India is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which requires the Government to adopt measures for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
Image: Sajjad Hussain / AFP
Over 20th and 21st Sept 2023, both houses of Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam or the Women's Reservation Bill 2023, to ensure equal representation of women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Given that it is the first Bill to be passed in the new parliament house, the event can have symbolic as well as actual significance if it marks true intent on the part of our elected representatives to implement the Bill in letter and spirit. While political empowerment, which the Women's Reservation Bill represents, is just one form of women empowerment, the Bill needs to be viewed holistically from a larger lens of overall women empowerment, which includes economic, social, educational and legal empowerment, all of which are interlinked.