1000 women leaders to be trained for contesting in elections

Centre for Social Research will create a pipeline of women leaders through UN project

New Delhi, January 15, 2007— In a landmark initiative by a civil society organisation in the country, Centre for Social research (CSR), an organisation working for the empowerment of women, will build capacities of as many as 1000 marginalized women to participate in state and national electoral politics. CSR, through its United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) project titled “Enhancing the Role of Women in Strengthening Democracy”, will train this massive pool of women leaders by implementing the core strategy of “Train, Contest & Win” at 3 levels.

At level one, women’s leadership capacity will be built by imparting training to 1000 prospective women leaders and by preparing & motivating them to contest elections for the state legislatures and national parliament. At level two, advocacy and lobbying with political parties to increase seats for women within parties and lobbying for passage of 33% Reservation Bill will be undertaken with its network partner- WomenPowerConnect (WPC). At level three, the learnings from the projects shall be shared with South Asian partners to build stronger foundation for democracy in South Asia.

“Women have proved time and again that whenever the need arises they are able to stand tall and be as good leaders as men. However, women in this country are subjected to widespread discrimination, and therefore they need to develop their skills and understand the dynamics of political process. It is essential to train more women as well as encourage the ones who are successful at the local governance level to enter the State Assemblies and National Parliament, ” says Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research.

Participant women shall be selected from entire India, with proportional regional representation. Special emphasis shall be given to women in panchayati raj and training for leadership building amongst the women belonging to Scheduled caste/Scheduled tribe and backward classes will be undertaken.

At the end of the project, capacities of women across India will be enhanced to contest elections. Political parties will be made aware about this pool of trained women. Key political parties shall be encouraged to ensure voluntary quotas within parties to ensure gender balance. They will also be sensitized and lobbied with to ensure a smooth passage of Women Reservation Bill.

The UNDEF is an additional strategic funding instrument of the United Nations to further promote and strengthen democracy in the world. It funds action oriented projects that bring tangible improvements in democracy and human rights on the ground and mainly focuses on gender equality, the grassroots and vulnerable groups’ inclusion. As many as 95 countries throughout the world have instituted quotas and other positive measures to include women in politics. These affirmative actions have broken barriers and have encouraged decisive outcomes, as there has been greater participation of women in the democratic functioning of the nations.

The Constitution of India, via Articles 325 and 326, guarantees political equality to all men and women. However, women have not benefited from this right. The representation of women in Parliament and State assemblies is extremely low in India. In spite of registered voting population of 1040 million, in the last General Elections (2004), the total number of women candidates contesting elections from all the recognized political parities were just 176, out of which only 45 women were elected. This is just 8.2 per cent of the total strength of the Lower House of Parliament. The average percentage of elected women in 14 State Assembly elections held in 2004, 2005 and 2006 is 6.62 per cent.

In this context, it is critical to enhance the capacity of the women to fight elections, reduce or remove the preventive barriers and to introduce new affirmative steps, such as quotas, that can enhance the participation of women in the state and national parliaments. In India, there is a strong need to lobby for the passage of 33% Reservation of Seats for Women in Parliament Bill (Women Reservation Bill). This bill has been pending for more than a decade and its passage is must to ensure seats for women in state assemblies and National Parliament. The existing networks, which are working on the issue of gender parity in politics need strengthening to support and help sustain women in politics.

For more details, please contact:

Shreshtha Kumar, Kasturi Nath

Communicators India

Ph: 46082436

M: 9873077438, 9811847985

Dr Ranjana Kumari

Director

Centre for Social Research

Ph: 26899998

M: 9810054264