Indian Political Scenario and Women Participation-An Empirical Study

Abstract

In today's world, women are actively participating in different sectors such as IT, HR, Finance, Customer relationship management, etc., but it contradicts in case of politics. Only 22.8 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women as of June 2016, a slow increase from 11.3 per cent since 1995. In Asia only 19.2 % women are actively into politics compared to Nordic countries where percentage is high&is 42%. As the world celebrates the International Women's Day on 08 March 2016, statistics reveal that India lags behind many countries, including its neighbours Pakistan and Nepal, when it comes to women's participation in politics. With only 10.8 per cent of women representation in the LokSabha and 10.3 per cent in the RajyaSabha, India ranks 98^th country in the world, according to the data released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international group that works for promoting Democracy, Peace and Co-operation in the world. India, the world's largest democracy, has now only 59 women representatives out of 545 members in LokSabha, while there are 25 female MPs in the 242-member RajyaSabha. With 22.2 per cent women MPs in its Lower House and 17 per cent in the Upper House, Pakistan is placed 51 while Nepal is ranked 18, with 33.3 per cent of female MPs in its parliament, according to the IPU list released on January 31 this year.