16 Lok Sabha till date and the number of women parliamentarians remains a concern

New Delhi, Apr 15: The strength of women in the Lok Sabha has always been a talking point. Every time the elections are around the corner, this subject gets debated and parties speak about the 33 per cent women's reservation bill.

The outgoing Lok Sabha has 66 women in Parliament. The previous Lok Sabha had 64. This means that the representation of women in the Lok Sabha as of now stands at 12 per cent.

If the reservation bill had been passed, the Lok Sabha would have had 179 women parliamentarians.

The total strength of the Lok Sabha is 543.

The first and second Lok Sabha- 1952 and 1957 had 24 women. The number increased to 37 in the third Lok Sabha. The numbers came down in the next three Lok Sabhas to 33,28 and 21.

In the 7th and 8th Lok Sabha, the numbers were 32 and 45. However, the number dropped to 28 in the 9th Lok Sabha. The 10th and 11th Lok Sabha had 42 and 41 women parliamentarians. In the 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas, the number was 52.

In the 15th Lok Sabha, the number increased to 64 and in the subsequent Lok Sabha, it was 66.
It must also be noted that the first woman speaker was elected only in the 15th Lok Sabha. Meira Kumar was elected unopposed. In the 16th Lok Sabha, it was Sumitra Mahajan who was elected as the speaker. India has witnessed only two women speakers in the Lok Sabha.