INDEX: A SEAT OF ONE’S OWN

Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, of the DMK, led her colleagues in a demonstration in Delhi on March 20 to demand the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. “It’s been 20 years,” she said, “why has it not become law? We want to bring the focus back on the bill because no one’s talking about it, not even the media.” The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha just over seven years ago. But the lower house didn’t vote on the bill and it lapsed in 2014. Recently, the DMK’s working president, M.K. Stalin, wrote to the PM for his intervention. India has proportionately fewer women MPs than neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh

33%

SEATS RESERVED FOR WOMEN IN THE LOK SABHA AND ALL STATE ASSEMBLIES, IF THE BILL IS PASSED

11.8%

OR 64 WOMEN MPs CURRENTLY IN THE 543-MEMBER LOWER HOUSE

27

WOMEN MPs IN THE RAJYA SABHA OUT OF 245, OR JUST 11%

5

WOMEN IN 27-MEMBER UNION CABINET, OR 18.5%

20.6%

OF PAKISTAN’S PARLIAMENT COMPRISES WOMEN;

29.6% IN NEPAL AND 20% IN BANGLADESH

23.3%

GLOBAL AVERAGE OF WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT

148

INDIA’S RANKING AMONG 193 NATIONS BY PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT, ACCORDING TO THE UN. RWANDA IS FIRST WITH 61.3% WHILE FRANCE, SWEDEN AND CANADA HAVE MORE THAN 50%