Thiruvananthapuram Declaration on Women’s Reservation

Thiruvananthapuram Declaration UPCS: Relevance

• GS 2: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

Thiruvananthapuram Declaration: Context

• Recently, Kerala legislative assembly hosted the first National Women Legislators’ Conference and has adopted Thiruvananthapuram Declaration on women’s reservation.

National Women Legislators’ Conference: Key points

• The conference demanded immediate steps to ensure the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill which envisages 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State legislatures.
• The Thiruvananthapuram Declaration lamented the trajectory of the Bill, which has been pending for 26 years, as a sullied blot on the democratic values and legislative traditions of the country.
• The resolution called upon all political organisations, Union government and parliamentarians to take immediate steps for the passage of the long-standing bill.

Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008

• The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
• The minister pointed out that the bill could not be passed due to opposition from regional parties.
• The Bill envisages 33 per cent reservation for women in the legislature. It has been pending in the Lok Sabha for the last 26 years.

Women representation in Parliament

• In the last general election, 78 women were elected to the Lok Sabha even as the reservation Bill was pending legislation.
• Currently, India ranks 148th in the international rankings for women’s representation in the legislature.

Defamatory remarks against women

• Another resolution adopted in the conference called for a legislation to curb defamatory remarks against women.
• According to the resolution, it has come to a stage where even senior women politicians are being defamed on social media.
• The resolution called for a comprehensive legislation that could be implemented across the country to curb intimidation, abuse, defamatory statements and anti-feminist behaviour through social media.

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