THE GRIM POLITICAL SCENARIO IN INDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN'S REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS

Authors

  • Baijayanti Ghosh Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Krishnagar Women's College, Krishnagar, Nadia, West Bengal. PIN-741101, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v2.i1.2021.5058

Keywords:

Women, India, Gender Representation, Political Participation, Patriarchy, Policy Reform, Leadership Barriers, Democracy

Abstract [English]

This paper aims to analyse the grim scenario of the political arena of India and the position of women in politics. Despite the fact that women are half of the world's population, their representation in political positions remains very poor. The study employs a secondary qualitative systematic review approach, and sources include academic journals, policy documents, electoral data, and newspapers of the last five years. Research shows that women face such barriers to leadership as centralized governance structures, patriarchal attitudes, institutional gender discrimination, and political violence. Therefore, one can identify activists and gender quotas as the viable instruments in the process of changing the status quo. The study stresses that structural changes and inclusive policies should be implemented to achieve fair representation of women in politics for the growth of India’s democracy.

References

Basu, A. (2016). Women, dynasties, and democracy in India. Democratic dynasties: state, party and family in contemporary Indian politics, 136-172. [Online] https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tesIDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA136&dq=Political+representation+for+Women+within+the+Modern+Democratic+Regime+in+India&ots=pdlvR0LR-4&sig=QlpcWHwiKVp6ZZCeMYocpVB_hYU&redir _esc=y#v=onepage&q=Political%20representation%20for%20Women%20within%20the%20Modern%20Democratic%20Regime%20in%20India&f=false

Biroli, F. (2018). Violence against women and reactions to gender equality in politics. Politics & Gender, 14(4), 681-685. doi:10.1017/S1743923X18000600 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X18000600

Cassan, G., & Vandewalle, L. (2017). Identities and public policies: Unintended effects of political reservations for women in India (No. HEIDWP18-2017). Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Working Paper. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/184721

Chacko, P. (2020). Gender and authoritarian populism: Empowerment, protection, and the politics of resentful aspiration in India. Critical Asian Studies, 52(2), 204-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2020.1711789 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2020.1711789

Chhachhi, A. (2019). Identity politics, secularism and women: A South Asian perspective. In Forging Identities (pp. 74-95). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429039249-5/identity-politics-secularism-women-south-asian-perspective-amrita-chhachhi DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429039249-5

Childs, S., & Hughes, M. (2018). “Which men?” How an intersectional perspective on men and masculinities helps explain women's political underrepresentation. Politics & Gender, 14(2), 282-287. https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/20794/3/20794.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X1800017X

Dey, L., & Das, N. (2020). Women empowerment and political participation: a sociological study in West Bengal, India. International Journal of Critical Accounting, 11(5), 417-428. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJCA.2020.111572 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJCA.2020.111572

ET Bureau. (2020). ET Women's Forum: Why India needs to hear the voice of half a billion. Retrieved from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/et-womens-forum-why-india-needs-to-hear-the-voice-of-half-a-billion/articleshow/74184151.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Goyal, T. (2020). How women mobilize women into politics: A natural experiment in India. SSRN. https://www.isid.ac.in/~epu/acegd2019/papers/TanushreeGoyal.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3583693

Haldar, A. (2020). Hinduism as a Political Weapon: Gender Socialization and Disempowerment of Women in India. https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2389&context=thes

iasscore.in. (2019). Women in Indian Parliament. Retrieved from https://iasscore.in/data-story/data-story-women-in-indian-parliament

Krook, M. L. (2017). Violence against women in politics. Journal of Democracy, 28(1), 74-88. https://mlkrook.org/pdf/pyg_2_eng_2016.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2017.0007

Kumar, D. P. (2017). Participation of women in politics: Worldwide experience. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 22(12), 77-88. DOI: 10.9790/0837-2212067788

McDermott, R. (2020). The role of gender in political violence. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.09.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.09.003

Mitra, S. (2017). Politics in India: structure, process and policy. Routledge. [Online] https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315779997/politics-india-subrata-mitra

Mitra, S. (2017). Politics in India: structure, process and policy. Routledge. [Online] https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315779997/politics-india-subrata-mitra

