The Congress has fielded just nine women as candidates, the BJP, 12, and the CPM, 17.
As the campaign picks up heat in Kerala ahead of the Assembly polls, the patriarchy becomes evident.
Kozhikode, in Kerala's Malabar region, is a stronghold of the Muslim League (IUML), a Congress ally in Kerala.
The party has refused to field even one woman candidate for this Assembly election and boasts of five cabinet ministers in the current UDF government, including social justice minister Dr MK Muneer, contesting elections for the sixth time.
"It's not that we are discriminating against women but for Assembly elections we look into several factors. We are looking into this issue seriously as a party," Dr Muneer told NDTV.
The other parties haven't fared a lot better.
With its high female-male, women constitute over 50 per cent of the electorate in Kerala. But for the 140 assembly seats - the Congress has fielded just nine women as candidates, the BJP, 12, and the CPM, 17.
"Everything in society is controlled by men. This is pakka (complete) injustice and we can only overcome this with the help of law," says Bindu Krishna, the President of Kerala State Mahila Congress .
"CPM is at least better than others but we still have to do a lot more. We have put systems in place to ensure there is a minimum percentage of women as members in all our offices across the state," Shailaja Teacher told NDTV while campaigning in Kannur district of northern Kerala.
"Everything is controlled by men, including politics in our society. We are patiently waiting for the Women's (Reservation) Bill to be passed in Parliament," Advocate Noorbina Rashid, member of Kerala women's Commission told NDTV. She is among the women who pioneered women's league of the IUML, which aims to mobilise women.