Panchayat Raj and Women Empowerment
FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN'S
EMPOWERMENT:
- patriarchal value system-Indian culture and social ethos have to a
large extent been influenced by patriarchy
-There are, of course, regional variations - in the northern states the
prevailing attitude is more discriminatory against women than in the
southern states. But here again, there are notable exceptions as can be
seen from widespread female infanticide in certain parts of Tamil Nadu,
particularly Salem district. Even dowry taking has registered an increase
in certain parts of another southern state, Kerala, which is considered to
be a model state insofar as the status of women in terms of literacy and
access to health care f'acilities is concerned.

As a result of these deeply entrenched social attitudes and practices,
women by and large have not been independent decision-makers in the
country.
Their 'decisions' in most cases have been influenced by the wishes and
dictates of the male family members.
They are guided by a patriarchal social system and, theref'ore, are
discriminated against in terms of' access to food and health care.
Sometimes. Women of their own volition do not take nutritious food
because of the wrong perception about their position and requirement in
the traditional cultural and social set up.
Keeping this in view, the World Development Report on Population
1994 has accorded to women the central place in the population policy

With regard to health care, discrimination against females is also
reflected in the type and relative frequency in utilising the same. The data
show males receive better medical treatment than females in all age
groups but this is more prominent in case of children
This kind of discrimination against women cuts across castes and
classes. Even though there are monetary transactions among the low
caste women which are kept hidden from the male family members,
these do not go very far in enhancing their social power though they are
slightly better placed in this respect than the lower middle class women.

With regard to health care, only the women in Kerala have access to
any worthwhile medical facilities, partly because of their awareness.
According to the Census of 1991, the sex ratio (females per thousand
males) is 929 and has been declining since 1901.
In 50 per cent of the states the sex ratio is below the national average.
With regard to women literacy rate, only 39 per cent of the total female
population above seven years of age are literate. In some of the northern
states female literacy rate is much below the national average. For
example, the female literacy rate of rural Rajasthan is only 12 (Census of
India 1991)

the most disturbing point regarding women is that the visible and
invisible violence against them is increasing.
The crudest form of violence is killing girl children before they are even
born. This is prevalent even in the metropolitan cities of Bombay and
Delhi where aborting of the female foetus is widely resorted to. Persons
in small towns and villages also eliminate the girl child because of
poverty in some cases but mostly because of bias.
In many cases, it is consumerism and commodification of women-
which has led to this kind of situation
There are instances where female habies ar killed by the midwives in
Bihar on payment of Rs 60 and a saree. This is done not only among
members of the high castes but also those of the lower castes.

Economically, women possess weak bargaining power, except perhaps
in some parts of the north-east and Kerala. Agarwal (1994) who has
examined extensive ethnographic evidence points out that south Asian
women not only do not own land hut also do not control it In spite of
having progressive legislations.
Even in matrilineal societies the women inherit the landed property but
have very little control over the management of the same.
According to the Census of India 1991, only 29 per cent of the women
are recorded as working, in an economically gainful way. At least 90 per
cent of them work in the primary sector.

Since the beginning of the planned development,
women have been viewed as adeprived section
requiring welfare measures.
It was only in 1975 that a UN Declaration
compelled the national government to shift the
emphasis of its women's programmes from
welfare to development. More attention was given
to health, education and employ ment.
In 1985, after the Women-'s World Congress at
Nairobi, a national document was prepared laying
down forward-looking strategies for women's
development.

The document is known as the National Perspective Plan (1988). It was
also recommended that some posts should be reserved for women at the
block and village level bureaucracy
On the economic front a number ouf income generating schemes
targeting women such as Development of Women and Child
inRuralAreas(DWCRA) were introduced. In addition, provisions were
also made to keep certain proportion of women as beneficiaries in all the
developmental schemes
All these culminatirng in the reservation of 33.3 per cent of the total
seats for them at the panchayat level.

Since women do not have social and economic power, they are also
unable to exercise any political power. Evidence from parliament, state
legislatures and trade unions clearly shows that the women's
representation in them is insignific'ant. In political parties, important posts
are also not given to women
There are several other factors which explain low participation ot
women in the political process. These factors are criminalisation and
factionalisation of politics, emergence of fundamentalism at a macro level
alnd lack of awareness regarding legal and economic aspects of the
society, which prevent women from taking part in the public sphere

This indicates that the reservation of seats is a necessary but not
sufficient condlition tor women to take part in the political process in an
eftective manner
According to S Ramanathan, who has been working on Panchayati Raj
politics in Rajcasthan, in one panchayat the jats fielded a consensus
woman candidate from their own caste. But this was not liked hy the
harijans who fielded another woman candidate from their community.

The jats tried to persuade the harijans to withdraw their candidate but
to no avail. Finally, it became a prestige issue tor the jats. Pathram Jat
whose wite was a candidate took off his turban and placed it bef'ore the
harijans
The hairijans were put in a dilemnma. They withdrew their candidate
and were given some compensation in money
The trade unions and political parties also did not take any active
interest in promoting women's participation in the political process even
though the women's movement had started in 1974. So there is
detfinitely a case for reservation of seats for women in political
institutions

The jats tried to persuade the harijans to withdraw their cancdidate but
to no avail. Finally, it became a prestige issue tor the jats. Pathram Jat
whose wite was a candidate took off his turban and placed it bef'ore the
harijans
The hairijans were put in a dilemnma. They withdrew their candidate
and were given some compensation in money
The trade unions and political parties also did not take any active
interest in promoting women's participation in the political process even
though the women's movement had started in 1974. So there is
detfinitely a case for reservation of seats for women in political
institutions

Along with the reservation of seats, other steps like awareness
generationi through propaganda, training, media publicity, etc, should be
taken up to make it really eftective in empowering women.
in respect of women's active participation in the political process, the
role of the family also needs to be considered. The family, as an
institution cutting across the caste and class line as well as regions,
allocates power, authority and resources in a biased manner which is not
favourable to women and children in general, and girl child, in particular
They are always undeservedly undervalued and their work is invisible.
This bias against them is specially evident in north India, except in
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to some extent

Finally, the role of caste panchayats needs to be highlighted. These
panchayats consist of the older memibers of the caste who would like to
preserve their caste traditions.
Thus, the caste panchayat would not like women to come out publicly
and to take part in political meetings since it would go against the
tradition. Similarly, the village elders may harass women panchayat
meinhers if they raise their voices against social evils such as child
marriage and sati.