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Facilitating the Fulfilment of State Obligations

Towards Women’s Equality

Baseline Report

Women and Political Participation in India

National Institute of Advanced Studies-Gender Studies Unit (NIAS)

Women’s VoiceNational Alliance of Women (NAWO) and

Initiatives-Women in Development (IWID)

ADVANCED UNEDITED VERSION

CORE GROUP

Shantha Mohan (Coordinator)Ruth Manorama

Geetha Devi Papanna

Late Martha Pushpa Rani

ASSOCIATES

Asha RameshSangeetha Purushothaman

Anitha

Srinath

SudhamaniAshima Chopra

COMPUTER LAYOUTVenugopal

Mahesh Kumar

This report is part of a South Asia regional compilation

coordinated by

International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific(IWRAW Asia Pacific)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia



Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the support extended by IWRAW Asia Pacific for this baseline study on ‘Women and Political Participation in India’. Our thanks to the Ford Foundation for the infrastructural support extended to us. We specially thank ShanthiDairiam for her constant interaction and useful insights and guidance for this study.

Our deep appreciation to all organisations and individuals, who willingly shared their reference material, research work and ideas for this study.

We would like to also acknowledge the assistance rendered in preparation of thisdocument to Saraswathi and Piush Antony of the Gender Studies Unit and theAdministration Section of NIAS.

Finally, our gratitude to all our sisters whose experiences and dreams we haveattempted to put across with the hope that it would be realised.



CONTENTS

Preface i-ii

Chapter I: Introduction 1-14

Chapter II: Evidence of Disparities Faced by Women in Politics 15-27

Chapter III: Evidence of Discrimination (Causes and Barriers) 28-65

Chapter IV: Impact on Women 66-69

Chapter V: State Obligations 70-86

Chapter VI: Women’s Movement and NGO Initiatives 87-99

Chapter VII: Recommendations 101-105

Bibliography 106-108

Annexure-I 109-119

Annexure-II 120



Baseline Report on Women and Political Participation in IndiaPrepared by NIAS et al and coordinated by IWRAW Asia PacificAdvanced Unedited Version

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PREFACE

India has adopted and enacted the Constitution in 1950 guaranteeing to its citizens’

Justice, Liberty, Equality of Status and of Opportunity and Fraternity assuring dignity

of the individual and unity and integrity of the Nation. In addition, the State is under

obligation, as per the Directive Principles of State Policy to provide enabling

conditions and secure minimum standards to its citizens, in furtherance of the

fundamental rights. And, in accordance with its principles, the Government has

undertaken many initiatives – legislative and executive policies, schemes and

programs towards this.

India is also a signatory to several International Treaties and Conventions. One of the

important Conventions impacting women is The International Convention for the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which has

been ratified by a majority of UN member states. India has ratified the treaty in the

year 1993.

The United Nations initiatives, which include the three UN Decade for Women,Conferences held at Mexico (1975), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995); and the

CEDAW, have had a substantive impact on the status of women in India. ‘Towards

Equality’, the first national report outlining the status of women followed Mexico

conference. Following the Nairobi conference, Government of India announced ‘The

Perspective Plan for Women’ and it outlined policy directions and new administrative

structures for the development of women. At Beijing, the government of India

announced 33 per cent reservation for women in local governing bodies. Another

significant change worth mentioning is the shift in focus of the United Nations

Initiatives and the International Women’s movement in the last three decades. It has

moved from a needs assessment through country wide status reports in the 1970s, toeconomic development for women in the 1980s, and finally to empowerment – socio-

economic and political, of women in the 1990s.

This report provides an overview of women’s political participation in India. Section I

presents the history of women’s political participation in India and the statement of

issues, the concern, and methodology and processes adopted for the study. Section II

outlines the disparities and disadvantages faced by women in the political arena.

Section III examines the root causes and barriers that effect women’s political

participation. Section IV presents the State Obligations under the Constitution and

other Statutes; the initiatives undertaken by the State in fulfilling its obligations and the effectiveness of the actions taken by the State. Section V traces the initiatives of

the Women’s Movement and NGOs in this regard. Section VI makes

recommendations both short and long-term, for prioritising the concerns that need to

be addressed by the government and the NGOs for the enhancement of women’s

political participation.

The study on women’s political participation for the baseline report is a collaborativework carried out by the Gender Studies Unit (GSU) of the National Institute of




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Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, Women’s Voice, Bangalore, National Allianceof Women (NAWO) and Initiatives – Women In Development (IWID), Madras. Theimmense grassroots base of these organisations, because of their active partnershipand coalition on activities related to gender equality and political participation atvarious levels and in formulating advocacy strategies and lobbying for the same, wasaccessed to develop a substantive equality framework for this baseline report.




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(1)

INTRODUCTION

ISSUE: WOMEN & POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN INDIA

The Constitution of India is based on the principles of equality and guarantees equality before law and equal protection to all its citizens. It not only guarantees fundamentalrights and freedoms, but also prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste,sex, and place of birth. However, these rights have remained de jure and have not beentranslated into de facto rights. As such, women have been denied social, economic, civiland political rights in many spheres.

An important area where women have been inadequately represented is in the politicalsphere. Articles 325 and 326 of the Constitution of India guarantee political equality-equal right to participation in political activities and right to vote respectively. While the

latter has been accessed, exercised and enjoyed by a large number of women, the former i.e., right to equal political participation is still a distant dream. Lack of space for participation in political bodies has not only resulted in their presence in meager numbersin these decision making bodies but also in the neglect of their issues and experiences in policy making.

1.1 Structure of Governance

On attaining independence in the year 1947, India became a republic country and adopted the parliamentary form of Government. The Government functions at different levels. Atthe Apex is the National or Central Government, followed by 29 State Governments and

7 Union Territories. Each State has its own local self-government. These three levels of Government jointly discharge the functions of administration.

At the centre there is a parliamentary form of Government consisting of two Houses, i.e.,the Upper House called Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lower House called Lok Sabha (House of People). The structure of the State Legislative Assembly is unicameral.The Upper House is the Legislative Council and the Lower House is the LegislativeAssembly.

Local Self-Governance is an effective method of governing through which the National policy is administered at the grass-root level.

The local self-governments known as the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) are under thecontrol of the State Governments. In the rural areas a three-tier structure has beenadopted. They are:




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(a) Grama Panchayat consisting of a village or group of villages having a populationof not less than 5000 and not more than 7000, or the geographical distance of anarea within a radius of 5 km. from the centre.

(b) Taluk Panchayat for every taluk 1.(c) Zilla Panchayat for every district.

In the urban areas there are the Municipal bodies called the Nagara Palike i.e., Nagara

Panchayats (transitional area - an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area).There are also the Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas and MunicipalCorporations for larger urban areas, based on the size of population.

Table 1: Structure of Governance

India has adopted a bold affirmative action in providing for one-third reservation for women in all institutions of local self-governance. It also provides for reservation of postsfor Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons in the Panchayats and the Committees in the Nagara Palikes. The reservation or quota system is put in practice by identifying one-third of the total constituency as reserved for women. The reserved constituencies differ for each election because of the adoption of the policy of rotations. The term of theelected persons is for a period of five years in all elections.

1.1.1 Governance in the Scheduled Areas:

According to the 1991 census, the scheduled tribes (ST) constitute 8.08 per cent of thetotal population of India. They are unevenly spread over different regions of the country.Madhya Pradesh records the highest percentage of ST population amounting to 23.27.

1 Each State is divided into several districts, which are further divided into several taluks.

Govt. of India

Centre (Union Territories)

Rajya Sabha Lok Sabha State

Legislative Legislative Council Assembly Institutions of

Local Self Governance

Urban Rural City Corporation Zilla Panchayat (District)

City Municipal Taluk Panchayat Council (Intermediate)

Town Panchayat Grama Panchayat (Village)




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The Constitution of India in its Articles 244(1) and (2) in part X has listed the ‘Scheduled Areas” and Tribal Areas” under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules respectively. The FifthSchedule refers to the tribal dominated areas in states of - Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand,Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. While the Sixth Schedule refers to the administration of the tribal areas of thenortheastern region including the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and

Tripura.

The rationale behind the notification of the scheduled areas has been to assist the tribal population in enjoying their existing rights and to develop and promote the economic,educational and social progress of the tribal inhabitants. The fifth Schedule envisages aspecial system of administration for these areas directly under the Governors of the stateand the direction of the Central government, based on the basic premises that it should bein consonance with the customary laws, social practices and traditional management of community resources.

As per the fifth schedule, the State government is responsible for implementing the

provisions pertaining to the welfare and general development of Scheduled Tribes in theregion. It empowers the state government to screen legislation unsuitable to theScheduled Areas. It also provides for a Tribe Advisory Council, which is an advisory body that prevents the exploitation and discrimination of the tribal population. One of itsimportant functions is to facilitate governance of the scheduled areas in the larger interestof the tribes.

The Sixth Schedule provides for a separate mechanism for administration in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Entry 2 of the Sixth Schedule provides for thesetting up of District and Regional Councils in each of the autonomous districts and region. It also confers powers of legislation and administration of justice on the district

councils apart from the executive, developmental and financial responsibilities. Theyhave a traditional jury-based legal system evolved by tribal societies. This body has theright to own and dispose of property and the right to sue and be sued.

To sum up, the Fifth and Sixth Schedules facilitate the tribals to retain their customary practices and traditional laws framed by them to facilitate governance of the scheduled areas in the larger interest of the tribes. The Acts of Parliament and legislature of the statewill not be applicable to these states unless it is specifically made applicable through aseparate notification.

Thus, the provisions of the 73rd and 74 th amendments of the Constitution of India were

not made applicable to the Schedule and tribal areas. However, it was made applicablesubsequently to the Fifth Schedule areas as per the Provisions of Panchayats (Extensionof Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996.




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1.1.2 Evolution of Women’s Participation in Political Activities:

The roots of women’s participation in politics can be traced back to the nineteenthcentury reform movement. This movement emerged as a result of conflict between theIndian bourgeoisies, trying to wrest control from the British. This class made attempts toreform itself, mainly by campaigning against caste, polytheism, idolatry, animism, purdha, child marriage, sati etc., perceived as elements of primitive identity. Raja Ram

Mohan Roy focused on two issues, namely women’s education and abolition of sati. Inthe early 1850s, a campaign on widow remarriage was launched resulting in the passageof a Bill in 1856, which allowed widow remarriage. This Bill though helped the situationof widows, denied them the right to their husbands’ or his family’s properties. Severaleminent women reformers participated in this movement as well as in the religiousreform movement of this period. Pandit Ramabai, Manorama Majumdar, Sarala DebiGoshal who started Bharata Stree Mahamandal for the education of women, SwarnaKumari Debi who started the women’s organisation Sakhi Samiti in 1886 for widows arefew examples. These activities gave momentum to women’s participation in publicspaces, which paved the way for their entry into the independence struggle. SwarnaKumari Debi, one of the two delegates elected from Bengal to represent the State at the

1890 Congress session is a case in point.

1.1.3 Women’s Participation in the Independence Movement:

The Swadeshi movement in Bengal (1905-8) marked the beginning of women’s participation in nationalist activities. Many of the women were from families involved innationalist politics. Middle class nationalist women contributed jewelry, money and evengrain to the movement. They took active part in the boycott of foreign goods and inrevolutionary activities. Sister Nivedita is reported to have become a member of the National Revolutionary Council and in that capacity, organised women for nationalistactivities. Like her there were several others seen as a threat by the British including

Agyavati in Delhi, Madame Cama who was described by the Government as therecognised leader of the revolutionary movement and Kumudini Mitra who started a journal called ‘Suprabath’ which linked nationalist politics to women’s traditional power.Madame Cama, a Parsi woman nationalist persuaded the International Socialist Congressto support the Indian Independence Movement and also began a monthly journal called ‘Vande Mataram’ towards this end.

The movement for independence also gave rise to the question of women’s suffrage. InDecember 1917, Annie Besant and few other women met Mr. Montague to demand voting rights for Indian women. During the same period several all-India women’sorganisations came into being. In 1917, Annie Besant, Dorothy Jinarajadasa, Malathi

Patvardhan, Ammu Swaminathan, Mrs. Dadabhoy and Mrs. Ambujamal founded theWomen’s Indian Association. Described as the first truly feminist organisation in India, itstrongly supported the Home Rule Movement. In 1926, the All India Women’sConference was formed and became extremely active on the question of women’ssuffrage, labour issues, relief and nationalist work.




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The 1920’s also witnessed a second generation of feminists who were advocates of women’s rights. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Lady Piroj Bai Mehta, Mrs. N. Sengupta, weresome of the prominent women activists of this period. Several other women were activeon causes other than the Independence movement including Prabhavati Mirza (a powerfultrade unionist), Kamini Roy (a social reformist), and Aghorekamini Roy (founder of asocial welfare women’s organisation). A number of these reformist and revolutionarywomen were also eminent writers. Nagendrakala Mustafi, Mankumari Basu, Kamini Roy,

Kasibhai Kanitkar, Mary Bhore, Godavaribai Samaskar, Kamala Sathianandan,Rameshwari Nehru, Roopkumari Nehru, Parvatibai and Rukmanibai are examples of thisstream of women activists who combined activism and writing.

Women who were strong leaders in the Independence movement were Sarojini Naidu,Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Aruna Asaf Ali, and Basanti Devi. A strong supporter of women’s rights, Sarojini Naidu worked with the Congress and the Muslim League. Shewas instrumental in the passage of a resolution to support women’s franchise and becamethe first Indian woman to become the elected President of the Indian National Congress.Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay participated in the Satyagraha movement of the 1930s.Aruna Asaf Ali’s first major political involvement was in the salt march at which she was

arrested and prosecuted. She was also active in the Quit India movement, edited Inquilabmagazine of the Congress and established the National Federation of Indian Women. Shecame to be known as the Grand Old Lady of the Independence Movement and heroine of the1942 movement. Basanti Devi took active part in anti-British activities and wasarrested for picketing foreign goods shops, and in 1922 presided over the BengalProvincial Congress Committee.

Thousands of women joined in the salt Satyagraha, which is “generally remembered asthe first time ‘masses of Indian women’ got involved in the struggle for Independence”(Kumar 1995, p. 78). Several women’s organisations were formed to mobilise women to participate in nationalist activities including processions, pickets, and charka spinning

such as the Ladies Picketing Board, Desh Sevika Sangh, Nari Satyagraha Samiti and Mahila Rashtriya Sangh.

Beyond any doubt, the active participation of women in the political struggles for independence consummated in a Constitution based on the principles of equality and guaranteeing equal rights to suffrage for women, in the year 1947 itself.

1.1.4 Women in Independent India:

Though the foundation for political participation of women was laid down during thenationalist movement, there was no follow up or concerted effort to broaden the political

base by incorporating women into political processes after independence. The space for women in the political arena has declined since independence and their participation in politics has been limited to family connections rather than convictions and commitment.Women have been promoted to political positions only when there were no other malemember available to continue the family’s distinctive place and thus, as a devise to




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perpetuate the privilege of the family. By putting women in these positions, the familycould still have control over the powers rested with the office

The framers of the Constitution perhaps believed that law would lead to social changeand bring about equality between the sexes. Yet inequality and discrimination continuesto persist in all spheres of public and private life. This is quite evident from the fact thatthe participation of women in politics and in other decision-making bodies after attaining

independence is very limited.

Given this situation, the State has to take some corrective actions to ensure that women participate equally in the political sphere. Also, it is imperative to adopt certainaffirmative action to eliminate the existing discrimination to ensure political equality asguaranteed in the Constitution.

The government of India, noting the low participation of women in politics;acknowledging the recommendations of the Committee for Status of Women Report,1974; and drawing from the pioneering experience of Karnataka which provided reservation for women in its three tier Panchayat Raj system (institutions of local self-

governance) in the year 1983; adopted an affirmative action for providing reservation for women in these institutions in the year 1993. The 73 rd Constitutional Amendment Actintroduced not less than 33 per cent reservation for women in the Panchayat Rajinstitutions in the rural areas. Similarly, the 74th Constitutional Amendment Actintroduced similar reservation for women in Nagara Palike and Municipalities in townsand urban areas. With these Constitutional Amendments, over three million women arenow actively participating in shaping the policies and programs of the country, thoughonly at the local levels of governance. However, such affirmative action is lacking at thehigher echelons of governance at the State and Central levels.

Prior to the 73rd and 74 th Constitutional Amendments, only the State of Karnataka had

reservation for women in institutions of local self-governance. The Janata PartyGovernment in Karnataka in 1991 passed a Bill to implement 25 per cent reservation for women in local elections. This spurred a national debate on the issue of reservation for women in several other states. For example, Sharad Pawar (Congress-I) announced 30 per cent of seats in Municipal Corporations and the Panchayat Raj Institutions to bereserved for women in Maharashtra (Shah and Gandhi, 1991). Following these initiatives,the 73rd and 74th Amendments were passed. It became mandatory that elections to these bodies be held once every five years. However, many states have sought to and evensucceeded in circumventing this provision. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Pondicherryhave not held panchayat elections since the 73rd amendment came into force. In the caseof Assam, where elections were due in 1997, they have been postponed first due to the

budget session, then owing to the monsoons and, finally, because of the law and order situation in the state. Until recently, even Andhra Pradesh and Bihar belonged to the samecategory and held elections only after the intervention of the High Court and SupremeCourt respectively. Further, states implementing the Panchayati Raj/Nagarplaika Actsshow variation in their numbers as well as in their participation.




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1.1.5 The Women's Reservation Bill:

The question of reservation for women had surfaced even before Independence becausewomen from the elite classes of that period – who wanted to play some role in public life,realised the hurdles in their way. This view was again reflected during the review of theCommittee on the Status of Women in India, (CSWI) in 1974. The Committee observed that “the rights guaranteed by the Constitution have helped to build an illusion of equality

and power which is frequently used as an argument to resist protective and acceleratingmeasures to enable women to achieve their just and equal position in society”. Socialscientists also who undertook studies on the Committee's request came back with auniform finding that while women's participation as voters had been increasing at a faster rate than men's, their representation as candidates – successful or unsuccessful – registered in fact an opposite trend.

The marginalising trend has continued till date. In Lok Sabha elections between 1952 and 1996, the percentage of women contestants remained virtually stagnant at 3.2 per cent.The exception was in 1957, (the second general election), where their percentage was 4.4,the stagnation was very marked. In the success ratio on the other hand there was a

definitive decline from 43.1 per cent in 1952 and 50 per cent in 1962 to the lowest ever 7.9 per cent in 1996. In state assemblies there were variations in representation, rangingfrom 1.8 in 1952 to the maximum of 6.3 in 1957, and stagnation around 4.5 per cent inthe rest of the elections. In the state averages covering the period 1952 to 1997 thevariation is negligible, again showing a stagnation around 4 per cent. Surprisingly theCSWI, while recommending unanimously reservation for women in statutory women panchayats at the village level rejected the demand for reservation in legislative bodies.The majority decided to stand by the position taken by their seniors and ignored the junior cadres of women political activists, who complained bitterly to the CSWI about thediscriminatory treatment meted out to them by political parties in offering nominations.Only three members of the Committee (all women) dissented on this, because they felt

the Committee was being unwise in ignoring the need for institutionalised measures toeliminate or at least weaken institutionalised inequalities which universal adult franchisehad failed to dislodge.

The draft recommendations of the Government of India's National Perspective Plan(NPP) for Women 1988, acknowledged the problem of under-representation and recommended 30 per cent reservation for women in local governance, pahchayat, zillaand in local municipal bodies.. There was however a provision that in the initial years thisquota may be filled in by nomination/co-option. National women's organisations called for a national debate to discuss the NPP. When the Government disregarded the call, theyorganised themselves and critiqued it. They rejected outright the recommendation

regarding nomination of women/co-option on the ground that it was ‘Subversion of theConstitution’. They demanded 30 percent reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities `with due representation for women belonging to Dalit and Tribalcommunities' but to be filled only by election.




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Thus, final version of the Government's NPP recommended reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities, to be filled in by elections. This version was thenincorporated in the 64th Constitutional Bill of 1989. The late 1980s and the early 1990switnessed three changes of government at the national level, with two general elections in1989 and 1991. The Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill went through successive revisions,and finally emerged as the 73rd and 74th (Constitutional) Amendments in 1992. Theresponse of women to these two measures in the elections that followed in several states,

and the political dynamism demonstrated by them persuaded women's organisations into putting forward a joint demand for one-third reservation in state assemblies and Parliament. The plan too like the CSWI did not raise the issue of women’s reservation inParliament and State Assemblies.

The demand was accepted and almost all pre-election party manifestos contained promises to implement 33 per cent reservations for women as well as The CommonMinimum Programme. The newly formed coalition government of the United Frontwhich introduced the 81st (Constitutional) Amendment also known as the Women'sReservation Bill. In September 1996, a private member’s bill was moved, introducingreservations for women, a day before the closing of the monsoon session. However it was

this move that subsequently led to the introduction of the present Reservation Bill.

The 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill 1996, seeking to reserve one-third seats for women (including within the two already reserved categories - for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) has become a highly debated issue. It is worth noting that none of thearguments that have been brought up against the 81st Amendment Bill came up during the passage of the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1989-92).

The motion for consideration was mooted on May 16, 1997, but it lapsed, following thedissolution of the 11th Lok Sabha. The Bill was again brought before the House duringthe 12th Lok Sabha on July 14, 1998, as the Constitution (84th Amendment) Bill, 1998,

when the Union minister sought leave of the House to introduce the Bill. Permission for this was granted only on December 14, 1998. The Bill did not reach the considerationstage and therefore lapsed, following the dissolution of the 12 th Lok Sabha. Then, theConstitution (85th Amendment) Bill, 1999, popularly known as Women's Reservation Billwas introduced on December 23, 1999. On December 22nd , 2000, it was once againshelved. On May 5, 2003, during the Budget Session of Lok Sabha that the Women’sReservation Bill was last resisted amidst loud protests from many opposition parties and some sections of the ruling NDA alliance. The house was forced to adjourn and when itreturned after an hour and a half, the speaker of the Lok Sabha announced that he would call for an all-party meeting to generate unanimity/consensus on the Bill in order that thehouse may agree to its smooth passage.

The 81st, 84th and 85 th Constitutional Amendment Bills providing for reservation for women in Parliament and State Legislatures has not been passed for not havingreservations within reservation for women on the basis of caste. The Bill was referred tothe Joint Select Committee, headed by the late Geeta Mukherjee, who presented their report to the House on December 9, 1996. The Joint Select Committee accepted two




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provisions of the 81st Amendment Bill. They are: one third of the seats in the Lok Sabhaand Legislative Assemblies must be reserved for women; and there will be no reservationfor States with less than three seats for the Lok Sabha for a period of fifteen years (for three elections). Amendments that were not accepted included reservation for women of other backward classes (OBC). This committee also recommended the following: the Bill be passed with out delay; the OBC reservation for women be considered by thegovernment; and a modus operandi for reservation of seats for women in the Rajya Sabha

and Legislative Councils be introduced.

In the discussion with the Select Committee of Parliament, the delegation of the nationalwomen's organisations countered all charges of elitism for not recommendingreservations for women of `other backward classes', they point out that (a) they had requested the quota within the sections which already enjoyed reservation within theConstitution; and (b) they saw the need for a Constitutional amendment to force all political parties to undertake the much needed reforms within their own structures. This is because little had been achieved in more than two decades since the CSWI'srecommendations to the political parties and resolutions made by many political partiesthemselves. The women's delegation emphasised the crisis facing India's democracy with

increasing political instability and growth of irresponsibility, fragmentation and criminalisation. Despite their efforts, the Bill was not passed due to the lack of a majorityin the parliament, and strong opposition from members across parties. In this context, thelapse of the women’s reservation bill, seeking one-third of the parliamentary and legislative seats is extremely distressing.

The most recent dialogue regarding reservation for women is now suggesting anamendment to the People’s Representation Act. The new formula suggested seeks toreserve 33 per cent tickets for women. This could be achieved by an amendment to thePeople’s Representation Act, enjoining political parties to allocate 33 per cent tickets towomen candidates.

This reveals that women will continue to be under-represented, unheard and excluded from decision making processes. In the almost total absence of a conducive environmentfor women to enter into politics and lack of empathy by the larger society and themainstream political culture, the government must take immediate action to ensure thatthe Bill be passed immediately.

It is for the women's movement to demonstrate their political responsibility, not merelythrough the politics of protests, but also through direct intervention in the tasks of governance. And this is not possible unless larger numbers of women are present in allthese bodies to collectively engender politics.

1.2 Statement of Concern

Even after more than 50 years of democratic governance, it is distressing that thegovernment and the policy makers are lulled into complacency, by not translating de jurerights to de facto rights, to effect changes in the society. History reveals that women have




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had no space in the political arena and even in the political parties as decision-making partners. Further, it also shows that other formal institutions have not validated or recognised the participation or contribution of women.

Women’s role in the sphere of decision-making has so far been insignificant to have anykind of multiplier effect. Their numbers in formal decision-making bodies have notincreased over the years. Statistical records show that there has been only a marginal

increase in the last few decades in the number of women candidates fielded during theelections. The number of women parliamentarians has never exceeded 15 per cent of allseats. At the state level, their membership in the legislatures is abysmally low, lower thantheir numbers in the parliament, with the highest being 7.1 per cent in the state of Delhi.

Articles 325 and 326 of the Indian Constitution guarantee political equality to all, yetwomen have not benefited from this right. The political climate as it exists todaycontinues to be male centered and is therefore perceived to be conducive to male participation. Women are not treated as a political entity in their own right. They have been treated by political parties and other power groups as a means to further their owninterests and gains. This is evinced by the declining number of women candidates fielded

during the elections, despite promises made by political parties in their manifestoes to provide reservation of seats for women. Across parties, the trend is to treat women asdecorative pieces, relegated to women’s wings, with not much importance given to themin mainstream activities. Even the few women who are elected are sidelined and oftenallotted ‘soft portfolios’ such as, welfare, education etc. In both cases women lack accessand control over apex bodies where decisions and policies are formulated.

Women’s participation in political processes is impeded due to various social, economic,historical, geographical, political and cultural factors, thereby resulting in their minimal participation and even their exclusion. Illiteracy, women’s triple burden, patriarchalvalues, lack of access and control over income and other resources, restrictions to public

spaces and insensitive legal systems continue to impair their effective political participation. This is compounded by the absence/inadequate availability of infra-structural facilities and support services to facilitate their participation.

There are no specific laws or policies so far, that can strengthen the grounds for politicaland economic empowerment of women. The Government has attempted to empower women politically through affirmative action by providing for one-third reservation for women in local bodies, to ensure their participation at the local and district levels of governance. While these initiatives have created the political space for women, they havenot been able to guarantee a non- discriminative or conducive environment for women to participate. However, even this legislative intervention in higher political bodies i.e.,

State Assemblies and parliament is absent.

The mechanisms to facilitate and protect women in political participation are not in place,such as a strong supportive constituency particularly for women, increased awareness of their rights and responsibilities as elected members, training and informationdissemination on governance processes, gender sensitisation of the male elected




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members, and so on. In the absence of these mechanisms, women would become subjectto negative experiences like no-confidence motions moved against women presidents and at times coercion. In the process, women may experience a backlash, which may act as anoverall deterrent to their future career prospects and re-entry into politics.

The effectiveness of women’s participation continues to be evaluated against indicatorsthat have been defined by men from a male dominant perspective that is non-gendered.

