Understanding The Women's Reservation Bill, Without the Jargon And Bias

In a recent development, the Parliament approved the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, which is often referred to as the Women's Reservation Bill. This bill mandates a 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

“This is a historic moment, this is a moment of pride for us,” said PM Narendra Modi in his speech as he introduced the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

On September 21, the Bill received unanimous support in the Rajya Sabha, following a nearly unanimous endorsement in the Lok Sabha the previous day. It will now need the President's approval to become law.

“The Women’s Reservation Bill 2023 may well be one of the most politicized acts of law which passed with a complete majority in India in the last 27 years,” said Josh Prakash Majumdar, a political consultant. “Not only is it affecting half the electorate, but also because of the timing of it and the way it has been presented.”

Once implemented, Majumdar explains, it will mean a “new India.”

“There’s one thing for sure: a new India will arise in a couple of years, with a new parliament, several hundred new seats, outstanding women politicians (like we have several path-breaking, inspirational examples), new constituencies, and a different outlook in politics,” he said. “What remains to be seen is the perspective of women in politics, which should be about more than just reservation, nepotism, and celebrityhood. It’s about direct participation of women at all levels of politics.”

Here we decode what the bill seeks to do, what the seat distribution in the parliament will look like after the bill comes into effect, and why the bill has been criticised by many. 

What is the Women’s Reservation Bill?

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (what the Bill is called) seeks to reserve one-third of the total number of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women. The Bill proposes that this reservation continues for 15 years. 

Presently, there are 82 women MPs in the Lok Sabha. After the bill is implemented, there should be at least 181 women legislators. 

This reservation pattern will also apply to seats reserved for SC/ST categories.

Why Do We Need a Women’s Reservation Bill?

Since India’s Independence, parliamentary representation has been skewed in favour of men. In the first-ever Lok Sabha, they occupied only 5% of seats. 

Given the patriarchal nature of society, women traditionally stayed away from politics and the public eye. It’s explained well by a paper published in Oxfam, which says, “Such dismal figures reveal the lasting grip of unfavourable social norms. Women’s disadvantage on a complex set of social and economic factors effectively keeps them at the margin of political life.”

Presently, they occupy only about 15% of seats. 

“It's important to note that societal bias against women is not the only obstacle female politicians face,” says Majumdar, the political consultant. “Female candidates are often made to contest in elections as "namesakes" for their husbands, from urban to rural elections. This practice undermines the spirit of true female representation and reinforces gender stereotypes.”

The paper mentioned above further highlights findings that have shown that the introduction of reservation at local levels has led to increased allocation to water and resources that women need, increased reporting of crimes and increased likelihood of women contesting and winning elections thereafter. 

History of the Women's Reservation Bill

The seeds of the Bill were sowed by Rajiv Gandhi, when a committee constituted by him, recommended the reservation of seats for women in elected bodies. 

These suggestions laid the groundwork for the Constitution’s 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, which were implemented during Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's tenure. These amendments mandated that one-third of seats be reserved for women in Panchayati Raj institutions and for the positions of chairpersons at all levels of Panchayati Raj institutions, as well as in urban local bodies.

These were followed by a chorus demanding similar reservations in the parliament.

On September 12, 1996, under the leadership of Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, the government introduced The Constitution (81st Amendment) Bill. This bill aimed to allocate one-third of seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.

It saw support as well as criticism when it was tabled. MPs belonging to backward castes opposed it or sought changes in it. However, with the winter session ending and Deve Gowda’s resignation, the bill never saw the light of day. 

On July 12, 1998, shortly after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government assumed power, members of Parliament, like Mamata Banerjee and Sumitra Mahajan created disruptions in the Parliament seeking the re-introduction of the women’s reservation bill. 

In 1999, when Jayalalithaa withdrew support from Vajpayee’s government, the government failed to prove a majority by one vote and thus the Bill lapsed again.  

Under the UPA government, despite Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh’s efforts, the Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha but before it could be introduced to the lower house, the house itself was dissolved. 

