New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- For much of India's democratic history, the woman voter has either been invisible or ignored -- at times she has been spoken for, but very rarely listened to. A new book by journalist Ruhi Tewari argues that this is no longer the case and seeks to understand why women have emerged from the political shadows. What Women Want: Understanding the Female Voter in Modern India draws on years of journalism and field reportage to trace the rise of the woman voter from 1947 to the present day. Tewari spoke about her book on last week's episode of Grand Tamasha, a weekly podcast on Indian politics and policy co-produced by HT and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Tewari is a journalist with nearly two decades of experience covering politics, policy and their intersection for leading Indian media organisations. She's developed a reputation for being a savvy political reporter who spends quality time in the field understanding what makes voters, politicians, and parties tick. Tewari spoke with host Milan Vaishnav about what she calls the "subtle but steady shift" in how women voters are perceived, the narrowing gender gap in voter turnout, and the distinctive voter behaviour of India's women. Tewari, who first started reporting on elections in 2008, said it used to be nearly impossible to get women to speak about their voting preferences - either because they weren't allowed to or because they did not feel invested enough to care. A decade later, she said, that had changed dramatically. "I noticed that in colleges the female voters.were far more vocal, far more clear-headed than the men were. They knew exactly what they wanted and why they wanted the same government to continue or to have a regime change," she said. For Tewari, these conversations triggered the idea of a rising woman vote. "These conversations somewhere told me that something big was really happening," she stated. The journalist said today Indian women are no longer passive participants. For the first time, they are claiming ownership over the democratic process, which marks a profound political transformation. One aspect of parties' outreach to women voters which has garnered significant attention is the proliferation of "pro-women" welfare schemes. "We tend to oversimplify this conversation. When you see women voters on the ground, it's not as if they're looking at freebies or hand-outs as bribes to go and vote," the journalist explained. "They appreciate it, they reward it, only if it addresses a genuine gap in their lives." As state after state deploys cash transfer schemes targeting women, Tewari said that these initiatives, when planned well, have helped women start tailoring shops, food stalls, or beauty parlours - tiny enterprises that give them dignity and independence. Tewari said that India's women aren't gullible beneficiaries; they're rational actors who evaluate what works. As a result, she believes reducing them to 'labarthis' or mere recipients completely misses the point. Despite the significant progress in recent years, Tewari noted that the glass remains half-full. India's woman voter has transformed from a silent presence to a decisive political force - but the institutions around her haven't kept pace. Tewari lamented that while women may now shape mandates and movements, they remain largely absent from the spaces where decisions are made. "Women voters are suddenly important, but we still don't have enough women at the policy-making level or in state assemblies or in Parliament. And that imbalance, that gap really remains," she said....