The Women’s Question: Representation in Rural India

“Representation” of all citizens, however it may be defined is crucial for effective democratic governance. The relative lack of women in elected legislative bodies has been noted worldwide, with women’s presence in national legislatures varying from around five to ten percent, and leveling off around fifteen percent, except in Nordic countries, where women constitute up to forty percent of the legislatures. Crossculturally electoral systems with a high number of seats in multi-member constituencies seem to better facilitate women’s participation than do systems composed only, or mainly, of single member districts. Part of the problem is that the predominant view of citizenship is too often limitedly defined solely in terms of rights with active and engaged participation in the political process disregarded. This is a problem because it denies the significance of a legislature’s composition and its impact on minority groups in particular. Feminist critiques recognize the importance of broader definitions of citizenship and political participation that encompass and emphasize women’s active involvement because the political process is both a test of the applicability of these rights as well as a determinant of them. Regardless of the theorist’s position on causes of women’s limited participation or the proper remedy to increase their involvement all agree that there needs to be active and increased involvement of women in politics. The question then is how to best accomplish this in a manner that is conducive to and helpful for women. It is a question of whether reservations actually change the status of women, or only their perceptions, and to what degree. Clearly, more women are elected to political office because of reservations, but more important than the number of women elected is who the women elected under reservations are. It is necessary to examine how interested in and aware of women’s issues the elected woman is, why she was elected, and how familiar and comfortable she is with the political process as a means of affecting