National Women's Legislative Conference is Pushing for a Reservation for Women

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 28 May 2022

The Kerala Legislative Assembly hosted a two-day national women legislators conference on Friday, where they adopted resolutions calling for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill and the enactment of comprehensive legislation to prevent defamatory remarks against women in public and on the internet.

Dr R Bindu, Kerala's higher education minister and a CPI(M) politician, proposed a resolution to make 33 percent women's representation in legislative bodies a reality. The bill envisaging a 33% reserve for women in the legislature has been pending in the Lower House of Parliament for the past 26 years, according to the resolution.

Various objections to the bill prevented it from being passed. 78 women were voted to the Lok Sabha in the recent general election, despite the fact that the reservation bill was still being debated. In terms of women's legislative representation, India is now ranked 148th in the world. After being placed 95th in 1995, the resolution cited this as a setback.

Another resolution passed at the conference called for laws to protect women from defamatory remarks. A Tamilarasi, a Tamil Nadu legislator, proposed a motion stating that it has reached a point when even senior female politicians are being defamed on social media.

The resolution stated, “This is becoming a reflection of patriarchy,” Intimidation, abuse, libellous words, and anti-feminist behaviour on social media were all condemned in the resolution, which asked for comprehensive legislation that could be applied across the country.

A total of 120 participants from various states around the country attended the conference.