Where so Few of Us Women

THE conversation about improving women's political representation in India has been going on for years.

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At pivotal moments like the 1992 case of Bhanwari Devi, a grassroots worker in Rajasthan who was gang-raped for trying to stop a child marriage, the conversation has grown more urgent, linking women's safety and policy-making power in a patriarchal society to their increased representation in Parliament. The legislative struggle to get the Women's Reservation Bill (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) passed, which reserves one-third of Lok Sabha and assembly seats for women, stretched for over 27 years. The bill, which was finally passed in 2023 with wide support, stipulates that the reservation will be functional based on the first census conducted after its commencement. Based on the census, delimitation will be undertaken to reserve seats for women. The then Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had welcomed the Women's Reservation Bill, while also advocating for a 'qu