Name: Anita Sharma
Country: India

Year: 2024
Volume: Volume-9, Issue-2 (July-December)
Page Number: 157-167

ABSTRACT
India’s female representation in the legislature remains very less in number, much lower than the global average. India is known to be the largest democracy of the world and the constitution ensures political equality to everyone, irrespective of any bias and prejudice. However, this promise is not reflected in actual practice in terms of women representation. The 17th Loksabha registered the win of only 78 female parliamentarians, making up only approximately 14.36% of the 543-member house. This condition is recurrently present in the Indian parliament since Independence contributing to a order of absolute under-representation of women community. Such a situation in the political sphere also leads to minimalist presence of women in the decision making body impacting the socio-economic issues that affect the lives of women. It also bars the potential role of women to serve as catalyst of change and development. Therefore, the question of participation, especially representation of women in the formal political process becomes an area of great importance in academic discourse. The participation of women in the electoral process is an indicator of their political consciousness as well as their aspiration for status enhancement. Women constitutes half of the citizenry and are legally entitled for any public office in most of the countries, so obviously they should also have an equal share and voice in the political life including in the decision making sphere .
Based on the above premises, this research paper explores the disconnect between the Political particiaption of Indian women and their formal inclusion as political representatives in the Indian democratic process and the substantive power they wield, moving ‘beyond the ballot’ .It also aims to analyze the structural barriers in the process of political representation of women. While India has achieved historic milestones—most notably the 2023 passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Bill) ensuring 33% seats in the Lok Sabha—the theoretical promise of representation often clashes with entrenched socio-political realities.

Despite the constitutional mandate for equality, the reality of women’s representation in India is characterized by biased considerations and patriarchal choices which pose a serious hindrance in the realization of the essence of democracy. Women’s voter turnout has finally surpassed men’s in recent general elections in India but their representation in high-level decision-making bodies remains disproportionately low.

Keywords: Women, Representation, Substantive, Barriers