FES INDIA PAPER New Delhi, August, 2014 WOMEN AND POLITICS: TRENDS FROM THE 16 TH GENERAL ELECTION BY PAMELA PHILIPOSE The gap between the voter participation of men and women in the General Election 2014 has narrowed down to 1.46 percentage points from 4.42 percentage points in 2009(67.09 per cent male voters and 65.63 per cent female voters in 2014 as against 60.24 per cent male voters and 55.82 per cent female voters in 2009). Despite the significant increase of women as voters there has been no commensurate expansion in women’s representation in Parliament during India’s 16 th General Elections. Women fail to influence political decision making and remain marginalised as a political category. To a large extent, this can be attributed to the patriarchal order that decides how and to what extent women access the public space both as electors and as candidates.