Bhubaneswar: Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy on Thursday highlighted India’s strides in women’s political representation while addressing the 10th Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Conference at Cape Town in South Africa.
“In the 2024 general elections, 74 women were elected to the Lok Sabha — 13.6 per cent of the total strength of the House. Over 14.5 lakh women are elected representatives in India’s Panchayati Raj institutions, which is about 46 per cent of the total representation. Women not only participate, but also work effectively and lead in India’s institutions,” Padhy said.
She said India is working towards enacting the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023 through the 106th Amendment to the Constitution to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Addressing the Women’s Parliament programme of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference, Padhy said women’s self-help groups in Odisha have made lakhs of women self-reliant. Access to clean water and digital services has helped women become entrepreneurs.”When a woman joins the decision-making process, she brings not only a woman’s perspective but also the experience of a citizen, a community and a nation,” she said.
Noting that the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians network represents over 6,000 women from over 180 national and regional parliaments, the Speaker said while its scope is impressive, much more needs to be done to bridge the representation gap.
The conference was attended by women Speakers, MPs, MLAs and Ministers from across the Commonwealth, while Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri, Andhra Pradesh MP D Purandeswari and West Bengal MP Rachana Banerjee delivered keynote speeches.
Along with Speaker Padhy, Deputy Speaker Bhabani Shankar Bhoi and Secretary Satyabrat Rout are also in Cape Town for the event.
