19 state legislatures have less than 10% women lawmakers: Govt data

Women representation in parliament and most state legislatures across the country is below 15 per cent with 19 of state assemblies having less than 10 per cent women lawmakers, according to a government data.

The state legislatures which have more than 10 per cent women lawmakers are Bihar (10.70), Chhattisgarh (14.44), Haryana (10), Jharkhand (12.35), Punjab (11.11), Rajasthan (12), Uttarakhand (11.43), Uttar Pradesh (11.66), West Bengal (13.70) and Delhi (11.43).

According to the data presented by Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju in the Lok Sabha on December 9, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have less than 10 per cent women legislators.

In the recently held Gujarat assembly elections, 8.2 per cent of the elected representatives are women, whereas, in Himachal Pradesh, only one woman has been elected this time.

According to the data, the share of women MPs