The term ‘political participation’ has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to ‘Right to Vote’, but simultaneously relates to participation in: decision-making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc. Women turnout during India’s 2014 parliamentary general elections was 95.63%, compared to 67.09% turnout for men. India ranks 20th from the bottom in terms of representation of women in Parliament.
India has a multi-party system with the 7 registered parties at the national level. The three largest parties in India are the Indian National Congress (INC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The BJP’s wing is the BJP Mahila Morcha, the INC’s wing is All India Mahila Congress, and the CPI’s wing is the National Federation of Indian Women.
One of the earliest women’s organizations, Bharat Stree Mahamandal, formed in 1910 and focused on helping women escape oppression from men. Women’s associations had traditionally began with the help of men giving few women access to work and education, while limiting the expansion of traditional gender roles.
Challenges to women’s participation has been overlooked since ages and that is being suffered on different grounds like Sexual violence, Discrimination and Illiteracy. In 2001, the Government of India passed the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women. The policy focuses on “the advancement, development, and empowerment of women.” Specifically, the policy focuses on ending gender inequality and violence against women.
Let’s go through the list of ladies in India’s political arena which is not based on any merit and also you might be aware about:
1. Sushma Swaraj is an Indian politician and a former Supreme Court lawyer. A senior leader and former president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Swaraj has served as the Minister of External Affairs of India since 26 May 2014.
2. Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician, stateswoman and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was the first and, to date, the only female Prime Minister of India.
3. Pratibha Rao Patil is an Indian politician who served as the 12th President of India from 2007 to 2012. A member of the Indian National Congress, Patil is the only woman to hold the office.
4. Nirmala Sitharaman currently serving as the Defence Minister of India. She is also a member of the Rajya Sabha for Karnataka.
5. Smriti Zubin Irani is an Indian politician. Irani is a Member of Parliament, being elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Gujarat. She is the current Textiles Minister in the Government of India.
6. Jayaram Jayalalithaa was an Indian politician who served six terms as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for over fourteen years between 1991 and 2016.
7. Mayawati Das is an Indian politician who spent four separate terms as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
8. Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011.
9. Sheila Dikshit is an Indian politician who was the longest serving Chief Minister of Delhi, serving for a period of 15 years from 1998 to 2013. She is a member of the Indian National Congress.
10. Vasundhara Raje is an Indian politician who has held the post of 13th Chief Minister of Rajasthan since 2013; previously she served in the same post from 2003 to 2008.
11. Ambika Soni is an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. She had served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She is a Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.
12. Supriya Sule is an Indian politician from the Nationalist Congress Party and currently a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the daughter of the President of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar.
13. Poonam Mahajan is a Member of Parliament from Mumbai North Central and a politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. She is the daughter of the late Pramod Mahajan leader of Bharatiya Janata Party.
14. Pankaja Munde-Palwe is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. She is current Minister of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare as well as Maharashtra State Guardian Minister for Latur district and Beed district in Government of Maharashtra. Pankaja was born to Central Cabinet Minister Late Gopinath Munde.
15. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi is the Indian Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development in the Government of PM Narendra Modi. She is also an animal rights activist, environmentalist, and widow of the Indian politician Sanjay Gandhi.