True political representation of women cannot be ensured unless preferences of women get significant attention. The adverse sex ratio of the Indian electorate makes it impossible for women’s welfare to feature in political agendas and policy making. This number of 65 million missing women has increased fourfold from 15 million (13% of the electorate) to 65 million (20% of the electorate) in the last 50 years.
The sex ratio of the electorate is far worse than the general sex ratio of the population. This implies that women who are eligible voters are actually not registered in electoral rolls and remain “missing from the voter’s lists”. Even when politicians are not biased against women, their policies might be.
True political representation of women cannot be ensured unless preferences of women get significant attention. The authors, Ravi Kapoor and Shamika Ravi suggest that policymakers should target constituencies with the worst gender ratios to be reserved for women. Women’s reservation bill may not be the answer according to the authors.
