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Meant for women’s empowerment, Mahila Sabhas are yet to justify their existence in the villages of India

The introduction of the 73rd amendment to the Constitution (1993) was a landmark move. For the first time in India’s history was a revolutionary step taken in the direction of bringing political power to women. In terms of women’s participation in local governance, this was hailed as one of the biggest achievements anywhere in the world. According to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj there are about 1.2 million elected women representatives in Gram Panchayats spread across India. The question still remains: has the move translated into real power for women? The picture mirroring the answer is a pretty sobering one. Amplified feminine presence in Panchayats has not resulted in a proportionate increase in the mainstreaming of gender issues. Power inequality in the context of gender is still very high in rural India. While decentralization of power embraces the notion of equality pretty naturally most women in rural India appear untouched by it.

It has been more than two decades since the introduction of Panchayati Raj Institutions or PRIs wherein positive discrimination had been enshrined through constitutional amendment. Whether women feel empowered having become effective participants at locallevel democratic institutions or whether they feel subjugated and deprived still needs to be assessed. A recent pathbreaking study regarding the effects of female reservation in Panchayats on certain outcome variables reported that both the quality and quantity of participation have increased in reserved Panchayats. Gender discrimination remains dominant, however, and is part of the rural reality. Reservations notwithstanding, social inequities involving gender and caste seem to have restricted the women from participating with any degree of effectiveness.

Evidence across the world suggests that wherever female participation has not been mandated by law women hold fewer positions in the elected bodies of local governments. Positive discrimination on its own, obviously, does not empower elected women representatives. In India, where they hold one-third of the positions, the women either remain silent spectators or follow the dictates of their husbands.

Several reasons have been cited for the women’s lack of involvement in Gram Panchayats including the conservative structure of rural areas, illiteracy, restricted media access, a patriarchic familial structure, and economic dependency. All these factors serve to deprive rural women of requisite skills and, consequently, the power to effectively participate in local governance. Discrimination occurs despite their wielding the same legal sanctions as their male counterparts. Reportedly, social taboos prevent elected women members from speaking during Gram Panchayat meetings. Studies conducted throughout the country seem to indicate similar outcomes. A case study from Tamil Nadu suggests that women do not, usually, get invited to meetings in male-dominated Panchayats while another study in Odisha suggests that women rarely participate in the electoral process or in the affairs of the Panchayats. Discrimination is sensed constantly and while the women may strongly dislike the discriminatory attitude of men covertly there are large numbers of Panchayat women members who take refutation of their points in the meetings without any form of protest. In Gujarat it was discovered that women were only nominal members of the Panchayat with actual responsibilities being shouldered by male family members. It is in Gujarat that the common term used for the husband of the female Sarpanch is ‘Sarpanch Pati’ since he is the person who wields the real power.

Caste politics, too, play a role in the rural scenario rather uncompromisingly. A study conducted by Jayshree Mangubhai, Aloysius Irudayam SJ, and Emma Sydenham in 2009 found that the dominant caste men controlled the resources of the Panchayat while also dictating terms. The female dalit Sarpanchs simply acted as proxies and faced strong opposition from dominant caste males while implementing decisions that could stand to benefit their communities.

There is, however, a flip side to all this since it has been observed that the inhibitions or implicit sanctions imposed by the men tend to diminish once women members start attending the meetings regularly. The former Chief Secretary of Chattisgarh Nirmala Buch observes, “There is a transformation taking place and women are slowly, yet decisively, realizing their new role in terms of asserting their identity, respect, and status. They have now started questioning the male dominance and marked attitudinal shifts are being observed in terms of enhanced status, confidence levels, and increased political aspirations.”

A study conducted in Karnataka found that the women associated A case study from Tamil Nadu suggests that women do not, usually, get invited to meetings in male-dominated Panchayats while another study in Odisha suggests that women rarely participate in the electoral process or in the affairs of the Panchayats.  with some form of collective, i.e. SHGs or NGOs, are likelier to participate in political processes at the grassroots level compared to women who are not associated with such organisations. This is partly because such organizations motivate their members even as they organize political awareness activities that include the importance of voting and participation in Gram Sabha meetings among other things. Encouragement on the part of women-oriented social and economic organizations is also likely to push female participation in local-level politics.

According to another Karnataka-based study women from villages with an NGO in place had greater awareness with regard to the timings and agendas of Panchayat meetings, the powers of the Panchayat, and its sources of income. Female attendance at Grama Sabha meetings is also significantly higher in such villages. Conversely, villages bereft of NGOs were witness to a significantly lowered female participation at meetings. Those who did attend these meetings never raised an issue specifically related to women.

Obviously, structural changes are in order for introducing greater participation in the running of Gram Panchayats. While there is strong merit Female attendance at Gramasabha is higher in villages with an NGO presence in the argument that the Mahila Sabha is one such step in this direction it needs to be acknowledged that social change is a difficult and slow process. Societies do not change because of changes in legal provisions. Legal provisions create enabling conditions that need to be leveraged in terms of accelerating the process of change. Significantly, one-third reservations for women in Panchayats have given rise to enabling conditions for the fairer sex without making a dent on cultural norms set in concrete. Launching Mahila Sabhas is, undoubtedly, a step in the right direction as it helps facilitate an enabling environment for the empowerment of rural women. However, in order to create a new social order of equality between men and women in an essentially patriarchal society, a lot of effort has to go into building a gender sensitive society.

By: Saswata N. Biswas Professor, Institute of Rural Management Anand Email: saswata@irma.ac.in