While disadvantages continue to impede women’s participation, the disparities betweenthe sexes get widened because of the manner in which women’s participation is perceived. For example, while the women’s agenda prioritises issues like health,education, safe drinking water, etc., which have long-term benefits and returns, the men’sagenda primarily comprises of issues related to infrastructure that have immediate and tangible returns. Further, the resources that men give importance to are mostly financialin nature while women, because of their inability to mobilise financial resources oftenresort to human (women) resource mobilisation. Thus, while women may have participated in the political field their participation often remains invisible. This comesout clearly in the analysis of the available gender insensitive data on political participation of women.

The 33 per cent reservation quota provided for women in the local self governing bodieshave enabled several women, who had never been in power and even those illiterate, toenter politics. Historically Indian women, who have risen to power, have done so as aresult of familial or other elite connections and rarely because of the voting decision or power of a female constituency. As such these women have typically been moreaccountable to those who helped them get into power, i.e. their families, caste, or political party connections rather than to their constituencies.

Thirty three per cent as a number denies them their voting majority on issues of concernto women and leaves them without the power to make the changes expected of them. This

would mean that even after an historic democratic experiment of such magnitude, amillion women would not necessarily have the majority in any given decision making body to actually make a difference. They need to gain the confidence and capabilities for contesting elections to the local bodies against the unreserved categories, thus increasingtheir overall representation. However, at the levels of the higher political bodies, theabsence of reservation of seats for women has led to an increase in their powerlessnessdue to their representation being very low.

Finally, there is a legitimate concern that electoral quotas do not really have a long-termsolution. An environment should be created wherein women choose to come into power bereft of their men’s support, but on their own right, on their own terms and in a position

to build and sustain their constituencies.

1.3 Rationale for the Study

The inadequate representation of women in decision-making bodies is one of the major factors that have contributed to their low status. Political participation of women is




12

essential to ensure that women's concerns and issues are integrated into main- streamdecision-making processes. This would be a major step in facilitating women to exerciseand enjoy their rights guaranteed in the Constitution, towards achieving substantiveequality for women.

The number of women in political decision-making bodies is abysmally low in both theParliament and the State Legislatures. Lack of space for women in these political

institutions and decision-making bodies has resulted in the perpetuation of inequalitiesand discrimination against women. The discriminative practices that persist in theseinstitutions against those few women who were elected have the effect of impairing their effective functioning. Absence of affirmative action, lack of conducive environment inenabling the participation of women in state assemblies and parliament has the effect of nullifying the enjoyment and exercising the right to political participation and addition toimpairing the enjoyment of socio- economic rights.

The affirmative action adopted by the government of India providing for reservation of not less than one-third seats in local self governing bodies has facilitated more number of women to participate in the decision-making arena equally with men in these institutions.

Further, these women are now in a position to access resources and utilise the powersvested in them as elected members. This is a significant step towards achieving theconstitutional goal of equality. However, much more needs to be done to provide anenabling and conducive environment in the political institutions to enable women to participate effectively.

The political domain continues to be perceived as best suited for men and thereforeremains very male dominated. Today, the political environment is deeply entrenched withcorruption and criminalisation. This situation needs to be changed as women have the potential to defuse and transform the mainstream political culture, by making it moretransparent, accountable and participative. They can also positively contribute to the

process of de-criminalising politics, which in turn would provide a conduciveenvironment for their entry and effective participation in politics, thus facilitating theachievement of substantive equality for women. A holistic approach based on humanrights of women and welfare of the public at large can therefore remove the existinginequalities and bring about gender equity in the political arena.

This baseline report is an effort to identify the areas of discrimination with regard towomen’s political participation. The discrimination against women in relation to their rights as full citizens are not linear and are intersected with biological and socialdifferences of caste and class identities. Therefore, discrimination through the patriarchalinstitutions and feudal systems needs to be examined. Though the Indian State has taken

several measures, the intention of the State to ensure equality has not been addressed interms of Substantive Equality. Subsequently, satisfactory elimination of discriminative practices with regard to women’s political participation has not been fulfilled. The baseline report, through a substantive definition of equality has taken into accountdiversity, difference, disadvantage and discrimination and tries to specify thoseconditions needed to establish equal, effective and complete participation of women in




13

political processes. It also examines the obligation of the State in ensuring and fulfillingthis equality under the National and State Laws as well as in its InternationalCommitments.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

• To identify the indicators and substantiate the existence of disparity and disadvantage

women face in their political participation.• To highlight the causes and barriers that limit women’s political participation and its

effect on women.

• To examine the obligation of the State to ensure and facilitate the participation of women in politics and the initiatives taken by the State in terms of legislative actions, policies and programs and their effectiveness.

• To identify the lacunae in the initiatives of the State and evolve strategies to enhancethe involvement of women in all activities of the political processes.

• To prioritise short and long term advocacy strategies and build coalitions and networks to monitor the State in fulfilling its obligation.

1.5 Methodology

The definition of political participation encompasses a large arena comprising a widerange of activities, such as in trade unions, co-operatives, collectives, informal and formal political action. However, the scope of this study is limited to addressing women’s participation only in electoral politics (formal politics) and women’s constituencies atvarious levels from the grassroots to the State Legislatures and Parliament at the Centre.At the grassroots level of local self-governance, the study has attempted to provide ananalysis based on a region-wise representation of various states in India. The Statesincluded are Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan in the North, Madhya Pradesh inCentral India, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, Kerala and Karnataka in the south,

and Orissa and West Bengal in the east.

Political participation for this study has been defined to mean and include participation of women in terms of their numbers (i.e. the presence or absence of a critical mass), thequality of their participation and their involvement in effective decision-making in political institutions and the electoral processes as candidates, elected representatives and constituencies.

1.5.1 Sources of Information:

The information for this baseline report was primarily collected from secondary sources

and has been supplemented with primary information, in certain areas. They range fromstatistics regarding women’s political participation at all levels of governance toqualitative information that includes individual case studies, debates and critiques of women’s political participation. While the information on the 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment Act is adequate that for the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act and for the85th Constitutional Amendment Bill, information is scarce and inadequate, thus limiting




14

the scope for analysis at the levels of urban local bodies, the State Assemblies and theParliament. At this point we would like to reiterate and emphasise the need for generatinga database through micro studies and documentation to enable further analysis of issues.The material collated in relation to women’s participation in politics has been analysed using the framework of substantive equality.




15

(2)

EVIDENCE OF DISPARITIES FACED BY WOMEN IN POLITICS

Women’s participation in formal politics can be gauged by examining them in relation tothe following indicators: women’s participation in the Parliament, Legislative

Assemblies, institutions of local governance and political parties and their participation inthe electoral process as constituencies as well as candidates. The analysis of theseindicators reveal both that historically women have been kept away from politics and political parties as well as other formal institutions have not validated their participation.

2.1 Number of Women Elected Representatives

2.1.1 Participation of women in the Parliament – Lok Sabha (lower house) and

Rajya Sabha (upper house):

Women are poorly represented at higher leadership levels. Even historically, it is

observed that women’s participation in positions of power in both houses of theParliament has never exceeded 15 per cent of all seats. Table below presents the participation of women in the two houses of the Parliament.

Table 1: Participation of Women in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Year Members in Lok Sabha Members in Rajya Sabha

No. of Seats

No. of Women

Percentage No. of Seats

No. of Women

Percentage

1952-57 499 22 4.4 219 16 7.3

1957-62 500 27 5.4 237 18 7.6

1962-67 503 34 6.7 238 18 7.61967-71 523 31 5.9 240 20 8.3

1971-76 521 22 4.2 243 17 7.0

1977-80 544 19 3.4 244 25 10.2

1980-84 544 28 5.1 244 24 9.8

1985-90 544 44 8.1 245 28 11.4

1990-91 529 28 5.3 245 24 9.7

1991-96 509 36 7.1 245 38 15.5

1996-97 537 34 6.3 245 20 8.2

1997-98 545 40 7.3 245 19 7.8

1998-99 545 44 8.1 245 19 7.8

1999-to date 545 48 8.8 245 20 8.2

Source: Election Commission of India.

In the Lok Sabha, there has been a marginal increase in the percentage of women inrelation to the total number of seats. However, it has at no elections between 1952 to dateexceeded 10 percent. In the Rajya Sabha, their proportion remains constant at about 8 percent of the total seats. The exception has been the 1991-1996 elections wherein their




16

representation was at 15.5 percent. The trend after has been one of decline stagnating ataround 8 percent, indicating a continued marginalisation of women in these institutions.

2.1.2 Representation of Women in State Legislatures:

Table 2: Male-Female Representation in Selected State Assemblies

State Latest year’s for which datais available

Total Male Female PercentFemale

Andhra Pradesh 1999 294 266 28 9.52

Arunachal Pradesh 1999 60 59 1 1.67

Assam 1996 122 116 6 4.92

Bihar 2000 324 305 19 5.86

Delhi 1998 70 61 9 12.86

Goa,Daman & DIU 1999 40 38 2 5.00

Gujarat 1998 182 178 4 2.20

Haryana 2000 90 86 4 4.44

Himachal Pradesh 1998 68 62 6 8.82

Jammu & Kashmir 1996 87 85 2 2.30

Karnataka 1999 224 218 6 2.68

Kerala 1996 140 127 13 9.29Madhya Pradesh 1998 320 294 26 8.13

Maharashtra 1999 288 276 12 4.17

Manipur 2000 60 59 1 1.67

Meghalaya 1998 60 57 3 5.00

Mizoram 1998 40 40 0 0.00

Nagaland 1998 60 60 0 0.00

Orissa 2000 147 134 13 8.84

Pondicherry 1996 30 29 1 3.33

Punjab 1997 117 110 7 5.98

Rajasthan 1998 200 186 14 7.00

Sikkim 1999 32 31 1 3.13

Tamilnadu 1996 234 225 9 3.85

Tripura 1998 60 58 2 3.33Uttar Pradesh 1996 424 404 20 4.72

West Bengal 1996 294 274 20 6.80

Source: Election Commission of India’s Website (www.eci.gov.in)

Women’s political representation at the state level as gauged by their membership in statelegislatures is abysmally low. The latest data from the States show that Delhi (12.86 per cent) has the highest proportion of women members followed by Andhra Pradesh (9.52 per cent) and Kerala (9.29 per cent). Other States with relatively high proportions of women in the State Assemblies include Orissa (8.84 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (8.82 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (8.13 per cent).

It is clear from the data that women’s participation in the state legislatures is even lower than their participation in the parliament and the reasons for the variation needs to bestudied. What is clear however is that given the situation as represented above, anaffirmative state initiative is necessary to facilitate and enable women to participate atthese levels of political action. In this context the 85th Amendment Bill seeking one-third




17

GP Members by Gender

67%

33%

Men

Women

Source: DWCD, GOI (1995)

Wom en GP Members by State

46.736.2 35.4 35.2

14.9

0

20

40

60

Karnataka Kerala R ajasthan W est

B engal

P unjab

Source:DWCD, GOI (1995).

%

reservation for women in the parliamentary and legislative seats becomes an extremelyimportant possible alternative.

2.2 Number of women in Local Governments

2.2.1 Number of Women in Grama Panchayats (GPs):

The National Picture

Rural India has a total of 2,25,000 Gram Panchayats with a membership of 22,50,000elected representatives. Of these, women constitute 7,50,000 or a third of the elected members.1 There are 1,50,000 scheduled caste and scheduled tribe members of which50,000 are women. Of a total of 2,25,000 chairpersons, again one third of them or 75,000are women. 2

State Wise Picture

Women’s political representation varies widely across states. Despite most states havingat least 33 per cent women as a direct consequence of reservation, some states have even

exceeded the 33 per cent quota. These include the states of Karnataka (46.7 per cent),Kerala (36.2 per cent), Rajasthan (35.4 per cent) and West Bengal (35.2 per cent).Karnataka, the state with the highest proportion of women elected representatives in 1993had 5,641 GPs with 80,627 members of which 37,689 were women constituting 46.74 per

1 DWCD, GOI (1995, p.71).2 i.b.i.d.

GP Members by Caste

93%

7%

General

SC/ST

Source: DWCD, GOI (1995)




18

Representation of Women in Different

PRI tiers by State

46.7 40.2 36.4

14.5

34.2 32.6

0

25

50

75

100

Village Block Distr ict

Source: DW CD, GOI, 1995.

Karnataka

Punjab

cent of the total membership. Kerala follows closely, with 990 GPs and 10,700 members,of which 3,878 were women (36.2 per cent). On the other side of the spectrum, are stateslike Punjab where only 14.9 per cent of the GP membership is women, which is less thanhalf that is mandated in the 73rd Constitutional Amendment 3.

In the State of Bihar the Panchayat elections were held for the first time in the year 2001after a gap of 22 years. It also was the first Panchayat election in the State after the 73rd

Amendment where reservation in local governments to women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were denied in an open violation of Article 243(D) of the Constitution.Despite the overall climate of resistance and large-scale violence in the State, about1,25,000 women contested for about 40,000 seats reserved for them.

2.2.2 Number of Women in Taluk Panchayats (TPs) and Zilla Panchayats (ZPs):


As a result of reservation again, one third of the total number of seats in these bodies arewomen. For instance, at the block level (TPs), there are 5,100 block samitis with 51,000

members of which women constitute 17,000 or a third. These Panchayat Samitis have5,100 chairpersons of whom 1,700 are women. Similarly, at the district level, there are475 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) with 4,750 members, of whom 1,583 are women. These ZPsare headed by 475 chairpersons, of which 158 are women.4.

State Wise Picture

The representation of women within each state at the block and district levels isapproximately a third. Even in a State like Karnataka where the representation of womenin the GPs, there is a decline in their representation at the higher levels. The decline

recorded is from 46.7 per cent at the village/GP level to 40.2 per cent at the block/TP and 36.4 per cent at the district/ZP level. In contrast, the State of Punjab shows the exactopposite trend, 14.5 per cent at the village/GP, 34.2 per cent at the block/TP and 32.6 per

3 i.b.i.d.4 i.b.i.d.




19

Percent Elected Members of those who

Contested

6.5

3.7

0

2

4

6

8

Women Men

Source:Haider (1998).

%

Proportion of Women in Parliament

7.2

15.5

0

5

10

15

20

Lok Sabha Rajya Sabha

Source:DWCD, GOI, 1995.

%

cent at the district/ZP levels.5 In Punjab, where one would expect an even lower representation of women at the higher levels the evidence shows just the reverse. InKarnataka one would expect that because of a longer history of reservation, the numbersof women at the higher tiers of the PRIs would be high, instead, the percentage declines.However, it still exceeds the 33 per cent quota in all three tiers, while in Punjab the quotawas filled only at the block level. It is surprising that at the GP level in Punjab the 33 per cent quota is unmet despite it being mandatory and the reasons for the same needs to be

surfaced.

The reasons for the poor representation of women at the gram Panchayat level in Punjabmay be due to firstly, the strong patriarchal, traditional and cultural values and norms thatgovern the society thus preventing them from participating in the public sphere.Secondly, reservation for women was introduced for the first time in Punjab in 1995 withthe passing of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. As such, Punjab lacked the experiencethat Karnataka had of pioneering reservation for women in 1987 and they being elected for the second term. The experience gained by women representatives during the firstterm in itself would have encouraged more women to come forward to contest electionsfor the second term. Finally, elections at this level are supposed to be apolitical.

Therefore, political parties in Punjab might not have taken adequate initiatives tofacilitate and support women as in Karnataka, where they have played a more active rolein elections during the second term in comparison to the first.

However the comparative picture of Punjab and Karnataka at the block (TP) and district(ZP) levels seems intriguing. There is a need for further research to identify the factorsthat has facilitated the participation of more women at these levels in Punjab than inKarnataka.

2.3 Women Contesting Elections

2.3.1 Parliament and assembly elections:

Table 3: Women as ContestantsYear Males % Females % Total

1952 1831 97.71 43 2.29 1874

1980 4478 96.93 142 3.07 4620

1984 5149 96.91 164 3.09 5313

1991 8374 96.26 325 3.74 8699

1996 13353 95.71 599 4.29 13952

1998 4708 94.56 271 5.44 4979

Source: i) Women in India - A Statistical Profile, 1997, Department of Women and Child

Development, New Delhi.

ii) Election Commission of India.

5 i.b.i.d.




20

Women’s political participation was very negligible immediately after the independencethough they had played a vital role for getting independence for the country. Thestatistics clearly indicate that during the 1952 elections the percentage of womencontestants were as low as 2.29 per cent. In the later years the number of womencontesting elections increased at a very low pace. The two elections where there has beena noticeable increase in the number of women contestants are those held in 1980 and 1998. They occurred at the time when the Committee for the Status of Women, 1974

made their recommendations and the 73rd

and 74th

Constitutional Amendments were passed.

According to the Coordination Unit (1994), “The number of women contestants in parliamentary elections has not increased significantly over the years. Political partiesseem uniformly reluctant to field women candidates.” In 1998 women constituted onlyaround 8 per cent of the Lok Sabha.6 In 1991 women in the Lok Sabha won 36 seats outof 509 (7.1 per cent) and in the Rajya Sabha they had a slightly higher representation of 38 seats out of 245 (15.5 per cent) that they were elected or nominated to.7

In 1996, the number of women who contested the elections for Lok Sabha seats were 599

of which 34 won (6.5 per cent). In comparison 13,353 men contested of which 503 (3.7 per cent) won the elections. Therefore while women constitute only 6.5 per cent of theLok Sabha polity, their chances of winning an election are almost double that of men.Also according to Saraswati Haider (1998, p.386), “One encouraging fact that emergesfrom the data available for the Lok Sabha elections from the year 1952 to 1996 is that thetotal number of women who contested the elections has been consistently going up.” (Seetable 3).

Source: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Data Unit

The percentage of women representatives in the State Legislature (MLAs) during the year 1952 was about 2.5 per cent, where as the proportion increased to 5.5 per cent in the 1957

election. Later on the women's participation became as low as 3.0 per cent, again onlyduring the 1984-88 period the number of women MLAs increased to 4.5 per cent and thereon a decrease is seen.

6 National Centre for Advocacy Studies (1998).7 DWCD, GOI (1995, p.71).




21

Women Elected Members: Elected

vs. Co-opted

43%

57%

Elected

Coopted

Source:

Search News

(1993).

While the number of women contesting elections has been consistently increasing, their numbers still continue to be very low in comparison to that of men. Despite this, the probability of winning is higher for women than men, being almost double. Yet, the political parties prefer supporting and investing in men rather than women, thereby putting women at a disadvantage both in accessing funds from the parties and raisingtheir own funds.

2.3.2 Elections to Local Bodies:

Batliwala, Srilatha, et al. (1998), in their discussion on gender differentials in participation in the different tiers of the Panchayat Raj Institutions state, “Even in the panchayats, women have contested only in the Gram Panchayat elections, while severalmen report contesting not only these, but taluk panchayat, zilla panchayat, cooperativesociety and other elections.”8 This implies that while women in Karnataka for exampleexceed the quota at the ZP, TP and GP levels it still does not imply that the way in whichthey have come into power is through contesting elections but rather it is throughnomination. Elected members tend to have more ties and stronger interaction with their constituencies than those nominated. They are also more easily held accountable as those

who have voted for them have certain expectations from them. The expectationunderlying reservation of seats for women is that once in power, women elected representatives will be more responsive to their constituencies, particularly other womenin their communities. However, if women are not elected by their constituencies and other women but nominated instead, the likelihood is that they will be less accountable tothem and more to those who nominated them. Therefore intervention prior to election or during the time of campaigning becomes an essential input to facilitate the nurturing of supportive and vibrant constituencies.

Studies show that more women are co-opted 9a (57 per cent) into the PRIs than are elected (43 per cent). In a study conducted in Punjab9b on women’s participation in the PRIinstitutions, it was found that though women constituted 13.64 per cent of the GP

membership, only 5.83 per cent were elected and the rest were coopted.

8 Batliawalla, Srilatha, et al. (1998, p. 282).9aCooption here means, an informal procedure adopted by men in power to select candidates of their choiceinto these bodies. This process perpetuates power relations and reinforces subordination of women.9b “Right to Equality and participation of Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State of Punjab.”Regional Center, Jalandar and National Law School of India, Bangalore, Search News, January-June, 1993.




22

Reason for Choice of Women

Candidates

20%

68%

12%

RepresentWomen

Political ties

Family

Source: Search News (1993).

Out of these coopted women, “68.33 per cent were chosen to accommodate a particular section of society, 20 per cent were chosen because of their relationship with the

sarpanch and 11.67 per cent were chosen because of their (or their family’s) politicalleaning and bureaucratic pressures.” 10

2.4 Women as Voters


Today there are 282 million women voters in India. It has been observed that over the lasttwo decades women’s participation in formal elections has declined. The percentage of voters irrespective of sex has declined over the last three elections. However the percentage of women voters declined more sharply by 20.75 per cent, while that of male

voters declined by 11.1 per cent for the same time period. (See Table 4)

Table 4: Voting Patterns by Sex (National Picture)

Year Male Voting Percentage Female Voting Percentage

1952 53.0 37.1

1957 56.0 38.8

1962 62.1 46.6

1971 66.7 55.5

1977 69.7 49.2

1980 65.6 54.9

1984 57.7 51.2

1989 63.6 68.2

1991 70.9 43.9

1993 52.6 47.4

Source: Issues, Towards Beijing, New Delhi: Coordination Unit, 1995

10 i.b.i.d.




23

Decision Mak ing in Voting by Gender

97

81

319

0

25

50

75

100

Men Wom en

Source: Batliw ala et al (1998).

Own

decisionOther's

Influence

%

State Wise Picture

Detailed data on voting patterns by sex is easily available for Karnataka State.11 Batliwalaet al. (1998) found that more men (95 per cent) voted in the 1994 GP elections thanwomen (87 per cent). Furthermore, the data showed that more women (19 per cent) madetheir decision to vote through the help of others than did men (3 per cent). According to

them (p. 281), “Decision making about voting is a complex process: Voting patterns areincreasingly being determined by caste and community based political affiliations, not tomention the diktat of the village elite/powerful.” Unless women vote independently for their own candidates, accountability of women elected officials to their constituencieswill not be easy. Women’s political participation needs to therefore be more broadlydefined for the quota system to really achieve its desired effect.

2.5 Lack of Critical Mass of Women in Political Institutions

Not having a critical mass within the political institutions makes it difficult for women tocenter-stage and push their agenda forward. Currently, the membership status of the 13 th

Lok Sabha shows that there is only one woman cabinet minister out of a total of 28. Of the 41 ministers of State only five are women. There is not a single woman among theseven ministers of State holding Independent charge.

Lack of an active and articulate critical mass further disadvantages women. Even wherewomen are articulate and assertive, they are deliberately marginalised through a processof exclusion by the dominant and powerful sections in these political institutions. This iscompounded by the fact that elected women representatives do not have a critical mass asan organised electorate, in the form of women’s collectives, NGOs and an informed and politically conscious women’s constituency to support them.

Though women have been entering the political arena they are denied positions of power.Even when a few women have been given decision-making positions they do not have political allies in key positions to support them. Also those in power are invariably given‘soft portfolios’ which are an extension of women’s stereotypical images. These portfolios rarely have the resources or decision-making powers to back women and

11 Batliawalla, Srilatha, et al (1998, p. 280).






25

Participation Level of Women

Officials56

28

0

20

40

60

High Low

Source:Banerjee (1995).

%

Women Active in Community

Development

40%

60%

Active

Inactive

Source: Banerjee (1995).

2.6.2 Level of Participation

In a study done in four districts in West Bengal on 50 GP women members and their participation, 28 (56 per cent) claimed that they had a high level of participation inPanchayat meetings13. The responses of 14 members (28 per cent) indicated very lowlevels of involvement. Those women with high involvement regularly took notes and

recorded meeting minutes while the others displayed a lack of confidence in keepingwritten evidence of the meetings. With regard to verbal participation in panchayatmeetings 22 women felt that they participated equally with men and 19 women lacked confidence in expressing their opinions during the meetings.

At the higher levels of local governance, i.e. at the Zilla and Mandal panchayats womenwere diffident in their performance and hardly talked in the meetings. This might be because rural society does not provide many opportunities where men and women canwork together. Their working together may lead to awkwardness for both, particularly for women.

2.6.3 Issues raised and addressed by women:

Studies on women’s participation in Parliament show that “women participate moreactively in women’s issues – health, welfare, atrocities against women, crimes like dowryand violation of human rights. In issues of defense, finance politics etc. their participationis relatively limited.” (Government of India, 1995)

Development dialogue in a study carried out in four districts in West Bengal on 50GP women members asked women todescribe their contribution to communitydevelopment.14 Most of the women (60

per cent or 30 women) “claimed to have played an active role in maintenance of roads, tube well construction, maintenanceof school buildings, drainage system and

13 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995).14 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995).




26

Gender Differentials in Organisational Roles

56

31

65 65

38

26

90

108

44

56

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Lead ers hip F o o d C lea n C o nd uct

m eetings

O rganize

F unctio ns

Men

W omen

water supply. Some of them had tried sincerely to work towards women’s empowerment by taking initiative in providing loans to rural women, protesting against injustice likedivorce, child marriage and molestation and helping villagers in general.” The remaining40 per cent were not involved and the reasons given were that male resistance prevented their active participation, not allowing them to work in the GPs. This implies that in theabsence of such resistance women who were not active would have been equally able tocontribute towards the overall development of their communities.

2.7 Percentage of Women Members in Political Parties and their Committees

Leadership at the national level can be gauged by examining the number of women indecision-making bodies in the respective political parties. The Coordination Unit (1995)has provided data on the number of women and men in the Congress WorkingCommittee, BJP National Executive, JD Central Office-bearers, Central Committee of the CPI (M) and the National Executive of the CPI.

Table 5: Women’s Participation in Political Party Committees

Name of Party Women Men Percentage of WomenCongress (I) 2 17 11.7

BJP 8 62 12.5

JD 3 25 12.0

CPI (M) 3 58 5.1

CPI 2 18 11.1

Source: Coordination Unit (1995).

The table reveals that women in the decision-making bodies of the major political partiesrange from a mere 5.1 per cent in the CPI (M) to 12.5 per cent in the BJP. These figuresindicate that almost all parties do not place women in leadership positions and thereforewomen’s access to decision-making bodies remains poor.

2.8 Inadequate Representation of Women in Decision Making Bodies

It has been found that persons who have beenin public life and other institutions such astrade-unions,cooperatives, mahilamandals, women'scollectives and other

registered societies aremore easily absorbed into the political arena.However the number of women in these institutions/organisations is low.

Prior organisational experience can give women the confidence and ability to perform inthe PRIs. Batliwala, Srilatha, et al. (1998, p. 282), discuss both the quality as well as the




27

extent of women’s participation in organisations relative to that of men.15 Commentingon the large numbers of women in women’s organisations they state, “It is heartening tonote that in terms of sheer numbers, many more women than men are members of awomen’s group compared to male membership of the wider range of other fora ...” Theseother fora include farmer’s sanghas, youth groups, political parties, religious groups,trade unions and so forth. Despite these numbers, the study shows that the roles women play in these organisations are still the stereotypical women’s traditional roles such as

providing food and refreshments and cleaning and maintenance. Men dominate in formalleadership roles (56 percent) compared to women (26 percent) and in organising events(65 percent vs. 44 percent). This implies that while the quantity of women’s participationhas increased the quality of their participation in organisations remains unchanged.

But again the quality of the roles played by women in organisations affects women’s participation. If they engage only in hospitality and office maintenance services, theywould not be able to move into leadership roles easily.

