'LARGEST MINORITY' DEBATE: THE WOMEN'S QUOTA; DELIMITATION DELAY THAT STARTED IN 1917

On November 10, 2025, India’s Supreme Court grappled with an urgent question of democracy. A petition by politician Jaya Thakur implored the Court to enforce the Women’s Reservation Act, a recent constitutional amendment guaranteeing one-third of legislative seats to women, immediately—rather than waiting years for a new census and redistricting exercise.

- TDG NETWORK

Adivasi women have always been at the forefront when it came to organized mass programs on their part. The rally called by the adivais at Chakadoba village in Medinipur district of West Bengal [2009], India saw massive participation by women who came with traditional weapons.

Hearing the plea, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, the only woman on the bench, posed a pointed query: “Who is the largest minority in this country? It is the woman... almost 48%. This is about the political equality of women.” Her remark captured the irony that women, despite being roughly half the population, remain sorely underrepresented in India’s halls of power. The Court issued notice to the government on the matter, underscoring what the moment truly represents: a culmination of over a century of struggle for women's political representation, now colliding with the procedural brakes built into law.

EARLY STRUGGLES AND INDEPENDENCE (1917-1950)

Women's political rights in colonial India were hard-won. A suffrage movement had emerged in the 1910s, but British reforms were cautious. The 1919 Government of India Act allowed provincial legislatures to decide whether educated or property-owning women could vote. Between 1919 and 1929, all British provinces and most princely states gradually enfranchised women - the first was Madras City in 1919 - but often under strict qualifications. By 1935, these piecemeal steps still meant that only about 2.5% of Indian women were eligible to vote. Women joined the nationalist movement and demanded full equality, even proposing quotas in some debates, but the immediate goal remained independence.