Representation of women in Lok Sabha in 2024: Get a complete picture

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in India, 74 female Members of Parliament got elected, forming 13.6% of the total number of MPs. Get an elaborate idea here.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in India, 74 female Members of Parliament got elected, forming 13.6% of the total number of MPs. The country has performed worse than 150 others in the representation of women in Parliament, according to data from IPU-Parline.

IPU-Parline is a reliable global database of national parliaments. It published a ranking in May 2024 that reflected the representation of women in parliaments. In 2019, 14.7% of MPs were female politicians, taking India’s ranking in the global index to 145.

Can Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam bring changes?

The year 2019 noted the highest number of women MPs in the Parliament till date. But as of 2024, the representation of female politicians has dropped, leading India’s ranking to drop to 150. India has been outranked by countries like Rwanda, South Africa and the US.

India falls short of the global average of 26.5% and even the South and Central Asian average of 19%, in terms of female MPs representation in Parliament. India’s neighbours in Asia have performed better. Pakistan has secured a rank of 116, China is at 89 and Nepal at 55.

Last year, India passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam bill that is expected to provide 33% reservation to female politicians in Lok Sabha and assemblies. The bill is likely to be enacted by 2029 at least due to delimitation and census requirements.

Representation of women in Lok Sabha: Highlights

Some of the key points to highlight include,

1. 16% of the women MPs elected during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are under the age of 40.

2. 78% of the elected MPs have at least an undergraduate education.

3. 5% of MPs have a doctoral degree.

4. 41% of the MPs have previously served in the Lok Sabha. One has been a member of the Rajya Sabha.

5. In terms of the approximate percentage of women MPs in Lok Sabha, the figure stays at 4% in 1952, 6% in 1962, 4% in 1977, 8% in 1984, 5% in 1989, 8% in 1998, 9% in 1999, 11% in 2009, 11% in 2014, 14% in 2019 and 14% in 2024.