While women in India are working in almost all walks of life and excelling themselves, they are yet to achieve equal status with men in the true sense. India attained independence from British rule in 1947 but even after 60 years, women are grossly underrepresented in Parliament and State Assemblies. Women’s movement has been raising its voice for nearly three decades for correcting this imbalance and getting the women their due.

  The initiative of reserving seats for women in the local bodies materialized through the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 during the then Prime Minister of India, Mr. Rajeev Gandhi’s tenure. Not less then 33% reservation was granted to the women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions or local bodies. The successive governments since 1996 have been promising 33% reservation for women in Parliament.

For the past eleven years, successive governments have expressed verbal support to the idea of reserving 33 per cent seats for women in both the Houses of Parliament, but have done precious little to put it into practice.

Although the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee openly supported the Bill, it failed to introduce it in Parliament even once during its six-year rule. When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was formed in May 2004 and the Left parties decided to support its government from outside, the commitment to get the Bill adopted was included in the Common Minimum Program (CMP) drawn up as the guiding document for the new ruling coalition.

Till date Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government has not been able to show any forward movement on the Bill. For more than 2 years, WPC has been relentlessly lobbying for getting the bill tabled in the Parliament, to enable women to enter active politics in larger numbers and ensure more gender-balanced Parliament. A panel discussion had been conducted during the National Convention to work out a strategic plan for lobbying on the issue.

Major actions that have been initiated on this issue are:-


• A countrywide signature campaign was launched by WPC, in which all its members were requested to collect at least 200 signatures from their networks, partners and friends. The campaign was a resounding success and WPC received more than 10,000 signatures till November 2006.

• Before and after each session of the Parliament, letters are being regularly written to all the MPs, the Prime Minister, Chairperson UPA, Home Minister and Law Minister. Action points are sent to them asking them to persuade the Government to place the bill in the Parliament to enable discussion and debate. Also mentioned is the importance of raising the issue on the floor in the Parliament through starred question and call attention motions.

• A WPC delegation under the leadership of Dr.Girija Vyas, Chairperson, NCW submitted a memorandum on the women’s reservation bill to the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 10 August 2006. 

                 

The memorandum  conveyed  the disappointment of women’s groups at the unexplained delay in tabling the bill in Parliament and urged the Government to fulfill its promise by expediting the introduction to the Bill in its current form and allowing for an open debate in the Parliament. During the meeting the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to give reservation to women in the Parliament and assured of making the efforts to introduce the Bill during the next Parliament session.

• With the active support of member organization WPC organized a rally on November 24, 2006. More than 3,000 women attended the rally from different states. WPC also collected approximately 15,000 signatures till the date of rally on letters, posters and banners.