1

Women’s role in Decision

Making

Submitted by Abhishek Tiwari, Symbiosis Statistical institute,

Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune

Corressponding Address

abhishek.tiwari@ssi.edu.in

A 106, ICC Trade Tower 403 A,

International Convention Centre,

Senapati Bapat Road,

Pune-41106

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Table of Contents

Sr.

No.

Content

Page No.

1. Introduction 3-4

2. Methodology 5-6

3. Results 7-14

4. Conclusion 15-17

5. Acknowledgement 18

6. References 19

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Introduction

Women and men should equally participate in the decisions and processes that shape their lives.

The society which is structured on patriarchal lines is responsible for marginalizing women in all

spheres of society, be it the economy or decisionmaking process. The Article-14 of Constitution

of India provides the right to equality irrespective of the caste, color, and gender of the person.

However, women being considered as a marginalized group in societies around the world,

contribute very little to the process of development. Gender differences in society led to the

suppression of women in the decision making on various issues occurring in their daily activities.

Roles and responsibilities of women and their choices are restricted to a specific sphere.

Women’s participation in the decision-making process is vital for the betterment and real growth

of the country. If real democracy has to be sustained, the women, comprising almost half of the

country’s population have to be incorporated at different levels and different processes of

decision-making. Women's leadership skills are distinct from men's, and they are likely to

understand and solve the problem that is faced by the women in our country.

The objective of the report is to examine the participation of women in Indian politics, Judiciary

and Civil services. In Indian politics is divided into three stages Member of Parliament, Member

of Legislative Assembly and Panchayat Raj Institutions.

The parliament in India comprises of two houses upper house being Rajya Sabha and the lower

house being Lok Sabha. The task of parliament is examining bills and passing them into laws,

and of checking the work of the government. MPs have legislative responsibilities to pass laws

of India in parliament, To ensure that the executive (i.e. government) performs its duty

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satisfactorily and to represent the views and aspirations of the people of their constituency in the

parliament of India.

The function of the legislative assembly is to act as the highest law-making organ of the state.

Every state in India has its own Vidhan Sabha. MLA being the representative of people of its

assembly. MLA is entitled to take part in the lawmaking process in the state assembly and MLA

can introduce a motion for passing a law on a particular subject in the state assembly. Panchayati

Raj means the rule of people selected by the government in order to maintain law and order in

the village.

In India, the Panchayati Raj now functions as a system of governance in which Gram Panchayats

are the basic units of local administration. The Panchayat Raj act in 1992 which introduced the

three-tier Panchayati Raj system the act provides for the reservation of not less than one-third of

the total number of seats for women.

The constitution is the supreme law of the land and its responsibility of the judiciary to interpret

and protect it. High Court is an important level in our judiciary. Judge is the elected or appointed

official who conducts court proceedings. Judges must be impartial and strive to properly interpret

the meaning, significance, and implications of the law.

The civil services by the quality of its knowledge, experience, and understanding of public

affairs support the chosen representatives to device effectual policy and have a great

responsibility to implement these policies for the welfare of society and enhancement of nation.

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Research Methodology

1. Data Source

In our study, we have collected the secondary data from MOSPI, Election Commission of India

Census of India and Department Personnel and Training. This are the following indicators that

we have selected on the basis of this indicators we analyzed the result. Indicators Used

1. Female voter’s turnout in 2014 general elections.

2. Female MPs from different states in parliament.

3. Female MLAs from different states.

4. Female representatives in Panchayat Raj Institution (PRIs) from different states.

5. Female judges in High Court from differentstates.

6. All India Services female officers from different states.

2. Statistical Methodology

We have conducted our analysis on Microsoft Excel. We have used the data of only 24 states,

since data of all the parameters that we have used for the all 29 states and 7 union territories were

not available. To standardize the data we have calculated the percentage of each indicator. We

have normalized percentage data of each indicator. And then we added the normalized numbers

for each state in the row. Then we have ranked the final data in ascending order. We have chosen

the 5th and 95th percentile states and made the comparison.