“… the reality is that women’s participation in decision making at all levels from thenational to the local, is dismally low. The challenge that faces government and society in

setting right this inequality in sharing of power, in a diverse and complex country likeIndia, is how to overcome the attitudinal, institutional, cultural and social restrictions thathave grown over the centuries.”16

15 Batliawalla, Srilatha, B.K. Anitha, Gurumurthy, Anitha and Wali, Chandana S. (1998, p. 282).16 Padma Ramchandran “Women in Decision Making.” In What is Personal is Political Coordination Unit, New Delhi, 1995.




28

(3)

EVIDENCE OF DISCRIMINATION

(CAUSES AND BARRIERS)

Disadvantages faced by women

The following main areas have been identified and presented as the disadvantages faced by women leading to their low levels of political participation: Access to Resources and Information; Awareness; Control over Resources and Information; Personal/FamilialSupport; Socio-Economic Factors; Organisational Infrastructure; Cultural Barriers and Law and Policies.

3.1 Access to Resources and Information

3.1.1 Access to Information:

Unequal access to information and other economic and non-economic resources is a barrier to women’s political participation. Most information on governance is written in alanguage that is inaccessible to women. Because of the high rate of illiteracy and lowlevels of education among women they are deprived of information. Oral transactionsinvariably take place in the public sphere, which is inaccessible by women, as they areconfined to their households. Women’s mobility being restricted they do not have theexposure to public life, thus limiting the scope of their interaction with others and theacquisition of information.

Impact: Unequal access to information impairs the recognition and enjoyment of the rightof women to vote, contest elections, become members of political parties and social

networks.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 5, 7, 10, 10(e), 14 (2)(d).

3.1.2 Access to Economic Resources:

Women are concentrated in the informal economy, the subsistence sector, where manyare engaged in low wage or unpaid, low skilled or unskilled labour. Much of their work remains invisible, unrecognised and devalued and is therefore unprotected by laws and legislations. The incomes they earn, however meagre are still seen by them and their families as an income to be spent on the family. This compounded by the fact that 34 per

cent of households are female-headed, places the burden of providing for the family primarily lies on women. Therefore, the expense required for political participation suchas election campaign expenditure or resources required to attend meetings, visit and interact with government officials, become an additional burden that women can illafford, thus impeding their full participation. Women get entangled in the web of oppression right from childhood. It is the girl child who is the first to be drawn out of theschool (as education of the girl child is not the priority) to contribute to wage earning or




29

Land Ownership Patterns by

Gender

12%

82%

6%

Male

Female

JointSource:

Batliwala et al.

(1998, p. 140).

House Ownership Patterns by

Gender

14.3%

80.4%

5.3%

Male

Female

JointSource:

Batliwala et al.

(1998, p. 148).

to assist in sharing women’s domestic chores in the household or to be surrogate mother to her siblings. Thus depriving an opportunity for acquiring knowledge and skills, whichwould enable her to be economically independent.

Land

Batliwala et al. (1998, p. 140) show that “if we go by male reporting of land ownershipwe see that over 82 per cent of land of all types is owned by men... In contrast, less than 2

per cent of the female respondents owned land in their own names, 10 per cent is held byother women relatives, a little over 6 per cent is held jointly and the 1 per cent is held byother male relatives.17 In sum, only 12 per cent of all land is owned exclusively bywomen, 6 per cent jointly by men and women and as high as 82 per cent by men only.Six per cent of land is held jointly. This study further demonstrates that first, very fewwomen own land and second even when they do they are unaware of their ownership. For instance, “while men reported as much as 6.3 per cent of land being joint property of husbands and wife, or of men and women of the family related in some other way, noteven one percent of women corroborate this. In other words, it would appear that in suchcases, even if land is jointly held, women are not aware of this.” 18

House

According to Batliwala et al (1998, p. 148) male respondents reported that 80.4 per centof the houses owned belonged to men and only 14.3 per cent are owned by women and the rest (5.3 per cent) is owned jointly. Thus, women’s access to shelter (house) is highlydependent on the male members in the family.

17 Batliawalla, Srilatha, B.K. Anitha, Gurumurthy, Anitha and Wali, Chandana S. (1998)18 i.b.i.d.




30

Credit

Similar results were found when access to credit by men was assessed wherein, “47 per cent or nearly half of all male respondents had accessed credit from different sources,”while 21 per cent of all female respondents had done so.

There is a strong relationship between access to economic resources and participation inthe political sphere.

In Karnataka, out of 218 ZP members interviewed, most were economically dependent onthe men in their families.19 Most elected women had no independent source of income.As such, they did not have their own resources to enter or participate in the political process. In another study with a sample of 250 women leaders, one major finding wasthat correlation coefficients revealed that education and household income of womenleaders have significant positive relationship with their political status, modernisation and role performance.20

Impact: Unequal access to economic resources such as income, land, house, and creditfacilities impairs women’s effective participation in electoral processes viz., contestingelections, campaigning, building and sustaining their constituencies and fulfilling their role as elected representatives.

The lack of access to economic resources results in low representation of women aselected members at all levels of governance. The number of elected representatives isdirectly proportionate to the economic resources that women have access to. Gram panchayat members coming from the lower socio-economic strata have to forego their daily wages and also incur additional expenditure for fulfilling their role as elected representatives. Further, the sitting fees allocated is also meagre and neither does it

compensate for their time nor for their contribution.

Elected representatives incur expenditures, both overt and hidden, to meet the communitydemands. Building and sustaining a constituency requires economic resources over which, men have greater entitlement, access and control. These demands require elected representatives to be economically independent. Generally men are advantageously positioned as they are engaged in economic activities with higher incomes, own assetsand are able to access credit from financial institutions.

The strength and the effectiveness of women’s participation in political parties and other network such as, trade unions, cooperatives and the like is directly correlated to their

economic status.

19 Chandrashekar B.K. and Inbanathan A. (1991).20 Gowda, Govinda “Leadership and Panchayati Raj Institution” (1994).




31

Distribution of Women Satisfied

wi th Official Interaction

92.5%

7.5%

Disatisfied

Satisfied

Source:

Swain and

Mahapatra (1994).

The low turnover of women voters especially among the poor and those working ininformal and the unorganised sector is due to the loss of wages they incur in order toexercise their franchise. This nullifies the right of women to exercise their vote.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (e)(f), 7, 13 (a) (b), 14(2) (g), 16(h).

3.1.3 Access to Government Officials:

Access to government officials determines GP members access to government resources.

In a study conducted in two districts of Karnataka, respondents in Tumkur perceived local government officials as approachable. In contrast some respondents in Bijapur werenot even aware that such individuals could be contacted for information and assistance. 21

Swain and Mahapatra (1994) in their study of women leaders in Orissa found that 92.5 per cent said that they either did not interact with or were frustrated with the quality and quantity of interaction with government officials.

Impact: Efficacy of an elected representative, particularly in the Panchayat RajInstitutions is dependent on their accessibility to government officials, as most programmes are routed through them. The resistance among the government officials dueto gender insensitivity impedes the effective functioning of women elected

representatives.

CEDAW: Articles 2(d) (f) and 5.

3.1.4 Access to Informational Resources:

Information or knowledge is a key input towards enabling women in the GP to functioneffectively. Several studies confirm that the lack of access to information, results inwomen members not being taken seriously22. The most effective way to provide womenwith information is through training and capacity building.

21 Institute of Social Studies Trust (1995).22 “Training Initiatives - An Analysis.” Anitha B.K. and Gayathri V. unpublished paper, GSU, NIAS.




32

Dist r ibu t ion o f Wom en by Source

of In forma t ion

20%

80%

Media

Family/Men

3.1.5 Access to Media:

Media, both print and visual, is aneffective source for gathering and disseminating information. But for women political leaders, family and male partymembers seem to be the primary source of

information. In West Bengal, interviewswith 50 GP women members revealed thatonly ten women (20 per cent) had access

to information via media such as newspapers, radio and television23. The rest (80 per cent) of the women relied solely on party members, villagers and family members for information. Only two women were made aware of the Constitutional Amendments onreservation through the radio. Party men informed the other women and also encouraged women’s husbands to motivate them to stand for the elections.

3.1.6 Access to Decision Making Arenas:

In the formal political arena, it is observed that women have very low voting percentagesand their representation in local, state, national governments and political parties is not proportionate to their population. Describing the situation in 1994, Ramchandran statesthat, “at the national level there is only one senior minister and six states ministers in acabinet of 74. There is only one woman governor and two chief ministers out of 30 in thecountry.”24 Where we do see some real change in the formal political arena as a directconsequence of the 73rd and 74 th constitutional amendments is in local government. In amajority of Indian States women now constitute at least 33 per cent of the total number of seats. In states with a longer history of quota/reservation, women now constitute a greater representation than the system requires. Furthermore, according to Ramchandran,“entrance of women in rural leadership role through constitutional reforms has its own

impact upon a) the linkages of village politics with the political parties b) determinationof issues and priorities in rural power dynamics, and c) role of women in the politicalcommunity.” She claims that while this change is uneven, the direction is the same, i.e.“towards participatory democracy with a commitment for social justice.” 25

While women’s participation in formal decision making arenas has been less visible, their participation in grassroots democracy and social movements is very high. While this participation is not directly in the traditionally “male” political arenas such as party and parliamentary politics, it is vital for women’s issues to gain the legitimacy and thevisibility for women parliamentarians and politicians to even raise women-specific issuesin the formal political spheres.

23 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995)24 I.b.i.d.25 I.b.i.d.




33

Impact: The lack of critical numbers of elected women representatives in politicaldecision-making bodies impairs women accessing decision-making positions, negotiatingfor important portfolios and to mainstream gender issues in policies and programmes.

Low numbers of women in political parties adversely affect women being leaders in the parties. The absence of a critical number of women holding decision making positionswithin political parties impairs quality of the negotiations, on the numbers, choice of

women contestants and the mobilisation of party funds and human resources.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7, 8.

3.1.7 Access to organisational membership:

A study of the background of political leaders revealed that most men have had pastexperiences as leaders in trade unions, co-operatives and societies. These organisationshave been a training ground which prepare men as leaders in politics. The trade union and co-operative movements have been male dominated and women’s participation in themhas been negligible. The co-operative movement has facilitated women to establish

independent all-women societies, which does not enable women to gain experience to participate in mainstream political activities.

While the majority of newly elected officials may not have had any prior politicalexperience, some women officials have had prior exposure to public life and have strongsocial networks even while not directly in the political arena. For instance, Mogra Devi isa newly elected panchayat member. Though this is the first time she has been in a political role, she has been a public figure for over a decade and was a teacher for morethan five years. She does not see any contradiction between her domestic and politicalroles, which may be because she had led a public life.26 Another instance is of Kali Bai, awidow, involved in social work in her area for a long time. She was also a practising dai

(mid wife) for over 20 years. Because of her activities she was able to make a range of contacts in the village. Her social networks helped her win the elections. Furthermore, her children and her family support her work as a panchayat member.27 This is possibly because her family was already used to the woman of the household having activities thattook her outside it and probably saw her GP involvement as an extension of this role.These examples illustrate the myriad advantages to women who are involved in socialnetworks, and in the community at large prior to their entry into politics, as it ensuresacceptance of her leadership by both the community and the family.

Recent experiences have demonstrated that the activities of social networks like self-helpgroups have expanded to provide women specific skills in building the women’s

constituency and promoting leadership

28

. But the experience gained by them is notadequate to function in formal political structures that are largely male dominated.

26 Sen, Ilena (1995)27 I.b.i.d.28 Experiences of GRAM VIKAS, KOLAR, GRAMA CHITRADURGA, RLHP, MYSORE, have revealed that organisisng women as self help groups has led to building women as a constituency and in promotingleadership among them.




34

Impact: Restricting women’s participation in trade unions and cooperative movementshas resulted in denying women the opportunity to gain similar experience like men,which enables them to participate in mainstream political activities. In addition, the lack of economic independence also impedes women’s participation in these movements and activities. Women not being part of community-based organisations have denied themopportunities of developing their skills required to function as representatives in the public sphere.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (f)(d), 3, 4, 5, 7(c), 8.

3.1.8 Mobility:

The cultural norms operate both as a restriction on a woman’s mobility as well as animpediment for her participation in the public sphere. These cultural norms are perpetuated and sustained by powerful institutions of family, caste and religion.

The location of polling booths and their relative distances from their homes and workplace often deter women from exercising their right as voters. The demands on

contestants right from filling nominations to canvassing for elections, requires them to bemobile.

The inconvenient timings, location, distance and the lack of escort are impediments for women elected representatives to attend meetings. Often there are situations whenemergency meetings are called at inconvenient timings (late night, early mornings) preventing women’s attendance and thus excluding them from the decision-making processes at large.

Women face additional logistical problems in accessing decision-making spheres, whichare rarely taken into account by other members of the GP. These logistics include

distance and meeting timings. Timings have to take into account women’s dual roles inthe home and at work and that they do not feel safe after dark. In Himachal Pradesh,some women GP officials did not attend meetings as they found that the meeting timingswere not convenient.29 They also wanted the meetings to end early as they had longdistances to cover to get home. The combination of timing and distance made meetingsdoubly hard for women to attend. Therefore getting access to decision-making fora become difficult for women when timings and mobility have not been taken intoconsideration when GP meetings are held.

Impact: Lack of access to transport, threat to physical security, restrictions on movement,adversely affects the participation of women in political processes as voters, contestants

and elected representatives.

Restriction on mobility impairs women from exercising their right to franchise, contestelections and participate effectively as elected representatives.CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 14 (2) (f), 15 (4).

29 Nagar J. (1997).




35

Member's Perception of their Roles

20%

18%

49%

13%

Unaware

Attend Meetings

Solve Problems

Sponsor

Projects

3.2 Awareness

The lack of knowledge and awareness of elections and electoral processes among womenis a major barrier in participating in elections. Also, the low level of literacy among themajority of the women prevent them from accessing information about the various political candidates, parties, party manifestos and the debates that preceed elections that

are critical for making an informed choice of the most appropriate candidate. Most of theinformation is in print media and hence a serious handicap for a large majority of women,who are illiterates. For the elected women representatives who are relatively new in the political field the lack of knowledge of the roles and responsibilities associated with political institutions impedes their effective participation in decision -making processesof governance including that of financial management.

3.2.1 Awareness of Roles and Responsibilities within the PRI System:

Though women are elected to the panchayats evidence indicates that most are not awareof the roles associated with becoming an elected official. One pilot study on GP Membersin Kerala, found that women political leaders were still not clear about the exact roles

they were expected to play in this new system or why a reservation bill had been set for women representatives. 30 Swain and Mahapatra (1994) 31 claim that 49 per cent of women leaders said they were not aware of the role of PRIs, 12.5 per cent thought their role was to attend GP meetings, while only 17.5 per cent thought their role was to solve people’s problems. Only 20 per cent were aware that the GP could sponsor people’sdevelopment projects through a governmental programme. Furthermore this showed thatwomen GP members were not aware of where the resources lay for them to be able tomeet the needs of their constituencies. In Karnataka and Gujarat, Asha Ramesh and Bharati Ali analysed the performance of GP women members. They found that whilemost women attended GP meetings, not many supervised work and few handled work outside the village. This is true even at the municipal levels in the urban areas. Here

although the women knew what their roles were, most of them did not go beyond attending meetings. This is also because of other factors such as lack of mobility.Furthermore, the range of responsibilities of GP members need to undertake, from

30 Radha S. (1994).31 Swain and Mahapatra (1994).




36

planning to monitoring and finally to implementation, are rarely spelled out as part of their duties.

In a study conducted by Stephen and Rajasekaran,32 the women members of the Rajoor panchayat were not aware of their roles and responsibilities. Though women were sevenas against five male members, they were unable to influence the decisions made in theGram Panchayat. All proceedings of the GP meetings were controlled by the local

political leader of the Congress party, despite women being in the majority.

3.2.2 Awareness of Electoral Processes:

In a recent study done in Karnataka and Gujarat33 it was found that there was a greater number of women representatives in Karnataka who were aware of the electoral processand had participated in their own election campaign than the women in Gujarat. It isheartening to note that most of the women were elected through proper elections and were not co-opted and that quite a few of the women knew the number of votes that theygot and what their winning margin was. This goes that women are going through a political transition. Earlier the men and their family members were the ones taking a

proactive role in their electoral campaigns, etc. but now women are not only aware of thewhole electoral process but are also actively involved in it.

Table 1: Awareness on Electoral Processes and Procedures

Knowledge of Various Aspects of Elections (in percent) Karnataka Gujarat

Knew how to file nomination papers 28.9 15.0

Became GP members without going through an election 2.95 13.3

Became an elected representative through proper election 97.1 86.7

Participated in their election campaign 92.6 87.2

Knew the number of votes they received 45.6 51.3

Knew their winning margin 75.0 74.4

Source: Ramesh, Asha and Ali, Bharati (1999).

In Karnataka, which has a prior history of women involved in the GPs due to reservationhas even more positive indicators of women’s political participation. For example, morewomen in Karnataka (than in Gujarat) became elected through proper election (97 per cent vs. 87 per cent), participated in their election campaigns (93 per cent vs. 87 per cent), and knew how to file their nomination papers (29 per cent vs. 15 per cent).Furthermore, women elected representatives in Karnataka also are probably moreaccountable as only 3 per cent became GP members without going through an election asopposed to 13.3 per cent of elected members in Gujarat.

32 Stephen & Rajashekaran ( 2001) : “ Sheep & Lambs - an empirical study of women in Local Self Governance in Karnataka”, Search Publications, Bangalore.33 Ramesh, Asha and Ali, Bharati.




37

Women GP Members' Awareness

of Budgets: Orissa

66%

34% Aw are

Gave Input onBudget

Source: Mahapatra

(1995).

Women GP Members' Awareness

of Finances: Himachal Pradesh

3%

53%

44%

Aw are

No Idea

No Response

Source: Nagar (1997).

3.2.3 Lack of Access to Information (Financial)

Studies conducted in Orissa (Mohapatra, 1995)34 and in Himachal Pradesh (Nagar,1997)35 found that women elected representatives were not adequately informed aboutGP finances. Even fewer were able to shape the budgets of their GPs. For example inOrissa, about 65.6 per cent of the women were aware of the financial allocations to theGPs but when asked for the actual budget amounts, only 43.7 per cent could respond.Only 34.4 per cent said they gave their suggestions and/or opinions at the time the budget

was made.

In Himachal, out of 70 women GP members, 38 (54.3 per cent) had some financialknowledge, while 29 (44.4 per cent) said they had no idea about finances. In both places,at least a third of the members were completely unaware of financial matters of the GP.

In Karnataka,36 most GP representatives were unable to explain how the funds wereallocated to a GP. Though they knew the time for allocation was from three months toone and a half years they complained that there were delays in the allocation of funds. Asto how budgets are made, they said initially there is a council meeting with GP membersand a list is prepared on the work that is pending, based on this an estimate is drawn up.But again, they were not too clear as many of them had never been involved in budgetestimation. In response to the devolution of budgetary powers, most of them said that ithad not taken place and that the power still lies with the Zilla Panchayat and to a certainextent the Taluk Panchayat. This indicates that while the Amendments require a financial

34 Mohapatra, K (1995).35 Nagar J. (1997).36 Jayasimha et al.




38

devolution in reality this has not yet taken place. In Karnataka and Gujarat,37 very fewwomen members had complete knowledge about the financial aspects of the GPs. InKarnataka out of 12 GP women members none of them had complete knowledge of GPfinances, seven had partial knowledge and five had no knowledge at all. In comparison,in Gujarat out of five GP women members, only one had partial knowledge and the resthad no knowledge at all. This trend can be seen in the other PRI tiers as indicated in thetables below.

Table 2: Women GP Members’ Knowledge of Financial Aspects of PRIs:

Karnataka and GujaratTotal Women Complete Partial None

Kar. Guj. Kar. Guj. Kar. Guj. Kar. Guj.

GP members 12 5 - - 7 1 5 4

TP members 12 7 3 1 5 1 4 5

ZP members 11 8 1 2 10 4 - 2

Tn.P members 8 4 2 - 4 2 2 2

TMC members 11 9 - 2 4 4 7 3

CMC members 8 4 1 1 4 3 3 -

Total 62 37 7 6 34 15 21 16

Source: Ramesh, Asha and Ali, Bharti (1999).

In Karnataka, only 11 per cent (7) of the women had complete knowledge, the majorityor 55 per cent had partial knowledge and a third or 21 women had no knowledge. InGujarat, 16 per cent had complete knowledge while 41 per cent had partial knowledgeand 43 per cent had no knowledge at all.

The above data shows that most women members have only partial knowledge about thefinancial aspects of the panchayat. While training is essential to improve their knowledge base, a comparative analysis between women and male GP members is lacking.

Impact: The disparity in literacy level between men and women has excluded manywomen from exercising and enjoying their rights. The lack of awareness of the femaleelectorate of the various political candidates, parties, party manifestos, mandates and their voting rights, prevents them from making an informed choice, particularly such a choicethat would unite them as a constituency. Once elected, the lack of awareness about theroles and responsibilities associated with political institutions at all levels makes itdifficult for women to make informed political decisions in governance. Their lack of awareness of financial resources and information makes them easy targets for corrupt bureaucrats/politicians to take advantage of their ignorance. They not being informed of their political rights, prevents them from demanding resources which is crucial to build and nurture their constituencies. In addition, the access to resources and information and the control they have over these resources is crucial for women which enables them to

use the resources as per their needs and political aspirations. Thus it impairs theenjoyment and exercise of right to political participation.CEDAW: Article 1, 2 (d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 (e), 11(c).

37 Ramesh, Asha and Ali, Bharti: “Towards Political Empowerment: Profiling women Elected to the Ruraland Urban Bodies in Gujarat and Karnataka” New Delhi 1999.




39

Control over Income by Gender

80

30

13 107

60

0

20

40

60

80

100

Men Wom en

Self Spouse Others

Source: Batliw ala et al (1998, p. 168).

%

3.3 Control Over Resources and Information

3.3.1 Control Over Earnings:

According to the definition of control over income used by Batliwala et al (1998, p.168),“control over income is asserted or lost right from the point after receiving one’s

wages/earnings in hand; if it is customary to hand over one’s earnings as soon as one is paid…”

By this definition, they found that 30 per cent of wage earning women do not hand over their wages to their husbands, 60 per cent do hand over their incomes and the remaining10 per cent hand over their wages to other relatives. In contrast, 80 per cent of maleearners retain total control of their incomes, 7 per cent hand over to their wives and therest hand over their earnings to other relatives. 38

3.3.2 Control Over GP Funds:

Based on the Karnataka experience Vyasulu (1998) has tried to outline the fundsavailable to each GP namely:

• Rs. 1,00,000 per annum.

• Funds from JRY, which are tied, conditional, and difficult to utilise.

• Taxes on local markets, property fines, leasing of fruit trees, etc, which amount tovery little.

• Expenditure from government schemes through the line departments which is tied and where there is no flexibility with reference to local conditions.

• Funds with the MLAs or MPs to their constituency development schemes, which has

some freedom.

Vyasulu (1998, p.8) uses the World Bank indicator, “availability of untied funds” tosuggest that “our panchayats are not very free” and that there is “little by way of untied

38 Batliawalla, Srilatha, et al. (1998).




40

funds.”39 On the other hand, he points out that this lack of untied funds has not pre-empted the implementation of locally important projects. In Madhya Pradesh, through theRajiv Gandhi Literacy Mission, GP officials were involved in a survey of the enrolmentstatus of children in their constituencies and found that “many children did not enrol because of specific problems related to access.” The result was the “Education GuaranteeScheme was initiated under which 17,000 schools were set up in 35 districts.” Thisrepresents an experiment “where local needs were identified” and responded to via the

GP. 40

Typically, most new entrants to the PRIs are unaware about how to exert control over thefinancial matters of the GP and how to make these matters more transparent to thecommunity. In a study done in 2 districts in Karnataka on GP members many respondentswere vague about the finances of the GPs. There is an exaggerated role played by theofficials of Block Development Offices, the Panchayat secretaries and the villageaccountants in the handling of finances41. Many respondents were not aware that theycould demand complete transparency and accountability in financial matters.

3.3.3 Control Over Decisions in Elected Bodies:

When elected as proxies, control over the decision making process is much lower thanwhen elections are contested and won by a woman elected representative in her individual capacity. In a pilot study conducted on Panchayat members in Kerala, whenwomen panchayat members were spoken to what emerged clearly was that the existingwomen members were mere proxies. Women GP members had no training in decision-making and were dominated by male members, especially the male president. Womenmembers were not entrusted with money. The general feeling among other members wasthat women members came to the panchayat committee meetings only to collect their daily and travel allowance.42

Kondabai Ramchandra Kalel from Satara district, Maharashtra State was interviewed onher views of the work of the panchayat. Kondabai claims that all the male GP memberswere drunkards. They fail to listen to her requests for water supply in the village toalleviate women’s workload.43 As a result, much of her efforts to intervene in thedecision making process were subverted. In Orissa, Mohapatra (1995) found that in thecase of scheduled tribe women, 50 per cent said that they only support proposals becausethey think it will create a misunderstanding amongst the members if they oppose it. Inthis case, for a variety of reasons, women perceived little potential for input in thedecision making process.

Impact: Exclusion of women in decision-making has the effect of nullifying the

recognition of women being capable of taking decisions. Obstructions women face whileexercising control in negotiating funds, programmes and schemes for their constituencies

39 Vyasulu (1998, p.10).40 I.b.i.d (1998, p.11).41 Institute of Social Studies Trust (1995).42 Radha S. (1994).43 Mukhopadhyay Ashim (1996).




41

impairs the enjoyment of being an elected representative. Lack of control over resourcesand programmes impairs the exercising of their rights as elected leaders, which preventsthem from fulfilling their promises and in nurturing their constituencies, which has adirect bearing on their chances to win subsequent elections. Further women are not ableto transform the political culture and introduce mechanisms of transparency and accountability, which will strengthen the position of women representatives vis-a-vismen.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2(a) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7, 14 (a) (f).

3.4 Personal/Familial

The primary area of subordination is the family, where the patriarchal values areenforced, and where the control over women’s person-hood is rarely questioned. Womenin the family are viewed as liabilities because of which gender-based discrimination in alldimensions of their lives prevail. This is reflected in the alarming proportions of violenceagainst women within the family - female foeticide, infanticide, malnourishment, schooldropouts, neglect and deprivation through limited access to resources, dowry violence

and torture, etc. Further, the support from other family members to play a dominant rolein the public domain is not forthcoming and the only time they do so is when they havecomplete control over the women. This control takes the form of families only supportingwomen to get elected in order to keep the position in control of the family but then refuseto help her participate in the daily tasks of the political processes. Furthermore they donot help ease the triple burden that women find themselves having to bear. Womenhaving young children in the family do not have the support system that can free them to participate in activities outside the home. Younger women and unmarried women havemore restrictions placed on their participation because of the control exercised on their sexuality.

At the personal level, due to the socialisation process, reinforcing her subordinate position, private and public dichotomy results in the lack of self-esteem and confidence inwomen and the internalisation of these value systems. This is one of the biggest barriersto their development and participation in public life and activities. Attitudes of women in power towards themselves and that of other women in the community towards thesewomen in power do not validate their leadership. Because of this, women have not beenable to mobilise and strengthen their constituencies, who could support them inarticulating their interests.

