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Women's rights organisations and feminist collectives have strongly criticised the exclusion of women from Karnataka's newly expanded Council of Ministers, describing the all-male Cabinet as a setback to gender equality and demanding that the State government immediately induct qualified women ministers.
In an open letter to Chief Minister DK Shivakumar dated August 5, the network of feminists and women's organisations, Naveddu Nilladiddare, Karnataka, said the Cabinet expansion had "entrenched the exclusion of women" instead of correcting the omission in the first Council of Ministers.
"An all-male Cabinet is not an oversight. It is a political choice. It sends an unmistakable message that women and women's leadership remain dispensable when it comes to the exercise of State power," the letter said.
The coalition argued that women constitute nearly half of Karnataka's electorate and played a significant role in the Congress' electoral performance in the 2023 Assembly elections. Despite this, it said, "not a single woman has been entrusted with ministerial responsibility."
The organisations said the decision contradicted the Congress' public commitment to women's political representation, pointing out that the party supported the Women's Reservation Act in Parliament and had pledged 33% representation for women within its organisational structure.
The letter said women continue to lead panchayats, municipalities, social movements, self-help groups, trade unions, civil society organisations, academia and businesses, yet were rendered "invisible and voiceless" when the State's highest executive body was constituted.
"The Council of Ministers is where the State's most important political and policy decisions are made. Denying women a place at that table undermines the constitutional promises of equality, dignity and equal opportunity, while reinforcing the deeply patriarchal assumption that political power belongs primarily to men," the organisations said.
Referring to reports that Congress MLA Gayathri Shanthegowda's name figured in the list of likely ministers before being dropped from the final Cabinet, the letter said: "If women's representation can be negotiated away at the last moment to accommodate internal political equations, it exposes how women's leadership is treated as an expendable political bargaining chip rather than a democratic imperative."
The organisations also recalled Shivakumar's earlier outreach under the "Naa Nayaki" (I am a Leader) initiative, saying the slogan now appeared to have been reduced to "'Naa Nayaka' (I am the Leader) with leadership reserved entirely for men."
Calling for immediate corrective action, the signatories urged the Chief Minister to induct qualified women into the Council of Ministers.
"We therefore call upon you and the Government of Karnataka to immediately rectify this failure by inducting qualified women into the Council of Ministers. We know that your Party has enough of such capable women leaders who have demonstrated their commitment to democratic governance as well as a more inclusive politics," the letter said.
Warning that gender equality must be reflected in the actual distribution of political power, the organisations added: "A government that claims to uphold constitutional values cannot justify a Cabinet in which women have no place."
The letter concluded with a sharp message to the State government: "Otherwise, the message being sent to the women of Karnataka, and to the country, is unmistakable: This is no State for women."
The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) also condemned the all-male Cabinet, calling it "anti-women" and "anti-democratic". In a statement issued by Karnataka president Chandrakumari and general secretary Devi, AIDWA said the exclusion of women from the Cabinet despite women constituting 52% of the State's electorate reflected a deliberate attempt to keep them out of political decision-making.
AIDWA also noted that only 10 women were elected to the Karnataka Assembly in 2023, four of them from the Congress, and said denying even one ministerial berth to a woman ran contrary to the ongoing demand for implementation of 33% reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
The open letter was endorsed by more than 30 organisations, including Vimochana, Gamana Mahila Samuha, Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane, Garment and Textiles Workers Union (GATWU), Karnataka Sex Workers Union, Mahila Munnade and several organisations representing gender and sexual minorities.
