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Indian Journal of Public
Gender Quota and Administration
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Women's Participation 2023 IIPA
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in Rural Local Bodies [Link]-permissions-india
DO: 10.1|77/0019556 123|166860
in India: The Context, [Link]/homelipa
Constraints and $Sage
Consequences
Prabhat Kumar Datta2
Abstract
Gender quota in democratic institutions is now widely regarded as a tested
tool to promote gender justice despite limitations. In this article, an attempt
has been made to capture and analyse in the light of secondary source material
including my own small study in one of the Indian States, West Bengal, on the
impact of reservation of seats for women as elected women representatives in
rural local government in India, with special reference to the challenges experi
enced by them. It has been argued that, despite a number of inherent structural
constraints, women elected leaders have been able to prove their competence
to run the institutions of governance and to bring about positive change in the
agenda of governance and development. It has also been suggested that there is
a need for amuch more proactive role of the state which has created space for
women through an amendment of the Constitution.
Keywords
Gender quota, gender justice, empowerment, challenges, patriarchy, governance
and development
Gender holds an important place in the current discourse on governance
and development (UNDP, 2003). The United Nations sensitised the global
'XavierLaw School,St. Xavier's University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
'Former Centenary Chair of Public Administration, Department of Political Science, University of
Calcutta, India; and Former Adjunct Professor, China Rural Studies Centre, Central China University,
People's Republic of China.
Corresponding author:
Prabhat Kumar Datta, Xavier Law School, St. Xavier's University, Kolkata, West Bengal 700160.
India.
E-mail: dataprabhat@[Link]
Indian Journal of PublicAdministration
community about the nccd for bringing about gender parity through its decade
long programme launched in 1975. Gender cquality as a question of gender
Justice foms part of citizenship, human rights, good governance and UN's
Sustainable Development Goals. But the fact remains that women are highly
disproportionately represented in national parliaments. Presently only 25%
women are there in national parliaments around theglobe (UN Women, 2021).
Ihe massive underrepresentation of women in parliaments is viewed as an
oftshoot of structural gender inequalities. This has resulted in a situation of
growing acceptance of gender quota (Krook & Zetterberg, 2014). Electoral
quotas, applauded as one of the most critical electoral reforms in recent
years,
may be defined as a regulation that ensures the presence of a certain
number or
percentage of women of a specific group (Dahlerup, 2006). Dahlerup calls it a
qualitative jump into a policy of exact goals and means' (Dahlerup, 2007).
Pol1tical gender quotas have been accepted in many
political contexts such as consolidated democracies, countries in various
authoritarian regimes,
post-conflict transitions and more recently post-Arab Spring
& Rubio-Mario, 2013). reforms (Lepinard
In general, quotas represent a shift from
The classic liberal notion of equality was one concept of equality to another.
a notion of equal
competitive equality. It is argued that removal of formal barriers opportunity or
not produce real equal opportunity. Quota or alone does
other forms of active equality
measures may be necessary towards equality of results. It is sometimes
regarded, to borrow Dahlerup's phrases, 'a sort of fast track method' to achieve
gender equality and a potent instrument to tackle structural
inequalities. roots of gender
Local government holds a very important place to initiate the
bringing about gender justice in politics and governance. In addition, process of
cantly, gender quota in local government is now in place in as signifi
the countries across the world (UN Women, many as 44% of
2021). It has been accepted as an
important tool to pave the road for gender equality in politics and
Globally speaking, gender analysis of local government is an evolving governance.
of scholarship (Warren, 2007), which complements the field
previous
women in national politics (Pini & McDonald, 2011). India hasemphasis on
introduced,
gender quota in local government by amending the Constitution. In this article,
an attemnpt has been made to capture and analyse the
challenges experienced
by the elected women representatives (EWRs) in rural local bodies while
playing their roles and to assess the overall impact of quota not only on gender
justice but also on improving the quality of governance and agenda of local
development.
