Elusive 'Woman': Feminism and Women's Reservation Bill

It is becoming increasingly clear that the questions thrown up by the timing of the Women's Reservation Bill and the responses to it cannot be understood solely within the framework of women's rights. This paper argues that two very different (even opposed) sets of concerns - feminist and upper caste - have tied in at this particular conjuncture to produce the sudden general acceptability of women's reservations. Further, the debates around the Bill reveal a more fundamental set of questions about the issues of citizenship, representation, and the subject of feminist politics.