6

=

Data Normalization was done using the following

formula: For normalizing the data

𝒙𝒊

𝒎𝒂𝒙𝒙𝒊 × 100

The following ranking method was adopted:

Step 1: At first, the percentages of different indicators for the states was

normalized and then added.

Step 2: States were ranked according to the normalized value

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Results

The population of India according to the 2011 census is 1,24,51,12,340 and out of which female

population comprise of 60,38,44,194 which is 48.5 % of the total population of India.

Fig.1

As in Fig.1 it shows that Uttar Pradesh has the highest female population among the other states.

And the Sikkim has lowest female population.

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Female population in different states

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Female voter’s turnout.

Women turnout during 2014 general elections was 65.63% compared to 67.09% turnout for men.

In 16 out of 29 states of India, more women voted than men. A total of 60.6 million women

exercised their right to vote in April-May 2014 elections for India’s parliament.

Fig.2

In the fig.2 its shows the percentage of female voter’s turnout for 2014 general elections for

different states. According to the graph top, five states are Tamil Nadu 87.5 %, Haryana 85.7 %,

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Percentage of Female voter's turnout

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Uttar Pradesh 82.8 %, Himachal Pradesh 81.8 %, and Assam with 81 % female voters turnout.

The bottom five states are Madhya Pradesh 48.21 %, Chhattisgarh 57.6 %, Odisha 57.9 %,

Jharkhand 56.7 % and Sikkim with 61.97 % female voters turnout. The bottom five states

performed below the national average in the election.

Female MPs.

The task of parliament is examining bills and passing them into laws, and of checking the work

of the government. So it is important to have female MPS in parliament for examining the bills

related to female and children. Currently, in the 16th Lok Sabha , a mere 12.2 % of MPs are

women, and in the Rajya Sabha female MPs constitutes just 11.5 % of the total members.

Department related parliamentary committees play a crucial role in scrutinizing the decisions,

legislation and working of the government. Therefore, participation of female MPs in these

committees is of vital importance to ensure that the legislation and policies formulated by

parliament are gender inclusive.

Fig.3

0%5%

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Female MPs

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In fig.3 it shows the percentage of female MPs in parliament from different states. There are a

total of 92 female MPs in the parliament of India out of 790 seats in Parliament. The top five

states with the highest percentage of elected female MPs are Tripura, West Bengal, Gujarat,

Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh and bottom five states are Sikkim, Jharkhand, Jammu and

Kashmir, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh with no female MPS being elected.

Female MLAs from different states

Every state in India has its own Vidhan Sabha. So it is important to having female MLAS in

parliament for lawmaking and solving major issues related to women. The more presence of

women in our legislative assembly will mean that they will bring with them personal experiences

and viewpoints that will ensure more robust debates, more bipartisan decisions and more

balanced legislative outcomes on many issues that we face in our society.

Fig.4

0%2%4%6%8%

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Female MLAs

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Percentage of Female MLAs fig.4 shows the percentage of women MLAs present in their

respective state legislative assembly. The top five states with the highest percentage of female

MLAs in their legislative assembly are Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya

Pradesh. The bottom five states with less percentage female MLAs in the there assembly are

Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Karnataka, and Arunachal Pradesh.

Female representatives in Panchayat Raj

Institution (PRIs)

Participation on in PRIs as elected as well as non elected members is rising. It acts as pull factor

for women to participate in meeting they give their suggestions for various works and problems

faced them. Participation of women in PRIs will help in reducing domestic violence as due to

female being pradhan or sarpanch . And the victims also feel to share their grievances to women

representatives.

Fig.5

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

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Female in PRIs

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Above fig.5 shows the percentage of the female in PRIs for different states. The top five states

having the highest percent of PRIs are Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and

Karnataka. The bottom five states are Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, and

Arunachal Pradesh. Today we have 14 states which has 50 % - 58 % representation of women in

Panchayat Raj institution.