There is aview that politics of ideas (political choice between the policies
and programmes of political parties, rather than on the basis of group concerns
and interests) does not ensure adequate policy concern for groups which are
marginalised or excluded. This suggests the importance of a 'politics of presence',
in which women, ethnic minorities and other similarly excluded groups are
guaranteed fair representation (Phillips, 1995).
Datta
The State and Women in India
The nationalist movement in India was vicwed by the national lcaders in a wider
perspective of restructuring the socio-cconomic and future political setup, to
provide in it, among other things, equality of men and women. Way back in
women to
1920, Smt. Sarojini Naidu and Ms Margaret Cousins led a groupof Provincial
Indian
demand equal rights of representation for the fair sex in thefrom the Resolution
Legislatures. The attitude of our national leaders was evident
adopted in 1931
onFundamental Rights and Economic Programme which was could agree to
by the Indian National Congress. The Congress declared
that it
obligations of allcitizens,
a Constitution which provided for equal rights and suffrage. Significantly
without any bar on account of sex and provided for adult equality including
our Constitution in different Articles seeks to guaranteeConstitution of India,
provision for positive discrimination (Article 15(3) of the
Chakrabarty, 2018).
Reservation Debate
bodies received serious
The idea of reservation of seats for women in democratic
attention in the Second Round Table Conference (1931), although there was no
from the demand
consensus on that issue. The opponents argued that it deflected
for universal adult suffrage. It was also considered as an attempt to divide the
nationalist struggle. The question of women's reservations came up again in the
Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) in 1974. It was regarded as a
retrograde step by the women activists and they felt that it would contradict the
principle of equality guaranteed in the Constitution. Subsequently, the National
Perspective Plan for Women argued for introducing a 30% quota for women at all
levels of elective bodies (Ghosh & Lama-Rewal., 2005)
Introduction of Gender Quota through a
Constitutional Amendment
A national consensus had grown over the years around the demand for quota
resulting in one-thirds reservation of seats for women in local government insti
tutions through twin landmark constitutional amendments in 1992. During the
last few years, quite a few states in India like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West
Bengal and Chhattisgarh have amended their legislations to arrange for S0%
reservation of seats for women. The Indian Union has also taken a decision to
move forward in this regard. Significantly, in order to bring about S0% reserva
tion for women in Panchayats in all States, aConstitutional Amendment Bill,
namely the Constitution (One Hundred and Tenth Amendment)Bill, 2009, was
introduced in the Lok Sabhaon 26 November 2009. However, the matter was
not taken up., presumably because of other important businesses in the House.
4 Indian Journal of Public Administration
The present government has also tried to revive this proposal (Sinha, 2018).
Women now form 46% of the total 13.41 lakh women clected representatives
in all panchayat bodies.
The Impact of Reservation of Seats on Women
Broadly speaking, there are two groups of women elected members in
Panchayats. One group consists of those who have won seats under quota.
Many of them work largely on directions from their male kin (Kumar, 2021).
Another roup includes those who assert their rights and fight for the cause
of women in particular and for the voters of the constituency in general. But
this group is very small (Rath, 2015).
The first-generation studies conducted after one decade of the reservation of
seats for women in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala by a
number of non-governmental research organisations under the general guidance
of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)bring out that most members belonged
to the age group 35-45, and 20%-40% women elected representatives were
literate. About 40% of them contested elections on the insistence of their
husbands and community. Significantly, 20 of the respondents noticed change in
their status in the family. About 60% would like to contest the next election and
all of them would like to motivate women to contest elections (PRIA, 2003).
Demographic characteristics of EWRS were consistent with cross-national
studies. Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) found that women elected to reserved
seats were poorer than their male counterparts; they were less experienced, less
educated and less likely to be literate (Hust, 2004). The numbers of upper-caste
and educated women increased in higher tiers of local governments (subdistricts
and districts), and more women at these levels had political connections and
prior experience (Kudva & Mishra, 2008).
As expected, the EWRs have been experiencing many difficulties while
playing their roles (Chatterjee & Mukhopadhayay, 2007). An attempt has
been made here to identify these constraints which can be viewed from three
diflerent angles, namely, individual and family angle, social and political angle.
and legal-institutional angle.
