Only two thirds for men
India wants to introduce quotas for women in parliament
September 22, 2023, 2:34 a.m
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Since 1996, women have been given more seats in the Indian parliament. But conservative MPs repeatedly oppose concrete changes to the law. Parliament has now agreed to a quota for women.
In India, parliament has approved a change in the law that would reserve a third of the seats in the lower house and regional parliaments for women. After eleven hours of debate, all 215 members of the upper house voted for the change, according to parliament.
However, it will probably be a long time before the reform actually comes into force – observers say it will be 2029 at the earliest. The change was first proposed in 1996, but was long rejected by many conservative MPs. Women are currently clearly in the minority in the House of Commons. The approval of the regional parliaments of the federal states for the change is expected.
Before the reform can actually come into force, there should first be a census. The number of seats should then be adjusted depending on the population size of the individual states. On Wednesday, the majority of MPs in the lower house had already approved the change.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that it was a historic step that would ensure women’s voices were heard more effectively. The decision could boost women’s support for the Hindu nationalist ruling party, the BJP, in upcoming regional elections in the coming months as well as national elections next year.
Loud Federal Statistical Office The proportion of women in the German Bundestag in the current electoral period is 35.1 percent. In the current one global ranking of the Interparliamentary Union Germany was only in 45th place as of August 1, 2023. With a proportion of women of 61.3 percent, the East African country of Rwanda is currently the world leader. According to the taz, 15 percent of the members of the lower house are currently women. This puts India in 140th place out of 196 countries.