3.4.1 History of Familial Involvement in Politics:

When the family of the women members is already involved in politics, it helps providethe necessary exposure and even entry for women into the political arena. When a womancomes from a family with political affiliations she typically has more confidence and feels she needs less training than one without any familial ties with political parties. For example, Sajabai Katkar is a GP member in Maharashtra. She is literate and studied up tothe third standard. Her father was active in politics and she followed his example bystanding for a general seat in the GP. She won the support of both opposing panels who




42

Family Support for Women GP

Members

16%

32%

52%

Full Support of

Family

Stiff Resistence

Support, butheavily

influenced

wanted to co-opt her as she was already actively involved in welfare work related to thevillage prior to elections. However, some people still attempted to discredit her byclaiming that she was unable to look after her own house and therefore incapable of looking after the village. After serving for ten years she decided to withdraw from politics because it had become so debased.

Similarly, Samuben is the scheduled caste corporator of the Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation. She comes from a political family where both she and her father have beenactive Congress workers. When she stood for elections she was aware of the election procedures. Though her husband attends the meetings with her most of the time, she saysthat she voices her opinion and is even willing to stage dharnas if the need arises. She has been able to fulfil most of the promises she made during elections and has helped peopleget the benefits of several employment-related schemes. She also has sufficientknowledge of the financial resources of the corporation. As she has had immense politicalexposure she does not feel the need for training.

Uttam Bai is a panch from Karebor in Madhya Pradesh. She comes from a schedule caste background, called Satnami. Though this is the first time she has taken a political role, as

a traditional Satnami singer she has moved in public spaces. Her family is supportive of her political role and her husband and uncle have been elected representative in theKarebor panchayat before.44 Again because of her family’s involvement and her ownexposure to public roles she has more confidence than other lower caste women.

3.4.2 Family Support:

Women receive minimalsupport from their families. The nature of this support tends to be in the form of encouragement to run for elections but rarely does it extend to helping them fulfil their responsibilities as elected representatives by taking the burden of domestic work off them. Usually women elected officials get help from their husbands in the form of their initial contacts and encouragement to join politics. In a study in West Bengal, on asample of 50 GP women members, after completing one year of their tenure, only 16women out of 50 interviewed (32 per cent) stated without hesitation that they were still

being fully supported by their family members with regard to their panchayatresponsibilities. Eight respondents (16 per cent) experienced stiff resistance from their family members and were unable to attend to their duties as panchayat representatives.The remaining 26 women (52 per cent) were permitted to attend the panchayat meetings by their relatives but were heavily influenced by their husbands or party men with regard

44 Sen, Ilena (1995).




43

to their actions and decisions in the panchayat meetings. Only three women stated thatfamily members contributed to the household duties in order to enable them to fulfil their panchayat responsibilities.45

3.4.3 In-laws Support:

Resistance from in-laws proves to be another major detriment for women participating in

political activities. In fact, their work in the GP often proves to be a source of tensiononce they assume office. One female Panchayat member suffered intense opposition fromher mother-in-law with regard to her GP involvement. Although she did not neglect her household work, her mother-in-law was never satisfied and put pressure on her son toremove his wife from the panchayat. Tension in the house became so great that the sonhad no choice but to ask the panchayat authorities to release his wife from her panchayatresponsibilities.46

Sometimes, support from in-laws is purely for the women getting elected but not to carryout her duties. The primary motivation in supporting her getting elected is to ensure thatthe seat does not go elsewhere and to retain power within the family/party. Dali Begum is

the daughter-in law of a prosperous tobacco merchant in Murshidabad. The political party, to which her father-in-law was a member of, nominated her for the panchayatelection because they were sure that she would maintain their seat for them. After Dali’ssuccessful election according to her father-in-law she was returned “to her original placei.e., inside the house.” Dali was keen to get involved with the work of the GP but she had no support from her husband. Her father-in-law insisted that she would only visit the GPoffice on important occasions and that she should have an escort. This example illustrateshow women may be encouraged to join politics for the wrong reasons has resulted innullifying the recognition of women as leaders and her right to participate in politicalactivities. It also provides the clearest instance of how despite the entire village seeing awoman as fit to be their elected representative, her family still could not view her in this

new light of a GP member and still expected her to stay at home.

3.4.5 Community Support:

In West Bengal, 50 GP women members were questioned on the receptivity of thecommunities to their political involvement and how conducive was the socialenvironment for their participation. 32 of them stated that party men and male membersof their families took the initiative to enter their nomination papers during elections. Only3 women entered their nomination papers on their own initiative. Very few of the womencould clearly articulate their primary reason for entering into the political arena. Onlysome women from Birbhum could specify concretely that they expected that direct

participation in politics would enable them to improve their villages and improve thelives of the women there. Only 2 women were actively involved in women’s

45 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995).46 Mukhopadhyay Ashim (1996).




44

organisations and were aware of issues relevant to women’s empowerment. Nine womenknew of the existence of such organisations in their vicinity.47

Community support is an important factor in promoting women’s participation in the panchayats. For example, Kalpana Ghosh was opposed by a section of elderly men belonging to a political party who did not like the idea of women participating in the panchayat. They incited the women of the area against Kalpana who began to attack all

her actions. In her words “even the girls of my age, with whom I had played in mychildhood, condemned my participation in the election”. However, she won the electionand slowly the protagonists’ attitude changed following Kalpana’s establishment of alocal primary school and repair of a few tube wells.48 Often, community support is gained by concrete actions, which promote the well being of the entire community, which in turnfuels attitudinal changes. In this instance, it was Kalpana’s work on the school and tubewells that finally won her community support.

Ganga Banergee’s candidature was jointly opposed by two political parties, which werethreatened by the possibility of a poor, illiterate woman winning a panchayat seat. After her successful election, her family was socially boycotted. Ganga was violently

threatened during her supervision of repair work on a school. One tried to beat her with astick while the other damaged the newly built wall of the school. She refused to succumbto the threats. Consequently, some of her opponents now come to her for help. 49 As can be seen from the above cases, even if there is family support if the community does notaccept the women they are faced with difficulties. Support of the community is asimportant as that of the family and the two needs to go together, and this support ideallyshould be there from the beginning.

3.5 Socio-economic factors

3.5.1 Triple Role Women Play:

Women typically are forced to play a triple role when they enter politics, namely theyhave to work at home, in their jobs and in the political institutions. Since, it is hard for awoman to sustain this triple burden, it can pose as a barrier to her political work or her political work can interfere with her work at home or in her vocation.

There are no mechanisms to reduce the burden of women in fulfilling their domesticresponsibilities. In particular, poor women who are engaged in long hours of non-waged productive activities like collection of water, fuel, fodder, grazing cattle, childcare, etcthe absence of support services to free women to participate in political activity limitstheir participation.

Badali Soren is a gram panchayat pradhan and represents a typical case of having to perform in several capacities. She earns a daily wage by working in the fields. She also

47 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995).48 Mukhopadhyay Ashim (1996).49 I.b.i.d




45

Women Members wi th Women

who can do Domestic Work

38.6%

61.4%

Yes

No

Source:

Nagar (1997).

does all the housework. Monday to Friday she has to visit the GP office, which is at adistance of 4 kilometers from her house. She also has to visit different villages to meetwith the local people.

A more common case is of Rebathi Das where she was not able to sustain all three roles.She is the pradhan of West Bengal’s first all women panchayat. She is unmarried and lives with her brothers. Due to the volume of her panchayat responsibilities Rebathi was

forced to sell her market stall, that was a personal financial loss. Worse still three of her brother’s children fell very sick and two of them died while she was engaged in veryurgent panchayat work thereby unable to attend to them. Here her political work interfered with her domestic and job related responsibilities. Another pradhan of a GP inWest Bengal also had to put in a lot of time in the GP and was unable to spend time withher children as a result. She goes to her office six days a week for 4-5 hours per day aswell as conducts visits outside the office. The result is limited time at home and atremendous amount of guilt regarding this matter. This shows the price women in particular have to pay both in terms of the guilt they experience as well as theexpectations placed on them from the family. While the experience of men in public lifemay be the same in terms of time spent with the family, because of the value system and

traditional roles conferred on women and the expectations of family members and society, women have felt and are made to feel guilty about the time they are away fromhome while the same is accepted from men.

Sometimes, women can cope with the “triple burden” if they have some one at home whocan help them. This could be a grown up daughter, a daughter-in-law or in rare instances,even her mother-in-law (Nagar, 1997)50. In his study on 70 GP members in HimachalPradesh found that 17 have at least one daughter in law and 26 have a daughter who is 12years or older who is a school drop out to help them. In other words, 43 women (61.4 per cent) have some female member at home, who can take over their domesticresponsibilities. Even in the economic arena, Rasheeda Bhagat51 states that, “Womenwho are working full time at decent salaried jobs in offices, manage to do so because

their responsibilities at home are taken over by other women.” While this is true in theeconomic domain, the same applies to women’s ability to participate effectively in the political sphere.

50 Nagar J. (1997)51 Rasheeda Bhagat, ‘Is There Anything to Celebrate?” Business Line, March 3, 1997.




46

Yet evidence shows that even when women are supported they still find it difficult to takeon this triple burden. Indrani Bai is a sarpanch from the schedule tribes in MadhyaPradesh. She contested the elections on the advice of her friends, in spite of having no prior experience in politics. Even though she loses her daily wage, she attends all the panchayat meetings. She feels that there is much work to be done in the areas of health,sanitation, water supply and income generation. Her family members are supportive of her work but she still does find it difficult coping with her roles as wage earner,

homemaker and a panchayat member.52

There is a tremendous amount of financialsacrifice required of GP members as they are not in paid positions.

Impact: The public and private divide and stereotypical roles prescribed for women areoften extended to the public life, in as much as that they are expected to perform thosedomesticated roles, rather than the role of elected representatives. As a result women areexcluded from the decision-making process and their participation is limited in meetings. Not being able to mobilise community support further alienates women and affects their functioning as elected representatives. It also affects their confidence and self-esteem,which are important factors that affect their performance.

The family responsibilities and cultural values, traditions and practices of confiningwomen to the activities at home have excluded them from actively participating and fulfilling their role as elected representatives. The burden of triple roles on womenrestricts the exercise and enjoyment of their right in various political processes. Thedemands of the job and family, in the absence of support mechanisms impedes their effective discharge of responsibilities as elected representatives.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7, 16 (g).

3.5.2 Marital Status:

Generally, unmarried women are less represented in the GPs. In a study done in four districts in West Bengal on 50 GP women members four of these women were widowsand four were unmarried, while 42 (84 per cent) were married.53

Given the fact that women wield less power within the family and in the institution of marriage, representation of “married women” need not necessarily indicate their real participation since in most cases the men are the actual decision makers. Though maritalstatus is not a bar for participation in politics, in practice acceptance of married womencontesting elections is more accepted. Statistics reveal that there are fewer single women,which indicates that social pressures operate which bars such women in decision-making

positions.

52 Sen, Ilena (1995).53 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995).




47

Marital Status of Women GP

Members

8%

84%

8%

Married

Widows

UnmarriedSource:

Bannerjee (1995).

3.5.3 Number of Children:

The number of children a woman has, has no direct impact on her right and ability to participate in political activities. But certain policies adopted by the State as a family planning measure has indirectly affected women’s potential to participate in politicalactivities. The number of children that a citizen has can impede his/her participation inelections. This is especially true for women. For instance, to control the population

growth, the states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Orissa have legislated that candidatesstanding for elections cannot have more than two children. The average age at whichwomen get married (19) is lower than that of men (21). By the time they stand for election they already have two or more children, and therefore are not qualified to contestelection.54 Though this policy is meant to help control population, it can act as a directimpediment to women’s participation in the panchayats.

Impact: The implementation of a legislation of this nature has serious implications onwomen since it excludes a vast majority of them from participating in politics. A largenumber of women with more than two children have gained tremendous experience ingovernance during their terms in the PRIs. Such a legislation would deny them not only

the opportunity to contest elections in subsequent terms but would also result in the lossof the experience gained by these women.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (e) (f), 3, 4 and 5.

3.5.4 Caste:

Caste has played an instrumental role in raising issues related to the more marginalised among women. In a highly hierarchical society, women belonging to the lower casteshave lesser access to public fora, which is compounded by their gender. This exclusionmakes it difficult for these women to represent and articulate the voices of their

constituencies and their demands are often overlooked or subsumed by the dominantsections of the society.

54 Mohanty, Bidyut (1995).




48

Social divisions on the basis of caste often limit the potential for gender solidarity between women, thereby thwarting attempts at developing a common political agenda.55

As a result of reservation, women of all castes now sit together sharing a common spaceand power, which can create conflicts.56 Mohanty questions the inclination of lower castewomen to oppose upper caste women. Women of different ages and castes participatingin the GPs may upset existing behaviour patterns of the family.57 There could be severalrole reversals, which would require a great deal of adjustment on the part of the family

members.

Furthermore, she emphasises the role of caste panchayats (older members of the caste who would like to preserve caste traditions) who may oppose women of their castes coming out in public particularly if this challenges traditional norms.

Caste has posed to be a more difficult barrier than gender in electoral politics. InRajasthan, two different caste groups had their women candidates running for a GP seatreserved for women. The jats (higher caste group) tried to persuade the harijans (lower caste group) to withdraw their candidate as it become an issue of prestige for them. Theharijans were forced to withdraw their candidate and were given monetary compensationfor doing so.58 In another case Vidya Nasar, the daughter of a night watchman, stood for election against a former Pradhan who was very angry that a woman of low caste would

be contesting against him. He tried to weaken Vidya’s support in the region. Only whennone of his actions succeeded he decided to change his constituency. In general, upper castes historically dominate the GP polity. This is true even when looking at women’srepresentation as well. As already observed in Table 3, where the distribution of mandal panchayat members by caste and age has been presented, provides a picture of the caste break up in Karnataka. The scheduled castes and tribes constitute 26.3 per cent of thetotal Panchayat membership. This is a direct outcome of reservation. In the Lok and Rajya Sabhas where there is currently no reservation in place caste representation ismuch lower.

Table 3: Distribution of Mandal Panchayat Members by Caste and Age

Age GroupCaste

21-24 25-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66+ Total

Brahmins 0 7 0 3 2 0 12

Lingayats 1 26 18 8 0 0 51

Vokkaligas 4 34 8 5 3 0 54

Others 0 22 32 20 7 0 81

SC 2 27 21 8 1 1 60

ST 0 9 6 1 0 0 18

Non-Hindus 0 6 9 4 1 0 20

Total 7 131 94 49 14 1 296

Impact: Caste is a distinction which has the effect of impairing enjoyment to exercise therights by women individually and collectively. In spite of the national initiatives such as

55 Batliwala, Srilatha (1996)56 Mohanty, Bidyut : “Panchayat Raj, Seventy third constitutional amendment and women: Some EmergingTrends” Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi57 i.b.i.d.58 Mohanty, Bidyut (1995).




49

Gender Differentials of Employees

with Regular Salaries

8.3

18

0

5

10

15

20

Wom en Men

Source:Bhagat (1997).

the constitutional amendments (81st, 84th & 85th Constitutional Amendment Bill) wherewomen have fought to gain access to the political arena, caste continues to play a divisiverole and fragmented the solidarity of women across caste, class and religious lines.

Despite reservation, caste dynamics in elections still pose barriers for participation. At the parliamentary level, caste is one of the reasons why the 84th Amendment never got passed in the Lok Sabha. At the lower levels where reservation has been put in place caste

politics takes other forms. The one major problem with reservations for lower castesaccording to Kishwar (1996) is that they have been “permanently ghettoized to reserved constituencies.”

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5.

3.5.5 Class/Income:

While there is a large variation across class in women’s political participation, withinevery class, women of that class have lesser access to the political realm than do the menof the same. This is because women do not have access to or where they do have access

lack control over economic resources. Further, as women do not have independentownership or control over property, their dependency on the males in the family isincreased, thus limiting their participation.

The number of women gainfully employed are less. According to the Labour Ministrystatistics, there are 244 million men and only 90 million women in the total workforce.While 18 per cent of the men are in regular salaried jobs, only 8.3 per cent of the women belong to this group.59 There is little consensus on whether being gainfully employed,helped women perform better in the GP or not. On the one hand, women with jobs feelmore secure and confident of themselves. However, they have to contend with the triple burden of economic, political and domestic work.

59 I.b.i.d.




50

Women in the Organized Work

Force

85%

15%

Women

Men

Source:

Bhagat (1997).

Women Elected Officials with

Incomes

82%

18%

Income

No income

Source:

Bannerjee (1995).

Women constitute only 15.4 per cent (4.23 million) of the organised sector (public and private) till March 31 1995.60 The public sector employs 62 per cent of the women in theorganised sector.61 But 57 per cent of the women in the public sector are in soft areassuch as community, personnel and social services. 62

Women members when questioned on whether having a job and personal income helped ease the financial burden on them from their GP work, had mixed responses. Some feltthat while it may help financially it created a burden on their time. In West Bengal 14 out

of 50 GP women members (28 per cent) felt that women with a personal income werecapable of being active members of the panchayat.63 Most women 33 out of 50 (66 per cent) said they were housewives. Of the 50 women, 25 (50 per cent) of them wereemployed in occupations where they could potentially earn a living. However, only 9women had an income, gained through agricultural labour and sewing. The extra incomeenabled women to travel independently for their panchayat duties without relying on their husbands. One woman used the income to employ a servant for household chores, providing her with additional time for her work as a member of the panchayat. Twentyrespondents (40 per cent) felt that additional employment outside the house created problems in performing panchayat work as they were already overburdened withhousehold work. In this context many felt it was preferable to raise the sitting fees of PRI

members.

60 Rasheeda Bhagat, ‘Is There Anything to Celebrate?” Business Line, March 3, 1997.61 I.b.i.d.62 I.b.i.d.63 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995)




51

At the municipal level most of the women were unpaid family workers.64 There were afew women who had a small business, and others did not work at all. Income plays amajor role in deterring women from contesting elections as campaign expenditure is amajor problem for any potential candidate. Furthermore, other benefits associated withclass such as access to political and social networks, officials, education, child-care areall denied to poor women.

This class bias is reflected in a study done by Mohapatra (1995), in five districts in Orissawith a sample of 32 women elected representatives, where he found that all of them belonged to the landed classes.65 Furthermore, he found that those belonging to the upper tiers of the PRIs such as the ZP were generally from higher income groups. This lack of access to the higher tiers can be clearly seen when we examine the figures on expenditurefor elections.

Women with independent income have a clear advantage, in that they are not dependenton the men for money. If they get enough (more than what is given as of now, which isRs. 20 around US $ 0.40 per sitting) remuneration for their panchayat work then, thisadvantage that arose out of having an income could be substituted by the sitting fees.

Having some access to funds is a necessary condition for women’s participation withsome degree of financial independence.

3.5.6 Class and Caste Nexus:

The lower the caste, and the poorer the woman, the lower the chances she has of beingelected on a general seat or of being accorded her full due as a political representativewhen elected. Though higher castes are associated with higher positions with more accessto economic resources, women in this category are subjected to more social controls inaccessing these resources. Lower castes on the other hand, are economically weak, haveto struggle for their livelihood, and therefore cannot afford to give up their daily wage to

attend meetings. Neither are they able to easily meet the demands of the community.

Impact: Women are victims of triple discrimination, i.e. caste, class and gender which hasthe effect of limiting their potential for solidarity, thereby hindering efforts towardsdeveloping a common political agenda. At an individual level, women suffer discrimination and subjugation. A combined effect of these factors adversely impact onwomen as a political entity and a leader. The class-caste nexus has the effect of nullifyingthe affirmative action of the Government, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women. It has been observed that powerful men in the community field candidates whoare inarticulate and inexperienced thereby defeating the very purpose of the reservation policy for women.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 14, 15, 16.

64 Ramesh, Asha and Ali Bharti (1999).65 Mohapatra, K (1995)




52

Sitting Fees Received by Women

Elected Officials

14% 76%

10%

Never

Regularly

Occasionally

Source:

Bannerjee

(1995).

3.5.7 Expenditure for Elections:

Women tend to have fewer resources at their disposal than men that could be used for election campaigns. Most of the time these costs are high. Asha Ramesh and Bharati Ali(1999), interviewing PRI members found that, “while some women did not know howmuch was spent on their election as their husband or a male member of their family took care of it, there were some who did not want to disclose such information”.

The approximate election costs at all levels of the PRIs were as follows: Rs.1,000/- to Rs.6,000/- for GP members, Rs. 5,000/- to Rs. 50,000 for TP and ZP members, Rs. 3,000/-to Rs.40,000/- for Town and Nagar Panchayat members, Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 70,000 for Town Municipal Council (Municipality) members and for a City MunicipalCouncil/Municipality Corporation member it was Rs. 7,000/- to 25,000/-. These costs arehigh for women who have no income of their own and have no access to funds of anysort. This impedes woman’s capacity to stand for elections. There should be a ceiling onthe amount spent for election campaigns and there also should be some sort of government subsidy for any candidate who wants to stand for elections.

3.5.8 Meagre Daily Allowance:

In performing their PRI work, members are not paid enough to even cover the expensesthey incur. A study done in five districts in Orissa with a sample of 32 women elected representatives found that while 94 per cent of the women regularly attended panchayatmeetings, all claimed that the amount they were getting as daily allowance was far belowtheir daily wages.66 In addition, 28.1 per cent of respondents were not even aware aboutthe actual amount they were entitled to as a sitting fee.

In another study it was found, as many as 38 of the 50 women (76 per cent) had not evenreceived the sitting fees (Rs. 20 per meeting) that they were entitled to.67 Seven womenstated that they had regularly received this small amount. However, even these few who

had received their sitting fees had to contribute a part of it to the party who supported them during elections. None of the members felt that the sitting fees were sufficient tomeet their needs and that it allowed them to forgo other income earning activities giving

66 Mohapatra, K (1995)67 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995)




53

Gender Differentials in Li teracy Rates

75.96

54.28

0

20

40

60

80

Men Women

them more time to be involved in panchayat work.68 It was clear from this data thatsitting fee amounts need to be reviewed and their payment regularised. Furthermore, thevery concept of “sitting fees” should be replaced by providing PRI members aremuneration or wage in return for their panchayat work. If not, involvement in the PRIs becomes a rich person’s game.

Asha Ramesh and Bharati Ali in a study done in Karnataka and Gujarat asked women

elected officials as to how much they should get as remuneration. At the GP level womenthought they should get between Rs.200 to Rs. 1,000 per month. At the TP level it ranged from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2,000, and at the ZP level it was from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,000 per month. The municipal levels also had a wide range from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500 at both theTn.P (some even said 25 per cent of what the MLAs get) and the TMC level, with a bigleap to Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 5,000 at the CMC level. One thing is clear that all of them prefer a flat monthly payment rather than sitting fees per meeting.

3.5.9 Literacy:

Literacy on the one hand is linked to women’s socio-economic status and on the other,

her status as a woman has an independent and equally strong implication for her access tothis realm. The world’s largest number of illiterate women are in India. According to the2001 census, there is rampant illiteracy among women, it being around 46 per cent asagainst 24 per cent for men. Among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes women’silliteracy is as high as 76 per cent and 81 per cent respectively. Illiteracy rates of womenvary widely by region. For instance, in Kerala, which has achieved almost universalliteracy the illiteracy rate is just around 9.08 per cent as against 52.47 per cent in Bihar.Due to the preference accorded to the education of the male child, drop out and absenteerates among female children tend to be higher thus contributing to female illiteracy.

Table 4: National Literacy Rates

One cause of women’s lack of access to information is illiteracy. In India, only 65.38 per cent of the population are literate. The breakdown by gender is 75.96 per cent of men areliterate while only 54.28 per cent of women are literate. 69

68 Bannerjee, Ruma (1995)69 Census of India, 2001




54

Table 5: State Wise Literacy Rates

There are wide disparities in literacy rates among men and women across state. Thehighest literacy rates in general are seen in Kerala (90.2 per cent) with women also at ahigh level of 87.86 per cent.70 The states/union territories that follow closely with highliteracy rates for women include Mizoram (86.13 per cent), Lakshadweep (81.6 per cent)and Chandigarh (76.65 per cent). On the opposite side of the spectrum lie states likeBihar (33.57 per cent), Jharkhand (39.38 per cent) Uttar Pradesh (42.98 per cent) and

Rajasthan with 44.34 per cent.

At the municipal level, literacy rates of elected officials are higher. In Karnataka and Gujarat,71 it was found that there were only one or two illiterate women representatives inthe urban municipality. Most had gone through primary education. There were a fewgraduates and even an odd post-graduate.

At a lowest tier of the PRIs a profile72 of the educational status of the GP representativesshows that there is a wide gap between men and women. While 40 per cent of the womenrepresentatives were illiterate only 2.6 per cent of the male representatives were illiterate.For those who were literate, “the knowledge acquired through education has helped them

to understand the concept and administrative functionality of PRI”.73

Literacy has a strong impact on women’s capacity to perform in the political institutions.Illiteracy can result in women being unable to identify misappropriation of funds and thereby take action. For example, Manavva from Beldadi village, Gadag Taluk,Karnataka State, was elected to the position of GP president, which was reserved for Scheduled Tribe women. Because she was aware and articulate, her family encouraged her to stand for elections. The secretary to the GP appointed by the government was anupper caste urban woman, who gave Manavva papers and ledgers to sign withoutexplaining to her its content. Manavva was unaware that the secretary was appropriatingfunds. In time, Manavva became suspicious and reported the secretary’s action, which

70 Census of India, 2001.71 Ramesh, Asha and Ali Bharti (1999)72 Jayasimha K, Kumar, Kiran R.73 i.b.i.d

State-wise Distribution of Literacy Rates for Women

87.86 86.13 81.6 76.65

44.3433.57 42.98

0

30

60

90

K e r a l a

M i z o r a m

L a k s h w a d w

e e p

C h a n d i g a r h

R a j a s t h a n

B i h a r

U . P .

Source: DWCD, GOI (1994).




55

were investigated and resulted in the secretary’s replacement. If Manavva were literateshe would probably have been able to stop the secretary at an earlier stage.74

Illiteracy can also act as a barrier towards getting elected. Very often literate women aregiven preference in being selected for nominations and elections. These women aretypically from the more privileged backgrounds. This results in both poor women not being able to represent their communities but furthermore in them not even being able to

relate easily to the more privileged women who are in power. For example, in Tumkur district, Karnataka State, there is a preference for women who are literate to be elected asPanchayat representatives. Here one woman, a graduate, was elected as president of the panchayat but is unpopular among the other women representatives. She is seen as havinga superior attitude and reluctant to involve herself in the actual work of the panchayat or in training.

Even when illiterate women come into power they lack confidence. Shyam Bai makes her living through seasonal wage labour. She lives alone and subsists on her wages alone.She makes it a point to attend the monthly meetings although it would mean a loss of aday’s income. She feels a sense of achievement through her work as a sarpanch. She also

makes it a point to ask questions and voice her opinions. She, however, feels a sense of inadequacy because of her illiteracy. She has participated in training programmes, butfeels the need for further and continuous training for her to be able to perform her rolemore effectively.75

Impact: Illiteracy therefore is one of the key elements, which impedes women’sempowerment and more especially her political empowerment. Unless importance isgiven to the education of the girl child and adult literacy, women will not be able toaccess the opportunities created for them. Lack of literacy skills affects her self-confidence and impedes her effective participation in politics. Such women would not beable to enjoy their right as elected representatives and demand for resources and

participation in decision- making.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2(d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 10, 14 (b) (d).

