New Delhi. The policies implemented by the Narendra Modi government in recent years have left an indelible mark on the lives of women across India. These measures include increasing access to LPG cooking fuel, a move that has significantly improved women’s health and well-being. Additionally, increased access to toilets has promoted women’s safety and health, which is an important step forward. Notably, the majority of beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana are women, underscoring their increasing financial inclusion. Additionally, through PM Awas Yojana, ownership of homes remains predominantly in the hands of female heads of households, thereby promoting economic empowerment of women across the country.
empowerment beyond numbers
In a democratic system, leaders play an important role in representing the interests of their voters and maintaining government accountability. This cornerstone of parliamentary democracy requires that elected Members of Parliament (MPs) scrutinize the government regardless of their political affiliation, caste or gender. This practice serves as an important check on government power, ensuring that it remains accountable to the will of the people. While traditional assessments of women’s political empowerment have largely revolved around the number of employees in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, our approach focuses on their participation compared to their male counterparts in both Houses.
Women MPs and their empowerment
Women’s political empowerment stands as a vital link in strengthening civil and human rights, a principle the United Nations strongly supports. In this context, both globally and in the Indian context, extensive research has primarily focused on gender disparities in parliamentary representation. It has examined the impact of women as political leaders on social outcomes and the growing influence of women voters – a development we referred to as a “silent revolution” in India a decade ago. These events, now widely recognized, have reshaped the political landscape. Yet, there has been a marked lack of discussion on whether a female political leader, elected as an MP, has the right to raise concerns on behalf of her constituents, who are often from marginalized sections of society. Come from.
Women MPs in 15th and 16th Lok Sabha
To examine the performance of women MPs compared to their male counterparts, we turned to publicly available data from the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha. This wealth of information drawn from PRS Legislative Research tracks a range of activities including gender, age, state, constituency, party affiliation, attendance at Parliament sessions, questions raised, participation in debates and introduction of private members’ bills. Our focus was the number of questions raised by MPs, and we conducted a comparative analysis based on gender and political affiliation (Bharatiya Janata Party vs. Indian National Congress).
An interesting article by @ShamikaRavi which highlights how women MPs are making our democracy more vibrant and are also focusing on vital sectors like healthcare, education, infrastructure and more. This is a very encouraging trend which also exemplifies how the Nari Shakti… pic.twitter.com/p0fc6DZLEc
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 11, 2023
Women MPs and their parliamentary participation
During the 15th Lok Sabha, there were a total of 64 women MPs, of which 14 were with the BJP and 25 with the Indian National Congress. In the subsequent 16th Lok Sabha, this number increased to 68, of which the BJP had 32 and the Congress had only four. Our findings revealed a surprising paradox: in the 15th Lok Sabha, women MPs asked significantly fewer questions than their male counterparts (135 vs 250). However, a notable change emerged in the 16th Lok Sabha, where their level of participation was almost equal to that of male MPs (218 vs 219).
A closer examination of these results, considering the party affiliation of women MPs, reveals a striking trend. In the 15th Lok Sabha, women MPs belonging to the main opposition party BJP asked an average of 355 questions. In contrast, their counterparts from the leading ruling party, the Congress, raised a mere 58 questions during that tenure. This transformational change in the participation of women MPs highlights a promising progress towards gender equality in the political sphere. As they take their rightful place on the parliamentary stage, women are proving to be powerful agents of change and advocating for the rights and interests of the marginalized sections of the society.