Women in the electoral process Amita Singh Professor of Law and Governance Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU,Delhi

Two pronged winning strategy Increased registration of women voters ECI’s special effort to bring out women voters in constituencies where the voter sex ratio lagged behind the sex ratio in the Census. sex ratio improved from just 788/1000registered women/Men voters to 804/1000in one year in Delhi Parliamentary elections:2004 elections only 795 women voters. 2009=939/1000 eligible voter population/913 registered /846 voted. Motivating women to cast vote

The M-W voters’ Gap is now bridged

Rising Women’s Suffrage and Confidence Building Measures In Uttar Pradesh, eligible female voters turned out at a greater rate % to 58.82%. Chhattisgarh’s 77 %of women voters to76 %men.13 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) reported more women voters than men. In Rajasthan, percentage of women voters was higher than men voters in 197 seats out of the 199 that went to polls. In Goa women voted at a greater rate than men, % to %.

Electoral participation: 50 percent section of the society gets a 10 percent share The actual election of women has not significantly changed. It remains between a range of 7 to 11 percent. women in the 15th Lok Sabha is 10.7 percent. In the Fifteenth General Elections, 2009, 556 female candidates contested the elections and 59 got elected. the nearest when women members could reach this 50 mark was in the 13th Lok Sabha in the 1999 elections, when 49 women candidates were elected. It was barely 9.02 percent of the total Lok Sabha seats.

Drawbacks to electoral activism Criminalization and patriarchal family structures Weak leadership in governance except CBOs and SHGs. Low workforce participation Confidence building measures in pockets need to be broadbased.

Avoiding Criminalization:Women contest on assured support only There were million female electors in the Fifteenth General Elections in 2009 out of which 55.8% exercised their voting rights. There were million male electors and 60.3% exercised their voting rights. The winning % of women was 10.6 as compared to 6.4% males

Weak leadership in Decision Making In 2013, women occupied only 12 out of 78 Ministerial positions in the Central Council of Ministers. There were 2 women judges out of 26 judges in the Supreme Court.Only 52 women judges out of 614 judges in different High Courts. Only one woman Chief Election Commissioner for a month Ms. Ramadevi. As per Census 2011, 73.0% of the population is literate comprising 64.6% females / 80.9% males. The incremental increase over Census 2001 of 10.5% for females / 5.0% for males.

Workforce participation As per Census 2011, the workforce participation rate for females at the national level stands at 25.51% compared with 53.26% for males. In the rural sector, females have a workforce participation rate of 30.02% compared with 53.03% for males. In the urban sector, it is 15.44% for females and 53.76% for males.

Informal participation preferred This implies that women play the role of Spectator and not of active members of the decision making process. Prefer to lead a self- help group rather than a constituency

Findings: pro-women electoral reforms Section 34 should be suitably amended so as to empower the Commission to prescribe high security deposit waiver for women. Criminals be barred, SLP (No /2004- ECI Vs. Jan Chowkidar (Peoples Watch) & Ors.) is pending [Sub-Section (7) of Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951], a person can contest a general election or a group of bye- elections or biennial elections from a maximum of two constituencies.