New Delhi: As the country votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the stark gender disparity in political representation persists, with women significantly underrepresented despite legislative efforts to ensure equality.
In Kerala, which was the first state to implement 50 percent reservation for women in local bodies, the representation of women candidates is disappointingly low. ThePrint’s analysis of historical data sourced from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Ashoka University’s Lok Dhaba indicates that this trend has been consistent in Kerala — India’s most literate state.
Between 1991 and 2019, over 28 years, only 124 women were nominated by various parties in Kerala, compared to 1,473 men. For the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, out of 194 candidates for 20 seats, 169 are men and only 25 are women.
The number of women candidates has grown to 25 in 2024 from 10 in 1991, and the highest number was in 2014 when 26 women contested the general election. However, their success in elections remains infrequent.
In 2019, only one out of 24 women candidates in Kerala secured a win. Over the past 28 years (1991-2019), only 7 out of 124 women candidates have succeeded — accounting for just 9.92 percent.
In Kerala, where women constitute 51.6 percent of voters, the total electorate numbers 2,77,49,159, according to the official voter list for the Lok Sabha elections on 26 April. Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul Friday announced that the list includes 1,43,33,499 women, 1,34,15,293 men, and 367 transgenders, with 5,34,394 first-time voters aged 18 to 19.
C.R. Neelakandan, a political analyst, blames this on the patriarchal mindset prevalent in the state. “The political spectrum in the state is controlled by men and, therefore, they are the dominant figure. No matter how literate the population is, the religious ‘morality’ is always against women and they are considered inferior to men,” he told ThePrint.
Neelakandan added that a lot of it depends on the party leadership, saying the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, led by a woman, was more likely to provide opportunities for female candidates.
Despite its high literacy rate and balanced sex ratio, Kerala has been extremely cautious in voting women to the Lok Sabha.
In 2014, women constituted 11.23 percent of the Lok Sabha (61 MPs out of 543), with Kerala contributing 5 percent (one woman out of 20). In 2009, women accounted for 10.86 percent of MPs (59 out of 543), but Kerala elected none.
According to Arun Sudarsan, public policy manager at TQH consulting, even if women manage to win elections, they are never given important portfolios. “Even at the assembly level, women are traditionally given ministries like education, health and fisheries. Important ministries like home, security and revenue are reserved for men,” he told ThePrint.
The sole exception, Sudarsan said, was K. R. Gouri Amma, who served as the only female revenue minister of the state from 1957 to 1959.
He added that parties, in general, are sceptical about women because they view them as homemakers who can’t devote as much time as men for election campaigning.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, reserving one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state and legislatures for women for a period of 15 years, was passed by Parliament and received the President’s assent last year but will only be effective after the next census and delimitation of constituencies.
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Party-wise performance
This time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads with four female candidates in the state, followed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with two and the Congress and the CPI with one each.
There are a total of 9 Independent candidates in Kerala for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has not fielded any female candidates.
Annie Raja, the CPI’s candidate from Wayanad, agrees that there’s a gender disparity in state politics. “Although women in Kerala are active in politics, the issue of equal representation for them is not considered big or political. It is always in the year of the elections that the topic of women gets raised,” she told ThePrint.
She added that, until there is enough debate on the issue and compulsory reservation for women, the issue by and large shall remain unresolved. “Although we, my party, are actively trying to fight for equal representation, it is still not enough.”
Despite a high number of Independent women candidates in the state over the years, their presence has not translated into electoral victories.
Sudarsan said, “Independent candidates in Kerala do not have any scope until they have backing from either the Left Democratic Front (LDF) or the United Democratic Front (UDF). Even within the reserved category, the possibility of a woman getting a seat from a constituency is minimal. Parties prefer men over women.”
According to data, in the past 28 years, no Independent woman candidate has managed to win a seat in Kerala in the parliamentary elections despite 54 of them contesting till 2019.
Victims of sexist remarks
Raja also raised the issue of women politicians facing sexist attacks.
“The greatest challenge that women politicians who are assertive face is character assassination. The same is true for Kerala. The most recent example is when morphed photos of our former health minister K.K. Shailaja were circulated in a targeted attack against her,” said the first-time Lok Sabha candidate.
Raja spoke about how people known to her expressed scepticism when they learnt the party had fielded her against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad.
Shailaja, the CPI(M) candidate from Vadakara and former state health minister, earlier this month filed a complaint with the Election Commission against her competitor and Congress candidate Shafi Parambil, alleging that the Congress was launching personal attacks on her ahead of the elections.
Shailaja alleged that morphed photos of her were shared on an Instagram profile called ‘Ente Vadakara KL18’, which contains posts favouring the Congress, misrepresenting her personal conduct and attire.
Another instance was at the time of the 2019 general election campaign, when CPI(M) leader A. Vijayaraghavan faced severe flak for making allegedly disparaging remarks about Ramya Haridas, the Congress candidate from Alathur, who went on to win the election.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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