India's historic vote approves parliamentary seats for women

History in the making: India's upper house of parliament has taken a crucial step to reserving a third of all legislative national and state assembly seats to women. The house voted 186-1 in favour of the Women's Reservation Bill, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described as a "historic step forward toward emancipation of Indian womanhood".

Currently only around 9% of upper house (Rajya Sabha) seats and 11% of lower house (Lok Sabha) seats are occupied by women.

Sonia Gandhi, current Congress Party leader, said the " first step has been taken … the next step will also have to be taken". It has taken 14 years of campaigning to drive the bill this far and must now pass to the lower house, where it is expected to pass without difficulty.

Before passing to law, the bill will also have to be approved by 15 of India's 28 states.

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