Role of Women in PRIs
- Participation in election
- The Act provides for the reservation of not less than one-third of the total number of seats for women. It is an attempt to ensure greater participation of women in the election process directly and indirectly. It would be the nursery of creating women politicians for national politics. Even the participation of common women citizens in various activities such as attending Gram Sabha meetings, etc. has reportedly increased (68-78 percent).
- Participation in rural development
- Women are actively participating in rural development as per their capacity right from labourers to policy- makers.
- Participation in decision-making
- The participation of women as elected as well as non-elected members are rising due to reservation for women. It acts as a pull factor for women to participate in meetings. They give their suggestions for various works and problems faced by them.
- Agent of social revolution
- Women are acting as an agent of change in the society and raising voice against injustice and atrocities.
- Reducing corruption and violence
- Due to women representatives, the nexus of officers and male elected representatives are breaking, which has a direct impact on reducing corruption. The role of local muscle power has substantially reduced due to active participation and awareness of women about their rights and power.
- Reduction in violence against women
- Domestic violence has substantially declined due to women Pradhan or sarpanch. These women representatives pro-actively take up such violence. The victims also feel free to share their grievances to women representatives.
- Reduction in violence against Dalits
- The dominance of upper caste patriarchs has substantially declined, hence the shackles of casteism are subsiding.
- Practicing participatory democracy
- Growing participation of marginalized sections in general and women in particular, is transforming our democratic setup from representative democracy to participatory democracy.
Case Study
- Arati Devi: Devi has been able to improve village-level governance and streamline the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the village. She also started a literacy campaign for the women so that they were able to sign instead of using thumb impressions and write their applications. She has also been pivotal in reviving the traditional folk art troupes of her village.
- Sushma Bhadu: She dropped out of school in Class 7, but her efforts have resulted in her village winning many awards for its good sanitary conditions, zero dropout rate and the best sex ratio among all villages in Haryana.
- Bhakti Sharma: A well-planned drainage and sewerage line was laid through the village for organised wastewater management. To harvest the power of the rain, the sarpanch also built soak pits in every household, alongside hand pumps. This facilitated the percolation of excess water into the ground and raised the groundwater level. Before Bhakti got elected, the panchayat had merely nine toilets. Today, this panchayat has been declared open defecation free (ODF) where every household has a toilet.
- Chhavi Rajawat: Rajawat is now responsible for the regular supply of non-contaminated, drinking water to the village, construction of more than 40 roads and toilets in over 800 houses.
Challenges Before Women in PRIs:
- Patriarchy
- Many women are not allowed to contest elections and many continue to work as proxies for their male family members. Their male co-workers show insensitivity and may refuse to cooperate. Burden of household responsibilities, purdah (veil) system and domestic violence negatively affect their functioning.
- Inadequate Capacities
- Majority of women representatives enter into public life for the first time and do not have enough knowledge and skills to handle affairs of panchayats. Training programmes conducted by government training agencies are unable to cover all elected representatives in time.
- Violent Opposition
- Women often face more resistance from the community if they want to take bold steps. They are also subjected to violence from powerful elements of the society.
- Two Child Norm
- A few States like Odisha and Rajasthan have the two child norm for contesting panchayat elections. In rural areas women hardly have any say in the number of children in the family and such laws restrict their entry into panchayats.
- Caste System
- Hierarchical caste system in rural India makes it difficult for women from SC and ST communities to work independently and effectively.
- Lack of Women at Other Levels
- Lack of women co-workers and at higher administrative levels also hinders the free functioning of women representatives.
- Dual responsibility
- Women traditionally burdened with domestic workers face difficulties in balancing the official work with their home.
- Lack of security
- Well, sometimes due to lack of security women members fail to visit remote areas in odd hours or attend meetings in faraway places. The gradual criminalization of politics also is arresting their participation.
- Lack of expertise
- Lack of adequate information and managerial experience among newly elected women representatives is challenging, as they struggle to understand what is expected of them as elected members, leading to a situation where male representatives often seize power.
- Communication Issues
- The communication problem hinders performance as most of the correspondences, rules and also the regulations are in English.
- Leadership skills
- The lack of leadership skills makes it difficult for them to assert or even openly express their opinions. Recently, it has been reported that 77% of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions believe they can’t change things easily on the ground.
- Sarpanch Pati System
- Even after getting elected most of their work in panchayats is done by their husbands.