Union home minister Shivraj Patil said the government was committed to bringing in the much-debated Women's Reservation Bill.
"We support the Women's Reservation Bill and we are working to build a consensus among all political parties for the purpose," Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in New Delhi.
He was talking at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation conference of women parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations.
Minister of State for Women and Child Development Kanti Singh was hopeful that the long-awaited bill could be introduced in Parliament in the next session.
Patil said the democratic system in the country would work better if there was greater representation of women at the highest levels of decision-making such as the Parliament.
The government was also preparing a bill to check domestic violence against women, Singh said, adding such a legislation would give women a way out of the harassment being meted out to them in their households.
Amendments would also be made in other Acts such as the Hindu Marriage Act and Prevention of Immoral Trafficking of Women Act to ensure women development, she added.
Patil said political empowerment of women was essential and economic and social justice would follow later.
