From Anne Mascrene to None: Lok Sabha and the Political Under-Representation of Women from Kerala | Sonu Vincent

Amidst all the hype about the women’s reservation bill and ’Nari Shakti’ in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the number of women elected to Lok Sabha has further decreased from 78 to 74. It has lowered the women’s presence to 13.6% of the total 543 elected representatives. [1] Even when the number of women voters and their impact on electoral outcomes have increased over the period, it has not reflected on women’s political representation. Data shows that there are 13 states/U.T. from which no women representatives were elected to the Parliament. In this list, the southern state of Kerala, known for its high development indexes in the area of health, education and social status of women, remains the only southern state to have no woman MP this time. In contrast to the balanced sex ratio and female voters outnumbering male voters, women’s representation remains abysmal in the state. Such a strange paradox leaves the Kerala case all the more intriguing as well as alarming. This article focuses women elected to Lok Sabha from the state of Kerala since independence to the present and the factors that have affected their performance and presence as political representatives.

The Pioneering Women Leaders representing Kerala in the past and present
Since the first general election in 1951-52, Kerala has had only 9 women M.P.s (Lok Sabha) till present. [2] Anne Mascrene was the first woman parliamentarian from Kerala to emerge successful as an independent candidate in 1951. It is to be noted that long before the formation of the state of Kerala (1956), there were many women who actively involved themselves in political affairs. Mary Poonon Lukose (member of Travancore Legislative Council in 1922), Dakshayani Velayudhan (first Dalit MLA from Cochin Legislative Council and was chosen as member of Constituent Assembly in 1945) Akkamma Cherian (served as the Acting President of Travancore State Congress in 1942 and was member of Travancore Legislative Assembly in 1947) were some of these valorous women who took political leadership in the pre-independent India. In the post-independence period, after Anne Mascrene in 1951, Kerala had to wait more than 16 years for its next woman MP. In 1967, Susheela Gopalan (CPIM) was elected to the Parliament. Following this, in 1971, Bhargavi Thankappan (CPI) became M.P. She was the first Dalit woman M.P. from Kerala. In 1980, Susheela Gopalan was again elected to the Parliament. After this, there was a gap of 9 years for the emergence of a woman MP, and this time, it was Savithri Lakshman (Congress) who reached Lok Sabha in 1989. In 1991, Susheela Gopalan and Savitri Lakshman were elected again. Then, in 1998, A.K. Premajam (CPIM) was elected, and again, after not a short break of six years, in 2004, two women- P. Sathidevi and C.S. Sujatha, both from CPIM were the elected representatives. Then, it was only in 2014 that a woman member was elected to the Parliament, P.K. Srimati (CPIM). In the 2019 general election, Remya Haridas (Congress) was the only woman candidate to emerge successfully. In 2024, although the state had a maximum number of women candidates (9), the elected woman representative from the state remains zero. It is alarming to note that from the presence of 3 Keralite women in the constituent assembly, we have journeyed to a present that has completely wiped out women’s presence in the Parliament. This clearly indicates that there is little prospective for linear progress.

The Stalwarts who were denied Recognition and Leadership

Kerala, with its high development Index, has maintained a favourable sex ratio. With 52% of the population, women constitute more than half of the population of the state, a ratio far above the national average. However, when it comes to women’s representation, the state has lagged behind. The hesitance of women to take up political leadership is the last factor responsible for their absence. Indeed, past experiences show that women have been continuously denied opportunities and kept away from positions of power. The life stories of remarkable women leaders like Akkamma Cheriyan, K.R. Gowri, Susheela Gopalan and many others who succeeded them are a testament to their predicament. [3] Akkamma Cheriyan, hailed as the ’Jhansi Rani of Travancore’ by Mahatma Gandhi, had led the historic march in 1938 protesting the ban on the Travancore State Congress. She was imprisoned multiple times during the freedom struggle. However, in the post-independence years, she was relegated to the margins and denied due recognition. In the case of K.R. Gowri and Susheela Gopalan, it is seen that despite proving themselves as able legislators, they, too, had to wage difficult battles against patriarchal tendencies within their party. They were both strong contenders for the Chief Minister’s post during their heyday. However, they eventually lost to their male counterparts. Both of them were from the Ezhava community, and their "backward" caste status further exacerbated their struggle. Along with gender disparity, they had to constantly challenge caste discrimination to make their way into the political space.

