Her story, a poster exhibition, demanding equal participation of women in governance, held at the Kerala Social Forum concluded at Regional Theatre in Thrissur on Sunday.
Organised by the Thullya Prathinitya Prasthanam (Equal Rights Movement), a group of people fighting for equal representation of women in Assembly and Parliament elections, the exhibition showed agitations across the world for achieving the goal. It also showcased the statistics of current representation of women in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and in the State Assembly.
“Though the Women’s Reservation Bill got green signal in Parliament after a long wait, it has been passed with various conditions, which make actual implementation vague. People even wonder whether the conditions for implementing the Bill, including the census and delimitation, will be in place by 2029. So the future of the Women’s Reservation Bill is still uncertain though it is a law now,” notes M. Sulfath, convenor of the movement.
Currently, the representation of women in Lok Sabha is 14.4 and Rajya Sabha is 12.24. The Kerala State Assembly has only 7.86% women representatives, she notes.
“Inclusiveness is the key of democracy. But no political parties are ready to promote women in elections. Men always keep majority of seats in their hand in all political parties,” says M.V. Vinnetha, State president of Kerala Union of Working Journalists, who inaugurated the poster exhibition.
Women became game changers in Local Self-Governments after they got equal representation in them. Women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and democracy and it ensures women’s direct involvement in decision making, the movement stresses.
The Thullya Prathinitya Prasthanam also conducted a signature campaign for pressing their demands . They have been meeting various political party leaders with the request of ensuring more seats for women in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The movement has also sent postcards to the President for speedy implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