Individualand Family Angle
Most such women were first timers as a result of which they lacked experience,
which brought down their level of self-confidence as retlected in their participa
lion in the meetings. By the time they learned this skill and started functioning
cflectively, their tern came to an end. So far only five States, namcly. Chhattisgarh.
Kerala, Hmachal Pradesh, Odisha and Karmataka, have made provisions for two
term reservation of seats and [Link] sarpanches oflen struggle to anage
work and family duties and their perceived limited knowledge of their job protile
as sarpanches complicate their funcioning (Sinha, 2018).
Datta
Institutions of governance are bound by rules, regulations and the like.
Lack of cducation makes it difficult for some of them to take an effective
part in the discussion and to learn about their roles and responsibilities by
reading training materials. During my fieldwork, Itried to ascertain from the
respondents if they had read the materials which were given to them at the
time of training. While a few of them could rcad, a good number of them
informed that they tried to read but found it difficult to understand. The
Government of West Bengal prepared quite a few handbooks in Bengali but
a
these were prepared without taking into account the educational level of
good number of stakeholders (Datta, 2003). A study by Bhaskar (1997)
conducted on women members of 84 GPs in Kerala found that apart from
education and land holdings, other variables like age, occupation and income
were crucial for women to enter into politics.
Financial dependence on the husbands or the other male members of the
family is another important impediment. In my study, it was found that some
(Datta, 2003).
Women representatives could not attend some of the meetings
either by
The fieldwork demonstrated that they were helped by their husbands
taking them to their meeting places on their bicycles or by paying some money
were keen on attending
for hiring rickshaws. Our interview indicated that they
meetings.
meetings but a lack of this support prevented them from attending the this
defray
Significantly, there is a provision for paying meeting allowance to
Panchayat office only after
expenditure in West Bengal, but it is paid by theregarded
the attendance of a few meetings. It may be as a sort of male
structure.
non-cooperation as males dominate the local administrative
discharge different
In India, more particularly in rural India, women have to
kinds of family responsibilities, starting from taking care of the elderly to managing
each and every bit of household work. At the time of elections, they were made to
making
believe that their family load would be shared. But it did not happen, differences
work. Due to
it difficult for some of them to do justice to panchayat responsibilities in
in socio-economic status, occupational choice and family
greater difficulties in
comparison to men, women candidates were likely to have
2007).
becoming eligible and aspiring political candidates (Alexander,
Social and Political Angle
levels.
Women encounter much more difficult challenges at the social and political
ideas"
In PRIs, we find that the 'politics of presence' precedes the 'politics ofnot neces
do
political parties nominate women to panchayat elections, but they themselves.
sarily reflect the ideas of gender cquality within the organisations
Andhra Pradesh
As apanchayat pradhan (or sarpanch, i.e., chairperson) from
in southern India commented:
insisted that
The local leadership of the party began to interfere with my functions and [They] held
Ishould accommodate their interests, even if it came in violation of ules.
tiom ditferent
localparty meetings without my knowledge and shared the tunds coming
sources among themsclves. (Manikyamba, 2004)
6 Indian Journal of Public Administration
Strong tradition of patriarchy has given birth to a new class of male villagc lcaders
called sarpanchpati (husbands of clected women members who are the wiclders
of real powers) in states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana (Pai, 1998a). She called
them namesake pradhans. It has been argued byother scholars as well(Singh &
Pal, 2016). We have another variety called sarpanchbhais (sarpanch-brothers).
sarpanch-pitas (sarpanch-fathers), sarpanch sasurs (father-in-law of sarpanchs).,
sarpanch-jeths (elder brothers-in-law of sarpanch (Pai, 1998b)). In such cases, as
Mathew clearly mentioned in his study on Panchayati Raj and human rights,
women have to act as rubber stamps (Mathew, 2003) or as proxies of their
husbands or other influential persons in the village (Mohanty, 1995).
