Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take advantage of his government’s majority to get the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The Bill has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010.
Describing the Bill as ‘a significant step forward in the empowerment of women, the Congress president, in a letter written to the Prime Minister last evening, said, ‘You may recall that the Rajya Sabha had passed the women’s reservation Bill on March 9, 2010.
Since then, however, it has been languishing in the Lok Sabha for one reason or another.
“I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the women’s reservation Bill passed in the Lower House as well.
Women politicians have pointed out that male MPs are against the proposal. Women hold only about 10 per cent of the seats in the two houses of Parliament combined. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), that’s half the global average of 21.4 per cent.
The proposal has the potential to become one of the most empowering laws for women in India, activists say. Gender equality in Parliament would empower women in general, they say. A stronger women’s voice at the top would have a trickle-down effect, leading to the development of policies and laws that would help women at the grassroots level fight abuse, discrimination and inequality.
Despite nearly two decades of protests, rallies, demonstrations and hunger strikes by the women’s rights movement in India for more seats in the legislature, male lawmakers have stubbornly blocked the current bill, fearing – activists say – that it threatens their own political power.
