Women reservation bill was introduced by 106th Amendment Act. It aims to reserve one-third of all seats in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Assembly of Delhi for women.

Main features:-

1. Article 330A for reservation in Lok Sabha
2. Article 332A, for reservation of seats for women in every state Legislative Assembly
3. Article 239AA(2)(b) was amended for reservation in National Capital territory of Delhi.
4. The reservation include horizontal quota by including seats reserved for SCs and STs.
5. Reservation will be effective after the next census conducted after the commencement of this Bill.
6. Reservation on rotational basis
7. Reservation will be provided for 15 years. However, it shall continue till such date as determined by a parliamentary law.

Challenges in implementation:-

1. Current Bill does not provide women’s reservation in the Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Councils.

1. It will be implemented after next census and delimitation. No date is fixed for that.
2. Need to amend Article 82 and Article 170(3) of the Constitution for implementation of delimitation.
3. There are concerns regarding limited voters choice
4. The bill might uphold the existing gender stereotypes by suggesting that women are not being judged based on their merit.
5. According to another argument, it goes against constitutional provisions of Equality.
6. Prevalence of gender biases in society.

In Gender Gap Index, India stands at 129 out of 140. It cannot realise full potential of economy and democratic rights when majority of its population (women) are out of decision making. Many nations like Rwanda and New Zealand have set exemplary examples by putting women in leadership positions. Therefore, the need of hour is to take proactive affirmative action. Although, reservation can’t guarantee equality and change but it is a good measure in right direction.