ASSIGNMENT ON

WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL- 2008

Submitted as per the requirement of PSDA for Women and Law Course

Submitted to:

Ms. Kanchan Lavania

Submitted by:

SHREYA SAXENA

20817703815

VII Semester BA LL.B. (H)

Batch: 2015-2020

VIVEKANANDA INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES,

GGSIP UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI

"It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is
improved. It is impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing." — Swami Vivekananda

PROLOGUE

India ranks among the world’s worst in matters of gender equality according to a survey
conducted by the United Nations. Until a few decades back, women were relegated to the
household. They had no individual existence apart from their husbands and later on, sons.
Few women were literate, and almost none could step out of the house to earn a living and
support herself. Since then, times have definitely changed and efforts have been made to
ameliorate the condition of women. Post – Independence, a pivotal role was played by the
Constitution makers to put into effect provisions to alleviate the status of women. Numerous
other Acts and other legislative measures followed suit.

However, on the ground, the situation seems to remain the same. Atrocities continue to be
committed against women; they continue to face biases in matters of education and
employment and their role in decision or policy making is relegated to the sidelines.

Women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine
democracy. Political accountability to women begins with increasing the number of women
in decision-making positions. It facilitates women’s direct engagement in public decision-
making and is a means of ensuring better accountability to women. The equal participation of
men and women in decision-making has been identified as important prerequisites for
attaining equality and equity through democratic means. Political participation has been
defined in various ways. Political participation means not only exercising the right to vote,
but also power sharing, co-decision making, co-policy making at all levels of governance of
the state. 1

Women’s representation in elected bodies, Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies is a
source of grave discontent. Women occupy only 66 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, which

1
Singh J.P., “ Indian Democracy and Empowerment of Women”, The Indian Journal of Public Administration,
Oct-Dec, Vol. XLVI, No. 4, 2000, pp. 619.
is a mere 12%. With respect to State Assemblies the situation is even worse. Females as
members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) constitute only 9%. Some states such as
Pondicherry and Nagaland have no women MLAs at all.

73RD AND 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON STATUS

OF WOMEN

Participation is the first step towards empowerment. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act
has given a new lease of life to women’s empowerment in India. Due to the one-third
reservation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) there has been involvement of
women in the social, economical and political front at the grass roots level thereby
empowering them to influence the decisions in the local governments over a range of issues
including resource management, family planning, health and education. Women despite
constraints of literacy, inexperience, domestic responsibilities, violence and lack of enabling
environment and have come forward with a hope to influence community decisions and carve
out a new future for themselves. Success stories of women from various local governments
indicate the qualitative changes that are coming forth. The one-third reservation under the
73rd Amendment act has indeed made a significant difference for women in rural areas.

Rajbala v State of Haryana

Supreme Court’s mandate in the case of Rajbala v. Union of India proved to be a setback in
enabling women to hold key positions of decision making and power in the local
governments.
The Haryana Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 prescribes the requirement of formal education,
presence of functioning toilet and the lack of debt among other restrictions. The validity of
this legislation was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The effect of the same was that it took away the chance of women, especially those coming
from marginalised sections of the society to come into positions of authority.
Rajbala, who was the Sarpanch of a village in Sirsa, Haryana was thus rendered ineligible to
hold such a position because she had only attended formal schooling till class IV. Her work
which had fetched the village “Swatchh Village” Award and other contributions were
undermined.
Criticism

The judgement stood as a stumbling block for women and people from under privileged
sections of society. As per the petition, if the law continued to be in force, more than 83% of
rural women above the age of 20 years in Haryana and around 67% of women in urban areas
would also be disqualified from contesting elections.2

The plight of Nimkheda, a small settlement of 1,674 people in Haryana’s Mewat district, is
similar. Known for electing India’s first all-women gram Panchayat, the village showed
significant development with the literacy rate increasing, and fewer cases of female
infanticide, foeticide and child marriage. However, after the decision of the Apex Court
stating “it is only education which gives a human being the power to discriminate between
right and wrong, good and bad” all 10 members of the Panchayat were rendered ineligible to
contest again, and their efforts so far neglected.

The assumption of the Court envisaging formal education as the sole benchmark for testing
intelligence, leadership and capability of a person faced criticism.

Contrary to the Court’s Perspective, I believe formal education does not guarantee that a
prospective candidate is committed to the cause of the local people. Moreover, the judgement
is even harder hitting to the women and other marginalised sections. The general trend of
ostracization of women and limited economical means, create a situation which is not
conducive to females going to school. A household with limited means shall always give
priority to a male child to attend school, so that tomorrow he can make a living. On the other
hand females are seen as liabilities, who shall bring nothing to the household and should be
married off at the earliest. In such a set up it is near impossible for the girl child to educate
herself, hence literacy as a criteria for contesting elections in a country where 22% of the
population is below the poverty line does not make much sense.

