Sidharth Patra
Introduction: The moment of political reckoning
As India takes a stride in progressively reforming its governance structures, women’s participation in politics is finally gaining long-overdue recognition. Rising female voter turnouts, increased literacy rates among women, and civic engagement via digital platforms are reshaping the conventional narrative. At the heart of this paradigm shift lies the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, also known as the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023, mandating a one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and the Delhi Legislative Assembly, effective from 2029 (PRS Legislative Research, 2023).
However, this raises a key question: Will legislative quotas alone translate to genuine women’s empowerment? To answer this, we must reflect on the historical struggles, institutional reforms, and emerging governance challenges that women have had to face.
The Origins of Women’s Empowerment in Colonial Times
Firstly, to trace back the initial steps of women’s empowerment, it’s imperative to revisit the days of colonial struggles. Prominent social reformers like Pandita Ramabai and Swarnakumari Devi fought for girls’ education and against social inequities. Annie Besant’s Home Rule Movement in 1916 further amplified the clarion call for resistance against both colonial rule and domestic inequality.
By the 1920s and ’30s, over 10,000 women were motivated to join nationalist movements like the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-1922) and the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-1934). Women leaders such as Sarojini Naidu, Sucheta Kripalani, and Aruna Asaf Ali emerged as key figures during such protests.
Thus, when India gained independence, women secured not just freedom from colonialism but also attained an equal democratic citizenship, including universal suffrage and a fair share in political participation.
The Initial Elections and the Path to Institutional Empowerment
The democratic citizenship earned by women was not just limited to Poorna Swaraj, but deeply transfigured into nationwide civic engagement through the First General Elections. The 1952 elections were to be construed as a stepping stone for women leaders. However, despite their numerous past hardships and countless sacrifices, only 22 women were elected to the 1st Lok Sabha, making up just a mere 4.4% of the total 489 representatives (Election Commission of India, 2014 & 2019). While it was a historic first indeed, it still highlighted the deeply entrenched marginalisation and distrust within the society.
In spite of this disillusionment, the real power of women’s empowerment continued to thrive in the gaps between elections through the means of protests, sabhas, local unions and feminist movements. This relentless effort is what eventually laid the groundwork for the legislative breakthroughs of the 1990s.
Breaking Ground
The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments In the transformative years 1992–93, India witnessed a quantum leap in its traditional legislative stance towards women’s empowerment. With the enactment of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, a 33% reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies was implemented (Wikipedia, n.d.). This wasn’t a symbolic stance, but rather the formal appreciation of strong willpower and capabilities.
For the first time in India’s history, over one million women entered political incumbency at the local level. A huge fraction of them belonged to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. This demonstrated a dynamic transformation as female-led panchayats were more likely to invest in public goods like drinking water, education, health services, and sanitation (Chattopadhyay & Duflo, 2004). Women brought new governance priorities, often rooted in the everyday lived experiences. But this entry into politics also brought new challenges for women, especially during elections.
Between the Ballot and the Backbench: Everyday Struggles and Resilience
Despite the empirical rise of women in local governance due to reservations, genuine autonomy was frequently diluted by proxy representation, where male relatives wielded real agency (The Hindu, 2022). Nonetheless, this practice gradually reduced as women sarpanches asserted themselves by filing RTIs, scrutinising public schemes, and confronting firmly entrenched hierarchies. Leaders like Chhavi Rajawat pioneered e-governance in Rajasthan (India Today, 2011), Minakshi led sanitation reforms in Haryana, Sushila Devi exposed corruption in Bihar, Pushpa Devi enhanced welfare delivery in Jharkhand, and Shanti Devi mobilised SHGs in Odisha for disaster relief and civic planning (Centre for Social Research, 2011).
These stories epitomise that empowerment transcends electoral victories as it is moulded in everyday governance. However, this bottom-up transformation thrives best when bolstered by top-down political commitment and enabling ecosystems, as Odisha’s integrated model of SHGs and institutional support clearly demonstrates.