BJP’s 2014 manifesto highlighted that it is “committed (to bringing) 33% reservation in parliamentary and state assemblies through a constitutional amendment”.

Caste Contentions

While many in the Opposition supported the bill, they called it an ‘election jumla’, aimed at luring voters before the 2024 general elections. 

At present, out of the total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 47 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. After the new Bill comes into effect, one-third of seats of both categories will be reserved for SC women and ST women respectively. To put it in numbers, 28 out of 84 seats will be reserved for SC women, and 16 out of 47 seats will be reserved for ST women. 

The Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) members voiced their opposition to the Bill, saying that it is biased against women from Dalit, minority, and Adivasi communities. 

This “incomplete” excludes the political inclusion of OBC women from the Parliament and Legislative Assembly. — VBA President @Prksh_Ambedkar#WomenReservationBillpic.twitter.com/15AfovU9aG

— Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (@VBAforIndia) September 19, 2023

The argument hinges on treating women as a monolithic group, without adding in context and nuances needed for comprehensive representation. Women’s reservation needs to be intersectional. 

Without explicit reservation for OBC women, Dalit and Adivasi women, Dalit Christians and Pasmanda Muslim women, trans women and others, many argue that dominant castes and the financially well-off are likely to dominate the seats reserved for women. 

The opponents of the present nature of the bill propose the introduction of subquotas within the women’s quota, to prevent the general quota of women from competing with backward castes. 

When Will The Bill Come Into Effect?

The Bill happens to state that the “provisions relating to the reservation of seats for women…shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census taken after [the Bill is passed] have been published”.

Given that both the census and delimitation exercise are completed before the bill comes into effect, the bill isn’t getting implemented anytime soon. The 2021 census was delayed to 2023, following the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the 2024 polls, the census is likely to happen after that. If the census is held after 2026, followed by delimitation, then the bill won’t come into effect before 2029. 

Understanding Delimitation 

Delimitation, as defined by the Election Commission of India (ECI), refers to the process of establishing the boundaries or limits of territorial constituencies within a country.

To put it simply, delimitation involves the adjustment of boundaries for Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, often leading to an increase in their number to align with the most recent population data. The exercise is carried out according to the latest population data as per the census. 

The driving force behind this is to achieve a balance between the number of constituencies and the population, that is, to provide equal representation for the population. 

In India, the delimitation exercise has been carried out four times.

How the Women in Parliament Reacted to the Bill

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi extended her support to the Bill, but said that it needs to be implemented without delay. 

“Rajiv Gandhi's dream is only half fulfilled. It will be fulfilled with the passage of this bill. The Congress supports this bill. We will be happy with the passage of this bill but we also have a concern. I want to ask a question. For the last 13 years, Indian women have been waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years -- two years, four years, six years, eight years,” she said. 

With a scathing attack on the government, TMC MP Mahua Mitra said, “When this government wanted to protect cows…you did not wait to count the number of cows.” She called the Bill a “sham”. 

“What this government has brought here is not a Women’s Reservation Bill, it is a Women’s Reservation Rescheduling Bill. Its agenda is delay, its agenda is not reservation. The constant dithering on when there will be next Census and when there will be delimitation will mean that the reservation is indefinitely delayed. This is not a historic Bill as it is being touted. It is a sham. The question of women’s reservation requires action, not the legislatively mandated procrastination,” she said in parliament. 

BJP MP Smriti Irani criticised many in the opposition for taking credit for the Bill. “They say success has many fathers and failure has none. So when the Bill came, some people called it 'our bill', some people said they wrote letters on it, and some said they set the entire constitutional framework," said Irani. 

This Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam has actually been very thoughtfully crafted considering that we are at a very critical stage of our development process.

It is important that we build consensus and also show that we are committed to the economic and social empowerment of women.… pic.twitter.com/o4rnMCVVAr

— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) September 21, 2023

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hit back at jibes which called this a poll agenda and said, “In women-related matters, we do not play any politics. It is an article of faith for the Prime Minister and therefore we do everything that we have done whether it is Article 370, triple talaq, or now the Women's Reservation Bill.”