Opinion In politics and bureaucracy, women are severely under-represented

As per data compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in India, women make up 14.44 per cent of the Lok Sabha. A glance at the data in the latest available report of the Election Commission of India (ECI), shows that women represent 10.5 per cent of all Members of Parliament as of October 2021. For all the state assemblies, female MLAs’ representation stands at an average of 9 per cent. India’s ranking in this regard has fallen over the last few years. It is currently behind Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The data for May 2022 showed that women’s representation in Pakistan was 20 per cent, in Bangladesh 21 per cent, and in Nepal was 34 per cent. Since Independence, women’s representation in Lok Sabha has not even increased by 10 per cent.

The representation of Indian women in bureaucracy is also lacking. Women’s participation is low enough for several public services jobs at the Centre and states to facilitate free applications for women candidates. Despite this, as per Indian Administrative Services (IAS) data and the central government’s employment census of 2011, less than 11 per cent of its total employees were women. In 2020, this reached 13 per cent. In fact, out of a total of 11,569 IAS officers entering service between 1951 and 2020, only 1,527 were women. Further, only 14 per cent of Secretaries in the IAS were women in 2022 — 13 out of 92 posts. There are only three women chief secretaries across Indian states and union territories.

India has never had a woman cabinet secretary. There have been no women Secretaries of Home, Finance, Defence and Personnel, either. As per the latest official data of the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), in 2019, nearly 3,67,086 women applied for the UPSC examination; 1,77,611 women appeared for the examination and 1,534 women qualified; 7,68,175 male candidates applied at the same time, out of which, 3,90,671 appeared for the exam and 10,311qualified.

These numbers show a staggering contrast in male and female participation. Additionally, women candidates are more likely than men to seek voluntary retirement from service. Structural impediments to women’s empowerment, in general, are the primary issues that make it difficult for them to be a part of the services. Service conditions involving postings in distant cadres, patriarchal conditioning and balancing family commitments along with the requirements of this job are some of the social factors that lead women to opt out of the civil services. Furthermore, there is a general perception that women should be preferred for “soft” ministries like Social Welfare, Culture, Women and Child Development.

A quick look at other sectors shows that the situation is no better. Only 20.37 per cent of MSME owners are women, 10 per cent of start-ups are founded by females, and 23.3 per cent of women are in the labour force. Further, the measurement of the female labour force is difficult. Most of the available statistics on India’s female labour rate do not incorporate the unpaid work that females do. Women themselves do not realise that their labour should be classified as work. It is here that the question of female literacy — both financial and academic — comes into the picture.

Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, and professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King’s India Institute, London. Chauhan is an independent research scholar