Added to it is the general social perception that women are not fit for running
institutionsof governance. It is based on the old division of social life into private
and public, rooted in patriarchy. It is alegacy ofthe 19th-century social theorisation
based on old patriarchal ideas of sexual relationship, motherhood, fatherhood,
family and home.
Even when women have been able to prove their competence towork with
public institutions successfully, there are reports about continued resistance
to women's power with incidences of backlash and violence and efforts to
unseat them through no-confidence motions' (Sharma, 1998).Another study
by Vijayalakshmi (2007) on participation of women in Karnataka reveals that
although there was enhanced representation and improvement in the political
status of women in local government, it had not translated into effective
outcomes due to gender and other social differences.
Institutional-Legal Angle
Atthe legal-institutional level, women are facing some very strong challenges.
Mention may be made of some parallel bodies like Khap panchayats in north
Indian states and Gavkis in Maharashtra (Lele, 2001). AKhap comprises village
elders grouped along caste or community lines and by the need to perpetuate
a feudal and patriarchal order prevalent in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
and parts of Rajasthan. It is as old as the 14th century and was started by the upper
caste Jat community to consolidate their power and authority (Kumar, 2019).
They are not state-authorised institutions but regulate social relations within
the village and can act as 'instruments of terror' (Karat, 2004) in regulating
sexualities (Baxi ct al., 2006).
The 73rdAmendment of the Indian Constitution institutionalises participation
of the villagers in the Gram Sabhas. What is the role of women in these meetings?
The study shows that Gram Sabha meetings are rarely held, and when held, are
conductcd by the male relatives of woman pradhans (Datta, 2022). Participation
of women in thesc mcetings is minimal and issues concerning women rarcly come
up. Added to it is the male domination at all levels of administration in Indta
(Buch, 2000; Radha &Chowdhury, 2002)
States like Rajasthan and Haryana have passed legislations fixing educational
qualifications for those who would be contesting elections. It would exclude a
Datta 7
large chunk of the poor and the marginaliscd sections of the population, more
particularly women, because their level of literacy, not to speak of cducational
qualifications, is lowver than that of males. Under tremendous public pressure, the
govenment repcaled thispiece of legislation in January 2019 (The Hindu, 2019),
But why educational criterion be fostered on panchayats when the MPs and MLAS
do not have to abide by it! In addition, it is discriminatory anyway.
Two-child norm. which has been formalised through legislations in some
states, isanother unpleasant challenge. According to this norm(a) a person having8
more than two children/more than two living children after a specified date is not
eligible for entry or continuation in panchayats, and (b) having more than two
children does not attract disqualification on the date of coming into effect of the
law introducing this disqualification or up to the end of one year thereof, if an
additional child is not born thereafter. Nirmala Buch has indicated significant
implications andconsequences of this kind of legislations (Buch, 2006).
Two-child norm seems to be discriminatory because it does not apply to the
members of higher-level democratic bodies like state Assemblies and Parliament.
In effect, one who is debarred to contest panchayat elections can contest parlia
mentary clections. It may be mentioned that the Supreme Court, while disposing
arguing
of a petition filed by a tribal sarpanch in Odisha upheld the law as valid
that legislative intent in Panchayati Raj Act was to bar any person having three
live births in her/his family on contesting panchayat elections or holding an
office in panchayats' (Mahapatra, 2018). It is based on a contestable logic (Puri,
the expe
2000). The basic inspiration for this kind of legislation was derived fromand Kerala
rience of China which has now repealed it, while in India, Tamil Nadu
has been
have achieved a much faster decline in fertility rate than that in China. It
been attributed
possible primarily due to spread of education in these states. It has
to education only.
Summing Up and Concluding Observations
bodies has
It is evident that the reservation of seats for women in rural local
not produced the desired results. This has led one group of scholars like Anand
Teltumbde to argue that it may weaken democracy by creating an illusion of
gender
a solution (Teltumbde, 201l). Reservation intensifies the problem of
inequality by wrongly projecting it as a solution. Some scholars like Hust (2004)
arguc that women representatives do not show the possibility of active participa
tion in rural local bodies in India. In addition, often women nominees reflect what
has been called a phenomenon of 'tokenism' (Ban & Rao, 2007).
