Ever since its first appearance in 1996,
the women's reserva-
tion bill—proposed legislation to reserve 33.3% seats in
the Parliament and state legislatures for women—has
become a cause for heated debate, both in and outside the
Parliament.
The proponents of the bill argue that historically, women
in India have been marginalized and unless they are given
ample scope to actively participate in the political process of the
nation, they cannot come out of their current state of deprivation. It is
their strong belief that the reservation bill would not only result in
gender equality in the Parliament, but also empower women to
fight against the atrocities inflicted on them by the society.
As usual, some parties opposed the bill fearing that
the proposed reservation of 33.3% seats for women, along with
the already existing 22.5% of reservation for scheduled castes
and tribes, would severely constrain the opportunity of male
leaders to participate in the elections. The MPs from the socially and economically
backward classes argued that such reservation
would only aid the women leaders from elitist classes to get elected, which, according
to them, is sure to result in under-representation of the poor and backward classes,
widening the discrimination further.
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