New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Less than eight percent of the 4,030 lawmakers in state assemblies across India are women -- a telling commentary on the present assymetry in women's empowerment.

The 28 state assemblies have only 311 women legislators, according to the data from state assembly websites. Nagaland figures at the bottom of the list with no women representative in a house of 60.

Rajasthan is at the top, percentage-wise (14.5), with 29 of the 200 elected representatives being women. Andhra Pradesh comes next - a little over 12 percent of 294 legislators are women. The state assembly has 36 women lawmakers.

The Left Front-ruled West Bengal follows close behind with 11.5 percent. The state has 34 women MLAs in a house of 294. Kerala, the state with the highest literacy, has just five percent of women lawmakers. There are only seven women in a house of 140.

Other northeastern states are slightly better than Nagaland. Meghalaya and Manipur have only one woman legislator each. Both the states have 60-member houses.

The southern state of Karnataka has only five women in a house of 225 legislators.

Only eight state assemblies cross the 10 percent mark. Apart from West Bengal, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, the others are: Madhya Pradesh (26 out of 231), Chhattisgarh (10 out of 90), Bihar (26 out of 243), Assam (13 out of 126) and Haryana (nine out of 90).

Ten state assemblies have only five percent or less women legislators. The Congress-ruled Maharashtra has 10 in a house of 288 members.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, has 27 in a house of 403 mebers - 6.69 percent.

Goa has just one woman lawmaker in a house of 40.

Punjab has eight women out of 117 legislators. Jharkhand, with 9.87 percent of women legislators, scores better with eight women in a house of 81.