However, it may be said that on many occasions women have eventually been
able to improve the delivery ofpublic services. Itcannot be denied that participation
has increascd and women are no longer in thc role of only raising voices but have
started asserting as and when required to bring about a change in the agenda of
development (Sathe et al., 2013). Women have been able to bring about a change
in the agenda of governance. Mention may be made of a study done in Pune.
There was adebate in the panchayat about whcther a biogas plant would be
Administration
8 Indian Journal of Public
thc account of
installed in the village on the self-raiscd moncy that was lying inset in the office.
purchase of a TV
tne granpanchayat, would be utilised for the
finally accepted. Biogas plants
women members voted for biogas plant, and it was could
had given two-fold benefits to women, First, it be used as a fucl, thus
village at
reducing the use of coal or wood. Second, it helped illumination of the
thc
night, making the movement of thc women safer and incrcasing mobility of all
villagers after sunset (Arora, 2007).
Women leaders in panchayats have changed the face of the rural development
SCenario. In this respect, a study in Tamil Nadu may be cited. Women leaders
invest 48% more money than their male counterparts in building roads and
improving access and tend to concentrate on not just improving the supply of
water in dry districts but also its quality. More importantly, it changed their selt
perception as leaders and created role models for other young girls and women
(Rao, 2018).
In 2010, a comprehensive study of village councils in 11 Indian states found
that villages with female leaders made greater investments in key public services
like drinking water, education and roads (Beaman et al., 2012). In the same
I1-state study, villagers also reported paying fewer bribes in villages led by
women. Increases in service delivery combined with lower corruption indicated
that quotas for women were leading to more efficient use of resources at the
local level. Significantly, women have been able to bring about some change
in the popular social perception about them that they are incapable of running
the institutions of government. Because of the increasing awareness among
women of their potential, they are slowly gaining the confidence to overcome
social stigmas. Even disabled women have started rising to the occasion. For
example, Kantibai Dhurve, a disabled adivasi (tribal) woman in the Savalkheda
gram panchayat of Madhya Pradesh, was elected as president by 273 votes even
though seven men had opposed her. In the last four years, Kantibai was instru
mental in the construction of a road in the village apart from setting up many
handpumps. If the government helps us we can do much more' Kantibai says
(Chatre et al., 2018).
The networks of EWRs which are quite popular in the states like Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Kerala and in Gujarat, thanks to the intervention of the civil society
organisations, are playing a remarkable role. These networks promote solidarity
among EWRs who are otherwise divided by caste, religion and geographical
each
boundaries. In this process of working together, women also learn from
lives result
other and are exposed to cach other's works, problems and private
very act of going out
ing in solidarity. Second, itempowers women because the
empowering
to attend the meetings of the network in the village is itself an
process (Behar & Aiyar, 2003).
equality in representation
The increasing visibility of women and comparativeaffhirmative
state's action policies
of dalit women is indicative of the fact that
effective presence in representa
remain critical to securing women's active and
tive institutions (Kumar, 2021). Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) studied 265
ouncils (panchayats) in West Bengal and Rajasthan and highlight a lnk
Village
that are prioritised by EWRs.
between reserved seats and the kind ofpublic goods
Datta
9
According to them, these results suggest that direct manipulation of the identity ot
the policymakers can have important effects on policy. Such
confirmed by Kudva (2003) and Jayal (2006). observations are also
The studies have also exploded the myth that women are not
interested in
poiitics and elected women panchayat representatives belong to rich families and
Influential politicians and act as proxy of the male kins (Buch, 2014). The social
background studies of women done by the Govermment in West Bengal and
individual scholars may be mentioned in this connection (Chakravarty, 1998;
Datta, 2001; Munshi &Rosenzweig, 2008) found that reservation also reduces the
likelihood that a numerically dominant caste will emerge in any consttuency.
They pointed out that the cquity advantage of any reservation system is that it
favours historically disadvantaged groups.
