CEDAW and Political Empowerment of Women in India: An Analysis of Women Reservation Act 2023

Being half the population of the world, women form a major part of the assets that cannot be ignored in the journey toward a better world. On the other hand, women are equal and deserve an equal share of opportunities and results. Concerning the role of women in shaping a better world and their equal status, they have been witnessing positive efforts at the domestic and global levels. Among these efforts, the milestone was the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It is a gender-specific treaty and exclusively deals with human rights from a women’s lens. Even after achieving milestones in many areas, women have very little participation in politics and decision-making. It is a universal phenomenon that most countries are unable to achieve de facto equality in the area of political empowerment for women. India is further no exception to this and is still striving to provide equal opportunities to women. India, being a believer in equality of men and women and a party to CEDAW, is under obligation to ensure the political empowerment of women. Consequently, after long efforts, India has been successful in passing a law that will reserve thirty-three percent of seats in national politics. The present paper analyses whether this reservation law is up to par for providing de facto equality to women and domesticates Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW that specifically deal with the political participation of women.