Women's reservations in legislative bodies will help break the patriarchal hold on Indian politics, which is why the opposition to this bill is so strong. Its opponents are trying to kill it by pitting one section of the deprived against the other or by asking for impractical measures in the name of bettering it. The present bill is the result of 14 years and two parliamentary committees worth of scrutiny and debate. That male parliamentarians will lose their "nurtured" seats, does not amount to any argument against the legislation as it aims to do precisely that - break the status quo of entrenched male domination.