Legislative Quotas for Women: A global and ... - Aurat Foundation

“Nothing in the world is perfect,” says B S Baviskar, a senior fellow ofthe Institute of Social Sciences in Delhi, “but 60 years afterindependence, fewer than 11 per cent” of parliament members arewomen. “Without reservations, achieving a proper balance of powerwon’t take decades; it will take centuries.” 47NepalOf all the countries in South Asia, Nepal is the first to grant a 33 percentrepresentation to women in its unicameral house. Nepal’s ConstituentAssembly comprises 601 members of which 197 are women. Thecountry’s constitution says that: The Constituent Assembly shallcomprise of 240 members elected from each of the constituencies withthe First- Past-The-Post (FPTP) system; 335 members elected from thepolitical parties with the Proportional Representation (PR) system; and 26members appointed by the Council of Ministers. Women must constituteat least 33 percent of candidates for the FPTP-system and the PR-systemcombined. 48The country’s electoral laws further guarantee that the country’s politicalparties will place 50 percent women on their candidates’ list duringelections. It says that: “For the PR-elections, the parties must ensurewomen's proportional representation, clarified in Schedule 1 to mean 50percent women on party candidate lists”. The law further stipulates that“If the lists of candidates submitted for the PR elections fail to meet thequota rule of 50 percent women, the Electoral Commission will,according to its Regulations, remove candidates to meet the quotaprovision and therefore make the list valid”. 49The country’s Local Self Government Act 1999 states that among thecandidates in elections to Municipal Councils 40 percent must be women.47 International Herald Tribune48 http://www.quotaproject.org49 http://www.quotaproject.org42