Will quotas to increase women representation in politics be helpful?

The Women Parliamentarians' Caucus at a recent meeting called for legal reforms to ensure that women receive greater representation in Sri Lanka's Provincial Council and Local Government elections, proposing that female representation be increased to a minimum of 33%.

The proposal was discussed at the Caucus chaired by Minister of Women and Child Affairs and Caucus Minister Saroja Savithri Paulraj where the  members stressed the importance of introducing legal provisions that would guarantee women make up at least one-third of both nomination lists and elected representatives at Provincial Council and Local Government elections.

The members of the Caucus decided to hold discussions with the Election Commission and examine several options for achieving the 33% target, including reserving seats for women within nomination lists or introducing provisions through a mixed electoral system.

Since the 2017 amendments to the Local Authorities Election (Amendment) Act No. 16 which introduced a  25%  quota for women in local councils, there has been moves to introduce the same system for Provincial Councils.

There are 22 women MPs in the current Parliament of the 225 members, which is the highest number of female legislators in the country since 1947. Despite this, women continue to be heavily outnumbered in the political sphere in the country.

But are quotas and reservations for women going to make  more women want to enter active politics?

Despite coming a long way, women in Sri Lanka, like those in many other countries in the world, face many challenges. In Sri Lanka, women are  reluctant to enter politics given that it is male dominated and due to the level of chauvinism in the  field. The majority of women who have made it to parliament or other elected bodies come from political backgrounds and have had come experience in the hurly burly world of Lankan politics. While they also find many challenges surviving in the field, for complete outsiders, it’s a worse scenario.

Women generally and female politicians in particular face additional pressures due to social media. They are regularly subject to the worst kind of misogynistic attacks, and it is only those with very thick skins who can take this kind of pressure.

It Is true that Sri Lanka has the distinction of having had the world’s first women Prime Minister -Sirimavo Bandaranaike - back in the 1960s. She was once called the ‘only man in the Cabinet’ when she fearlessly faced an insurrection against her Government in 1971, but women continue to be a sideshow in politics in the country till this day.

The question of quota for women itself is a divisive one. Should women be given nomination only to fill a quota required by law and not because they are qualified for the job?  That’s a question that needs to be asked.

Gita Gopinath, the Indian- American economist who served as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, from 2022 to 2025 recently caused a stir  with her comment on her X account in reference to a  photograph of a high-level bilateral meeting between US and Chinese officials for its complete absence of female representation. Sharing a photo from the summit, the former IMF official described the lineup as "a painting of the end of meritocracy", sparking a widespread debate on power and gender disparity.

This comment coming from a woman who has reached great height on meritocracy shows the challenges women are up against worldwide. In Sri Lanka the challenges for women are more staggering but will a quota for women be the answer? Quotas aren’t always the magic wand they promise to be and may in fact do a disservice to women. It could lead to mediocrity overtaking meritocracy just to fill in the required numbers.