Limited Women Representation in Kerala Assembly Despite Progressive Policies

Despite Kerala’s reputation for championing women empowerment and gender equality, the representation of women in the state’s legislative assembly paints a different picture. Historical records reveal that in the 66 years since Kerala’s formation in its current state, women’s representation in the Kerala Legislative Assembly has never exceeded 10%.

This is particularly intriguing considering that Kerala has reserved 50% of seats in local bodies for women. While there is hope that the Women’s Reservation Bill, which grants 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, will usher in a transformation in the political landscape, observers stress the necessity of societal perspective shifts to achieve this goal.

The highest representation of women in the Kerala assembly was in 1996, with 13 women MLAs. The current assembly ranks second with 12 women legislators. Conversely, the worst scenario was in 1967 and 1977 when Kerala had only one woman legislator each.

Experts note that the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill presents a challenging task for major political parties in the state to groom women leaders with winning potential. The Bill is expected to be implemented by 2029, and once enacted, Kerala will have at least 47 women MLAs in the 140-member assembly.

Highlighting an advantage for Kerala compared to other states, political analyst J Prabhash points out that active participation of women in local bodies serves as an effective training ground for aspiring women candidates.

In the 2021 elections, the representation of women candidates from the three major alliances – LDF, UDF, and NDA – was less than 16%. While NDA fielded 21 women candidates, LDF reserved 15 seats for women, and the UDF had only 12 women candidates. Three constituencies saw direct contests between women candidates from the UDF and LDF.

Political observers emphasize that not only should the mindset of political parties change, but also the societal attitude must evolve to promote more women in leadership roles. Concerns are raised about potential instances of leaders reserving seats for relatives in constituencies.

Furthermore, there is uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the reservation due to delays attributed to delimitation and census.

J Devika, a writer and activist, considers the Women’s Bill a significant step towards reducing gender disparity, asserting that it will provide women with the opportunity to play prominent roles in the predominantly male-dominated political arena. Once the Bill becomes law, Kerala’s representation of women in the Lok Sabha will increase to six members.

Currently, the state has only one woman, Congress MP K Ramya Haridas, among its 20 Lok Sabha members. In the Rajya Sabha, out of nine MPs from the state, the lone woman representative is Jebi Mather, the president of the party’s women’s wing state unit. Interestingly, there were three women – Dakshayani Velayudhan, Annie Mascarene, and Ammu Swaminathan – in the Constituent Assembly from the areas that now constitute Kerala, but the state has not seen such significant women representation since then.