19 State legislatures have less than 10% women members: Centre

Share of women members in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha stands at 14.94% and 14.05%, respectively; average number of women MLAs in Assemblies across the nation accounts for only 8%

Women representation in Parliament and most State Legislatures across the country is below 15% with 19 of State Assemblies having less than 10% women lawmakers, according to a government data.

The State Legislatures which have more than 10% women lawmakers are Bihar (10.70%), Chhattisgarh (14.44%), Haryana (10%), Jharkhand (12.35%), Punjab (11.11%), Rajasthan (12%), Uttarakhand (11.43%), Uttar Pradesh (11.66%), West Bengal (13.70%) and Delhi (11.43%). According to the data presented in Lok Sabha on December 9, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have less than 10% women legislators.

In the recently held Gujarat Assembly elections, 8.2% of the elected representatives are women, whereas, in Himachal Pradesh, only one woman has been elected this time.

According to the data, the share of women MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha stands at 14.94% and 14.05%, respectively.

At the same time, the average number of women MLAs in Assemblies across the nation accounts for only 8%

The question regarding the representation of women MPs and MLAs in Parliament and State legislatures was raised by Trinamool Congress MP in Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee, who also asked the Centre about the steps it has taken to increase their overall representation.

He further asked whether the government has any plans of bringing the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament.