“This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering our women,” said India’s Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, speaking after the upper house of India’s parliament approved a historic bill that would set aside one-third of all legislative seats for women.  The move was aimed at overturning six decades of male-dominated decision-making in his country.

Women in India are facing discrimination at home. There is domestic violence, unequal access to health and education. “This has to end,” Singh said, as cited by the Washington Post. The new quotas, he said, will be “living proof that the heart of Indian democracy is sound and is in the right place.”

In its 2009 report on global gender disparities, the World Economic Forum ranked India 114th out of 134 countries. Advocates of the bill say greater female representation in Indian politics will help make women’s issues a higher priority for policymakers. “Issues like female infanticide will no longer be seen as a soft subject but will become the core of the nation’s political agenda,” said Brinda Karat, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), during the debate in the upper house. The Washington Post reports the bill is expected to be approved by the lower house of parliament. More than 55 percent of seats in the Indian parliament and state legislatures are blocked in quotas. Under the constitution, set-asides already exist for lower castes and tribes.

Reported by Global Development Group. To subscribe to a newsletter, visit: http://www.devex.com/.