A few years back, Lathika Subhash, a Congress party worker and the then president of Kerala Pradesh Mahila wing had to tonsure her head to show her protest against denying her ticket in the 2019 legislative assembly election. Her experience of thirty years in the party was overlooked, and her complaints fell on deaf ears. Aren’t these instances of exclusion enough to explain the reason for Kerala not having a woman Chief minister till today? Generations of women have been denied recognition and kept away from leadership positions through unjust measures. Their stories, infused with battles against inequality and injustice, are seldom recalled. Moreover, those women who chose to fight for their rightful share are villanized and portrayed as incapable and immoral. Such an experience further inhibits women from aspiring for leadership positions, diminishing their presence in the public arena. Here, we get to see that high HDI and improved social status of women in terms of education, health and income don’t always translate into political representation. [4] Therefore, the need for constitutional amendments and the dismantling of the patriarchal outlook is important to ensure women’s participation.

Constitutional Amendments and Gender Parity

The 2024 election was the first to be fought after the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Indian Parliament. The implementation of the bill will remain on paper unless the delimitation exercise and the delayed all-India census are completed. As a consequence, it left little impact on the number of women who were given seats to contest the election. Their numbers, as usual, remained scanty in many states. The tendency to allot non-winnable seats to women and to deny them multiple chances have remained trial and tested measures to discriminate against women. In the face of such discrimination, constitutional provisions challenging systemic injustice gain significance. In the particular case of Kerala, the 50% reservation for women in local governance has largely remained effective but has not paved the way for women’s participation in the state and central assembly. The presence of women in the Kerala legislative body has never exceeded 10 per cent. [5] Instead of enabling further growth, the reservation in local governance is used as a means to pin them down. Also, those who are sceptical of reservations argue that it can only result in proxy candidates overlooking the complex intersectionality of caste, class and gender. It is not to argue that reservations are not without limitations. However, in the face of systemic and structural discrimination meted out to women, the effectiveness of constitutional amendments and affirmative actions cannot be underplayed. Recent studies also highlight the link between women’s representation and the health of democracy in the world over. [6] Denying women legislative positions is seen as one of the features characterizing the move towards authoritarianism in different parts of the world. Institutes like V-Dem tracking democratic freedom worldwide categorize India as an electoral democracy from 2018 onwards. According to the World Democratic Report 2024, India’s position has further declined in this ranking to the status of one of the worst autocratizers. [7] In light of these developments, it is crucial that we work towards ensuring freedom of speech, expression and representation to different sections of the society that have been historically denied equal opportunities.

In this regard, gender quotas have proved to be an effective tool for the political empowerment of women in different parts of the world. We do see that in countries like Sweden, political parties follow the zipper system, also called vertical parity or zebra system. [8] It is a voluntary quota system within which parties alternate between female and male candidates to ensure equal representation of men and women. The impact of long-term policy changes and legislative reforms was evident in the recent Mexican general election. Mexico elected its first woman president to power, Claudia Sheinbaum. Interestingly, the top two contenders for the highest post were women, and it could only be achieved through effective reforms. For an increased number of women in the Indian Parliament and state legislative bodies, there is a need for legal and constitutional interventions. However, such a top-down approach will have to go hand-in-hand with grassroots-level feminist interventions challenging patriarchal socio-economic structure. It is important to underscore and accept that women make good leaders, and only then will more than half of the population of our country have their own representatives. Hundreds of women who gave their lives for the sake of their country and its people should inspire us to carry our fight forward for equality and the upholding of democratic ethos.

(Author: Dr. Sonu Vincent is Assistant Professor at Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi)