India: President calls for 33% women quota in national and state legislatures

<p><span>How can there be (women) empowerment without (their) representation (in public office)?" This was President Pranab Mukherjee's poser on Saturday while he made a strong pitch for reviving the Constitution amendment bill to give 33% reservation to women in Parliament and state legislatures.</span></p><p><br><span>Inaugurating the first-ever National Conference of Women Legislators in New Delhi, Mukherjee said unless there is reservation, it is too much to expect that political parties will start giving one-third of tickets to women candidates. The President noted that the political representation of women in Parliament has not increased beyond 12% since Independence, which, he said, is "a sad commentary on us".</span></p>
Read the full article here: Times of India