3.6 Organisational Infrastructure and Barriers

3.6.1 Political Party Support:

A national debate on the role political parties should play in supporting women isemerging. Currently, indicating the complete lack of support to women, Kishwar (1996)states, “In our country, even the best of women parliamentarians feel sidelined and

powerless within the party. The few women leaders have not been able to facilitate theentry of greater number of women in electoral and party politics, and so remain anineffective minority” and recommends that in allocating tickets for elections, partiesshould be compelled to give at least one third of their tickets to women through amending

74 Narsimhan, Shakuntala (1998)75 Sen, Ilena (1995)




56

the Representation of People Act. “Parties which fail to give such representation could bede-recognised.” 76 She also recommends that “political parties should be compelled togive at least one third, representation to women in all party decision making bodies…”77

In a study done in Karnataka, when representatives were questioned about their political party support or affiliation, 47.8 per cent said that they did not support or affiliate to any political party. Those with affiliation said that they neither allowed themselves to be pressurised by the parties nor did they allow the parties to dominate PRI proceedings.78 In

general women elected officials do not have much party support and their source of support is more from their families and community members. Nagar (1997) found thatonly nine (12.9 per cent) of the 70 women members interviewed were asked to contest by political parties. More women (11 or 15.7 per cent) took the decision to contest on their own. The families of 11 women urged them to stand for elections. Most women learntabout the elections from members in their community (56 women or 80 per cent).

Other studies on political party affiliation of women representatives showed a slightlyhigher proportion. For instance, Swain and Mahapatra (1994) 79 who interviewed 32elected representatives in Orissa found that 30 per cent of the women elected officialswere affiliated with national political parties when they contested for elections.

Patriarchal norms are encoded in myriad ways within institutional structures. At everystep women encounter resistance by men in general and those occupying positions of power. This is more so when women enter into the political and public arena whereresistance becomes stronger because of the higher stakes involved and the threat posed bywomen to men.

The lack of experience in working or heading organisations can prove to be animpediment in their leadership capabilities once in power. There is the lack of commitment and political will of parties to foster women’s leadership. This manifestsitself in: 1) fewer women members in the parties holding positions of power; 2) fewer

women are allowed to participate in decision-making; 3) fewer women candidates being

76 Madhu Kishwar, “Why Feminize Corruption?” Indian Express, October 10, 1996.77 I.b.i.d.78 Jayasimha K, Kumar, Kiran R.79 Case study 22

GP Representatives with Political

Affi l iat ions

52%

48%

Yes

NoSource:

Jayasimha K,

Kumar Kiran R

Women GP Officials with Poli tical

Affi l iations

13%

87% Yes

No

Source:

Nagar J., 1997.




57

fielded for elections; 4) fewer being given positions of power in the political institutionsand finally 5) in the lack of support that is rendered for women’s issues/agendas.

Issues raised by women, especially when they are in the minority, are devalued by malecounterparts. When the issues are those concerning women, they are valued even less bythe larger polity. Finally, in areas where a vibrant civil society is not forthcoming, womenrepresentatives lack the support to assert themselves and the mechanisms for the female

electorate to field candidates are fewer.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (b) (d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7.

3.6.2 Criminalisation of Politics and Corruption:

Another deterrent for women to enter politics is the very nature of politicking. Moneyand muscle power are used to threaten opponents and the voters; and impose their decisions on the electorate and to raise the kinds of funds required to get into and stay in power. Violating women’s dignity is an integral part of politics instilling fear in women,thereby restraining their entry into politics. In addition corruption is also insitutionalised

systematically. Criminalisation and corruption are not part of women’s value systems and therefore they are kept away from politics in general. Once in power they are unable towithstand these forces and their attempts in the political activities are frustrated. Thisimpairs women exercising their right to participate in politics.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, General Recommendation No. 19.

3.6.3 Communalisation of Politics:

The nexus of religion with politics often becomes a convenient tool to divide thewomen’s constituency. Women by and large are religious in nature and hence by

injecting the venom of communalism they are unable to transcend their religious identity.There are examples where women have resorted to promoting violence like the “DurgaVahini”(women’s political wing of a communal political party) that played a major rolein the communal riots of Bombay and Gujarat. On the one hand while women supported communal riots, it was again women who were the main victims of such communalviolence. This has adversely affected women’s entry on to the political scene.

3.6.4 Backlash to Entry into Politics:

Women who have entered the political process are faced with a lot of resistance. Thereare many instances where they have been subjected to physical violence, threats and

intimidation. This has especially occurred when elected women representatives aspired to be articulate, assertive and effective in discharging their responsibilities.

3.6.5 Character Assassination

Patriarchal values relegate women to the home. By the very nature of this value system,any woman bold enough to come out in the open and into politics is viewed with




58

suspicion. It is natural that she is particularly targeted for slander and character assassination. It is always her sexuality that is first questioned. Furthermore, when awoman in power becomes a political threat her being a woman is used against her in theform of sexual innuendo, molestation and rape. This is a major reason why women resistentering politics or being visible in politics.

3.6.6 Party interference:

Women’s decision-making is prevented due to party interference. This inhibits them fromfully exercising their leadership. Political parties do not want to transfer control towomen and are reluctant to invest in women as candidates fearing that they do not havethe capacity to draw votes, and finally they do not see women as having financialcredibility to compete with male contestants. In such circumstances, women who dooccupy positions in politics, either through support from political parties or throughreservation, do not find the space to participate fully without interference.

3.6.7 Lack of Interaction:

Women have entered the political arena in large numbers at the level of local self-governance through the enactment of the 73rd and 74 th Constitutional Amendments.Sharing of experiences and struggles of elected women is lacking between themselvesand among those at the different tiers. This is due to division on party lines and oncaste/class identities. Therefore the bonding and solidarity building is almost non-existent. There is lack of interaction between women at the State and National level politics and those holding positions at the lower levels of governance. The absence of elected women’s interaction both horizontally and vertically reduces their unity inrepresenting the women’s agenda.

Impact: Inadequate organisational support directly affects the political participation of

women. Elections in the country are fought on party lines. The poor representation of women in political parties do not give them the strength to negotiate gender issues and concerns that need to form a part of the party agenda. Fewer women in political partiesimpedes women from seeking positions in decision-making arenas which are crucial inchanging the profile of political parties and also effect the number of women fielded for elections and being elected.

With increased incidence of violence, criminalisation, corruption and communalisation,women’s participation in politics has been negatively effected. Violating women’sdignity instils fear thereby restraining women from entering into politics. Criminalisatonand corruption are not part of women’s value system and hence make them

uncomfortable in the political field. Character assassination is often targeted at womenwho are bold, articulate and demonstrate potential for leadership. This discouragescapable women from entering politics. This is further complicated when other traditionalinstitutions justify these factors to prevent women from entering politics.CEDAW: Articles 1, 2 (b) (d) (e) (f), 3, 4, 5, 7.




59

3.7 Law and Policy

3.7.1 Reservation:

Women must be in crucial decision-making positions if they are to impact on the courseto change and transform the lives of women and the society to uphold the principles of ‘Equality’. There is no affirmative legislation to enable women to participate in the

higher levels of political governance at the State and Central levels. Therefore, until thereservations introduced at the lower levels of governance are extended to the higher levels of political governance, that of the state and the federal, there really cannot bemuch change in women’s political participation.

So far women have only been provided reservations not less than 33 per cent of the totalseats in local governance. However, this reservation quota is misinterpreted to imply thatwomen can contest only 33 per cent seats and not against the general seats. Thisinterpretation by the vested interest groups has limited women from exercising their rightto contest beyond the reserved quota.

The policy of rotation in reservation of the constituencies for women and other reserved categories in local self-governance has proved to be detrimental to the enjoyment of their right to political participation. Women who have been given the opportunity to enjoy thisright are faced with the situation of being denied the opportunity to nurture their constituencies, which is important for their effective political participation, as their constituencies keep changing for every election term.

3.7.2 Traditional Caste/Community Panchayats:

At the village level traditional caste/community Panchayats have been in existence, sinceseveral decades much, prior to introduction of elected Panchayats. These Panchayats are

male dominated, feudal, and patriarchal. Though they are not legally recognised, theycontinue to coexist, and wield power and influence over the people in the village. SuchPanchayats interfere with the elected Panchayats and continue to impede women's political participation.

3.7.3 Lack of Women’s Quorum in Gram Sabhas:

The gram sabha is the entire village level constituency that is expected to meet not lessthan twice a year. The purpose of the sabha is to share with the community members theactivities undertaken by the elected representatives for their improvement and development. It also provides the fora for the community and the panchayat

representatives of the village to discuss, plan and develop a village agenda and theresource allocations received, spent and required. The whole process focuses on theimportance of accountability and transparency on the part of the members through people’s participation. Women continue to be traditionally kept out of this process.Inspite of the legislation inducting 33 per cent women into the local bodies, due to the pressure exerted by family members and other male members of the local self governance bodies, women are either prevented or excluded from attending and participating in the




60

gram sabhas. Of those attending the gram sabhas, majority are men and others are thosewho are beneficiaries of various programmes from the panchayats. Therefore, only thosewomen who are beneficiaries attend the gram sabhas. As such they constitute a smallnumber and therefore do not voice the demands of the women's constituency or participate in these meetings.

While the policy of legislation providing for Grama Sabhas is laudable the

implementation has been ineffective in ensuring women’s participation in the GramaSabhas, which is a space provided to voice concerns and problems. The government hasto take concerted efforts to ensure that Grama Sabhas are held at a convenient place and timing and to ensure more women attending such meetings.

Impact: The lack of a vibrant civil society that includes women in large number acts as adeterrent for women’s participation in public life. It prevents women from uniting and forming a pressure group that can promote women’s interest and ensure that the elected representatives fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Absence of an active civil societyalso deprives elected representatives particularly women the much required supportmechanism which impact on their performance.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.

3.7.4 Civil Society and Organisational Support:

The primary strategy employed by civil society institutions to increase political participation of women is to organise grassroots constituencies.

Nagar (1997) found that 68.5 per cent of GP representatives in Himachal Pradesh.had not participated in nor had any exposure to any social movement. This is indicative of thefact that women who accept patriarchy are preferred to those who challenge it through

their participation in social movements

NGOs have a long history of successful and not so successful initiatives to get womeninto politics. Madhu Kishwar (1996) in her discussion of women candidates fromShetkari Sanghathana in Maharashtra showed that they did not get elected despite a veryenthusiastic election campaign where the organisation was able to play a supportive role.She claimed this outcome was because “money and muscle power play a crucial role indetermining the outcome of those [panchayat and Zilla Parishad] elections.” Here, civilsociety initiatives were not strong enough to counter the local anti-social elements and power politics.

Mahila Samakhya (MS) organised women into sanghas (women's collectives) and “asignificant number of grassroots women in the villages selected by MS were members of Taluka and Zilla Panchayats. “…. it was quite natural that many women Panchayat RajInstitution members became active in the emerging Mahila Sanghas. It soon becameevident to MS staff that a majority of these women had been forced to contest elections by their male relatives and kin.” MS surfaced problem areas in women’s political participation and then organised a series of mixed workshops for SC/ST mandal




61

panchayat members and for women specifically across caste. The workshops resulted inincreased gender solidarity and identifying and training women for the next elections for both reserved and open seats. MS trained women in a variety of areas, ranging fromfunctional literacy and numeracy; dominant political culture, structures, institutions and strategies for change; nature, powers and functioning of PRIs, state assembly and nationallegislature; problems faced by women and the lower castes; and bras tacks of panchayatfunctioning such as meeting notices, sitting fees, framing resolutions, minute keeping,

procedures and so on. As a result of these efforts out of 200 sangha women whocontested the panchayat elections in 2000, 135 won and of them 2 won against thegeneral category. One reason for their success was the active support of the sanghas.Civil society institutions utilise their community-based organisations (CBOs) to help putup candidates for elections and build their vote banks and support. They also work in thereverse order of utilising GP leadership to organise their CBOs. The vital roles played bysanghas and other CBOs in generating genuine leadership for the PRI cannot beoverestimated. According to Batliwala (1996), “Sangha women who have become GPmembers have not only been found to be consistently more articulate, aware, assertiveand effective as GP members, but appear to be challenging and bringing some change inthe conduct and culture of the GP as a whole.”

3.8 Training

It is another source of information for the women. However, there are several barriers for them to participate in the training imparted to them. Due to the restrictions imposed ontheir mobility, the distance of the training centre to the residence, the number of days of training involved, non-availability of transport facility, the opportunity cost of training interms of the wages lost, non-availability of support from family members to take care of the household chores and children, lack of support services, etc. impede the participationof women in training programmes organised for them. While, the content of the trainingdoes impart information on the roles and responsibilities of elected members, it does not

impart information on important issues like budgets, accountability to constituencies,rights and so on, which inhibits their effective participation. Further, at the higher levelsof political participation the women do not have access even to training.

Training is an essential input in ensuring that women leaders who do not have prior experience in politics are imparted information on the rules, procedures, functions,finances and responsibilities of the GP. Training encompasses the dissemination of information, skill development, confidence building, role clarification and raising gender awareness. It has been found in studies in Karnataka80 that often women are not takenseriously, not because of their lack of experience, but because of their lack of knowledge.The areas where information is lacking are: the Constitutional Amendments (their powers

and duties), GP jurisdiction, financial matters, benefits and disadvantages of taking loans,a broad understanding of the working of banks and other relevant institutions and governmental bodies and so on.81 To keep the GP representatives well informed, therehas to be a constant updating and transferring of information. This can be done through

80 Training Initiatives – An Analysis, Anitha B.K. and Gayathri V.81 i.b.i.d.




62

Need Felt for Training Among GP Members

1%

82%

17%

Yes

No

No answer

Source:

Jayasimha K,

Kumar Kiran R

Areas of Training

9%

19%1%

29%

23%

19%

A cts and Rules

R esponsibilities

as M em bers

H ow to work with

officials

O thers

N o Answer

N ot Applicable

Source:

Jayasimha K,

Kumar Kiran R

local resource centers such as literacy classes. As macro level perspectives clarify issuesat the micro level, national and state resource centers should keep local level resourcecenters updated. GP members also need to develop skills in planning, analysis, collectiveaction and lobbying, management of problems and leadership. This is especially true for women where these skills have been traditionally seen as masculine. Developing skills istime consuming and quite often goes against the traditional norms and values of thefamily or community. Training has to be complemented with confidence building with

local support groups.

3.8.1 Need for Training:

Representatives of gram panchayats in the Dharwad district of Karnataka82, were asked whether they thought training was needed for GP members. While 82 per cent of therepresentatives said that was very much needed, 1.4 per cent said that it was not needed and 17.4 per cent had no answer. Asked whether there was skill enhancement withtraining 81.2 per cent said that training would help in skill enhancement while 1.4 per cent answered in the negative. Around 17 per cent did not answer.

Representatives when asked about the kind of training they should receive, 23.2 per centstated that they should receive training about the acts and rules, 18.8 per cent onresponsibilities as members, 29 per cent on how to work with officials, 8.7 per cent inother areas and 18.8 per cent did not respond.83 This survey explains clearly the areas thatthe representatives expressed the need for training in.

82 Jayasimha K, Kumar, Kiran R.83 Jayasimha K, Kumar, Kiran R.




63

Representatives Receiving

Training by Gender

47%

53%Men

Women

Source:

Jayasimha K,

Kumar Kiran R

3.8.2 Access to Training:

The number of representatives who received training was 21.7 per cent, out of which 46.7 per cent were men and 53.3 per cent were women. The reason why there are more womenreceiving training than men is because men have a negative attitude towards training, and it could also be because women from the majority who lack education and exposure. Butit is disheartening that there is still a large majority (both men and women) who did notreceive training.

For instance according to a study done by Stree Adhar Kendra (1996) “The Maharashtragovernment states that 22 organisations are active in decision making training for women. According to Aalochana, a women’s organisation only 8-10 organisations areactually conducting such training programmes.” There are, on the other hand, some non-governmental organisations that have spent a fairly large amount of time refining their training tools and modules on local government, such as SEARCH and Mahila Samakhyain Karnataka and Swayam Shikshan Prayog in Maharashtra. These are the exceptionsrather than the rule. Most women elected officials do not get easy access to training.

Asha Ramesh and Bharati Ali (1999) found that “women at the ZP level have had more

opportunity to attend training programmes compared to those at the other levels. At theurban level there has been virtually no training.” This is because most of the NGOs work with rural women and very few with urban women.

So far training has focused on the village level panchayat presidents and the vice- presidents largely. “To ensure that information reaches out to all levels it is necessary tohave training for all three tiers both vertically and horizontally, which will facilitateinteraction and experience sharing of the members. Such interactions would also providea platform to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each tier of governance.”84 Whileconducting training some factors need to be taken into consideration such as mobility and duration of the programmes. Most women are not allowed to travel far on their own, so

the programmes should either be near their residence or they should be allowed to bringescorts. The women also feel that the programmes should not be for more than three daysat a time and if necessary, there could be periodic sessions to update their knowledge.

84 Ramesh ,Asha and Ali,Bharati (1999)




64

Table 4: Women Members who were invited for Training

GP TP ZP Tn.P TMC CMCTraining

K G K G K G K G K G K G

Invited 12 4 13 4 12 2 - - 1 5 3 1

Attended all 7 3 9 2 8 - - - 1 2 2 -

Attended some 1 - 1 1 4 - - - - 3 - 1

Did not attend 4 1 3 1 - 2 - - - - 1 -

Not invited 3 5 1 5 - 6 9 5 11 5 5 3Total 15 9 14 9 12 8 9 5 12 10 8 4

Source: Asha Ramesh and Bharati Ali (1999).

K – Karnataka State, G – Gujarat State.

Note: GP: Gram Panchayat, TP: Taluk Panchyat, ZP: Zilla Panchayat, Tn.P: Town and Nagar Panchayat,TMC: Town Muncipal Council (Muncipality), CMC: City Municipal Council/Muncipality Corporation.

The above table shows that in the PRIs the percentage of women invited is substantivelyhigher than the urban municipalities. For example, out of 12 TMC members only one wasinvited to the training while at the ZP level all members were invited. Even when invited,a fourth to a third did not attend training sessions.

Training is provided by both government and non- governmental institutions. Whilegovernment training covers functions that pertain to governance of the GP and other PRIlevels, NGO training raises awareness of the issues relating to good governance,relationship between governance and community participation, gender awareness, etc.Training is necessary for governance to be transformed, for women to become effectiveand for the necessary attitudinal changes.

Training has to be a continuous effort that addresses all members of the panchayat, asonly then can the whole PRI be strengthened. And finally, only networking and co-ordination of efforts in training will strengthen the Panchayat institutions. 85

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 (c), 13, 14.

3.9 Gender Sensitisation

Bureaucrats and government functionaries lack sensitivity in their interaction with elected women representatives. Women elected into political positions are required to closelyinteract with the state administration. This is particularly the case with those elected atthe local levels of governance where women face a lot of resistance and indifference fromgovernment officials. This becomes a major impediment in discharging her responsibilities as a political representative. Therefore, it is necessary that the stateadministration personnel at all levels are gender sensitised. It is important that they view

women as important political entities capable of shouldering the responsibilities theyhave been entrusted with. Also there is the need to recognise that due to the socialdiscrimination women are subjected to, they lack the information and knowledge and aretherefore not equally equipped as their male counterpart. They need the assistance fromthe machinery to keep them informed of the developments on the one hand and on the

85 i.b.i.d.




65

other, since they work closely with the representatives as secretary of the local institution,they can be instrumental by providing a conducive environment for the women. Womenin state and national level politics also face resistance from administrators and officials,thus limiting the scope of their work.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2, 5.

3.10 Media Insensitivity

The media being largely male-dominant has not been favourable in depicting a positiveimage of women and more so of women’s political participation. When they do report onwomen in politics, they tend to highlight women’s deficiencies and ineffectiveness infunctioning. Further the highlights largely are in relation to the kind of devaluation and violence meted out to elected women representatives who question, articulate and actagainst the dictates of the dominant sections. Success stories of women who have beenable to overcome resistances and have proved their governing abilities are rarelyreported. Media is an image building institution and any sort of negative portrayal tendsto reinforce the stereotypical role of women as being best suited in home keeping and not

for public life. In the absence of a sensitive women-friendly media policy with focus onaffirmative action for women in the country, the encouragement required for political participation will be lacking.

3.11 Cultural Barriers

The age-old patriarchal system gives primacy to males and perpetuates deep rooted values within society that discriminate against women of all ages, classes, castes and religions. Men are privileged as a result and this privilege extends to several spheresincluding privileged access to the economic, educational, political and social spheres.Patriarchal norms typically relegate women to the private sphere, place restrictions on her

mobility, perpetuate the view that the girl child is an economic liability, and place theresponsibility of reproduction squarely on the shoulders of women. Further beliefs,traditions and customs endorse practices that are derogatory to women’s dignity and perpetuate stereotype images strengthening the dichotomy of the private being thedomain of women and public for men. This in turn restrains the development of self-confidence and esteem among women. The culture of silence is practiced and perpetuated. When women do build the confidence to articulate their needs and demands,their voices often go unheard, or they become targets for further violence and terrorised into silence and invisibility. The unequal gender-based power relations imposerestrictions on women’s mobility to participate in the political processes.

Impact: The cultural framework of values and religious beliefs, men’s failure to share thehousehold tasks and child rearing activities and lack of support services inhibits womenfrom participating in public life and political activities. Liberating women from some of the burden of the domestic work would allow them to engage more fully in the life of their community.

CEDAW: Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.




66

(4)

IMPACT ON WOMEN

4.1 Effects of Women’s Low Political Participation

“… status of women cannot be improved unless women are adequately represented indecision making bodies ... The committee on the status of women in India in its reportTowards Equality (1974) recommended 30 per cent reservation for women in decision-making bodies.”

The government has acknowledged the need to increase the number of women indecision-making processes at all levels, as early as in 1976. As a first step to facilitatewomen’s participation in politics, in 1993, it introduced 33 percent reservation for women in institutions of local governance through the 73rd and 74 th ConstitutionalAmendments. It has also provided one-third reservation for women to the posts of Presidents and Vice Presidents in these institutions. While the government has succeeded

in facilitating women’s participation by providing for reservation at the lower levels of governance, it has failed to do so in passing the reservation Bill for women in the higher echelons of political institutions i.e., in the State Assemblies and the Parliament.

The effects on women’s political participation have been examined in this study at twolevels:i) Representation of women in political institutions at all levels.ii) Inadequate number of women as elected representatives.

The Constitution of India, no doubt guarantees equal rights to participate in politicalactivities and adult franchise. However, the prevailing value system, the private-public

dichotomy and male dominance in political institutions restricts women from exercisingand enjoying their rights.

The lack of representation of women in decision-making positions results in women’sagenda not getting reflected and addressed in policies and programmes.

The on going research cum action cum advocacy efforts of the Gender Studies Unit at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore on ‘engendering governance’ revealed that the priorities of male and female representatives differed. The women prioritised and addressed issues of long term effects such as education, health, violence against women, basic amenities while men took up issues of immediate and visible relevance such as

roads, community and commercial centres, tanks, bridges, etc.

86

The visual prioritisationtends to subsume the women’s agenda and therefore undervalues the contribution made by women, which is in the larger interest of the community.

86 Interim Narrative Report 2002-2003, Gender Studies Unit, National Institute of Advanced Studies,Bangalore.




67

The government has attempted to introduce reservation for women at the legislature and parliament levels on three occasions in the years 1996, 1999 and 2000, which havelapsed. If there were more women parliamentarians, constituting a significant number,they would have been in a position to consolidate their strength and advocate for theenactment of the Bill, transcending their multiple identities.

Lack of critical numbers of women elected representatives impedes them from

negotiating for important portfolios such as finance, home, defence, etc., which aregenerally termed as key portfolios and primarily controlled by men. It has been observed that women are allotted soft portfolios such as those related to women and children,information and culture, social welfare, etc which are relatively less important and havecorrespondingly lesser resources both financial and human.

As there are few women in positions of power at all levels of governance, they are unableto negotiate for resources to nurture their constituencies. They cannot mobilise thenecessary financial resources to meet the demands of their electorate, which facilitateswomen being accepted as political leaders.

Further, women, being in insignificant numbers, are often pressurised to align with menalong their caste, class, religion and ethnic identities rather than on the basis of gender.This has resulted in dividing women on the one hand from centre-staging gender issuesand concerns and on the other their solidarity.

Inadequate numbers of women in governance makes them vulnerable and voiceless.Women’s self-confidence and esteem is affected in a predominantly male set up, as their male colleagues view them as being weak and ineffective. Cultural inhibitions restrictwomen in expressing their views and opinions openly in such an intimidatingatmosphere. Even when women attempt to express their views, generally it is trivialised and ignored. The presence of women in large numbers would have created an enabling

environment, as the mere strength of their numbers would have facilitated their effective participation. It would also encourage them to express their opinions and viewpoints and negotiate on them with their male counterparts.

At the lower levels of governance, (local bodies), despite reservation there is resistance towomen participating, particularly when they hold leadership positions such as that of presidents and vice-presidents. The resistance is manifested in the form of ‘noconfidence’ motions being passed against elected women representatives holding theseleadership positions. Women contesting such action by the dominant groups also becomeextremely difficult when they are unable to consolidate their strength across caste, classand religious lines. Further, this division results in the absence of a quorum, thus

increasing their vulnerability to those in power.

The prevailing political environment of corruption, criminalisation and communalisationinhibit women from entering politics. In the on going study at NIAS, Bangalore, it wasobserved that with the entry of women in the Panchayat Raj Institutions, as a result of thereservation policy for women, the overall atmosphere has visibly changed. There has been a considerable reduction in the incidence of corruption, due the pressure exerted by




68

them on their male colleagues in relation to transparency and accountability. While theoverall use of money and muscle power and criminalisation of politics has reduced, therehas been an increase in the incidence of violence against women elected representativesand those in positions of power. This has been more as resistance to their entry into politics and a backlash against particularly articulate and strong women. Violence is used as a weapon to subdue and silence them.

This reveals that the entry of women into political institutions have changed theatmosphere more positively and has made it more transparent and accountable. If affirmative action has a positive influence on the environment at the PRI level, it is all themore reason that the same would happen at the higher levels of governance.

Though the government’s initiative of introducing reservation for women in localgovernance is laudable, the policy of reserving the constituency for women through a policy of rotation has had a negative impact by restricting their chances of getting re-elected from the same constituency. This has resulted in the loss of experience gained bythe elected women during her tenure. In this regard, the concept of having vasathi sabhasor hamlet-level meetings, is encouraging as it helps women to build their constituencies

and overcome the limitation imposed by the rotation system. This is one of the outcomesof the advocacy efforts made by NIAS with the Government of Karnataka. It also helpswomen to overcome the limitation they face in mobilising resources and nurturing their constituencies to contest subsequent elections.

The policy of 33 per cent reservation for women has been interpreted in such a manner that it restricts the scope for women to contest the elections. Men, who are officials,members of the political parties and the communities, define it to mean that women cancontest only against the “reserved constituencies” and not against the constituenciescategorised as ‘general’. This implies that the ‘general’ seats are exclusively meant for men. This deprives women of opportunities to contest against the general category

despite having the potential and aspiration to do so.

Ms. Lakshmi, an ex-member of an ‘all women’s gram panchayat’ in a district inKarnataka State, reprehended that rotation of reserved seats deprives aspiring womencandidates of their chances of contesting elections. During the previous term, she wasnominated as a member to represent the reserved constituency for Scheduled Caste (SC)women. If she wanted to contest in the second term she either had to contest under theunreserved category or change her constituency to a reserved one, which would reduceher chances of winnability. Contesting against the dominant communities is difficult because of the lack of financial and human resources available to her. Moving into a newconstituency would mean the loss of her previously nurtured constituency and building an

entirely new one

87

.

The lack of affirmative action for reservation of seats at the higher levels of governancesuch as in the legislative and parliament hinders the entry of women from the lower economic strata, those without political familial connections and for those from

87 Blending the Concerns – Gender and Governance




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marginalised groups. The absence of reservation perpetuates the entry of only those whoare politically connected through family and those belonging to the upper economicstrata.

