With Rajasthan having recently gone to the polls and Telangana expected around the 30th of this month, political parties, namely national parties such as the INC and the BJP and state parties (BRS for Telangana) have been going strong with the framing of their election manifestos to possibly woo women voters. Taking the desert state for example, in the run-up to the elections, Ashok Gehlot and his party (Congress) have actively taken up women’s issues while also targeting the youth and poor of the state in the form of providing free laptops and tablets to college students, ensuring an English medium education to every student, pricing the sale of LPG cylinders at Rs 500 for the poor, providing Rs 10,000 annually to the female head of the family, giving free insurance upto Rs 15 lakh for disaster victims, purchasing cow dung at Rs 2/kg and working towards having a law for the old pension scheme. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram, which also went to the polls earlier this month, saw the familiar schemes of cash handouts, gas subsidies, and free transport facilities being offered to secure the women’s vote. Women are being seen as a compelling force that can turn the tide of electoral results, but this has been a fairly recent development.
Despite the fact that our constitution had guaranteed Universal Adult Franchise without much debate during the constituent assembly, the 1950s saw electoral rolls with mostly unidentified women, mainly being characterized as someone’s wife, sister, or mother; there was thus a disenfranchisement of women voters until the names were formally registered under the first EC of India, Sukumar Sen. The 1960s and 70s saw a large gap in the electoral participation of men and women, with there being more than 10% difference in the voting presence of men over women. This gap reduced by the 90s but it is only post the second decade of the 21st century (post 2010) that we see women voters emerging in numbers. Women's participation in voting has not only increased across nearly all states but has also surpassed men's turnout in several recent instances. During Bihar's 2010 assembly election, women exhibited a 3.4% higher voter turnout compared to men. Notably, in states like Uttarakhand, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh in 2012, the trend of women outnumbering men in voting was particularly noticeable. This pattern was observed in numerous other states as well, including Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
What factors are contributing to the surge in female voter turnout? One potential reason is a broader enhancement in women's independent engagement in the public sphere. Notably, there have been advancements in certain facets of female autonomy, particularly within households, based on key metrics. According to the India Human Development Survey, a comprehensive and nationally representative household survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland, the proportion of women holding bank accounts increased significantly from 18% to 55% between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Additionally, data from the National Family Health Survey indicates growth in the involvement of married women in household decision-making, escalating from 77% in 2005-06 to 84% in 2015-16.
Furthermore, post-election household surveys conducted nationally by Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) revealed a rise in exposure to news media among female respondents, with approximately six out of 10 women in 2014 reporting such exposure, compared to slightly over one-third in 2009. Moreover, there has been an increase in women's engagement in political activities, such as attending rallies or political gatherings.
Additionally, the notable upsurge in female voter turnout can also be attributed significantly to the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation program (SVEEP) initiated by the Election Commission of India following the 2009 national elections. SVEEP explicitly targeted the elimination of the gender gap in electoral participation as one of its primary objectives. Strategies implemented by district election officers under SVEEP encompass a range of initiatives, including disseminating information regarding women's electoral rights during immunization drives, establishing polling booths exclusively managed by women, expediting queues for women voters, and leveraging the assistance of ASHA or Anganwadi workers to educate young married women about the required documents for voting.
The 2019 General elections saw the largest turnout of women voters in the history of Indian politics, along with the narrowing of the gap between men and women voters. Women are exercising their choice independent of their family and/or community’s preferences and are looking out for their political interests. In fact, in cases of Bihar and West Bengal state elections that took place in 2020 and 2021, respectively, women played a decisive role in the elections of Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee. In Bihar, the presence of this silent majority can be attributed to Nitish Kumar’s history of working towards the socio-economic opportunity for women and giving it priority over issues of Hindu-Muslim and construction of temples, the JEEViKA scheme, offering bikes to school-going girls, among other policies have boosted women’s confidence in the working of the government for their welfare. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has marked herself as the daughter of the state and managed to successfully prevent BJP infiltration. During her 15-year tenure leading the TMC, 62 women have secured election victories, whereas the Left, within a span of 54 years, had only 111 women elected. Within each election and in comparison to her primary electoral adversaries—namely, the Congress in 2011, the Left in 2014, the Left-Congress coalition in 2016, and the BJP in 2019 and 2021—her party has consistently secured the majority of the female vote, surpassing their male voter support. A considerable portion of her female candidates comprises seasoned legislators or hold significant positions within the party. Approximately one-fourth of these candidates are newcomers, including individuals entering politics from various fields such as cinema, banking, and similar domains.
From a mere voter and nothing else, to a force to mobilize votes, to now an important and valued vote bank, women voters have made their presence felt. With the passing of the Reservation Bill as part of the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2023, what remains to be seen is whether these voices become considerable numbers in local, state, and national governing bodies. So far, there remains a remarkable consistency among states and parties for not having an internal institutional framework that is gender-inclusive or having adequate representation of women. The passing of the Bill will certainly bring with it institutional and political changes to society, but the question of implementation will bring the real test of change.
Photo credits: Arvind Yadav (Hindustan Times)
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