A caucus of women political leaders across party lines should enhance women\u2019s participation in political parties and advocate for the Women\u2019s Reservation Bill in a collective voice, participants at a conference organised by the UNDP said.<\/p>\n
For affirmative action to happen, mobilisation of women around an integrated development agenda was crucial. This was one of the key recommendations at a roundtable on women\u2019s participation in politics organised by the United Nations Development Programme, a statement said Friday.<\/p>\n
In discussion with MPs, social activists and grassroots leaders, UN Under Secretary General and UNDP associate administrator Rebeca Grynspan said: \u201cThere is much to be celebrated in India. There are over one million elected women representatives in local self-governments, thanks to mandatory quotas ranging from 33 to 50 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet there are only around 11 percent women in parliament, lower than the global average of 20 percent, still far from the 30 percent target set at Beijing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grynspan added: \u201cMore diverse participation in politics is not only good for women but is key for society and a strong democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ranjana Kumari, president of Women Power Connect and Director of Centre For Social Research, said: \u201cI am hopeful the bill will indeed be passed by the current government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Participants pointed out that women were held back from entering politics because of social norms and deeply entrenched patriarchal mindsets.<\/p>\n
India ranks 129 out of 147 countries on UNDP\u2019s Gender Equality Index, lower than all South Asian countries except Afghanistan at 141.<\/p>\n
One of the key factors pulling down India\u2019s rank on this index is the low level women\u2019s representation in parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A caucus of women political leaders across party lines should enhance women\u2019s participation in political parties and advocate for the Women\u2019s Reservation Bill in a collective voice, participants at a conference organised by the UNDP said. For affirmative action to happen, mobilisation of women around an integrated development agenda was crucial. This was one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[17768,17763,17765,17755,17767,17762,17761,17759,17760,17758,17764,17757,17766,17756],"class_list":["post-24010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-law-news","tag-deeply-entrenched-patriarchal-mindsets","tag-director-of-centre-for-social-research","tag-lower-than-all-south-asian-countries-except-afghanistan","tag-mass-movement-critical-for-reservation-bill-undp","tag-mobilisation-of-women-around-an-integrated-development-agenda","tag-president-of-women-power-connect","tag-ranjana-kumari","tag-social-activists-and-grassroots-leaders","tag-un-under-secretary-general","tag-undp-associate-administrator-rebeca-grynspan","tag-undps-gender-equality-index","tag-united-nations-development-programme","tag-womens-participation-in-politics","tag-womens-reservation-bill-in-a-collective-voice"],"yoast_head":"\n