Paul, S. (2017). POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN URBAN LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT–A CASE STUDY. Retrieved from http://14.139.213.3:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/135/4/4.pdf

Paxton, P., Hughes, M. M., & Barnes, T. D. (2020). Women, politics, and power: A global perspective. Rowman & Littlefield. [Online] https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zanSDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Centralized+power+and+patriarchal+narratives+limit+women%27s+access+to+political+leadership+platforms&ots=6bXZhB6_GS&sig=WPAuxOAwoQDtZOK7KYBw1g8AHwE

Priebe, J. (2017). Political reservation and female empowerment: evidence from Maharashtra, India. Oxford Development Studies, 45(4), 499-521. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1298740 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1298740

Rai, P. (2017). Women’s participation in electoral politics in India: Silent feminisation. South Asia Research, 37(1), 58-77. DOI: 10.1177/0262728016675529 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728016675529

Rai, S. M., & Spary, C. (Eds.). (2018). Performing representation: Women members in the Indian parliament. Oxford University Press. [Online] https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ouF1DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Political+representation+for+Women+within+the+Modern+Democratic+Regime+in+India&ots=hKRe1kJbAJ&sig=6lCgS2eqbv21wetWB65M7UNFMCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Political%20representation%20for%20Women%20within%20the%20Modern%20Democratic%20Regime%20in%20India&f=false

Rediff. (2009). Graphic: Women in Lok Sabha. Retrieved from: https://election.rediff.com/report/2009/may/19/graphic-women-in-lok-sabha.htm

Sahu, T. K., & Yadav, K. (2018). Women’s education and political participation. International Journal of Advanced Education and Research, 3(6), 65-71. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/educatin.2018.v3.i6.15

Sanyal, P., Rao, V., & Prabhakar, U. (2019). How women talk in Indian democracy. Qualitative Sociology, 42, 49-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-019-9406-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-019-9406-6

Sarkar, S. (2016). Gender disparity in India unheard whimpers. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. [Online] https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qwS7DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=despite+the+increase+in+women%E2%80%99s+grassroots+political+activism,+historical+barriers+such+as+sexism,+absence+of+political+sponsorship+and+safety+concerns+act+as+barriers+to+leadership+in+politics+in+india&ots=gjMnuqFG_m&sig=7a0xS4T847qLH9SgAJ72ZOiDdLQ

Sharma, E. (2020). Women and politics: A case study of political empowerment of Indian women. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 40(7/8), 607-626. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-12-2019-0261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-12-2019-0261

Shree, D.N. (2019). Five charts that show the extent of political power women have in India. Retrieved from: https://citizenmatters.in/women-in-power-a-reality-check-of-parliament-and-assemblies/

Singh, R. (2018). Political participation and representation of women in Indian politics: a study. Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research (AJMR), 7(9), 249-266. https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ajmr&volume=7&issue=9&article=023

Singh, S.G. (2019). Only 9% women MLAs and MPs across nation. Retrieved from: https://www.rediff.com/news/report/only-9-women-mlas-and-mps-across-nation/20190311.htm

Sinha, P., Gupta, U., Singh, J., & Srivastava, A. (2017). Structural violence on women: An impediment to women empowerment. Indian journal of community medicine, 42(3), 134-137. https://journals.lww.com/ijcm/_layouts/15/oaks.journals/downloadpdf.aspx?an=00659070-201742030-00003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_276_15

Yadav, R. P. (2020). Reasons of Less Women Participation in Democracy. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT & SOCIO-LEGAL CHALLENGES IN 21 ST CENTURY, 41. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ritu-Gautam-3/publication/357858164_WOMEN_EMPOWERMENT_SOCIO-LEGAL_CHALLENGES_IN_21_ST_CENTURY/links/61e2eba38d338833e36ef679/WOMEN-EMPOWERMENT-SOCIO-LEGAL-CHALLENGES-IN-21-ST-CENTURY.pdf#page=51

Downloads

Published

2021-06-30

How to Cite

Ghosh, B. (2021). THE GRIM POLITICAL SCENARIO IN INDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS. ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 2(1), 80–89. https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v2.i1.2021.5058