State-Backed Empowerment in Odisha: An Inspiring Political Vision
In 2019, Odisha’s ruling party, the Biju Janata Dal, became the first to voluntarily field 33% women candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, demonstrating a willingness to go beyond quotas in local governance (Press Information Bureau, 2019).
Additionally, the same regime launched the Mission Shakti initiative, which led to a support structure for over 6.5 lakh Self-Help Groups and empowered around 8 million women in Odisha (Government of Odisha, n.d.). These SHG proponents are engaged in school inspections, ration monitoring, grievance redressal agencies, and disaster management. SHG women were also trained in using applications like e-PDS, Mo Sarkar, and Jansunwai. Partnerships with PRADAN, Coursera and SEWA further bolstered the novel vernacular digital literacy training for women (PRADAN & ANANDI, 2020).
Therefore, Odisha’s governance paradigm proves that real empowerment emanates not just from reservations but from voluntary political upliftment, civic engagement and a conducive ecosystem.
Embracing the Way Forward for Women
Led by the evidential appreciation of Odisha, as India approaches the prospective implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in 2029, the true measure of women’s political empowerment lies not in quotas alone. It is a narrative of meaningful resistance, strong resilience, and continuous reinvention.
Additionally, future revolution mandates strong political training, systemic guardrails, and inclusive digital platforms.
So, now is the time to deliberate upon DigiLocker to not just save our board marksheets or driving licenses, but perceive it as a potential animate storehouse of women-led manifestos, policy innovations, and grassroots leadership. Let us commence the practice of truly empowering women and ‘going beyond the one-third’. It is this willingness which shall lead us to a participative democracy where women don’t just merely participate but shape, steer, and manoeuvre the governance between the ballots.
References
- Centre for Social Research. (2011). Breaking the mould: Women leaders in Panchayati Raj. CSR India.
https://www.csrindia.org/publications/breaking-the-mould - Centre for Youth and Social Development. (2021). Decentralised governance and women’s participation in Odisha. CYSD Publications. https://www.cysd.org/publications/decentralised-governance-odisha
- Chattopadhyay, R., & Duflo, E. (2004). Women as policy makers: Evidence from a randomized policy experiment in India. Econometrica, 72(5), 1409–1443. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3598740
- Election Commission of India. (2014 & 2019). Statistical reports on general elections. https://eci.gov.in/statistical-report/statistical-reports/
- Government of Odisha. (n.d.). Mission Shakti Portal. https://missionshakti.odisha.gov.in/
- India Today. (2011, March 26). Chhavi Rajawat: The new ruler of rural India. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20110314-chhavi-rajawat-so da-rajasthan-sarpanch-745752-2011-03-04
- National Statistical Office. (2021). Education report. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. http://www.mospi.gov.in/
- Press Information Bureau. (2019). CM Patnaik sets national precedent with 33% women Lok Sabha candidature. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1572947
- PRADAN & ANANDI. (2020). Women leadership in tribal regions: Panchayats and beyond.
https://www.pradan.net/resources/publications/Women-Leadership-Tribal-Regions. pdf - PRS Legislative Research. (2023). The Constitution (One Hundred Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill – Women’s Reservation Act.
https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-constitution-one-hundred-twenty-eighth-amendme nt-bill-2023 - The Hindu. (2022). Proxy women in panchayats: A continuing concern. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/proxy-women-in-panchayats-a-continuin g-concern/article65724785.ece
- UNICEF Odisha. (2020). Gender and governance in Odisha: SHGs and women’s voices.
https://www.unicef.org/india/media/6061/file/Gender-governance-Odisha.pdf - Wikipedia. (n.d.). Local government in India. Retrieved 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_India
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
About the Contributor
Sidharth Patra is a Law and Public Policy Research- Cohort 5 Fellow at IMPRI. He is an aspiring Law Student with a deep fascination for the realms of Constitutional Law, Policy Analysis and Technological Intersections.
Acknowledgement
The author sincerely thanks Prof. Vibhuti Patel and the esteemed panelists in the LPPYF Cohort for their invaluable contributions during the development of this blog. Sincere gratitude is also extended to the peers and coordinators of the cohort who constantly shared key suggestions during the program.
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