India ranks 148 in the world for the number of women in Parliament, according to a report prepared by Inter-Parliamentary Union and United Nations Women. Rwanda topped the list – more than 61% of its parliamentarians are women. The report was released on Wednesday.

Women in India make up about 11.8% of the Lok Sabha and 11% in the Rajya Sabha – while there are 64 of them in the 542-member Lower House, there are 27 women out of the 254 Upper House members. India fared a little better when it came to women ministers in the Cabinet – ranking 88 – with Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman holding important portfolios. Sumitra Mahajan is the Speaker in the Lok Sabha.

Advertisement

Both Pakistan (ranked 89) and Bangladesh (91) fared better than India on women Parliamentarians. About 20.6% of Pakistan’s MPs are women, while Bangladesh has a 20% representation.

The number of women Heads of State or Heads of Government fell from 19 to 17 since 2015, the report said. Owing to this apparent slowdown in progress, it might take over five decades to equal the number of women to that of men in legislative bodies, IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong said.

“What is democracy? Is it for the people, or men for the people?” asked Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of UN Women. Mlambo-Ngcuka also pitched for women’s quotas, suggesting countries that had a reservation for women parliament ranked better on the list.

A constitutional amendment bill to reserve 33% of seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women was first proposed in 1996. The Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010, however, it lapsed when the Lok Sabha ended its term in 2014 without taking it up. In February 2017, TR Zeliang had to step down as the chief minister of Nagaland after he faced protests from tribal groups for reserving 33% seats for women in the civic polls.