Analyses of the assembly polls in Maharashtra miss the emergent political agency of women voters by stressing only on women-centric schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana

Women, especially from the Adivasi community, turned out to vote in record numbers and voted for the return of Hemant Soren’s JMM. We look at a slew of reasons that likely influenced their electoral participation and decision

Smaller states in India have a better record of women’s representation in their assembly. In Maharashtra, the gender skew is glaring – few contest, fewer win and those who do often have family backing

The 14th Maharashtra Assembly rammed through 1000 crucial resolutions in the last days but was visibly silent on crucial development issues

In poll-bound Haryana, women’s political identity has been historically shaped by patriarchal, kinship, and gender norms. But their role in the protest movements of the last few years is making a difference

In the face of rising right-wing hostility in western Maharashtra, women academics are pushing back, asserting their right to freedom of speech

Political parties in the state are still reluctant to field women candidates because they do not believe in their winnability in a politically charged environment

Communal polarisation is gathering pace in the state, with right wing organisations resuming campaigns around what they call land jihad. Vishalgad and its Muslim residents are among the latest victims of this hate campaign

With no clarity on trans women beneficiaries, and the many hurdles to establishing gender identity, the Ladki Bahin scheme is becoming exclusionary

Aditi, a member of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India, has contested elections multiple times at both local and national levels but has never won. She says that winning was never the point

Women activists from all the parties that allied to forge the Maha Vikas Aghadi are campaigning with a never-before show of solidarity

At least 986 million Indians should be voting this year. But it is likely the final numbers will be many millions less. We explain why

They don’t helicopter into villages and vamoose. We speak to young women who are political newcomers on how they ensure constant interaction with people

The fact that they are resisting exploitation ruptures the popular political image of marginalised women, says political scientist Proma Raychaudhury

There is state pressure to dissuade frontline health workers from fighting for political office even though they are still hired as ‘honorary volunteers’

Two in five women fielded by major parties won in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana elections

In the south, Telangana has one of the lowest shares of female MLAs, doing worse than its sibling state Andhra Pradesh

In the last two decades of their rivalry in Rajasthan, only around 10% of the candidates picked by the BJP and Congress have been women

Since it attained statehood, women have made for only 4% of all candidates who have contested in Mizoram’s electoral history

Even the women who are leading pro-reservation rallies in Maharashtra are using the language of patriarchy

Since its first assembly election as a separate state in 2003, Chhattisgarh has seen a steady increase in the number of women contestants as well as the number of elected women representatives

Jagadevi, a seasoned elected woman representative, is currently serving as a ward member of the Chittawadi gram panchayat in north-east Karnataka’s Bidar district. She has been […]

Manipur is all set to elect its 12th state legislative assembly as it goes to polls in a 2 phase election, with the electorate voting on […]

For Khublata Regar (31), a Dalit woman, the decision to run for the office of the Sarpanch (president) in the Gram Panchayat elections in Potlan in […]

For Laxmi Bhil (23), the Bhil Adivasi Sarpanch (President), Kabra Village Council, Bhilwara District, Rajasthan, contesting elections was both taxing and rewarding. A nursing student, Laxmi […]

Geeta Ben Gamit, 42, is a busy woman. The Sarpanch ( village council head) of Bhatpur in Tapi district in South Gujarat was finishing signing papers […]

For Lokamma (30), a Dalit woman leader,  who won her seat in Hokarna Panchayat in Bidar district, in the Gram Panchayat elections in December 2020 in […]

Fewer women will now occupy seats in the newly elected Vidhan Sabha (state legislative assembly) in Assam in 2021. Six women were elected in the recently […]

‘I will win Bengal on one leg and in the future, will get victory in Delhi on two legs’, thundered Mamata Banerjee, the current chief minister […]

For M Radha (53), the transgender contestant and her team of fellow trans campaigners, election season meant spending  hours in campaigning  door to door, distributing pamphlets […]

Kerala’s first Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) was a woman.Rosamma Punnoose, 44 years-old when Kerala elected its first post-Independence legislative assembly in 1957, was elected from […]

“This is just the beginning; there is much to do and fight for”, said Kavita Arya (31), Dalit Pradhan ( village council head) of Rauliyana Gram […]

Uttarakhand is home to the fierce ‘Chipko Movement.’ Led by the bold and spirited women in the 1960s, the movement was one of the many significant […]

Badami Bai (32), had a problem on her hands, just a week before the Panchayat (India’s directly elected village councils) elections in India’s western state of […]

Tanzeela Qambrani (41) created history in Pakistan when she became the first Sheedi Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Sindh Assembly in 2018. Her election to […]

When Mamta (26), was elected to Jayadara  Gram Panchayat ( lowest tier in India’s 3 tier local governance system)  in Sirohi district of Rajasthan in 2015, […]

Surta Bairwa (33), the former Dalit Sarpanch of  Srirampura Panchayat in Rajasthan’s Tonk district had enough of the centuries old dominance of the upper caste Gurjars. […]

For Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (45), Dharavi in Mumbai is much more than a constituency. She calls it home. The 4 time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) […]

Fawzia Koofi (45), the Member of Parliament from Afghanistan, has survived several assassination attempts by the Taliban. “The Taliban dislike women holding such powerful positions in […]

Fawzia Koofi (45), the Member of Parliament from Afghanistan, has survived several assassination attempts by the Taliban. “The Taliban dislike women holding such powerful positions in […]

Sri Lanka is all set to elect its ninth Parliament on 5 August 2020. According to officials, 7,452 candidates, 70 parties and 313 independent groups are […]

Women’s political participation remains abysmally low in the Lok Sabha- the directly elected House of the Parliament as well as state legislative assemblies. The current Lok […]

Delhi Vidhan Sabha, the elected body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, has a dismal representation of women. Only 9% of the elected MLAs in […]

Women’s political representation in Jharkhand has seen a constant upward surge since the state came into existence in 2000. The proportion of women Members of Legislative […]

In Haryana, a state with a skewed sex ratio (913 girls to 1000 boys, an improvement from 830 girls in 2011), there is one gender indicator […]

Telangana, the newest state in Southern India, finally has women ministers in the state’s council of ministers for the first time in its history. In a […]

P Krishnaveni remembers the night of 13 June, 2011, clear as day. Barely 200 m from her home of 15 years, in front of a local […]

Goddeti Madhavi (26), the first time Member of Parliament (MP) from Araku in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) knows the trust that her constituents […]

Sharmila Devi (39), the youngest dalit sarpanch of Thirumanvayal panchayat in southern Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai district, has pulled off what none of her upper-caste, male predecessors […]

What is it like to do a full-time job without a salary? Especially if you are a dalit or an adivasi woman and your daily earnings […]

It wasn’t personal ambition that drove K Muthukanni to stand for election as panchayat president from Madhavakurichi in Mannur block of southern Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district. […]

Even by normal standards of violence in Tamil Nadu’s panchayat politics, the events of March 29, 2001, were troubling. Menaka, 35, the feisty dalit president of […]

Salma (50), the deputy secretary of the women’s wing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is among the few women to have made the transition from rural […]

Ashubi Khan, 51, is distraught. A decade of trailblazing work done by this tall, soft-spoken sarpanch (village chief) and her team of seven illiterate women–and three literate […]

Madhavi Goddeti may be a first time Member of Parliament (MP) in the newly elected Lok Sabha but she is no stranger to politics. The 26 […]

Despite limited resources and social resistance, Sidhamallamma Kanchappa, a panchayat leader from Tamil Nadu, has become a champion for women’s health.

Nestled in a sylvan valley in northwestern Tamil Nadu and surrounded by forests, the village council, or panchayat, of Sittilinghi struggled to bring to state attention […]

Mazharkodi Dhanasekar has a radiant smile and is keen to talk about her achievements, which, as it emerges, are considerable: Building 650 toilets and making her […]

As a first-time member of the legislative assembly (MLA) in Bihar, Jyothi Devi, 46, did well over her five-year term: She had 10 bridges—some of which were demanded […]

States with poor development indicators for women (mainly sex ratio and female literacy) have higher representation of women in their vidhan sabhas (legislative assemblies) according to an analysis […]

Thirty five years ago, Bhagirathi Devi was a sweeper in the block development office in Narkatiyaganj, a town in Bihar’s West Champaran district. Today, she is a third-term […]