List four cases in which the supreme court seems to support affirmative action and four cases in which it seems to oppose affirmative action.

Four cases that support affirmative action are Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenberg County Schools, Brown v Board of Education, Grutter v Baller, and United Steelworkers of America v Weber. Meanwhile four cases that oppose affirmative action are Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Adarand Constructors v. Pena, Gutter vs. Bollinger, and Parenting involved in community schools v Seattle school district. 

Affirmative action is a system of policies that have been adopted in the United States as a way to protect and ensure the rights of minorities, especially those who historically have been denied certain benefits due to their race, most often, and gender, as a second factor. These are some of the cases that have been in favor, and against, affirmative action:

In favor:

Grutter vs. Bollinger, 2003. This case demanded a review of the point system adopted at the University of Michigan, which favored minorities over white students, and initially was accepted as constitutional.

Fisher vs. University of Texas, 2016. Again a system that favored minorities in the admissions process, in this case the top ten percent, and which the Supreme Court upheld in favor of the school in a second review.

Marco DeFunis Jr. vs. Odegaard. 1974. This case was against the University of Washington Law School and although the white student who sued the school entered it, he denounced irregularities in the admissions process in favor of minority students over white and better qualified ones. In the end, the Court ruled that the case was moot.

University of California vs. Bakke. 1978. Though a case that goes for and against affirmative action, it is a landmark because the Court held that in Bakke´s case, the medical school had indeed applied discrimination against the student, but stated that race could be used as an admissions factor, under certain limitations.

Against:

University of California vs. Bakke . 1978. (Explained above).

Fisher vs. University of Texas (two cases). 2016. Initially voted in favor of Abigail Fisher against the school for discrimination, but changed later on a second review.  

Gratz vs. Bollinger. 2003. Accepted the error in the point system of the school, and accepted the lawsuit of Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher.

Hopwood vs. Texas. 1996. It was the first effective legal action against affirmative action ever.

the first lok sabha in 1951 had 22 women mps. the current lok sabha has 66. in the span of 54 years and 16 lok sabha elections it amounts to a three- fold increase in the number of women mps that made their way to the lower house of the parliament. from 5% in 1951, women mps constitute 12.2% of the lok sabha today. the rise in numbers has been steady through the years, both in absolute numbers and percentages. the notable exceptions have been the dip in numbers during the 6th lok sabha in 1977, the 9th lok sabha in 1989 and most recently the 14th lok sabha in 2004. the trends show a marked and steady increase from 1991 onwards to the present lok sabha. the 1991 figures show a jump from 5% in the previous lok sabha to 7% and the steady increase from thereon (except for 2004). it would be interesting to understand the factors for this watershed year and continuous rise and also the fall in numbers during 2004.

s no year number of women mps percentage of women mps

1 1951 22 4.50%

2 1957 22 4.45%

3 1962 31 6.28%

4 1967 29 5.58%

5 1971 28 5.41%

6 1977 19 3.51%

7 1980 28 5.29%

8 1984 43 7.95%

9 1989 29 5.48%

10 1991 39 7.30%

11 1996 40 7.37%

12 1998 43 7.92%

13 1999 49 9.02%

14 2004 45 8.29%

15 2009 59 10.87%

16 2014 66 12.15%

the average representation of women mps( 12.15%) is higher than the national average of women mlas in state assemblies, which stands at a dismal 9%. while the numbers have increased over the years, the percentage of women that make up the lok sabha even today is not a figure to be proud of, especially when the ideal number should be at 33% at least. we still have a long way to go.

percentage of women mps in various lok sabhaswomen contestants in elections to the lok sabha

central to the question of women’s representation in lok sabha is the appetite for women to take the political plunge and jump into the fray along with and against male candidates, getting tickets from their respective parties to contest elections and finally winning the seats that they contest. while popular perception might be that few women are willing to or have taken the political plunge, number of women contestants tells an interesting story. between 1957(the earliest data available) and 2015, the total number of women contestants has increased from 45 to 668. that is a whopping 15 fold increase in the number of women contesting. if we looked at the data for male contestants for the same years, the number has increased from 1474 to 7583, a five- fold increase. the 15 fold increase in women contestants indicates towards the growing appetite for women to enter the political fray and willingness to be part of political decision-making.

number of female contenstants in various lok sabha elections

explanation: