India’s Female ‘Quota’ in Parliment

by Aditi Mehta

Recently, the upper house of India’s Parliament passed a bill Tuesday that would amend the Constiution to reserve one-third of the seats in India’s national and state legislatures for women. The controversial bill has a long way to go, yet has stirred up strong sentiments on both sides.

Though India has seen strong female leadership and women are beginning to move up in their careers, much of the country’s women face enormous hardships and certainly do not have the opportunities that their male counterparts see. The bill aims to better the lot of women as a whole in India and allow them easier access to government. However, opponents of the bill fear many repercussions for a set quota of women in government. For example, there is the risk that rich, powerful men could use their wives and daughters as political puppets.

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