Female judges in High Court

The constitution is the supreme law of the land and its responsibility of the judiciary to interpret

and protect it. High Court is an important level in our judiciary. There are 73 women judges

working in different high court, which percentage in term is 10.89 % of the working strength.

Justice system is an important backbone of our country so the role of female judges in our

judiciary system is extremely vital. Because women judges can have different viewpoint and

their own experience regarding many cases that can help in giving the judgment.

Fig.6

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Female judges in HC

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Above fig.6 shows the percentage of female judges present in High Court of their respective

states. The top five states with the highest percentage of female judges in High court posted in

their states are Sikkim, Punjab, Haryana Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The bottom five states are the

states with no female judges in their respective high court.

All India Services female office

The civil services by the quality of its knowledge, experience, and understanding of public

affairs support the chosen representatives to device effectual policy and have a great

responsibility to implement these policies for the welfare of society and enhancement of nation.

Thus the role of female officers is equally as important as their male counter-part. Female

officers can help their local chosen representative to make an effectual policy that can help in

development of the conditions of women in their area. They can help in reducing the crime

against women like domestic violence or sexual harassment in their area.

Fig.7

0%2%4%6%8%

10%12%14%16%18%20%

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Female officers

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Above fig.7 shows the percentage of female officers present in respective states. The top five

states with the highest percentage of female officers posted in the states are Jharkhand, Jammu

and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh. The bottom five states are

Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, and Punjab.

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Conclusion

After normalizing the data we have taken out the 5th percentile and 95th percentile of the data and

made the comparison. After normalizing the data we have found all the ranking of the states for

all the indicators that we have used. Here are the top 5 ranked states and bottom five ranked

states.

Fig.8

0%

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100%

150%

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450%

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States

Overall ranking

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Top 5 States

Rank States

1 West Bengal

2 Sikkim

3 Haryana

4 Rajasthan

5 Tripura

Bottom 5 States

Rank States

20 Manipur

21 Punjab

22 Arunachal Pradesh

23 Goa

24 Jammu and Kashmir

The top five ranked states are West Bengal, Sikkim, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Tripura. And

bottom five ranked states are Manipur, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir.

The top-ranked states have more female participation than other states. In top-ranked states, the

female population is West Bengal 48.1 %, Sikkim 47.1 %, Haryana 46.7 %, Rajasthan 48.1 %,

and Tripura 49 %. And the bottom-ranked states female population is Manipur 49.7 %, Punjab

47.2 %, Arunachal Pradesh 47.9 %, Goa 49.2 %, Jammu and Kashmir 46.9 %. There is no

significant difference in the percentage female population between the top and bottom ranked

states. Among states, Haryana has the lowest percentage of the female population but it is ranked

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3rd in the ranking. And in bottom-ranked states, Goa has 49.2 % of the female population but it

is ranked 23rd in the participation female. Bottom-ranked states have to work on their schemes

and their implementations on the ground level related to the development of women so that they

can more participate in the fields that are connected to the social development of the society. For

the progress of the country role of male as well as female population is necessary. Tamil Nadu

had the highest percentage of voters turn out for 2014 general elections it was 87.49 % but it has

not featured in the top five ranks. Sikkim had just 60 %of female voters turn out for the election

and it is ranked 2nd in the ranking. Not only the participation of female population during an

election is necessary but also at a different position in the government that takes a decision for

the welfare of the society.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to express my special gratitude to the Ministry of Women and Child Development

for this internship. I worked under Deputy Director Mrs. Meena Nandwani , Assistant Director

Mr. Rahul. Ms. Meena Nandwani maam gave me an opportunity to work on the public

grievances and that was indeed an eye opener of the problems that plagues our country. Mr.

Rahul Sir provided with the topic on Women’s Role in Policy Making, and Administration, a

detailed analysis was done on the topic, and report was prepared.

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References

1. www.Data.gov.in

2. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementations

3. Department Personnel and Training