1. Enhancing Women’s Representation in Legislatures MANUSHI SANGATHAN E-mail: [email_address] Website: www.manushi-india.org An Alternative to the Government’s Bill for Women’s Reservation

2. Apart from some exceptions like Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland where women are moving in the direction of near equal participation , female presence in legislatures remains small and relatively insignificant. But even in these countries, it did not happen automatically. Special measures were implemented to enhance women’s participation in legislatures as well as within political party

5. The R epresentation of Women in the Lok Sabha has Remained Stagnant. * It reached a “high” of 10.6% in 2009 with 58 women being elected to Lok Sabha and 18 out of 228 in Rajya Sabha amounting to 7.89%.

11. Declining Representation of Woman in State Legislatures 1952 – 2009 (% of Women MLAs)  N.A. means Information not available for 2008 elections. Representation in State Legislatures