India, April 8 -- "Feminism isn't about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It's about changing the way the world perceives that strength," says activist and writer GD Anderson of an effort that has still not taken off in many disadvantaged countries, India included, when we should not be lumped in this category at all. So when BJP spokesperson Shaina NC recently expressed her concern that her own party was not fielding enough women candidates for the general election , she was just a vent for the volcanic anger of women who are struggling to find political representation in the world's biggest democracy despite forming half its electorate.

If a study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union is to be believed, then India ranks 149th...