The lack of vibrant and supportive constituencies has adversely affected women’s participation in governance in large numbers. Where the constituency is aware and informed, they are able to influence and change the political climate and quality of

governance. For instance, in a village in Uttarakhand, due to an informed and organised constituency, particularly of women, they were able to revert a decision taken by theforest panchayat to destroy a section of the forest for development. The womendemanded a re-election in which women en masse voted for women to all the nine positions in the panchayat88 .

At the lowest level of governance that is at the village level, there is a parallel traditionalgoverning body based on caste called the “jati panchayat”, which is exclusively male.The absence of a critical mass of women in the institutionalised PRI system would affectthe decisions made by the jati panchayats. They will not be in a position to counter the‘anti-women’ pronouncements that are made in these panchayats.

Similarly, in the scheduled areas, which are predominantly tribal, the village councils arethe decision making institutions in the field of administration, religion, politics,economics, justice and so on. Generally, these councils do not have women members and in cases where there are women, they hold peripheral positions. For instance, in Nagaland, during an interaction on ‘Women’s Political Participation’ with the NationalCommission for Women in 1998 on the issue of reservation at the higher levels of governance, the Naga women’s response was divided. They did not feel the need for reservation for women at the higher levels of governance, especially in the absence of women in the village councils. They expressed that it was crucial for women to berepresented in these councils first, where decisions affecting their lives were taken. They

reiterated the power of the village councils and were apprehensive that even if reservationwas introduced at the state and parliament levels, the results of such elections would continue to be determined by these councils with probably minimal support for women.

88 Lokayan Bulletin-Voices of India, July-Oct. 1995 P-92-93




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(5)

STATE OBLIGATIONS

5.1 Under National Laws

5.1.1 Constitution of India:

The Indian State represents a federal system, with democratically elected Central and State Governments dividing the responsibility of governance between them. ThePreamble to the Constitution of India declares to secure to all its citizens social, economicand political justice; Liberty of thought and expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of Status and Opportunity; and the promotion of Fraternity, assuring the dignityof the individual and the unity of the nation. The Constitution encompasses within its fold the principles of equality and social justice, where all Indian citizens are treated equally before the law. The fundamental rights of Indian citizens are provided within aframework of equality in the Constitution of India.

5.1.2 The Fundamental Rights:

• Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law and equal protectionunder the law to all persons.

• Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of sex, religion,race, caste, place of birth or any of them. Importantly for women, 15(3) provides for the State the right to make special provisions for women and children.

• Article 16 guarantees for all citizens’ equality of opportunity in matters of publicemployment. In particular, 16(2) states that no citizen shall on the ground of religion,race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for or

discriminated against in respect of public employment. Article 16(4 ) provides for thestate to make provisions for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which is not adequately represented in the services under the state

In addition the Constitution provides protection of certain rights regarding freedom Viz.,

• Article 19 (a) provides freedom of Speech and Expression;

• Article 19 (b) to assemble peaceably and without arms;

• Article 19 (c ) to form associations or unions;

• Article 19 (d) to move freely throughout the territory of India;

• Article 19 (e) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; and

• Article 19 (g) to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

• Article 21 Protection of life and personal liberty. Right to life here is understood aslife with dignity and not a mere existence of animal living.

• Right against Exploitation; trafficking of human beings and other forms of Forced Labour (Article23 (I))




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5.1.3 The Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive Principles of State Policy provides a framework for governance in thecountry. It articulates the key policy goals of the Indian welfare state. A duty is cast uponthe State to provide for an appropriate policy, enabling conditions, congenialenvironment to its citizens for fulfilment of the Fundamental Rights of its citizens.

There are some provisions which refer specifically to women:

• Article 39(a) articulates the duty to provide adequate means of livelihood for men and women equally.

• Article 39(d) demands a policy providing equal pay for equal work for both men and women.

• Article 39(e) mandates that the policy of the state should be geared to protect thehealth for men, women and child workers

• Article 42 directs the State to ensure just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.

• Article 39 (A) directs the state to secure a legal system promoting justice on the basisof equal opportunity and to provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or scheme toensure that opportunities for securing justice is not denied to any of its citizens.

• Article 51A(e) casts a duty on the State to renounce practices that are derogatory tothe dignity and status of women.

5.2 Civil and Political Rights

5.2.1 Right to Vote:

The significance of the right to vote in a democratic society was well understood by the

framers of the Constitution. This was achieved by introducing adult franchise. Article 326of the Constitution guarantees equal political status to every citizen of India. Everycitizen over 18 years of age has a right to vote. Article 325 of the Constitution guarantees political equality to women and prohibits exclusion from the electoral rolls on the basis of sex, caste, religion etc.

5.2.2 Right to Contest Elections:

Articles 14,15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution of India and the Representation of PeoplesAct provides for equal participation of women in political process.

5.2.3 Reservation for women:

Article 243(D) and 243(T) of the Constitution provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in Panchayats and Municipalities. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment providesfor the increased participation of women in the political institutions at the village, talukaand district level, whereas the 74th Constitutional Amendment provides for increased




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participation in Municipalities and Nagarapalikas in cities. It further provides for one-third reservation of posts for Presidents and Vice-presidents in these political institutions.This reservation is implemented through a process of rotation, by identifying differentconstituencies as a reserved constituency for each election term.

5.2.4 Right to Association:

Art. 9(1c) of the Constitution guarantees to all citizens the right to form associations or unions.

5.2.5 Right to Political and Public Life at the International Level:

In India, there is no legislation, which prohibits or restricts women from participating inthe political and public life at the international level.

5.3 Socio-economic Rights

5.3.1 Right to Work:

Guaranteed in the Constitution of India in Article 16, 19(g) and 21. Article 16(4) providesfor reservation of appointments in favour of backward classes of citizens, which is notadequately represented in the State. Article 39(a) ensures economic equality in directingthe policies of the state towards securing all citizens, men and women, the right to anadequate means of livelihood. Article 41 requires that the state shall make effective provisions for securing the right to work. Article 16 and 39(d) ensure equal opportunityin matters of public employment and equal pay for equal work. Section 5 of the EqualRemuneration Act ensures equal pay for work of the same or similar nature except whereemployment of such work is prohibited or restricted by law.

5.3.2 Right to Education:

Plays a major role in the improvement of the status of women. This right to education isequal to both men and women. Articles 41 of the Constitution of India directs the Statethat to make effective provision for securing education within the limits of its economicdevelopment and provide free and compulsory education for children upto 14 years of age.

5.3.3 Social Security:

Article 42 directs the State to provide just and humane conditions of work. Article 43 of

the Constitution directs the state to secure living wages and conditions of work ensuringdecent standards of life and enjoyment of leisure. The Constitution has provided socialsecurity by directing the State to take measures for securing public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement.




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5.3.4 Maternity Benefits:

Article 42 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide for the maternity relief.In pursuance to this the Maternity Benefits Act 1961 was enacted in India, To ensure jobsecurity and benefits during her confinement and to provide monetary benefits during the period of maternity leave.

5.3.5 Right to Economic Resources:

Right to acquire property is a common law right. This right is subject to Article 31(A) of the Constitution of India, where in the State has the power to take over the private property and provides for compensation at a rate, which shall not be less than the marketvalue thereof.

There is no prohibition for woman to acquire and hold property independently. However,the practice in the society is that all immovable properties are generally in the name of the male members. In implementing the Agrarian Reforms, the Government also adopted the practice of allocating lands to the landless. Though the policy of the government

while granting the lands is that the grants are made in the joint names of both the spouses,the women have no access and control, and ownership of this land.

Personal laws govern the right to property and inheritance in India. All the personal lawshave provisions for inheritance and succession for women. The Indian Succession Act provides for uniform law regarding testamentary succession and recongnises the right of a woman to dispose off her property, self-acquired as well as inherited, by making a will.There are several general laws governing property rights viz. Transfer of Property Act,Indian Registration Act and etc.

5.3.6 Cultural Rights:

Article 29 of the Constitution of India guarantees protection of culture and encouragesconserving language, script and culture. Article 25 of the Constitution of India guaranteesfreedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion.

India has a very wide range of culture based on geographical regions, caste and religion.In India with cultures varying from region to region, there are different cultural rights.The government has passed many laws for prevention of undesirable practices of acultural nature viz., Abolition of Sati Act, Abolition of Devadasi practices, Child Marriage (Restraint) Act. However, all such measures are not fully effective but attemptsare made to eliminate such practices.

The Child Marriage (Restraint) Act has been ineffective in checking the practice of child marriage of child marriage. Of the 4-5 million child marriages that take place in Indiaevery year, 3 million are girls between the age of 15-18 years. This practice is morecommon in the States of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The practice of child marriage has an adverse effect on both girls and boys. It places greater




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constraints on girls and deprives them of education, all round development as well as physical mobility.

Another major problem is the practice or custom of dowry given at the time of themarriage. Financial and material demands are made pre- and post-marriage on the girls'families. The non-compliance to these demands results in harassment, violence, at timesleading to death. Though there is the Dowry Prohibition Act, women are still succumbing

to dowry related crimes, as law has failed to check the menace.

Though the Constitution denounces discrimination, bias and gender discrimination is sodeep rooted that law has failed to check them and much is needs to be done by thegovernment. Law alone cannot change the cultural and social patterns and there is a need for a multi-disciplinary approach.

5.4 Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW)

India ratified the Convention in the year 1993 with two declaratory statements on Articles

16(1) and 16(2) and one reservation on Article 29 (1).

The Preamble of CEDAW states, “discrimination against women violates the principlesof equality of rights and respect for human dignity; is an obstacle to the participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of their countries; hampers the growth of the prosperity of society and the family and makesmore difficult the full development of the potentialities of women in the service of their countries and of humanity.”

The first four articles (Articles 1 to 4) of the Convention outline the general premises of eliminating discrimination and the general obligations the States should undertake.

• Article 1 defines discrimination as any distinction, exclusion or restriction made onthe basis of sex, which has the purpose or effect of denying equal exercise of humanrights and fundamental freedom in all field of human endeavour.

• Article 2 delineates the policy measures to be undertaken to eliminate discriminationsuch as to embody the principle of equality in the national Constitution and other legislations, and ensure its practical realisation; establish institutions to protectagainst discrimination; ensure that public authorities and institutions refrain fromdiscrimination; abolish all existing laws, customs and regulations that discriminateagainst women.

• Article 3 guarantees basic human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis

with men in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and culturalfields.

• Article 4 deals with the temporary special measures to be adopted to achieve equality.

• Article5 envisages State party adopting appropriate measures for modifying the socialand cultural patterns of conduct of men and women to eliminate prejudices and customary practices, and stereotyping of roles for men and women.




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• Article 7 of the convention, deals particularly with political participation of women:

State Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination againstwomen in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure towomen, on equal terms with men, the right:

(a) To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all

publicly referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies;(b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation

thereof and to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government;

(c) To participate in non-governmental organisations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.

The other Articles 1-14 of the convention can be used in order to achieve the goals set outin Article 7 of the convention. They are as follows:

• Article 8 obligates the State to ensure participation of women, on equal terms with

men, to represents the government at the international level and in the work of international organisations.

• Article 10 and 11 the State is obligated to take appropriate measures to eliminatediscrimination against women in order equal rights to men and women in the field of education and employment respectively.

• Article 13 directs the State to take appropriate measures in economic and social life inorder to ensure equality of women and men, in particular to rights to family benefitsand bank loans and credits and in recreational activities.

• Article 14 mandates the state party to take note of the significant roles played by ruralwomen in the economic survival of their families, including their work in the non-motetised sectors of the economy and directs the State to take appropriate measures to

eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas to ensure application of the provisions of the Convention to women in rural areas, and their participation in and benefit from rural development on an equal basis.

5.5 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 is basically conceived as a commonstandard of human rights and fundamental source of inspiration for national and international laws of the protection and promotion of human rights.

• According to Article 2 of UDHR, everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms

set forth in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birthor other status. Likewise Article 7 provides that all are equal before the law and areentitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.

• According to Article 7 of UDHR, everyone has the right to own property, no oneshall be arbitrarily deprived of his / her property and everybody shall have the right to




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social security. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in casesof violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

5.6 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR)

As per Article 1 of the above Covenant, all the people have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely

pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

• As per Article 3 of the above Covenant, the Covenant obliges the states to undertaketo ensure equal rights of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and politicalrights set forth in the covenant.

• As per Article 26 of the above Covenant, all persons are equal before the law and areentitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect,the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, color, sex,language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birthor other status.

• As per Article 16 of the above Covenant, everyone shall have right to be recognised as a person before the law.

5.7 U.N. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966

• As per Article 1 of the above Covenant, all people have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their politicalstatus and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

• As per Article 9 of the above Covenant, the state also recognises right of everyone tosocial security, including social insurance and as per Article 11 of the aboveCovenant, right to everyone to have adequate living standard within the family.

• As per Article 3 of the above Covenant, the State is obliged to ensure the equal rightof men and women to enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forthin the Covenant. As per Article 2 of the above Covenant, the state is obliged toexercise the rights enunciated in the covenant without discrimination on the basis of sex, property or birth or other status.

Thus the State, under the Constitution, International Treaties and Conventions,International commitments, has the following obligations in relation to political participation:

• The state is obligated to ensure that no one is discriminated on the basis of sex and

that equality between women and men is to be ensured.• The state is obligated to ensure equality between men and women in their political

participation.

• To protect Fundamental Rights, Freedom of Life and Liberty and Human Rights.






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Fundamental Rights of its citizen. Article 39(a) articulates the duty to provide adequatemeans of livelihood for men and women equally; Article 39(d) demands a policy providing equal pay for equal work for both men and women; Article 39(e) mandates thatthe policy of the state should be geared to protect the health for men, women and child workers; Article 42 directs the State to ensure just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief; Article 39 (A) directs the state to secure a legal system promoting justiceon the basis of equal opportunity and to provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or

scheme to ensure that opportunities for securing justice is not denied to any of its citizens.Article 51A(e) casts a duty on the State to renounce practices that are derogatory to thedignity and status of women.

Effectiveness

Constitution

Though the Indian Constitution embodies principles of equality, it has remained dejurewith little or no practical realisation of these rights. However the full implementation of these principles are constrained by several problems posed in the nature of socio-cultural

values, which has not been addressed effectively by the Government.

Apart from these general principles in the Constitution, we do not have a single law that prohibits and penalises discrimination nor has any institution been set up to protectwomen against discrimination as envisaged in the Convention. Though one can approachthe High Court and the Supreme Court for violation of Fundamental Rights by the State,the acts of the private institutions and individuals cannot be challenged.

The Indian Constitution, no doubt guarantees equality to all its citizens. But the conceptof equality here is understood as ‘sameness’ between men and women. This approach canrule out the need to take into account various factors stemming from social and economic

disadvantage or inequality that may produce a set of differences between men and women.

The Indian Courts, have no doubt interpreted ‘equality’ in terms of ‘substantiveequality’ while dealing with reservation of jobs for men in deprived section in thesociety, while they are hesitant in interpreting in similar way while dealing withissues concerning women.

In The State of Kerala vs. N.M.Thomas (AIR 1976 S.C. 490) The courts have held that “the quality and concept of equality is that if persons are dissimilarly placed they cannot be made equals by having the same treatment…In this unequal world

the proposition of equal treatment to all men has working limitation… equality of opportunities for unequal can only mean aggravation of an inequality…….”

In Secretary H.S.E.B vs Suresh (AIR 1999 S.C. 1161): The Supreme Court, whiledealing with contract labourers, has held that the equality clause in the Constitutiondoes not speak of mere formal equality before law but embodies the concept of realand substantive equality which strikes all the inequalities arising on account of vast




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social and economic differentiation and is thus consequently essential ingredient of social and economic justice.

Whereas in Air India vs Nargesh Meerza and others (AIR 1981 S.C 1829), thecourts have held that Airhostess (women) formed a separate class from other flightcrew members (men) and thus the differences in service conditions were notviolative of Arts.14, 15 and 16, had rejected the argument of the qualification

requirements of an airhostess were in themselves discriminatory and sex based and thus deserve to be struck down as being violative of Art.15(1) and Art.16(2) of theConstitution of India. The latter case is a classic example of the court subscribing tothe most rigid and formal of doctrine of equality.

The Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive principles of State Policy do not themselves bestow any right or remedies,they are meant to be directives only. They are neither justifiable nor time-bound. Aboveall there is no accountability mechanism. It also reinforces a division between civil and political rights that are guaranteed in the Fundamental Rights chapter of the Constitution

and Socio-Economic-Development rights in Chapter IV of the Constitution. While the broad principles of governance are contained in the Constitution, the implementation of the same is left to the state and there is no mechanism to ensure that the State acts uponthese principles.

CEDAW

India, being a signatory to CEDAW, is under legal obligation to confirm to the principlesof various Articles of the Convention. The Courts have now begun to affirm the principles of the Convention in a few judgements. A note worthy judgement is Vishakavs State of Rajasthan (AIR 1997 S.C. 3011), where in the Supreme Court, noting the

absence of any law to address the issue of sexual harassment has itself defined sexualharassment and has issued norms combating sexual harassment. In fact the SupremeCourt in Valsamma Paul’s case (AIR 1996 SC 1011) has held “Though the GOI kept itsreservation on Art 5(e), 16(1 and 2) and 29 of CEDAW they bear little consequences inview of the fundamentals in Art. 15(1), 15(3) and 21 and the Directive Principles of theConstitution”. In Gita Hariharan -vs- Reserve Bank of India ( AIR 1999 S.C. 1149) theSupreme Court following the principles of the Convention has held that mother is also a Natural Guardian along with the father.

However, the State executives are yet to adopt the principles of the Convention. TheGovernment of India has submitted its first report to the CEDAW Committee in January

2000. This report is narrative of the laws and policies adopted by the State for womenand lacks qualitative analysis of the implementation of these laws and policies and itsefficacy on the measures adopted for eliminating discrimination.

However, the framework for ‘equality’ provided in the convention underlines theimportance of taking into account historical disadvantage in assessing the position of women. This takes into account the differences between women and men beyond the




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limiting parameters of sex to a more comprehensive concept of gender. The Conventionstresses the need to take into account distinctions between men and women that are likelyto disadvantage women, and looks upon law and policy as measures that can correcthistorical disadvantage even if necessitating special treatment.

Viewed alongside the definition of discrimination provided by the Convention, theConstitutional framework appears to mirror the concerns of the Convention. The Indian

Constitution, no doubt guarantees equality to all its citizens including women but theconcept of the equality has been interpreted as ‘sameness’ between men and women. Theconcept of substantive equality, which is promoted in the convention, is never applied inthe interpretation of the concept of equality for women.

5.8.2 Right to Political Participation:

• Civil and Political RightsCivil and political rights are amongst the most important rights. Article 326 of theConstitution guarantees political equality to women and provides for a right to vote toall its citizens. Further Article 325 prohibits exclusion from the electoral rolls on the

basis of sex, caste, religion etc.• Right to Contest Elections

Article 14,15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution of India and the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 provides for equal participation of women in political process

• Reservation for womenArticle 243(D) and 243(T) of the Constitution provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in panchayat’s and Municipalities. While the 73rd Constitutional Amendment provided for the increased participation of women in the political institutions at thevillage, taluka and district level, the 74th Constitutional Amendment provided for increased participation in Municipalities and Nagapalikas in cities. It further providesfor one-third reservation of posts for Presidents and Vice-presidents in these political

institutions. This reservation is implemented through a process of rotation, byidentifying different constituencies as a reserved constituency for each election term.

• Right to AssociationArt.9 (1c) of the Constitution guarantees to all citizens the right to form associationsor unions.

• Right to Political and Public Life at the International LevelIn India, there is no legislation, which prohibits or restricts women from participatingin the political and public life at the international level

Effectiveness

One of the laudable state initiatives, is providing reservation for women in local self governance which ensures equal enjoyment of the right to political participation, both asrepresentatives and as presidents/vice presidents of these Institution. With this affirmativeaction, over one million women are participating in governance.

The policy of the government to reserve seats by way of rotation, although is common to both men and women, impacts on women more adversely than on men. Women are




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unable to get re-elected from the same constituency, as they have no resources to contestelections from a different constituency reserved for women or in the general categoryfrom the same constituency, which reduces their chance of winning. Moving to a newconstituency would mean the loss of the previously nurtured constituency and building anentirely new one. Therefore the state has to take cognisance of this difference and addressthis issue.

Through this reservation policy government has ensured that seats not less than 33% arereserved for women. This only ensures a minimum number and does not introduce aceiling limit. However this policy has been interpreted by the men in the community thatwomen can contest only for the reserved seats and that the remaining seats categorised as‘general’ are exclusively reserved for men. This interpretation deprives of women of theopportunities to contest in the general category, thereby defeating the very objective of the reservation policy.

The State has made unsuccessful attempts in providing for reservation for women in StateLegislature and Parliament. The state has attempted to introduce the Bill providing 33%reservation for women, on three occasions in the year 1996, 1999 and 2000. But the Bill

has lapsed, as there was difference of opinion in the House on the issue of caste based reservation within the 33% reservation. The government has been unable to ensure passing of this Bill.

Another area that government has failed to address is the cultural barriers. The patriarchalvalue system of the private and public dichotomy is still prevalent. The government hasfailed to prevent the backlash and resistance of men against women’s entry in to politicalinstitutions which is evident in the practices adopted like misuse of ‘no confidencediscrimination’, proxy candidates and resistance to women leaders.

Despite many affirmative actions for rural women i.e., reservation, literacy, awareness

and training, etc., the rural women face several impediments in participating ininstitutions of local self-governance. The triple burden of housework, child care, wageand non-waged work along with the patriarchal controls, and caste/class oppression,illiteracy, familial and social resistance to their involvement in political life are still noteffectively addressed by the government, to enable women to exercise their rights to political participation.

In addition to providing reservation for women, the State has to ensure that women are properly equipped and trained to participate in the PRI activities. The government hasfailed to adequately address the issue of equipping the elected women to discharge their duties efficiently. Though many NGOs are conducting training and orientation on behalf

of the government, much is desired to be done by the government. Further it must takeeffective to provide funds to enable women to contest elections and incorporate ceilingon election expenditure.

The government has to take cognisance of the non-monetised contributions of women inthe households and their social responsibilities.




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Most of the political parties, trade union and other associations often exclude womenfrom participating in activities. It is observed that these institutions provide a trainingground where a person gets some amount of experience and expertise. Therefore thegovernment has to take appropriate measures to ensure that the political parties, tradeunion and other associations include women in large numbers to participate in their activities.

5.8.3 Voting Rights:

Constitution of India, no doubt has guaranteed adult franchise and has empowered women to participate in the electoral process as voters constituency and elected representatives. However the right to vote is usually dictated and controlled by men and leaders of the group (usually men), and are also influenced by the opinion of the familymembers. They are further deterred by the criminalisation of politics in the form of muscle and money power and the violence and abuse that women face during electionswhich further restricts their participation in voting.

State has to take concerted efforts to create awareness of the right to vote and its power

and also facilitate creation of vibrant and responsive constituencies. The Government alsohas to ensure that the whole election process is free of violence and is to enable thewomen to exercise of the right to vote.

5.8.4 Socio-economic Rights:

• Right to Work

Guaranteed in the Constitution in Articles 16, 19(g) and 21. Article 14 and 15 of theIndian Constitution provides for the right to equality. Article 16 in particular dealswith equality in employment. Article 16(3) provides for reservation.

• Property Rights

Personal laws govern the right to property and inheritance. The personal laws have provisions for inheritance and succession for women. The Indian Succession Actrecognises the right of a woman to dispose off her property, self-acquired as well asinherited, by making a will.

Article 19(1)(g) guarantees to men as well as women the right to practice any professionor carry on any occupation, trade, or business. A mere recognition of this right in principle is futile. It has to be implemented and made practicable for citizens both menand women. The government has reserved 33 % of the posts in government bodies for women. This is enabling more women to be occupy positions in the public offices. Thegovernment has also initiated and implemented various schemes for self-employment,

such as the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Rojgar Yojana, etc

Inadequate access and control over intangible resources, information and knowledge, and lack of opportunities to build their capabilities to participate at PRI levels, impairs and excludes women from enjoying their right to political participation.




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Economic independence is a major factor for empowering women. The question of access and control over resources, information and knowledge, and lack of opportunitiesfor women to build their capabilities to participate in the electoral processes are notaddressed. The State has to ensure that financial aid and loans are made available towomen candidates and also ensure that the political parties are financially supporting thecandidate.

The social security measures under taken by the Government do not reach to a largesector of women as majority of the women, over 83 per cent of the working women areconcentrated in unorganised sector. Absence of social security measures, lack of recognition of the time and opportunity cost accruing to women when they participate inthe political processes, particularly those from the vulnerable and poorer sections of thesociety, has had the effect of restricting their participation, thus nullifying the exercisingof this right.

The discrimination in the inheritance rights has denied and restricted women’s enjoymentto the right and control over property. Therefore women have meager resources, whichlimits their participation in politics thus impairing the exercising of this right.

Government has to take appropriate legislative measures to eliminate discriminatory lawsand practices regarding succession rights.

Recognition of multiple laws on the same issue/right on the basis of religion, i.e., the personal laws has created intra-gender discrimination with few women enjoying the benefits while the others are denied. The personal laws have been used to divide womenon the basis of their religious identity. This has led to the disunity of women, which hasimpaired and restricted their right to fully participate in politics.

5.8.5 Cultural Barriers:

Many rights are guaranteed under the Constitution and in various legislation. However,effective and concerted efforts to translate the dejure rights into defacto rights arelacking. Though Article 51(A)(e) of the Constitution of India and Article 5 of theCEDAW deals with the elimination of prejudices against women the State has practicallydone nothing to achieve these principles.

Although the Constitution guarantees equality to men and women, there are several waysin which the structures of the family and in the society; and inequitable social customsand practices serve to deprive women of these rights. In particular, discrimination occurswithin the family, where norms regarding women’s secondary status are reinforced inchildren from birth. Several practices in the family Viz., foeticide, infanticide, dowry etc.,

which denies women’s right of life and personal liberty are still prevailing. These and other cultural practices, prejudices and customs have not been addressed. Unless this isaddressed effective enjoyment of these rights is a casualty. It is therefore important thatIndia withdraw the declaration on Article 16 of the Convention.




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5.8.6 Policies, Programmes and Schemes:

Several schemes have been initiated in the rural areas for the upliftment of rural women,such as Integrated Rural Development Programme, Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas, Indira Awaas Yojana, Mahila Mandal Programme, Gender Sensitisation and Legal Literacy.

The government, political parties viewed most women's organisation from the point of view of social welfare rather than from that of establishment of social equality. However,the declaration of the year 1975 by United Nations as International Women’s Year (I.W.Y.) and then the next ten years – 1976 to 1985 – as the International Women’sDecade (I.W.D.) shifted the emphasis from women’s welfare to women’s development.Further, there has been a shift in perspective to include equity & empowerment. SeveralState initiatives therefore have complemented and contributed towards women’sempowerment and political participation at the grassroots. These include the following:

• DWCRA and other programmes targeted towards women

• The Women’s Development Programme

• The Mahila Samakhya Programme

• Non economic measures• Electoral quotas for women through the 73rd , 74th Amendments to the Constitution.

Facilitating their participation at the local levels of governance.

