If major political parties walked the talk on the 33 percent women's reservation, then Kerala would get 47 women lawmakers in the 2026 assembly.
The hopes seem to be unrealistic as the top three political coalitions in the state - the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by Communist Party of India (Marxist), the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Congress and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bharatiya Janata Party - have jointly fielded only 39 women candidates. Only a handful of them stand a chance of emerging victorious.
This might be quite surprising given the fact that women constitute more than 50 percent of the Kerala electorate, and the southern Indian state ranks high in human development indices. Besides, the government has been launching many women empowerment initiatives.
But numbers show that women have been underrepresented ever since the first Assembly was constituted in 1957. In the last six decades, women's representation has not crossed the 10-percent mark in any of the assemblies.
The outgoing assembly has 11 women members, with 10 representing the LDF and one belonging to the UDF. The CPI(M) has eight members and CPI has two. The UDF got its only representative from the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP).
In 2016, the assembly had eight women members and in 2011 and 2006, their numbers were just seven. The 2001 Assembly had eight women members. With 13 members, the state got the highest number of women lawmakers in 1996.
Discussion point
The under representation of women once again became a topic of discussion recently following a X post by the Congress' national spokesperson Shama Mohammed, who hails from Kannur in Kerala. She criticised her party leadership for fielding just nine women candidates for the Assembly polls.
"Denied, but not defeated. This is discouraging for capable women leaders," she wrote on her X handle, and appealed to Rahul Gandhi to support women leaders in the state.
Shama found support from author and party colleague Shashi Tharoor, who did not hesitate to call out the state leadership's unfair treatment to women.
"I have been for some time very much in favour of greater women representation, but winnability appears to be a major factor here. All hard-working women would get a fair opportunity when the women's reservation comes into effect,” he stated.
The demand for better representation for women has been renting Kerala's air for some time. Kerala's prominent people's science movement - Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad - too had urged all political parties to ensure 33 percent of representation to women. But nothing seems to have happened so far. What explains this curious Kerala case?
Male domination
Women's rights activists say that all the political parties are controlled by men who deny women a fair share in power. Some of them point out that 'winnability' is a wrong narrative espoused by the parties to deny tickets.
"If winnability is a factor, it should be applicable to male candidates too. This argument itself is an eyewash," said Sulfath, a women's rights activist and convenor of Kerala's Thulya Prathinidhya Prasthanam (Movement for Equal Representation of Women).
"We had met leaders of various political parties and urged them to ensure 33 percent of the seats to women. But they didn't heed our pleas," she told The New Indian Express.
The movement has sent letters to various political parties and met CPI leader Binoy Viswam, Congress leaders VD Satheesan and Deepa Dasmunshi. "They assured us to increase women's representation, but we are back to square one now," Sulfath said.
She added that political parties are not seriously concerned about women representatives. "Male supremacy is the cornerstone of all political parties and we are not surprised by their decision to deny tickets to women this time," she said.
As a mark of protest, the movement has urged women in the state to vote only for women candidates in the fray. "We urge women to vote for NOTA where men are contesting. That is the only option we have now," she said.
Of the 39 women candidates in the fray this time from various constituencies, 13 belong to the LDF including eight CPI(M) candidates, four CPI nominees and one representative from the Kerala Congress (M). Of the 12 UDF candidates, nine belong to the Congress, two to the Indian Union Muslim League and one to the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP). The NDA has fielded 14 women, with the BJP contesting in 11, Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) one and Twenty20 Party from one seat.