On the Women's Reservation Bill

Why is it that in our country reserving seats, for SCs, STs, OBCs, other minorities, and now women is seen as something of a ‘solution.’ Is it really a solution or an easy way out of a problem we no longer know how to address because it is too steeped in history, and complicated?
I am all for women’s empowerment, and if reserving seats can indeed lead towards that goal, then sure enough it’s the way to go. But where is the evidence to support this claim? For years now we’ve been relaxing entry requirements and reserving seats in colleges, and even in government jobs. Has there been a study to show much exactly this has helped?
My argument in this case is not very different from what it was regarding reservations in schools and colleges. The challenge is to create opportunities so that people from disadvantaged sections of society can rise up and compete with the rest on a level playing field. Spoon feeding jobs and seats in educational institutions, or now elected bodies, to undeserving candidates cannot and should not be the solution.
Women’s empowerment will be a reality when the men in our society learn to respect every woman, not just the elected representatives they must. It calls for a change in mindsets, a socio cultural revolution that can hardly be brought about overnight. But we do need to identify steps that we can take right away that might eventually lead to this miracle, even if it takes decades to fructify.
Is reservation then one such step? I’m not sure. We have seen enough puppet women leaders, being used as affronts for their husbands and fathers who are really the ones in charge. This is a dangerous phenomenon, though a natural extension of the gender hierarchy prevalent in society.
On the other hand, thanks to the reservation for women in local government bodies, many women have been elected to office in the last decade or so. Even if a small percentage of these women have subsequently realised their potential and assumed power the way they were meant to, the move could then be called something of a success. It should then be replicated yes, in other government bodies, but more importantly the success stories told and spread so other women can follow in their footsteps. And it is this that needs to be studied and offered as evidence that reservation actually works.
It is not a small job that we offer these women, we are talking about running the country here… a job that has admittedly lost much charm because of the dubious credentials of the many men who hold public office. Nevertheless, its importance cannot be undermined. And so it should necessarily require a certain amount of competence to be elected to a governing body, being a woman should hardly rank as eligibility criteria.