20 Years of Women’s Reservation Bill – Failure to turn women’s bill into law ‘unbelievable’
Posted in UCANIndia, on September 15, 2016 |
The 1997 bill proposed to reserve 33 per cent of seats in parliament and state legislatures for women. |
New Delhi: Activists say that the Indian parliament's failure to make a 1997 bill — that reserves parliamentary seats for women — into a law is evidence that women are still not treated with equality or respect in the country.
"It's really unbelievable that even after nearly 20 years the bill is still waiting to see the light," said Sister Talisha Nadukudiyil, Secretary of the Indian Catholic bishop's Office for Women. "Unless the patriarchal mindset of people changes, I'm afraid things will stay the same," said the nun from the Sisters of the Destitute congregation.
The one-day program remembering years of women's struggle in India.
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"Women of India are still struggling to secure the same in parliament and state legislatures. At the moment females only account for 10 percent or less of the total number of house members," Sister Scaria said.