the parliamentary framework can bring in important skills, attributes and perspectives into the process of governance.

Third, since parliament is the most important decision-making structure in a democratic state, women's inclusion has the potential to pose serious challenge to the societal subordination of women in its various manifestations. A critical mass of women parliamentarians can lead a gender-insensitive society to a gender-sensitive one. While it is often quoted both by women and men parliamentarians that gender equity is very essential for the progress of a society, very few actually take steps towards that. One case in point is the women's reservation bill in the Indian Parliament that has repeatedly been shelved since 1996 despite demands from women's networks that it has strong potential to facilitate empowering conditions for women.

Challenges to representation of women in legislative bodies

Traditionally, politics has been a male-dominated arena all over the world. Women entering into the political arena have to face many individual and social antagonisms. Such antagonisms often present a host of gender-related, economic, and political challenges that women have to overcome in order to succeed.

Gender-related Challenges:

Though most democratic constitutions have pledged to act as agents to bring about changes in traditional mindsets, the nature of citizenship in most developing countries remains clearly gendered. In these countries, women's citizen identity is mediated by their social identities such as wifehood and motherhood. They are expected to perform their social duties even if it may lead to avoidance of their citizen duties. It is taken in most societies that women are the repository of family dignity and community honour. Such notions act as barriers in facilitating women's participation in politics which might imply travelling and interacting with men.

Making women bound to the 'private' sphere often leads to lower their level of confidence when suddenly exposed to the 'public' sphere. A parliamentarian as the member of the highest decision-making structure in a democratic set-up ought to exude confidence. Most societies that tie their women to 'private' sphere end up in having low-confident women who cannot be expected to be confident politicians. This is what has been found in most Panchayats where women's reservation has produced so-called 'proxy-women leaders'.

Economic Challenges:

Women's access into legislative bodies is contingent upon the availability of economic resources with them. Elections in democracies are, by no means, inexpensive affairs. Given the fact that most women in Asia and Africa are excluded from access and control over land, technology and credit, it is almost impossible for them to mobilize enough resources even to contest a local election. According to the UNDP, women constitute 70% of the world's poor. Women's poverty is a direct consequence of that they are paid less for their labour compared to men, have fewer resources at their disposal, and are less likely to be in a position to utilize available resources in

their own favour. (Nanda & Alam, 2013) When combined with illiteracy such lack of access to economic resources has the potential to block women's entry into political domain.

Political Challenges:

A majority of the countries across the globe have granted women the two most fundamental democratic rights of voting and contesting elections. Theoretically, such initiatives have placed women in an equal pedestal with men within societies making them politically independent. However, reality in most countries presents a different picture. In most countries, women's rights to vote are restricted by their families and communities who decide whether they should be sent to exercise their fundamental democratic right to vote.

According to a report of the Delhi Policy Group, registered women voters in India have increased from 45% in 1951 elections to 47.6% in the 2014 elections, that is, by a pitiful 2.7% (Rathod, 2014). Despite voter awareness campaigns and improvement in the level of education of women, such trends not only paint a dismal picture but also point towards deeper issues that need to be carefully addressed. Similarly, there has been a marginal increase of women contestants in elections in India over the years (Rathod, 2014). According to the data cited by the report of the Delhi Policy Group, there was a marginal increase of 0.4% between the women contesting Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009. In 2014, the number of women contesting the Lok Sabha elections was 636 as against more than 8000 men. (Rukmini and Byatnal, 2014)

The following discussions attempt to understand the major political hurdles that keep women away from parliamentary politics. First, Indian political arena, like most countries across the globe, is dominated not only by men but also by masculine values and masculine models. Masculine values and models imply towards the fact that it is men who write the rules of the game right from the beginning and then, decide the standards of evaluation. Masculine values such as 'winners and losers' and 'competition and confrontation' are considered as the rules of politics. It is so very different from the values of collaboration and consensus that society wants women to inculcate right from their childhood. Therefore, it is only natural that most women find political arena as an uncomfortable zone. Similarly, electoral work schedules, travelling for campaigns and meetings and visiting constituencies may often clash with the nurturing roles that women play within families. Recently, a Brazilian member of parliament drew a lot of comic attention on social media when she decided to breast feed her hungry infant while participating in a political debate. For most women, it is a choice between either family life or political life; while for men, women of their households become the supportive agents to run the family in a stable manner.

Most political parties are also not very receptive to women contestants. They do need women members to present a gender-friendly image of the party. Women are also seen campaigning and mobilizing other women for electoral gains of respective parties. But when it comes to choosing candidate for contesting elections, not many female candidates are given the opportunity. Logic of 'winnability' is what decides who should be given tickets. 'Winnability', in turn, is determined by financial resources and muscle power available with the candidates. As Sushma Swaraj, now the Minister of External Affairs, Government of India says, 'It is very difficult for a woman to make up her mind to enter politics. Once she makes up her own mind, then she has to prepare her husband, and her children, and her family. Once she has overcome all these obstacles and applies for the ticket, then the male aspirants against whom she is applying makeup all sorts

of stories about her. And after all this, when her name goes to the party bosses, they do not select her name because they fear losing that seat' (Shvedova, 1998).

What also works against most of the women candidates is their lack of networking support. While men are encouraged right from their childhood to go outside and maintain friendships that goes on to facilitate their understanding of potential benefits of networking, women are encouraged to develop nurturing and serving people. As a consequence, most women do not consider networking as beneficial for career and professional growth of self. Even if they want to network, most women lack of resources to invest in such contacts.

The 33% and Beyond

The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1993 and the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1993 heralded a new age in India with reservation of 33% of seats at the local bodies such as the Panchayats and the Municipalities. The main aims of the amendments were to integrate women into the decision-making process at the local level. At another level, it was also an experiment to see the implications of gender quotas on women's status and social empowerment. Prior to reservation, the arena was considered as belonging to men. A woman got space only if an influential male family member wanted her to contest. By the fifteenth anniversary of reservation in 2008, however, women's participation had made headway. It was reported in 2008 that "Today more than 26 lakh representatives stand elected to the three levels of Panchayats. Of these, over 10 lakh are women. The last fifteen years of Panchayati Raj, have thus succeeded in empowering marginalized groups who have gained political representation and valuable experience. Many of them have successfully taken on the challenge of governance and brought about enduring social change through their close links with the community" (Fifteenth Anniversary Charter on Panchayati Raj, 2008). Encouraged by the results of the 33% reservation of women in the local bodies, the Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, 2008, popularly known as the Women's Reservation Bill, was introduced in the Parliament. The chief aim of the bill is to empower women politically through reservations in Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas of each state in India. However, even after eight years of its introduction the bill has not been succeeded to become an Act.

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