• The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 introduced in Lok Sabha on September 19, 2023.  With this bill, it will reserve seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
• Reservation for women: The Bill reserves, as nearly as may be, one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.  Additionally, this reservation will also extend to the seats reserved for SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
• Commencement of reservation: The reservation will be effective once the census conducted after the commencement of this Bill has been published.  Based on the census, delimitation will be undertaken to reserve seats for women.  The reservation will be provided for a period of 15 years.  However, it shall continue till such date as determined by a law made by Parliament.
• Rotation of seats: Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation, as determined by a law made by Parliament.   
• Earlier these bills have been introduced in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2008.   
• The 2008 Bill was introduced in and passed by Rajya Sabha but it also lapsed with the dissolution of the 15^th Lok Sabha.  

Need:

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 
• The number of women MPs has increased from 5% in the first Lok Sabha to 15% in the 17^th Lok Sabha; 
• The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (2009) had noted that reservation of seats for women in local bodies has enabled them to make meaningful contributions.
• Also, it is noted that concerns regarding women being proxies to men in local bodies have turned out to be baseless.  
• The Inter-Parliamentary Union (2022) has noted that legislated quotas have been a decisive factor in women’s representation.

Opponents say:

• They would be seen as not competing on merit.  
• Constituent Assembly, Renuka Ray argued against reserving seats for women: “When there is reservation of seats for women, the question of their consideration for general seats, however competent they may be, does not usually arise. We feel that women will get more chances if the consideration is of ability alone.”  
• It would not lead to political empowerment of women because larger issues of electoral reforms such as measures to check criminalisation of politics, internal democracy in political parties, and influence of black money have not been addressed. 

Read more about Women representation in politics, click here

Practice Questions for Prelims

Consider the following statements:
1. The Women Reservation Bill, 2023 seeks to reserve seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
2.  Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation, as determined by the President

Which of the above given statements is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

Ans. a)

Mains Practice Question

Critically analyse the Women Reservation Bill, 2023.

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