The Dependency Syndrome of Inclusion: Women in Panchayats Evidence from A Randomised Survey of Bihar
| Published date | 01 October 2015 |
| Date | 01 October 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150405 |
| Author | Nupur Tiwari |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE DEPENDENCY SYNDROME OF INCLUSION:
WOMEN IN PANCHAYATS
EVIDENCE
FROM
A RANDOMISED SURVEY
OF
BIHAR
NUPUR
TIWARI
This article summarises some
of
the findings
of
a sample survey
of
Bihar on "The impact
of
Political Reservations on Quality
of
Participation
of
Elected Womens Representatives".
It
is
apart
of
the IDRC-NCAER1 research programme on decentralisation
and
rural development. Using a data set collected from six
districts across north Bihar, i.e. Sitamarhi, East Champaran,
Katihar, Muzajfarpur, Purnia,
and
Supau/, it has tried to answer
some questions related to the actual participation
of
elected
women representatives in Gram Sabha meetings, issues they
raised during those meetings, the type
of
development work they
undertook, their role in increasing
womens
participation, their
interface with officials
and
stakeholders, their interaction with
local people across social categories, their awareness
of
health
and
education related facilities
and
issues, the identification
of
beneficiaries,
and
so forth. The present decision-making
procedures do
not
allow a greater participation
of
women
and
the very absence
of
women
at
these levels thus leads to
preservation
and
reinforcement
of
male-oriented
and
male-
benefiting types
of
decisions. Womens low self-esteem at the
household level
and
their new role in local politics where they
are now expected
to
function as leader creates a contradiction.
INTRODUCTION
THE BELIEF that women
in
decision making is a sign
of
empowerment
is reflected in the United Nations Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM),
which tracks the percentages
of
women parliamtarians, legislators, and as
senior officials and managers among professional and technical workers.
Tracking women's progress through numbers is not new. There is a growing
demand for increasing presence
of
women in political decision-making.
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