It is interesting to note that even a decade ago, when there seemed little reason to hopefor a large number of women in political decision-making, the Women DevelopmentProgramme training took into consideration the role of the Panchayat functionaries vis-à-vis women” (ISST, 1995)

In 1974, the government appointed a Commission on the Status of Women in India and its report, Towards Equality changed the perspective of women from targets to agents of

change in development. This report is the first and only comprehensive document on theStatus of Women in India. It was in fact the first to recommend 30 per cent reservation of seats for women in decision-making positions, as women were either not beingrepresented or were inadequately represented. In 1975, the International Women’s Year,“the Lok Sabha passed a resolution to initiate comprehensive programmes for women”(Narasimha, 1999). The Sixth Plan document was the first to have a chapter on `Womenand Development.’ In 1984 a separate Ministry was created for women and children. Thegovernment’s main emphasis remained on economic empowerment through its programmes.

The National Perspective Plan (NPP) for Women was drawn up which provided a plan

for action for the period 1988-2000. The NPP reiterated the need to reserve 30 per centseats for women in all decision-making bodies. The National Commission for Womenwas set up in 1992 to look into cases of discrimination against women.

DWCRA and Other Programmes Targeted towards Women: DWCRA (Development for Women and Children in Rural Areas) under the IRDP (Integrated Rural DevelopmentProgramme) is one of the few poverty alleviation programmes for women. It is a better-




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designed programme for women than any of the other income generation programmes.Unlike them, this programme funds women who operate as collectives and not asindividuals. This safeguards women’s assets because of joint ownership. Furthermore, itfacilitates the formation of women’s grassroots organisations called sanghas. Two other national programmes that worked through the active participation of Mahila Mandals or formal women collectives were the Immunisation Programme and the National LiteracyCampaign where the programmes focussed on health and adult education respectively.

Other programmes include STEP or Support for Employment of Women Programmelaunched by the Department of Women and Child Development. A new EmploymentGuarantee Scheme through Shramshakti was introduced specially for SC/ST women. Themost recent programme introduced was the Mahila Samruddi Yojana in 1993 wherewomen who save Rs.300 in the post office get an incentive of Rs. 75 (Narasimha, 1999).

Mahila Samakhya (MS) and Women’s Development Programme (WDP): Thegovernment programmes for women’s empowerment were the WDP in Rajasthan, and MS programme in eight states of India. The WDP and MS while fostering women’sleadership through collectives, developed strategies for training women elected

representatives. Critical in both their approaches is the attention paid to the relationship between elected women representatives and women’s collectives and their accountabilityto the community particularly women. In the 1993 elections about 300 sangha womencontested the elections in Karnataka and won. It has been found that womenrepresentatives who belong to the sanghas are more accountable to their communities.

• In Karnataka and Rajashtan the government funded programmes through MS and theWDP were able to create awareness and ensure the participation of women indemocratic processes. They have organised women into sanghas and “a significantnumber of grassroots women in the villages were able to become members at theBlock (Taluk) and District level institutions of governance. They also work in the

reverse order of utilising GP leadership to organise their Community Based Organisational Support. The vital role played by sanghas and other CBOs ingenerating genuine leadership for the PRI cannot be over estimated

• The Government of India has undertaken administrative measures in the form of schemes and programmes, plans and policies, such as Education for All 1988-2000and National Perspective Plan for Women 1988-2000 A.D.

• National Policy for the Empowerment of Women to implement the Beijing Platformfor Action. The Beijing declaration and Beijing platform for action have reiterated theneed for women to be adequately represented at all levels of decision – making toexercise their Civil, Political and Social rights.

• In accordance with this directive Principle of State Policies, the Central and State

Governments have accepted a policy of providing free education for girls up-to classXII in schools run by the municipal corporations and in the government aided schools. Non formal education and vocational and condensed courses have also beenintroduced for girls who have dropped out of schools. The National Literacy Missioncampaigns encourage adult literacy and informal education. The National Policy onEducation 1986 also envisages eradication of illiteracy, particularly in the 15-35 agegroup.




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• Scheme to provide financial help for pregnant women in rural areas as a measure tocompensate for her loss of earnings during confinement.

• India, being a signatory to CEDAW, is under legal obligation to confirm to the principles of various Article of the Convention.

• Ninth Five Year Plan- both at the Centre and the State proposing a ‘Women'sComponent,' there by recoginising the need to focus separately on Women.

• A National Resource Centre.

• Creation of the Committee on the Empowerment of Women in Parliament.• In March 1997, the Programme of “Balika Samriddhi Yojana” was initiated.

• The Indian Government has enacted the National Commission for Women's Act1990. Several States have State enactments. They were established to address and monitor women’s issues.

• Establishment of Department of Women and Child Development was an effort of theGovernment to systematise its policies for women.

• Establishment of Human Rights Commissions to address issues of Human Rightsviolations in the country.

• Establishing free legal aid committees in all districts and providing for free legal aid for women.

• Establishing the Supreme Court and high courts and conferring powers for redressalof violation of Fundamental Rights.

• Supremacy of the Constitution: Constitution is the fundamental law of all laws. In sofar as they are inconsistent with the Fundamental Rights guaranteed in theConstitution, to the extent of such inconsistency is void.

• Forum for redressal of Public Rights: The Apex Courts in the State and the SupremeCourt function as a guardian of public rights to check the state excesses or violationsof Fundamental Rights. Any violation or infringement of a right, which is of publicimportance can be challenged by any citizen, by means of a Public Interest Litigation.The Apex Courts have been playing a pro-active role in balancing the State actionsand individual freedom and public rights.

5.8.7 Assessment of Policies

There is the lack of mechanisms set up by the State Governments to monitor the various policies, schemes and programs which is necessary to ensure that 1) the benefits reach the beneficiaries and 2) to ascertain the efficacy of such policies and programs.

The budget allocation for women’s programme by the government is very meagre. Theannual budget of the Government machinery to implement the Beijing platform for actionis only 0.40 per cent of the total government budget.

Lack of response by the State to gender sensitise the state administration personnel at alllevels to view women as important political entities capable of shoulderingresponsibilities.

The National and State Commissions for Women set up by the Central and StateGovernments have the mandate only to recommend to the government. They lack the




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power to take appropriate and effective measures to address the various issues concerningwoman and to modify or correct the existing policies and schemes formulated by thegovernment towards development and empowerment of woman.




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(6)

WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND NGO INITIATIVES

6.1 Women’s Participation in Arenas outside Formal Politics

Women’s historical participation in movements such as the Telangana movement (1948-50), a militant share-croppers movement was noteworthy. Women leaders who did takethe lead in the guerilla warfare that followed, subsequently felt isolated due to non-recognition of their contribution. They had to wage a war within the movement for a fareshare in leadership.

Women participated in thousands in the Shehada movement for land rights forming theShramik Sanghatana. There were mass uprisings against the oppressive practices of landlords. As women grew more militant, gender-based issues were raised where wife beating was focussed on. This in turn led to the anti-alcohol issue, which became a part of a broader based anti-alcohol movement.

The Nav Nirman movement of 1974, originally a student’s movement against soaring prices, corruption and black marketing changed into a women’s movement, as middleclass women joined in thousands. Their methods of protest ranged from mass hunger strikes, to mock court-passing judgements on corrupt politicians. Women with rolling pins and thalis gheraoed the Members of Parliament and industrialists and the focus of the movement was ‘Lokhniti’ (people’s rule of law) as against ‘Rajniti’ (state rule of law).

Chipko movement began as an environmental movement but as women began to participate in mass, it was celebrated as a mass based women’s movement. “In the

Chipko movement it was the women who came to the forefront and transformed thestruggle.” They protected the trees in their area from contractors with their own bodieseven when the men were not around to help. The movement served as a precedent toother communities where women started resisting mining for environmental reasons.

6.1.1 Women’s participation in the contemporary feminist movement:

Dowry has become a euphemism for wife battering, a practice familiar enough to make ita key issue in all women’s movements. The Progressive Organisation of Women (POW)in Hyderabad was the first of the contemporary feminists to protest against dowry in1975. Thereafter this issue took an all India focus as the evil of the dowry practice had

spread all over the country. As a result of these and other agitations, amendments to thelegislation against dowry began in 1978. However it took many years before the anti-dowry cells actually began functioning. In December 1983 the Criminal Law (second amendment) Act was passed which made cruelty to wife beating a cognisable, non- bailable offence. A strong coalition called the “Dehaj Virodhi Chetna Manch” (forum for awareness against dowry), was formed by several women’s organisations who wereinstrumental in bringing about changes in the Dowry law and mobilising public opinion.




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In post-Independence India, the agitation against rape started with campaigns against police and landlord rape. Several women’s organisations, in particular feminist groupswere active in this agitation. In response, a Bill was finally passed in 1983, which dealtwith the issue of custodial rape.

Agitation against Sati began almost immediately after the incident with the Roop Kanwar

case in 1987. Major demonstrations took place in Delhi where college women, schoolgirls and feminists took out processions against Sati, thus forming the ‘Joint ActionCommittee against Sati’.

6.1.2 Contemporary Women’s Movement:

What distinguished the grassroots women’s movement of today from the earlier movements for women’s rights is the rise of separate organisations for women at thegrassroots and the mass based participation of poor women. The number of mahilamandals and/or sanghas (women's collectives) with or without the help of the governmenthas grown tremendously in the last four or five decades. These collectives address

various issues affecting the lives of women such as livelihood concerns, workers rights,caste/class oppression and atrocities on women. Several NGOs have formed women’scommunity based organisations to facilitate their work on the ground and to helpempower communities.

6.1.3 The movement and political action:

It was only from the 1970’s onwards that the women’s movement began addressingfeminist issues by organising themselves to protest and challenge the patriarchal normsthat enslaved and subjugated women. Such protests took on varied forms and modes of political action. This upsurge came up with the slogan ‘What is personal is political’. It

questioned the divide between private and public domain, so designed by the male-dominant society to suppress women and disable them from bringing into the open, theviolence and discrimination that victimise women within their homes and in society.

The Commission on the Status of Women in India (CSWI), a body constituted to studythe status of the women, deliberated with several women’s groups to examine thesituation. In the CSWI report (1974), they stated that women were not adequatelyrepresented in the various decision-making fora and recommended a reservation of 30 per cent be allocated for women in these bodies. They also suggested the setting up of ‘allwomen panchayats’. These recommendations were significant for being among the firstefforts to draw women into the formal electoral process.

Despite being a major player in political action and challenging the status quo, thewomen’s movement was somewhat wary of entering the domain of formal politics. It wasonly during the late 80’s and early 90’s that women activists began discussing the need for women to enter formal politics. The Non-Government Organisations’ (NGO) sector too reiterated this demand. The women’s movement now argued that unless women enter the political process in large numbers and hold political office and decision-making




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positions, they will not be able to impact on policy change or bring about measures toimprove the status of women.

This clarion call from the women’s movement seeking political space found itsacceptance by the Union Government in 1993. As part of affirmative action to enable and facilitate women’s political participation, the 73rd and 74 th Constitutional AmendmentBills were introduced in 1992 and came into effect as Acts in 1993. This legislation

provided for one-third reservation of women in rural and urban governing bodies. Boththe rural and urban bodies have a three-tier system of governance. Through thisaffirmative action about three million of women have entered political office. A majorityof these women were first-timers to, except in the state of Karnataka that had pioneered 20 per cent and 25 per cent reservation respectively in the urban and rural elected bodies.

The challenge to the women’s movement and the NGOs is to ensure, educate, train and develop women to take up governance. While the training focused on the operativeaspects of the panchayati raj institutions (rural body), the training of women elected intothe urban bodies has been largely ignored. The women’s movement raised issuesconcerning violence targeted against women elected members, in the local bodies. But

again, these instances have largely been related to women entering the panchayati rajinstitutions, the lowest level of formal governance.

6.2 Women in Formal Politics

6.2.1 Initiatives for Political Participation:

During the preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women, one of the major issues identified was that of ‘women’s political participation’. To facilitate this processthe Co-ordination Unit was set up which initiated a tripartite effort supported by the bilateral and international donors, the women’s movement and the grassroots NGO

sector.

A core group of grassroots NGOs working with the marginalised sections of womennamely dalit, tribal, the unorganised sector, minority women, urban and rural poor women located in different parts of the country, organised major events to promotewomen’s political participation. The women’s voices all over the country dialogued and debated on issues like corruption, criminalisation and communalisation of politics as being major impediments to women’s political participation. The increased physical and sexual violence meted out to women act as a deterrent to enter the political fray. Theyurged that the state machinery set up mechanisms to ensure, protect and promote womenin the political field. The unanimous demand was the need to create an enabling

environment that would encourage and support women to contest elections.

The following points89 emerged from the various debates on the issue.

89 These points are taken from the Coordination Unit Doc - 'Towards Beijing The Political Agenda'




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6.2.2 Political Participation in formal Politics:

The major impediments women face vis-à-vis their political participation emanate fromthe social and economic disadvantages that continue to confront them in many ways. If political participation of women has to become a reality, it has to be preceded by socialand economic empowerment. Women's groups, therefore, have to press for establishingwomen's de facto inheritance rights to land along with strengthening land claims through

other channels. A National Plan for Women's Employment could also be conceptualised and demanded to this effect.

A critical mass of women is a pre-requisite for the effective political participation of women hence, demanding immediate implementation of 33 per cent of reservation for women at all levels of governance cannot be delayed any further. This demand, over a period of time has to extend to 50 per cent of reservation, to effect equality in numbers.The women's movement should have to necessarily monitor and lobby with the one-third representation of women in decision-making bodies.

To induce more women into the hitherto male dominant arena of politics, legal and

political awareness need to be consciously promoted amongst women. To facilitate this process, every district should have a political resource centre for women. These centreshave to undertake the responsibility of information dissemination and political trainingfor women to exercise their political rights as voters and as political candidates. Another significant effort in this regard is to encourage women to take leadership positions in political parties, for which support structures has to be set up so that their familial and other social responsibilities can be met with.

Major political party manifestos have been critiqued for their lack of gender perspective.An equally important task that needs to be addressed urgently is to sensitise the politicalleaders to the issue of adequate representation and participation of women in political

decision making and to the problems they face in the process in order to mainstreamgender concerns and perspectives.

Certain practices in electoral politics have to be regulated to suit the independentfunctioning of women candidates. Election campaigns must be made more safe and inexpensive with serious government initiatives to curb expenditure, corruption, violenceand malpractice. The criminalisation and communalisation of politics also have to befirmly checked.

A conscious effort should be made to bring in women from the marginalised communities like dalits, tribals and minorities into mainstream politics so that their

interests are voiced. Women's movement needs to engage in lobbying with the political parties for the same. Along side, lobbying with the media has to be pursued seriously for disseminating the values of equality and to project women's contribution to nation building and their transformatory potential in politics.

A comprehensive National Policy on Women must emerge to provide a blue-print for time-bound action on gender issues.




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An important event that the National Committee for Women, renamed as the NationalAlliance of Women, initiated was 'A Conference of Commitment.' This was a vital political initiative of the women's coalition, to get the Country Government, committed toconcrete action, for the advancement of women, at the Fourth World Conference onWomen.

At the NGO conference in Huairo, Indian women’s groups and other country groupsemphasised, the importance of women coming into politics. India in fact, was cited as being the first country, to introduce Constitutional Amendments, to reserve seats for women in local governance. However, the women’s movement has urged the need toextend such reservations into the higher levels of governance, namely the StateLegislatures and Parliament.

During the 1991 general elections, for the first time a dialogue was initiated, between themajor political party representatives and women’s groups. Accountability to their constituencies and inclusion of women concerns in party agenda, were issues that thewomen’s movement emphasised.

Post-Beijing activities through out the country highlighted the importance of women’s political participation. Preceding the 1996 general elections, the National Alliance of Women organised several State level meetings, which underlined actions such as:

• to mobilise women as a political constituency;

• to inform women about the value of their vote;

• to urge women to seek accountability from their political representatives; and toencourage and empower women with political education to prepare them to contestelections.

At the national level, the National Alliance of Women and the Seven National Women’s

Organisations consistently lobbied with the National Political Parties to take notice of thewomen’s charter that these bodies presented to them.

The 1996 General Elections was in a way historical. This was the first Lok Sabha electionafter the Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing one-third representation to women inlocal governance. Several thousands of women had been elected as local leaders at theselevels. These elections came within seven months after the major global event of theFourth World Conference on Women. The Government of India without any reservationsendorsed, the Beijing Declaration stating “Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation inthe decision making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of

equality, development and peace.”

The National Alliance of Women (NAWO)90 culminated its State-level political agendawith a National Consultation in the country capital on ‘Mainstreaming women’s agendainto electoral politics.’ Women from the south and north, east and west of the country

90 Extracted from ‘Women’s Political Agenda for 1996 and Beyond’ –NAWO newsletter




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openly voiced their uppermost concerns in achieving their ends by now strategicallylobbying with all political parties, regardless of their ideology, to commit their effortsqualitatively and quantitatively to the cause of women. The NAWO Manifesto thatemerged demanded the need for political, economic, social, violence against women, and media reforms to be addressed.

6.2.3 The political charter of the NAWO manifesto demanded the following:

• 33 per cent to 50 per cent reservation of seats at all levels of decision-making bodies,with priority to women, SCs, STs, OBCs, urban poor and minorities;

• 33 per cent to 50 per cent reservation of seats in political parties for women;

• end criminalisation of politics and politisation of crime;

• public declaration of assets of candidates;

• right to recall elected members; the separation of politics from caste, class and religion;

• right to information and public hearings on projects and policies that affect people;

• Government to review the increasing influx of foreign immigrants across national borders, and formulate appropriate policies to protect respective state interests; and

• check the nexus between the liquor lobby and politics, and alcoholism.

6.2.4 The Political Demands91

were:

A commitment for electoral reforms to include strict monitoring of election expenditurealong with state funding for elections. No tickets to charge-sheeted criminals and thosehaving cases against them concerning atrocities against women. Right to recall elected representatives. All accounts of political parties be audited and available for publicinformation.

Commitment to make necessary amendments, to the constitution to ensure a minimum of

one-third seats in all assemblies and parliament for women. All parties to ensure one-third seats to women.

Commitment to separate religion from politics and prevent misuse of religious symbolsand slogans during elections. Appropriate legislation to be made in this regard, includingamendment to the constitution if necessary.

To withdraw of legislation proposed to the Peoples Representation Act for disqualification for all those who have more than two children.

Commitment to uphold secular values and to defend the rights of the people against

casteist and communal violence and in particular defence of the rights of dalits and tribals.

Commitment to economic and political sovereignty and the self- reliance of the country.

91 Ibid.




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All the major political parties in the country had unanimously in their election manifestosstated that the 33 per cent reservation for women introduced at the local level of governance be extended to the upper echelons of governance.

6.2.5 Campaign for the Reservation Bill:

NAWO and the commonly referred to ‘Seven Sisters’ Organisations’ lobbied with thenewly elected government to fulfill its promise to reserve 33 per cent seats for women inthe state assemblies and the parliament. Under the Prime Minstership of H. D.Devegowda, the 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced. Though all themajor parties had declared their support to reservations in their party manifestoes, the Billdid not receive majority support. Several members raised the objection that the Billwould only facilitate the entry of urban, educated, upper-caste women, since there was noreservation for the backward castes. The point concerning quota within a quota for theissue of the backward castes is not valid. At present a majority of the total number of parliamentarians belong to the Backward Castes.

A note-worthy aspect of the debate in parliament was that women parliamentarians,cutting across party lines spoke in one voice, demanding the passage of the 81stConstitutional Amendment. The National Commission for Women in consultation withseveral women’s organisations set up an ad hoc political core-group with women activiststo design and take forward a consistent campaign to lobby for the enactment for the 81stConstitutional Amendment Bill.

The parliament set up a Joint Select Committee to review this Bill and receive commentson it from the women’s movement and public at large. The Committee comprised of representation from all major national parties of the ruling government and opposition parties.

Delegations of the women’s movement met with important parliamentarians who weremembers of the Joint Select Committee, urging them to place the report findings and recommend for it to be passed. Also national party leaders were met including the three prime ministers namely, H.D. Devegowda, I.K. Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee. Duringthis process it was even suggested to the delegation of women activists that the bill could be passed if the 33 per cent demand could be reduced to 25 or 15 per cent, which wasunacceptable to the women’s movement. The women’s movement has, till date, opposed all attempts to use its demand for one-third reservation as a bargaining counter, becauseany deletion now will ultimately be targeted at the Panchayati Raj provision, to which themovement had given first priority.

The National Alliance of Women spearheaded a campaign where women’s groups acrossthe length and breadth of the country sent telegrams to leaders of parliamentary parties toissue a whip to party members to vote in favour of the bill. This was to prevent the billnot being passed for want of quorum in the event of honourable parliamentarians leavingat the critical moment to take a snooze or a smoke. However the OBC lobby had by then




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flexed its muscles with members declaring to the press that even if the whip was issued they would disobey it.

The Joint Select Committee presented its report and an amended bill called the 84thConstitutional Amendment Bill was introduced in the parliament. The women’smovement had appealed to all the national party leaders to ensure that their members be present in adequate numbers when the bill is voted. However, the bill could not be passed

due the lack of a quorum. This was a major set back to all the women parliamentarianswho felt let down by their respective parties. It was clear that the male parliamentariansfelt threatened at the thought of large numbers of women unseating them.

The women’s movement has persistently been seeking change in the political climate.Today they feel that unless they themselves enter and create political space, no changewill come through. The support and requirement for adequate representation of women in politics has been recommended in the 1974 CSWI ‘Towards Equality’ report, NationalPerspective Plan in 1988 and the Nairobi Declaration in 1980.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to take part

in the government of his/her country. The United Nations Economic and Social Councilendorsed a target of 30 per cent women at all levels by 1995. The Beijing Declaration and Beijing Platform for Action have reiterated the need for women to be adequatelyrepresented at all levels of decision -making to exercise their civil political and socialrights.

The National Women’s Groups under the aegis of the National Commission for Women-Political Core Group met the Chief Election Commissioner recently and placed thefollowing demands prior to the 13th general elections: parties be asked to allot moretickets to women and their recognition by the Election Commission be hooked on to thiscondition; to enable women to contest elections, a realistic ceiling be placed on the

election expenditure; a code of conduct be enforced to disallow candidates with criminalrecords to contest elections; voter awareness camps be held all over the country; theholding of free and fair elections be imperative; women candidates be given special police protection during the campaign phase and on the day of the polls (Extracted fromthe appeal given to the Chief Election Commissioner).

In the aftermath of the recent 13th General Elections, we see that there has not been anysignificant change in the numbers of women candidates fielded during election or in thenumber of women parliamentarians.

6.3 Towards Engendering Governance

The Gender Studies Unit, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, isconducting a longitudinal research-action-cum advocacy study on ‘Women and Decentralised Governance’. The main objective of this project is to facilitate the effective participation of elected members, particularly the women members to engender governance. As an initial step, the pre-election and election processes of all the threelevels of the PRIs were studied and documented.




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As a part of the advocacy process a one-day multi-party consultation was held on Jan 17,2001 at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. Some aspects closely studied were such as: the role of the political parties in facilitating women’s participation, thelinkage between the three tiers, the need to involve political parties in a dialogue tostrengthen partnerships. The participants were elected representatives, senior statemembers of the national level political parties, including the women’s wings, researchers,

scholars, NGO representatives, senior bureaucrats and media persons who activelydeliberated on the subject.

Though reservation of seats have provided women the opportunity to enter politics and have proved their capabilities. Women are competing on par with men from theunreserved seats, however, the major problem faced during elections is that of financingtheir canvassing campaigns. The need to introduce some policies to either supportelection funding or stringent measures to check the lavish expenses. Elected women areconstrained from attending meetings, visiting various offices to get work done for their constituency as they have no access, nor control over resources in the family, neither dothey get adequate allowances that would meet such expenses. It is high time that facilities

of travel allowance and dearness allowance be given as it is given to the senior levelelected politicians in the state and centre. Basic training and education in politics should be available to women so as to equip them better for entering the political arena. Anenabling environment is necessary to promote women’s participation both within the parties and the institutions of governance, particularly in the context of the increased criminalisation, communalisation and corruption in politics.

Finally, this consultation was concluded as all the parties had common agreement tosupport reservations for women and could be initiated at party level and state-level as the precedence was set in 1987 in the state of Karnataka. However, there was a consensusmaintained by the panelists that the 85th Constitutional Amendment Bill pending in the

parliament should be passed but there was no consensus evolved on whether reservationsshould exist within the 33 per cent reservations on women.

Another consultation was organised for ‘ Evolving strategies for Good Governance inKarnataka’ was held on January 20, 2002 at National Institute of Advanced Studies,Bangalore, for the elected representatives of the three tier Panchayat Raj Institutions tocollectively raise demands to promote their effective participation in governance. The participants comprised of Zilla Panchayat presidents, Taluk and Gram panchayatmembers, NGO representatives and individuals concerned about the issue. Theconsultative meeting provided the opportunity for the unit to disseminate the CEDAWframework and stressed on the need to look into the issues of women for good and

engendered governance. Though the main purpose of this consultation was to draw up amemorandum, which was submitted to:

• The Prime Minister during a national level meeting in Delhi for the elected representatives of the PRIs from all States.




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• The Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Karnataka.92

6.3.1 Major Issues:

1. The government officials deputed as secretaries to the panchayats often control power and take decisions independent of the presidents and the members. The funds for the panchayat being credited in the secretaries account has resulted in the

exclusion/sidelining of elected members from the decision-making processes.2. The term of office for the presidents and vice-presidents at the taluk and zilla

panchayat levels has been reduced from thirty to twenty months. This has increased the number of rotations from two to three. As such the secretaries do not take themseriously.

3. The role of the zilla panchayats has been reduced to that of an implementing agencydue to the interference of local MLAs who have their own agenda for their constituencies.

4. Delays in the transfer of funds from the Zilla to Taluk and subsequently to the GramPanchayats.

5. Tremendous pressure on the Gram Panchayats to complete works for funds received

in March, in March itself.

Though these issues are commonly faced by both women and men elected representatives but it affects the women members the most. As many of the women members are firsttimers, lack experience and knowledge about the process of governance. Being newcomers, illiterates and belonging to the lower castes also hinders their access toinformation from the government officials and causes them to be sidelined or ignored completely. The reduction in the period of holding the office as presidents or vice- presidents does not give an opportunity for them to exercise their power. By the time theylearn about their duties and responsibilities and put into practice, the period comes to anend. Women representatives showed more concern and wanted to fulfill their

responsibilities/ promises made to their voters, hence the MLAs interference in their work hampers building their constituencies.

6.3.2 Demands in the memorandum:

1 The term of office for the Presidents and Vice-Presidents to be made for the full 5year period.

2 The elected representatives of the Zilla Panchayat on the basis of reservation, should be nominated to the legislative assembly and legislative council with at least one third of them being women.

3 In Gram sabhas at least one third of women’s participation to be made compulsory.

4 Gram sabhas should be strengthened to ensure proper and effective implementation of the developmental programmes.5 Gram sabhas should be more open and accountable. Participation of government

officials to be made compulsory.

92 The memorandum was submitted collectively by the elected representatives and NIAS team on April,2002.




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6 The elected representatives should have the power to allocate finance, do planningand in supervising the implementation process of various line departments engaged indevelopmental activities.

7 The government officials should report work progress of their departments to theelected members.

8 More emphasis should be laid on accountability and transparency of the ZillaPanchayats.

9 The honorarium for the elected Zilla Panchayat members to be increased to aminimum of Rs.5000/-.

10 There should be a separate cadre of staff and operational guidelines for thePanchayats. Their selection and administrative powers should lie with the ZillaPanchayat president.

