The Underrepresentation of Women in Politics

In India, women represent merely 10% of the Central Parliament and less than 9% on average of State Assemblies. This fact is profoundly disturbing but not shocking. After all, women are still severely underrepresented in the political sphere across the world and India remains a country bound by many patriarchal limitations despite making great strides in socioeconomic advancement.

The sheer lack of representation of women arises from several factors. Chief of these is a deeply ingrained belief in society that women are unfit for positions of power. Historically and even today, men have been systematically favoured for positions of leadership and public oversight. Stereotypical misplaced views of women as being emotional, weak, or more reticent also contribute to this perception of women being unsuitable for political leadership.

Entrenched societal beliefs and norms are also the reason why women themselves oftentimes believe that they are incapable of or not predisposed to become public politicians. Women are more often than not unconfident about their abilities as leaders which prevents them from taking the initiative to attempt to broach positions of political power in a system that is already thwarting them at every turn.

Furthermore, women in Indian politics are often subjected to harassment – verbal or physical – and coercion. This makes existing as a female politician incredibly dangerous. 

Women are also not usually supported by political institutions beyond the bare minimum requirements. For instance, women are still vastly underrepresented in political parties in large part because of the stereotypical view of women not being suited for politics and, consequently, the average voter’s aversion to the idea of a women leader. 

Evidently, the state of women’s representation in politics is more than appalling. Women’s political representation is so lacking despite the myriad benefits it offers. A larger proportion of women in political institutions could lead to issues of concern for women being handled carefully and with greater consideration with more people who are intimately informed of the matter at hand. Feminist epistemologists have found that women have a unique perspective as a result of the obstacles they face in a patriarchal world which makes them more likely to be sympathetic to minorities as a whole, potentially leading to greater support of minority needs and interests. 

In addition, empirical research by Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) finds that introducing female political leadership in a village improves the prospects and aspirations of young girls in the village and leads to higher investment in infrastructure that is relevant to women.

No doubt progress has been made, with the percentage of women MPs in the Lok Sabha going from 4% in 1951 to 12% in 2014. However, this progress as well as people’s antiquated perspectives being shed has been incredibly slow and uneven. Clearly, a lot more needs to be done to promote women’s representation in politics and as a result, improve societal views on women being leaders in general. Steps to enhance women’s political representation include establishing a body monitoring women’s political representation, creating incentives for parties to have larger proportions of women members, having a minimum requirement of women members in parliament as well as female leaders at a more micro level, for instance, panchayats, and combatting the societal stereotypes and norms that deter women from gaining places of political power.

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