Indian Party Reserves Seats for Women

The main opposition party in India has amended its constitution. It will now require that 33% of the positions within the party be comprised of women Yahoo News India reports (ANI). The ruling party, the Congress Party, previously implemented a similar provision.

“This decision will go down as a historic one, and it will be mentioned in the history of women’s empowerment in India,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), JP leader Sushma Swaraj told the BBC.

Since 1999, bills have been introduced in India’s parliament to set aside 33% of that body’s seats for women, but it has failed to pass each time.