In 1952, when the Indian Republic held its first Parliamentary session, 39 strong, intelligent, and passionate women leaders sat in the hallowed halls of power, challenging a centuries-old tide of men’s dominance over the polity.
A slide from the initial years
At a time when women formed only 1.7% of the total members of the United States Congress and 1.1% of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, India was leading the way in the fight towards more inclusive world democracies with 5.5% women representation. The struggle for India’s Independence can never be detached from the contributions of thousands of our women across profession, class, caste, and religion. A testament to their invaluable contribution has to be their louder voice in our parliamentary democracy; what happened in 1952 was a highly progressive step, but 70 years hence, it seems we have strayed from that path.
