Women’s Right in India

Question: Discuss about "Womens Right in India". Answer: According to the Socio Legal Information Centre, the notion of women rights and the violation of these fundamental rights through mental, physical, sexual, mental and emotional violence against women has become almost a routine in the Indian context. The question if there were more women representatives in parliament, would these continue looms the air. For the past couple of years, female political representation in India has been lagging, though to date; some improvement has been noted. From the pre-independent times, women have been associated with politics. The Constitution of India under the law guarantees equality to women. They have, however, been marginalized in the political arena. Chhibber states that as at 2010, about half of the population in India had 10% of women representation in the political arena in Lok Sabha. On the other hand, in Rajya Sabha, there were 9% of women representation. The dominance of men in bureaucracy, judiciary and Parliament bring about the notion of gender equality regardless of the point that frequently womens political representation would encourage a less conflict prone and a more cooperative world. According to Kably, in 2013, analysts and researchers identified that womens rights progress was being impeded by the low level of women political representation. It was discovered that women had a 10.6 % representation in Indias Rajya Sabha and 11 % in the Lok Sabha. This made India the 108th in number out of the 188 countries that were included in the annual analysis of female members of parliament steered by the (IPU) Inter-Parliamentary Union. Various obstacles that hinder the representation of women in politics. Among them is the lack of awareness of their rights, poverty, the inadequate financial independence, the patriarchal mode of society and lack of education. According to Lal, in 2014, the President, Pranab Mukherjee encompassed a robust committee guaranteeing 33 % representation of women. To send out a powerful message on the empowerment of women, experts saw the passage of a Womens Reservation Bill, proposing that a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha to be reserved for women as an effective strategy. Furthermore, they saw the reservation of legislative assemblies for women also effective. An improvement on the consideration of women rights is noted as the code of gender equality is cherished in the Indian constitution. The country has sanctioned several human rights instruments and international conventions as well to assure equal rights for women. Though this looks promising on paper, what is actually happening is not that effective. Lal also states that as at 2014, there were only 61 women out of 543 MPs. Women are still poorly represented. It is expected that if one-third of the representatives in parliament in India are women, then there would exist a logical system of checks and balances ensuring that the rampant cases of skewed ratio and rape experienced in the country are curbed through enhanced vigilance from authorities. According to Verma, when considering violence against women, the responses of the government have been seen to be inadequate. The government has to do more and take seriously the challenges the women face. Various analysts also state that the representation of women in parliament is essential not only on the basis of legitimacy and social justice but also due to the fact that if there is a higher number of women in the public office, who convey the interest of women, and hold the power, will uncover the roots of gender hierarchy. There is the need for there to be a group of women placing womens issues on the political agenda. The election of more women in the political office will also lead to the improvement of the education of women and in the reduction of infant mortality among other concerns. As at 2014, women make up for 25% of the sworn in cabinet that is promising for the feminine movement. These developments are portraying hopes that India will make bigger strides towards the correction of its gender imbalances in politics. Rao highlights that as at 2016, the representation of women in parliament has gone up. Women occupy 66 seats out of 543 members in Lok Sabha. However, the global average number of the women in parliament is 22.4%. India is in position 103 out of 140 countries. It has a 12% representation. Within Asia, India has been identified to be the 13th out of 18 countries. It is that time where women need to become the starters of statute. The women setting up the statutes ought to work towards the liberation of other women giving them an equal opportunity in having authority of either a village, country or state. The critical section that the woman setting up the statutes should consider first is stressing on the education of women. This will assist in making them knowledgeable of their political and socio-economic rights and thus develop a political mind that is independent. Development has been seen as the effective manner to offer abilities to women and help them attain their fullest self. Health and literacy are among the basic rights of a woman that enhance her to improve her position in the society through transforming her economic status. It highly assists in the attainment of political power as well. Works Cited Chhibber, Bharti. Women and the Indian Political Process. 24 April 2010. Kably, Lubna. Women have only an 11% representation in India's Parliament. 26 November 2013. Lal, Neeta. Womens Political Representation Lagging in India. 29 June 2014. Rao, Bhanupriya. Women in Parliament: Where India figures among the rest of the World. 6 March 2016. Socio Legal Information Centre. Womens Justice. 2013. Verma, Ravi. Without Government Action, the Burden Will Remain on Women to Fight Back Against Violence.