'Promise of women reservation in Parliament not fulfilled'

Batting for reservation of women in Parliament, BJP member Najma Heptulla today said the promise had not been fulfilled by political parties, even as she raised concerns on quotas for females on company boards.
"While every political party has reservation for women in the Parliament in their manifestos, the promise has remained merely on paper," Heptulla said at an All India Management Association (AIMA) event.
She pointed out that while women-led parties had 150 seats in the last Lok Sabha, they gave election tickets to a few women and only 11 per cent Lok Sabha members were women.
The new Companies Act mandates at least one woman on the board of a company. Most provisions of the Act are slated to come into force from April 1 this year.

"There is a danger of women directors getting limited to the quota. The problem with quotas is that they tend to become the ceiling instead of the floor," Heptulla said.
Meanwhile, Director at Engineers India Ltd Veena Swarup argued against quotas, saying these could lead to complacency among women and would compromise quality.