11 Similar to the central and state schedules, a local schedule should be made for localgoverning bodies also.

12 An untied fund of at least 20 per cent of the total plan fund should be provided toeach of the Zilla Panchayats and its president should have the power of using thismoney for meeting the priorities and needs of their constituency.

13 As a part of local resource mobilisation, the Panchayat should be given the power of

levying local taxes in its constituency.14 Gram Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat, and Zilla Panchayat should work in partnership to

plan and implement developmental programs15 All programme implementers, inclusive of the Local MLA should adhere to the

decisions taken in the Gram sabhas.16 Ceiling on election expenses to be implemented very strictly.17 Elected people with corruption and criminal charges should not be allowed to

continue in their offices.18 People with corruption and criminal charges should not be allowed to contest the

elections.19 Grama Panchayats should be computerised in order to help them to be more

transparent about the decisions taken in the gram sabhas.20 The annual grant to the Grama Panchayats should be increased. More emphasisshould be laid on raising resources locally and using it effectively.

21 Suitable amendments should be made to the existing Acts for an effective and timelyimplementation of the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha.

22 The Grama Panchayats should be given the power of supervising the works carried out by Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat grants in their area.

23 Grants to the Grama Panchayats should be released in time.24 The Panchayat secretary to be made more accountable to the elected members of the

Grama Panchayat.25 The administrative and financial powers should be delegated completely to the

elected Grama Panchayat members.

6.3.3 Some of the important demands pertaining to women in particular were:

The zilla panchayat members should on a reservation basis be nominated to thelegislative assembly and legislative council with at least one third of them being women.One-third representation of women in gram sabha’s to be made compulsory




99

The Unit having representation by way of appointment as a member of the WorkingGroup on Decentralisation, set up by the Government of Karnataka has been able tocontribute substantially for policy reforms. Some of the major recommendations thathave been accepted by the working group for reform are:

• The concept of vasathi sabhas has been introduced. Vasathi is the ward or constituency of each member. This sabha enables individual member to hold meeting

with their constituents and ensures that the concerns of marginalised and under privileged who are often under-represented in the larger forum like gram sabha areaddressed. All the members of the gram panchayat are directed to attend each of thevasathi sabhas under their panchayat limits. This would build collectiveaccountability to the issues/concerns raised in the vasathi sabhas.

• A circular has been issued by the state government directing the gram panchayats toconvene meetings of the gram sabhas every quarter. The circular includes theguidelines for the conduct of the gram sabhas.

• Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj as a part of its initiatives todecentralise, has asked for more women officials to be posted to gram panchayats.GSU has been lobbying for 1/3 of women voters participation in gram sabhas to be

made mandatory.

6.3.4 Contribution to the report by the Taskforce on Empowerment of Women:

One of our major advocacy efforts has been in the re-organisation of the report prepared by the Task force on “Empowerment of Women” formed by the Government of Karnataka. The contribution has been in the form of introducing the CEDAW framework as well as the concluding comments into the report. GSU was invited by the taskforce to be a part of the core group that officially presented the report to the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

6.4 Conclusion

The women’s movement has been underlining the need for women’s politicalempowerment. They have been adopting multi-pronged strategies. Consultations,signature campaigns, large public meetings, media advocacy, lobbying political partyfunctionaries, relay hunger strikes, protest sittings and marches and so on. On the other hand there are several NGOs that have focused their attention to training women elected into local levels of governance and also prospective women candidates. The purpose being to facilitate them to effectively function in the political office. On the other, thereare researchers studying women’s political participation, identifying factors that impedeor promote women’s active participation in electoral politics. There is a need for all these

efforts to converge. What is also important is that the Movement and the NGO sector must bridge the existing gaps and unite as one major force to promote and facilitatewomen’s political participation.

Women’s participation in the political process is critical both to the strengthening of democratic traditions and to their struggle against oppression. Political activism for




100

women, as for other underprivileged groups, is integral to social transformation. Themomentum therefore requires considerable strengthening and acceleration.

The mood of the women’s movement is restless. It is not sufficient just to be given political space at the local and lower levels of governance. The struggle for women’sreservations at the higher levels of political office must continue. The enactment of the85th Constitutional Amendment Bill is still a distant dream. The struggle for equality in

economic, social and political spheres will continue until they are achieved. Only thencan women charter their political agenda to build a gender just society.




101

(7)

RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 Short Term

7.1.1 By Government:

• To enact the 85th Constitutional Amendment Bill pending in the Parliament, providingreservation for women, thereby involving women in the political and decision makingarenas. Thus providing space for women to ensure their concerns and perspectives areincorporated while strategising and planning for action.

• To ensure that PRI elections are conducted in those States where elections have not been conducted like Bihar and parts of North Eastern States: the latter being tribalstates are excluded from holding PRI elections. The tribal customary laws take precedence over the law of the land, which is provided by the Constitution for specific special areas.

• To ensure that an enabling environment is provided for women in the elected bodiesand that their positions are not always threatened with premature removal from their posts.

• To enforce severe measures to stop corruption, criminalisation and communalisationof politics.

• To ensure that women are taken seriously in their elected post by allotting important portfolios and limiting their functions to social welfare and women and child development.

• To enforce stringent ceiling of funding expenses incurred for election campaigns.

• To introduce special mechanisms to induct women at all levels of decision-making toensure, that they form a critical mass to contribute and influence administrative

planning and policy measures.• To amend the Representation of Peoples Act, making it mandatory for every political

party to have one-third of its cadre to be women.

• To ensure that women have adequate space in trade unions and co-operative societiesand such other registered institutions.

• To de-legitimise the traditional community based Panchayat.

• To make training mandatory for all elected representatives to attend, so that womenare not denied this opportunity. This must be done equally for all women who have been elected into rural as well as urban governance.

• To create awareness amongst women through mass media about the electoral processand also the candidates contesting for election, thereby eliminating powerful mentaking advantage of the ignorance of women and controlling their decisions inexercising their right to vote.

• To have regular programmes to gender sensitise the local, State and National leveladministrative personnel, the political party members and functionaries of theenforcement agencies.




102

• To immediately realise the commitments that the Government of India made at the 4 th

World Conference on Women.

• To introduce a National Policy on Women for the advancement of women.

• To set up a decentralised mechanism of a Women’s Rights Commission withrepresentation of the enforcement agencies, judiciary, bureaucracy, women’smovement/NGOs and the media beginning at the local, state and federal level, instead of a Commissioner for Women’s Rights to check the growing violence against

women.

7.1.2 By NGOs:

• To intensify the already existing training and reach out to all the elected members aswell as, to prepare prospective women candidates for electoral politics.

• To disseminate information on the functions and responsibilities of the elected representatives and the role of women as politicians.

• To form women’s collectives, associations, cooperatives and unions to develop intosupport structures to strengthen women’s political participation, including buildingnetworks and coalitions within and between the various social action groups.

• To initiate a campaign for mobilising support and advocating for the enactment of the85th Constitutional Bill

• To monitor the state in fulfilling it's obligation of providing an enabling environmentfor women to participate in politics.

7.2 Long Term

7.2.1 By Government:

To disseminate information on the 85th Constitutional Amendment Bill and createawareness on the importance and need for women to enter politics.

To introduce electoral reforms so that:

• Political parties ensure their election manifesto promise of reserving 33 per cent seatsfor women in the State Assemblies and Parliament be fulfilled.

• Within the political party hierarchy, there should be efforts to have at least aminimum of 33 per cent women in all levels of decision-making.

• Women do not have easy access to financial resources as they are denied propertyrights. They have no control over their earnings and form the low-waged or non-waged strata of society. Therefore, it is necessary to earmark special fundingassistance to enable women contest elections

• To enhance the existing training for elected women representatives in terms of content. The package must address the gender responsiveness and issues affecting thelives of women, in addition to the necessary input of the functional responsibilitiesthat would enable women to govern effectively.

• To work towards ensuring that all elected women are imparted training in aconducive and enabling environment, such as facilities that would enable women




103

attend all training courses without creating a burdensome situation like convenienttimings, facilitate mobility, child-care support and so on.

• To create awareness about the importance of Gram Sabhas (Peoples’ Forum) thusinitiating the process of ensuring transparency and accountability of the localgoverning unit.

• To educate women about the right to vote and enable the strengthening of thewomen’s constituency.

• To have supportive mechanisms to ease women’s domestic-burden and enable her to participate actively and discharge her political duties effectively.

• To facilitate the formation of women’s associations, collectives and cooperatives tosupport and strengthen women’s political participation

• Media should endeavour to put out stories of ‘best practices’ i.e. success stories of elected women who are performing their political duties and overcoming thechallenges of a male-dominated profession.

7.2.2 By NGOs:

• To equip women with capacity and confidence to empower and motivate them to

enter the political domain.• To facilitate horizontal and vertical interaction of women elected at the different

levels of governance to enable sharing of experiences and building solidarity and networking

• To conduct political education and political training for women to realise the power of their vote, the need to seek and be accountable and to gender stream the politicalagenda.

7.3 Prioritisation of Recommendations

At a consultation involving the partner organisations and individuals the above short and

long-term recommendations with reference to the government and NGOs have been prioritised in the order of importance. Further, strategies for action have been evolved inorder to fulfill the prioritised recommendations. Following are the short- and long-termrecommendations with their respective action-plan.

7.3.1 Short Term:

To enact the 85th Constitutional Amendment Bill pending in the Parliament, providingreservation for women, thereby involving women in the political and decision-makingarenas. Thus providing space for women to ensure their concerns and perspectives areincorporated while strategising and planning for action.

• Initiate a countrywide movement for 1/3 reservation at higher levels.• Nation-wide revival of campaign

• Use of electronic media/press for campaign and get women in the media to takeinitiative of the campaign for women's reservation

• Mark a day preferably April 24th to initiate the movement, involving the Governmentand elected women members from all levels of governance




104

• Networking with existing women groups

• Initiate dialogue with political parties at state and national levels

• Media workshops for journalists (English and Vernacular)

• Gender sensitisation of women and men in politics

• Highlight success stories focusing to reach village women and communities throughregional/local papers

• Use existing women's groups as fora for discussions and create others with several

stake holders to dialogue and mobilise public opinion

To introduce and enforce several measures to stop corruption, criminalisation and communalisation of politics

• Set up Women's Rights Commission in each district and get women watchcommittees to monitor it at local level

• Survey and document increased incidences of violence against elected women. TheState Commission for women and the departments of women and child developmentand rural development and panchayat raj should be trained and facilitated to conductthis using the CEDAW framework

• Interviews and panel discussions with successful women in politics at all levels behighlighted in visual media (prime time) to motivate other women to enter/sustaintheir interest in politics

• Train women from communities, activists, researchers in fact finding and documentation of such cases of violations

• Local information management system to be put in place

• Putting accountability mechanisms in place by pressuring the politicians to disclosetheir properties and assets. This would check the use of money and liquor power tocontest elections

To amend the Representation of Peoples Act, making it mandatory for every political party to have one-third of its cadre to be women.

• One third reservation for women in all levels of the parties to be introduced throughelectoral reforms

• The clause regarding the disqualification of persons who have more than two childrenfrom politics to be repealed from the People's Representation Act

To create awareness among women through mass media about the electoral process and also the candidates contesting for election, thereby eliminating powerful men takingadvantage of the ignorance of women and controlling their decisions in exercising their right to vote.

• Right to information campaign

•

Critical citizenship, training modules on rights• Highlighting women in politics who have successfully confronted corruption and

communalisation as a motivating factor to other women to enter into politics




105

7.3.2 Long Term:

Within the political party hierarchy, there should be efforts to have at least a minimum of 33 per cent women in all levels of decision- making

• Fora to be created at both state and national levels to dialogue and negotiate withthe political parties to catalyse the process

To disseminate information on the 85th

Constitutional Amendment Bill and createawareness on the importance and need for more women to enter politics.

• To mobilise public opinion and raise awareness by disseminating related information, to get more women into the parties

• Build and strengthen women’s constituencies to enable women to represent themin decision making bodies in parties

• Encourage women from the movements to be enrolled as members in political parties

To facilitate the formation of women’s associations, collectives and cooperatives tosupport and strengthen women’s political participation.

• Build women’s constituencies and in parties to enable them to organisethemselves into formal and informal collectives

• Develop dialogue mechanisms to raise awareness across different levels of women in politics e.g. women counselors

• Increase awareness among school and college students on the importance of women in politics

• Networking of women groups/organisations to ensure dissemination of information

• Generate a data-base on urban governance and governance at state and parliamentlevels.

Women do not have easy access to financial resources as they are denied property rights.They have no control over their earnings and form the low-waged or non-waged strata of society. Therefore, it is necessary to earmark special funding assistance to enable womencontest elections

• State funding to empower/enable women to contest elections

To enhance the existing training for elected women representatives in terms of content.The package must address the gender responsiveness and issues affecting the lives of women, in addition to the necessary input of the functional responsibilities that would enable women to govern effectively.

To create awareness about the importance of Gram Sabhas (People's Forum) thusinitiating the process of ensuring transparency and accountability of the local governingunit.



Bibliography

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2. Batliwalla, Srilatha, B.K. Anitha, Gurumurthy, Anitha and Wali, Chandana S.

(1998), “Status of Rural Women in Karnataka” Women’s Policy, Researchand Advocacy Unit (WOPRA), NIAS, Bangalore

3. Batliwalla, Srilatha (1996), “Transforming of Political Culture” Economic and

Political Weekly, XXXI, Number 21, p.1248-251

4. Chandrashekar B.K. and Inbanathan A. (1991), “Profile and Participation of Women Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat Members: The Case of Karnataka” Journal of Rural Development

5. Choudhary, Anil K. (1994), “Panchayati Raj: Concerns and Issues.” ISED,

Summer, May

6. Country Report, Fourth World Conference on Women: Beijing 1995.

7. Datta, B (1996), “And Who Will Make the Chapatis?: A Study of All WomenPanchayats in Maharashtra”, 1992-1995

8. Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Ministry of HumanResource Development, Government of India (1995)

9. Gala, Chetna, “Women in Panchayats” Manushi, Number 65, p. 3-6

10. Institute of Social Studies Trust (1995), “Challenges and Opportunity: AStudy of Women Panchayat Representatives in Karnataka.” UMA Resource

Center Occasional Paper Series number 1

11. Institute of Social Sciences (1995), “Participation of Women in PanchayatiRaj: A Status Report.” Background paper presented at the NationalConference on Women and Panchayati Raj, New Delhi, April 23-24, 1995

12. Institute of Social Studies Trust (1995), Strengthening the Participation of Women in Local Governance, (Uma Project), Bangalore

13. Jain L.C (1992), “Women Enter Politics”

14. Jayasimha K., Kumar, Kiran R. (2000), “The Anatomy of Gram Panchayats: AStudy of Dharwad District” TIDE Development Research Foundation,Bangalore (unpublished report)

15. Kishwar, Madhu (1996), “Women and Politics: Beyond Quotas” Economic

and Political Weekly, XXXI, Number 43, p.2871



16. Kumar, Radha (1997), “The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India 1800-1990” Kali for Women, New Delhi

17. Mathew, George and Nayak Ramesh C. (1996), “Panchayats at Work: What itmeans for the Oppressed?” Economic and Political Weekly, July 6, 1765-1771

18. Mathew, George (1995), “Status of Panchayati Raj in the States of India 1994”Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi

19. Mehta, Ashok Committee (1977), Report of the Committee on Panchayati RajInstitutions, New Delhi.

20. Mohan, Shantha, Asha Ramesh and Piush Antony (2000), “Blending theConcerns: Gender and Governance”, NIAS, Bangalore

21. Mohanty, Bidyut (1995), “Panchayati Raj, 73rd Constitutional Amendment and Women” Economic and Political Weekly, XXX, Number 52, p.3346

22. Mohapatra, K (1995), “Women in Panchayati Raj in Orissa: A Study from theField”, ISED, Bhuvaneshwar

23. Mukherjee, Geeta (1997), “Unite and Support of One-Third Reservation for Women” National Federation of Indian Women, New Delhi

24. Mukhopadhyay Ashim (1996), “Coming of Women into Panchayati Raj” FirstSeries Occasional Paper number 2, School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, p.25-30

25. Nagar J. (1997), “Himachal Women and Gram Panchayats.” SUTRA researchteam

26. Narsimhan, Shakuntala (1998), “Gusty Rustic” Deccan Herald , August 16

27. Narasimhan, Sakuntala (1999), “An Overview of Past State Initiatives” Empowering Women: An Alternative Strategy from Rural India SagePublications, New Delhi

28. National Centre for Advocacy Studies (1998), “Lok Sabha Election 1998” Info

Pack Issue No. 2 May-August

29. National Institute of Advanced Studies (2001), “Multi Party Dialogue”,unpublished report of Gender Studies Unit, Bangalore

30. Pamela Philipose (ed.) (1998), “The Political Agenda. Issues TowardsBeijing”, Coordination Unit, New Delhi

31. Radha S. (1994), “Panchayati Raj and Women Representatives (Kerala)”Institute of Management in Government, Tiruvananthapuram



32. Report of the working group on decentralisation March 2002: Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka

33. Ramesh, Asha and Bharati Ali (1998), “Towards Political Empowerment – Profiling Elected Women Members in Karnataka and Gujarat, (A Report)”

34. Saraswati Haider (1998), “All Women’s Political Party launched in UP”

Economic and Political Weekly, Feb 21, 385-88

35. Search News (1993), “Panchayati Raj Institutions in Punjab” January to June, p.35

36. Sen, Ilena (1995) “A Profile of Women Members in Chattisgarh” incollaboration with The Coordination Unit for the World Conference onWomen 1995

37. Shah, Nandita and Nandita Gandhi, (1991), “Do we need reservations?” The

Quota Question: Women and Electoral Seats Akshara Publications, Bombay

38. Shubha K. (1997), “Karnataka Panchayat Elections 1995: Process. Issues and Membership Profile” Institute of Social Sciences, Concept PublishingCompany, New Delhi

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Hindu, 17th June

40. Stree Adhar Kendra (1996), “Women in Decision Making: A study of Womenin Gram Panchayats”

41. Swain and Mahapatra (1994), “Role Performance and Constraints of WomenLeaders in Gram Panchayats in Orissa: A Case Study of Balipatra Block”Utkal University

42. Vyasulu, Vinod (1998), “Panchayati Raj in Karnataka: Some Issues for Discussion” Prepared for a seminar at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, August 6, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore.



ANNEXURE I: WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION – D

Disparity/

Disadvantage

Contributing

factors

Impact on

womenState initiative

Effectivene

(Gap)

1. Number of elected representatives

2. Number of women contestingelections

3. Quality of participation of women elected representatives

4. Lack of criticalmass of women in political institutions

5. Voting pattern

6. Percentage of women in political parties and their committees

7. Number of women in other institutions and organisations such ascooperatives, mahilamandals, etc.

1. Access toResource and information

2. Access and Control of Economicresource

3. Access toGovernmentofficials

Restricts equalenjoyment of right to political participation on par with men

1. Impacts, exerciseand enjoyment of right of women tocontest elections, tovote and becomemembers of political parties and socialnetworks

2a. Restricts participation of women in political process

2b. Impairs incurringexpenditure for buildingconstituencies

3. Resistance of government officialstowards womenelected representatives

33% reservationfor women inPRI [73rd and 74th

constitutionalamendment]

Lack of affirmativeaction for reservation of seats at higher levels of governance suchas in thelegislative and parliament

Unsuccessfulattempts by theState in providingreservation for women in Statelegislature and parliament, onthree occasionsin the year 1996,1999 and 2000.

Politicalinstitutions become motransparentaccountable

Rotation syhas had anegative imin reflectingtheir chancegetting re-elected

There is a gceiling for women

- Few women public posilike chairpeof board etc

- few women



4. Access to media,other informationalresources

5. Access todecision-makingarenas

6. Access toorganisationalmembership

impedes their functions

4. excludes womenfrom accessingdecision-making positions

5. Impairs womennegotiating for important port foliosand to mainstreamgender issues in policy and programmes

6a. Restrictswomen’s participation intrade-unions and co-operativemovements

6b. Denies womenfrom opportunities togain similar experience like men

6c. Lack of economicindependenceimpedes women’s participation

7. Impairs womenfrom exercising their

Article 16- Rightof women tohold publicoffice

cooperativesocietiesmovementseparatesocietiesexclusivelywomen havhad its desiresults.



7. Mobility

8. Awareness

a) Awareness of electoral process.

b) Lack of knowledge

c) Awareness of roles and responsibilitiesof politicalinstitutions

d) Literacy and Education

right to franchise,contest elections and participateeffectively as elected representatives

8.

a)Impairs womenfrom participating inelections b) Impairs womenfrom making aninformed choice, particularly such achoice that would unite them as aconstituencyc) Restricts womenfrom makinginformed politicaldecisions ingovernanced) Restricts womenfrom demandingresources which iscrucial to build and nurture their constituenciese) Restricts womenfrom using theavailable resourcesas per their needsand politicalaspirations

Article 51(a)(e)

CurriculumEducation sreinforces tstereotypicroles of wo

Still drawwomen tostereotypicroles likenursing,teaching etc

Media projeof stereotyproles.



9. Control over earnings

10. Control over GPfunds

11. Control over decisions in elected bodies

12. Family supportand the value systemand subordination of women

13. Communitysupport

9. Restricts mobility

10a. Restrictselected women fromhaving control over the procedures and resources that areentitled to

11a. Restrictswomen fromexercising control innegotiating funds, programmes and schemes for their constituencies

11b. Restrictswomen fromtransforming the political culture and introducemechanisms of transparencies and accountability

12. Restricts womenfrom performingroles of elected representatives

13a. Restrictswomen frommobilising



14. Triple role of women

15. Culture and social norms

16. Individual levela) Marital status b) No. of childrenc) Casted) Classe) Gender f) Income

community support,alienate women and affects their functioning aselected representatives

13b. Affects their confidence and self-esteem and thus their performance

14. Restricts womenfrom effectivelydischarging their responsibilities aselected representatives

15. Restricts toexercise and enjoytheir right in various political processes

16a. Restrictswomen fromcontesting electionsin terms of socialacceptance to contest

16b. Restrictswomen fromcontesting electionsand results in loss of political experiencegained by these

Article 14 – Equality beforelaw and equal protection of law.



17. Class, Caste &Gender nexus

women

16c. Limits the potential for gender solidarity betweenwomen, therebythwarting attempts atdeveloping acommon politicalagenda

16d. Limits political participation aswomen do not haveindependentownership or controlover property, thusresulting independency on themales in the family

17. Women suffersdiscrimination and subjugation, whichin turn adverselyimpacts on womenas a political entityand a leader. Nullifies theaffirmative action of the government to provide reservationsfor women

18a. Impedeswomen from

No proper implementa

Equalityunderstoodimplementeterms of for



18. Expenditure for election

19. Organisational barriers

a) Political partysupport

b) Traditionalcaste/community panchayaths

c) Criminalisation of corruption

d) Communilisation of politics

e) Back lash toentry into politics

f) Violence and character

contesting18b. Hinders political participation of women

Status of womenlow

Women’sagenda notgetting reflected and addressed in policies and programs

Impedes womenfrom negotiatingfor important portfolios

Makes themvulnerable and voiceless

Self-confidenceand esteemaffected

Viewed as beingweak and ineffective bytheir male

Article 15 – Prohibition of discriminationon grounds of religion, race,caste, sex or place of birth.

Article 16 (2) – No citizen shallon grounds onlyof religion,caste, sex,descent, place of birth, residence,or any of them be ineligible for or discriminated against inrespect of anyemployment or office under thestate.

equality annot in termssubstantiveequality.

Concentratiunorganisesector.

No proper implementa



assassinationg) Reservations

and rotationsystem

h) Inadequatenumber of women indecisionmaking positions inthe political parties

23. Civil society and organisationalsupport

24. Lack of womenquorum in the PRI

25. Inadequate and barriers in accessingtraining

26. Lack of gender sensitivity

27. Mediainsensitivity

28. Allocation of port folios

colleagues and thus their viewsgenerallytrivialised and ignored

Hinders theentry of womenfrom lower economic strata,those without political familiar connections and for those fromthe marginalised groups

Backlash and resistance of men againstwomen’s entryin to politicalinstitutions

Practices likemisuse of “NoConfidenceDiscrimination”, proxycandidates and resistance towomen leaders

♣ Expenditure

ceiling put in place

Notimplementeeffectively.

Hinders polParticipatiowomen whonot have acand controlresources

Lack of participationin higher levels(Centre and State)

Lack of awareness,resources, support –

Cannot contest or campaign.Cannot accesscredit/loans.

Initiative is to passthe 85th AmendmentBill

Very lowrepresentation owomen hence thagenda cannot b



personal/family/party, patriarchalnorms, education,criminilisation,reluctance from the

party, mobility, noreservation.

Cannot organisethemselves.Cannot accessinformation.Physical security isthreatened.

forth

Poor representationat higher levels of PRIs

Patriarchy/culturalnorms, awareness,education, resource,moblility, burden of triple roles.

Women’s agendacannot be put forth.

73rd ConstitutionalAmendment Act

Qualitative participation islacking.

Lack of / denial of power to elected women

Nominated, caste(lower caste women being nominated byupper caste),education.Patriarchy.Low status of women.Party intervention.

Impedes inexercising controlover the proceduresand resources, preventing themfrom fulfilling promises.Cannot accessdecision-making position tomainstream gender issues in policy and

Programmes.Poor access togovernment officials by PRI womenrepresentatives

Gender insensitivityof the officials

Cannot access the programmes for womendevelopment.Access to

Government programmes and schemes to empower women.

NegativeMany women caccess when acollateral securneeded to acces



information is prevented.Prevents from building up their constituencies.

certain program(credit/loans).

Certain programhave had a posiimpact. Lot of women’s collecSHGs have bee promoted. Thushelping womensafe guard theirassets, savings their interests.

Denial of decision-makingseats/portfolios

Lack of interest fromthe political party.Low status,education,

information,mobility, resources,training

Lack of participationin politicalorganisation/cooperatives/CBOs/Socialnetworks

Physical security,restriction onmobility, culturalnorms, distance,timings

Disables womenfrom active participation as wellas entering politics.Cannot gainexperience for political participation.

Denial to vote Names not registered

in the electoral list,awareness of electoral system,criminalisation,distance, right tovote controlled bymen

Cannot elect the

right candidate whowill work towardsthe welfare and upliftment of women.

Article 326 – Every

person who is citizenof India and who isnot less than 18years of age and isnot otherwisedisqualified, shall beentitled to be

Not all names a

registered in theelectoral roles.

Lack of awarenthe electorate.

Criminalisation



registered as a voter at any election.

politics.

Distance of the polling centres.

Right to votecontrolled by m

Disqualifyingcandidates havingmore than twochildren

Decision makingregarding thenumber of childrenis not in thewomen’s hand.

Cannot contestelection.

Legislation passed by the state of Rajasthan, Haryanaand Orissa.

Negative impacDenies theopportunity to participate ingovernance.



ANNEXURE II: APPROPRIATE MEASURES FOR WOMEN

Department of Rural Development:

1. Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas. (DWCRA)

Department of Education:

2. Non formal education exclusively for girls.

Policies:

1. National Perspective Plan for Women 1988-2000 AD2. National Plan of Action for the Girl Child 1991-2000.3. Policy for Women State of Maharashtra, 1993.

Acts:

a) Political:

1. The Constitution of India.2. The Citizenship Act, 19553. The Representation of People Act, 19514. The Panchayati Raj Act, 1993.5. National Commission for Women6. State Commission for Women

b) Social:

1. The Constitution of India.

c) Economic:

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