Gram panchayat meetings in the cases where women pradhans were active
and effective have witnessed a greater presence of women members and higher
level participation of the women representatives. Concerns of women in gram
sabha meetings get discussed and more schemes and programmes related to
women find their way into the panchayats. These trends are visible in all the states
(Datta, 2003, 2013: Radha &Chowdhury, 2002). Women were 25% more likely
to speak at avillage meeting when the head of the village was a woman (Duflo et
al., 2010). Rescarchers have shown that quota has increased politicalparticipation
of women. When only women could run for village chief, with no competition
from men, there was a ten-fold increase in female candidates running for office
(Bhavnani, 2009).
Rachel Brule writes that gender quotas can create incentives for enduring
cconomiC and social cquality if they provide women with resources to pursue
enforcement of these rights in ways that open space for all parties to benefit
(Brule. 2020). Quotas have been found to be most helpful for younger women
who are able to renegotiate resource distribution across multiple domains
specifically land and dowry-which reduces the cost tomen and the subsequent
backlash. Indeed, one of my important findings is to show how women's ability to
leverage political power in the service ofinclusion leads to enduring empowerment
(Brule. 2020).
The fact, however, remains even today that woman's empowerment in rural
India largely depends on breaking the hard rock of patriarchy. Additionally.
as Batliwala reminds us:
women's empowement is essentially a political task. It cannot be achieved until and
unless acrilical mass of women access formal political power by entering political insti
tutions on a large scale. we cannot dismiss the fact that the Seventy-Third Amendment
of the Constitution is that one small step for women,which wisely and strategicaly
exploited, couldwell become a giant leap forward for mankind. (Batliwala, 1997)
Patriarchy continues to be a threat to effective realisation of 'politics of presence'
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment has given women a space which belongs to
them as a group. What Rabindranath Tagore wrote in 1929 remains valid in India
even today that the erux of women empowement is that they do not have their own
Indian Journal of Public Administration
houses. During their childhood, they live in the houses of their father; after mar
rnage. they live in the houses of their husbands, and therefore they spend their lives
in houses which are not owned by them, It was this hard realisation of Mrinal who
epresents the community of women in Tagore's novel StrirPatra (Wife's Letter)
and Kumudini who features in Tagore's novel, Jogajog (Communication). They
badly need houses of their own, as Virginia Wolf hintcd in 1929 in her A Room of
One s Onwnwhere they feel free to talk and decide things about
possible within the existing other constraints in the society. themselves far as
as
The provision for reservation of seats in the political institutions is like
apiece of land or space for the construction ofa getting
personal house. Women have to
construct their houses themselves. In this context, it is important for
remember that women are good resource managers. They need bricks, women to
steel, etc., to build their own houses. Given the strong mortar
patriarchal tradition of the
society, the state has to come forward proactively to facilitate the
construction. WVill the state which has still not been able to arrive at processes
aconsensus
of
on the question of reservation of seats for women in
like Parliament, come forward toextend the higher-level elected bodies
of the house? If the state does not come necessary support for the construction
forvward, willthis project turn to be a
daydream? The answer seems to be in the negative because peopleout and
practices and approaches which sometimes get hidden behind the statetheir or
'tradition' may play an important role.
It cannot be denied that women have by now
been able to prove that they are no
less comnpetent than men in running the machinery of
governance deftly and
dexterously. If quota for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions is to lead to the
achievement of their empowerment in real terms, social, economic and political
conditions which facilitate and encourage their participation, need to be
(Mohanty, 1995). The state in India which has created an invited space at thecreated
local
level cannot disown the responsibility of helping them use this
and successfully. Women have to be on a continuous vigil space independently
because deeply rooted
patriarchy is still active to take the space back. Political representation of women
through politics of presence by means of gender quota, though a very significant step
forward, cannot by itself produce equality of results unless there is a general political
consensus about the need for ensuring gender justice in politics. Additionally, in a
highly patriarchal society like ours, there is a need for mobilisation of women's efforts
towards this direction to sensitise the society at large for the creation of
necessary
objective conditions for theparticipation of women as equal partners.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the
research,
authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and or publication
of this article.
