Empowering Women Leaders at Grassroot level of Governance: A Long dream

• In the 30th year of panchayati raj, India got its first woman president from the adivasi community. But the rise of Droupadi Murmu from the position of a nagar panchayat councilor in Odisha to the Rashtrapati Bhavan does not tell the real story of women’s leadership in India’s panchayati raj institutions (PRIS).
• The process of decentralization has provided representation, but representation does not necessarily lead to participation. It alone is not sufficient for women to exercise their roles
• In the current Parliament, the Rajya Sabha has only 12.24% women representatives. In the Lok Sabha, the representation is nominally better at 14.44%. Women make up an even smaller proportion of state legislative assemblies, accounting for an average of only 8% of all elected members.
• While Nagaland and Mizoram do not have a single female member in their legislative assemblies, another 15 states/UTs have less than 8% women representation.
• Today, women are “facing mobility constraints in terms of household chores, family interference, and economic dependency”. Eg: In Haryana, women were unable to participate due to social taboos, overbearing male colleagues and hostile work environment.
• Political parties prefer to field male candidates for elections and Political parties have failed to absorb women as leaders in legislative assemblies. The idea of completely writing off women leaders who serve as proxies for their husbands or other male family members is also unwarranted.
• Thus, the foremost thing which needs to be looked upon is that “Women leaders need knowledge and skills to articulate their concerns and influence decision-making. This can be achieved through training and capacity building.

Conclusion

• India needs to reform panchayati raj institutions, reserve seats in Parliament and legislative assemblies to create more women leaders like the new President Droupadi Murmu as Women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy.
• At the policy level, a longer, fixed term is essential for them to get accustomed to the political space and to get a better sense of their roles.