Politics is still considered an unusual career choice for Indian women. This is perhaps why there are just eighty-one women members of parliament in the seventeenth Lok Sabha (2019–24), constituting only 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha today. Yet, though small in number, these leaders have brought a unique sensitivity to policy-making in India and continue to inspire younger women to become the next generation of political leaders.
In She, the leader: Women in Indian Politics, Nidhi Sharma profiles seventeen trailblazing women politicians who have fought social inequalities and patriarchal attitudes and created their own brand of politics in the national discourse. Divided into four parts, the book begins with ‘The Pioneers’, which focuses on two exemplary women leaders of the twentieth century and their distinctly different political paths—Indira Gandhi, India’s first and only woman prime minister, and Sucheta Kriplani, India’s first woman chief minister. The second part, ‘The Inheritors’, reflects on the achievements of the women leaders who inherited their political careers from a male member of the family or a political benefactor, namely Sonia Gandhi, J. Jayalalithaa, Vasundhara Raje, Sheila Dikshit, and Mayawati. This is followed by ‘Theone Warriors’, featuring Pratibha Patil, Sushma Swaraj, Mamata Banerjee, Brinda Karat, and Ambika Soni—women who, though they had no political background, chose politics as their vocation and charted their own course. ‘The Future leaders’, the final section, profiles up-and-coming women leaders to watch out for: Smriti Z. Irani, Supriya Sule, Kavitha Kalvakuntla, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, and Ampareenyngdoh. Almost all of these leaders have fought and won elections, nurtured constituencies, and created their own unique politic legacy. Taken together, the profiles in She, the leader show us the immense contribution women politicians have made to the Indian political scene.