The empowerment of women is set to strengthen our democracy

livemint.com:

₹22.7 trillion (rural ₹14.7 trillion and urban ₹8 trillion), which is almost 7.5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Recent state elections saw women-centric schemes such as Ladli Behna ensure greater female electoral participation. This scheme is aimed at a transformational improvement in the health and nutritional status of women and the children dependent on them.

It nudges women to become financially more independent and acquire spending freedom in tune with their priorities. On the basis of our research, around 94% of the women covered by Ladli Behna are aged 25 and above. Also, at least 1% of the beneficiaries spend the money in other states, implying that this scheme transcends state boundaries.

The programme is estimated to have augmented the consumption expenditure of women covered by the PM Jan Dhan Yojana by an average of at least ₹9,000 across all consumeristic categories. Women’s participation in electoral democracy still has space to increase, though. Consider the 2014 general elections.

In those Lok Sabha polls, the voter turnout increased by a whopping 137 million to 550 million, of whom 260 million were women. The number was 5.5 times the average voter turnout recorded by the country between 1962 and 2009. Population increases account for a part of that increase.

In terms of gender, though, it was 5.8 times for women and 5.2 times for men. In 2019, the voter turnout further increased to 620 million, with 300 million of them women. Based on the same trend of voting, in 2024, the total voter turnout in Lok Sabha elections could touch 680 million, of whom women voters could be about 330 million, or roughly 49%.