Karnataka political glass ceiling: Why women have limited representation

Women politicians in Karnataka have limited representation in the state’s power circles, despite rising participation by women voters.

They accounted for only seven per cent of candidates and around five per cent of winners -- this in a state where around 50 per cent of the votes come from women. This year’s 10 women elected representatives is still the highest number in decades.  

Karnataka has seen a single digit share for women among candidates in every election since the turn of the millennium. The lowest point in recent history was 2008, when women accounted for only 1 per cent of the winners (see chart 1).

This is despite more women turning up to vote over the years. Only around 52.8 per cent of women eligible to vote did so in 1962. This was 12 percentage points lower than the 64.87 per cent for men in that year. The gap between the two has narrowed to less than one percentage point as more people turned up to vote. The polling percentage of women in 2023 was 72.7 per cent, compared to 73.68 per cent for men (see chart 2).

“Political parties see the potential of women voters but do not see women as political leaders,” says Angellica Aribam, founder of Femme First Foundation, a non-profit organisation working to augment gender participation in politics.

“When political parties talk of electability, muscle power and manpower, what they are insinuating is that women are not as electable as men,” she adds.

Explaining the preference of women electorate in Karnataka this election, Sanjay Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies said, “There was a tilt in the favour of Congress among women voters in Karnataka.”

Karnataka’s five per cent share for women in the legislature in 2023 is among the lowest in recent elections. Business Standard calculated the share for the ten other states which went to polls in 2022 and 2023. Only Nagaland (3 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (1 per cent) were lower.

The states with relatively higher representation include Tripura (15 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (12 per cent), Uttarakhand (11 per cent), and Punjab (11 per cent). Other states such as Manipur, Gujarat, Goa and Meghalaya had a single-digit share.  

Women are often not part of the candidate pool, which affects their ability to get elected to the assembly. Only four out of eleven states had a double-digit share of women among candidates. All of them were below 15 per cent (see chart 3).

The Lok Sabha had 14.4 per cent representation of women after the 2019 general elections.

Decrying the lack of conversation around gender representation by political parties, Shelly Mahajan, Program & Research Officer (Political Party Watch) at the Association for Democratic Reforms said, “Having the 33 per cent reservation for women is crucial. The reality right now is that we are alright with electing candidates to the parliament who have cases of crime against women pending against them. This is not just an issue of electoral politics, there is structural inequality. Not just political parties but the processes of politics also need to evolve towards gender equality.”

Angellica adds, “Gender representation is, unfortunately, still not a political issue.”

Academic studies have pointed out the positive effects of having more women in power.

Crimes against women are more likely to be reported when there are more women politicians, according to a 2011 study entitled ‘The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India,’ from authors Lakshmi Iyer of the Harvard Business School, Anandi Mani of the University of Warwick, and the International Monetary Fund’s Prachi Mishra and Petia Topalova.  

“...we find strong and surprising evidence that political representation is an important means of providing voice to disadvantaged groups within the criminal justice system,” it said.

Caste and gender both play a role in policy, noted a 2011 study entitled, ‘Women in politics: Evidence from the Indian States’ from author Irma Clots-Figueras of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain.

“Female legislators in seats reserved for lower castes and disadvantaged tribes invest more in health and early education and favor ‘women-friendly’ laws, such as amendments to the Hindu Succession Act, which was designed to give women the same inheritance rights as men. They also favor redistributive policies, such as land reforms... female legislators from higher castes do not have any impact on ‘women-friendly’ laws,” it said.