Tamil Nadu Assembly Election: Only 5% Of Elected Representatives Are Women

The 2021 Tamil Nadu elections saw a glaring gender gap in the elected representatives as only five per cent of elected representatives are women as compared to 21 per cent in the 2016 elections. Twelve female candidates were voted into power this year, where seven represent the DMK and five represent the AIADMK. Many of them have held power previously in their respective constituencies, reported The New Indian Express.

The percentage of female voters was more than the male voters in most parts of the state. Most parties in the state are advocating for a Women's Reservation Bill. The Bill would mandate 33 per cent of female representatives in the Lok Sabha and all the state Assemblies. However, this Bill has only been successful in the local body elections and did not arise as an electoral promise in the Assembly elections. It is also interesting to note that the 2021 Assembly elections saw less than a tenth of the contestants in the ruling and opposition parties were women, and only about 8 per cent of the contestants from the Makkal Needhi Maiam were women, although the party criticised the poor representation of women in politics.

Irregular representation

Although a significant portion of the female voters is party workers are women, their representation reduced as one goes up the political ladder. V Amulu, the DMK representative at Gudiyattam, has been active in politics for 15 years, and S Vijayadharani, a former president of Tamil Nadu Mahila Congress who is now the incumbent INC MLA from the Vilavancode constituency, enrolled many women into the party when she was the president.

For a state that has witnessed the rise of strong female politicians such as former chief minister J Jayalalitha and with 50 per cent of the female population, less than five per cent of the women are at the wheel of decision making for the state.