Coupled with the above, if a person belongs to the Schedule Castes or Tribes, they may not
even be allowed to set foot in schools even if they want an education for themselves. In such
a condition it is the failure of the State machinery which is unable to ensure education for all,
and hence the people should not bear the brunt of the same.

2
Rajbala v. State of Haryana and ors., Writ Petition Civil No. 671/2015
In a country like India, marred with social and economical biases, such a decision does little
to help the situation.

THE CONSTITUTION (ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH AMENDMENT) BILL, 2008

[WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL- 2008]

The Bill was introduced by the UPA-I government in May 2008. Though it was approved in
the Rajya Sabha, it was widely debated in the Lok Sabha, with various political parties
disagreeing to the same. Consequently it caused a furore in the Parliament, and never saw the
light of the day.

The main features of the Bill are as follows:

 The Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008 sought to reserve one-third of the seats in the
Lok Sabha and the State legislative assemblies for women.
 One third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes shall be reserved for women of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes in the
Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies.
 The allocation of reserved seats shall be settled by authorities as prescribed by
Parliament. 
 Reserved seats shall be allotted on rotational basis to different constituencies in the
state or union territory.
 Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement
of this Amendment Act.

Analysis 

The Bill saw mixed reactions in the Parliament, while some hailed the Bill as a step towards
empowerment of women; others felt that such a reservation shall hinder election based purely
on merit. Another concern was that such rotation of reservation in Constituencies would be a
disincentive to those ministers who may feel that it is futile to nurture a constituency which
may be reserved for women later. Some experts have suggested alternate methods such as
reservation in political parties and dual member constituencies.
The late Rajiv Gandhi was a staunch supporter of women’s rights, in 1989 it was the
Congress which introduced the Bill seeking 30% reservation of seats in Panchayats and
Municipal bodies. However, the Bill came to be passed in 1992 as 73 rd Amendment to the
Constitution during the Narasimha Rao government.

This Bill empowered women to be elected as representatives in Panchayats and Municipal

bodies. The participation by women at the very roots gives them a platform to put forward
their views, ideas and voices of dissent and to be heard by the masses.

The empowerment of these rural women has provided their small communities with health
and child care services, educational opportunities, drinking water, sanitation, information
about legal rights, and access to legal aid. 3 There is a dire need for more women to enter
politics to bring a change in their social and economic status and break the glass ceiling
existing in the political arena.

Although the Indian political arena has seen many firebrand politicians of the likes of Indira
Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani and others, the truth is that they are only a handful. And
these women too have bore the brunt of sexism by male politicians. In the recent past, vulgar
aspersions have been cast by an Assam Congress leader against Union Textile Minister
Smriti Irani. Another incident was the comments made by UP BJP Vice-President
Dayashankar Singh upon Dalit leader Mayawati, calling her worse than a prostitute for which
he faced charges and expulsion.

The Glass Ceiling

The glass ceiling is described as ‘those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or

organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their
organization into management level positions4

Even though women have gained an entry into the a largely male dominated arena, albeit on
the basis of Constitutional provisions, the truth is that the women, being few in number are
unable to bring about a change for the betterment of the women whom they represent, due to
lack of support from their male counterparts. Thus we need more women to lead in positions

3
Women Reservation Bill in India: An analysis Lexpress February 25,
2014 https://lexpress.in/gender-justice/women-reservation-bill

4
Martin, 1991, apud. Lorber, 1994, 227
of policy and decision making, to achieve equality between sexes, because there seems to be a
problem of institutional access to political voice, and from political voice to policy outcomes. This
calls for an amendment reserving one- third seats for women in the Parliament and State
legislative assemblies.

CONCLUSION

Nations such as Finland, Sweden, Denmark & the Netherlands have had a fixed quota system
for women within the parties since a long time. In present times the female legislators have
brought about a positive change in the nature of politics, and have been recognised for their
efforts and contributions.

Rwanda is a great example of how to get more women into the Parliament. While there is
30% reservation for women at the Parliament, there is active participation of women at all
levels right down to the grassroots. There is also special encouragement from the political
leadership, starting from president Paul Kagame that has resulted into women breaking the
30% quota limit and constituting for almost 64% of the national Parliament. That is
commendable progress for a country that is reconstructing itself post genocide. Indian
lawmakers and political establishment should learn valuable lessons from Rwanda and take
steps to correct the historical wrongs.

The number of women in politics is a critical factor in the governance of a country. In

developing countries like India, marginalization of women from the government, this plays a
pivotal role in social and economic power structures, results in gender discrimination and
violation of even the most of the basic human rights.