Representation of Women in Local Governance

The social, economic, political ladder is predominantly occupied by the historically dominant
caste, class, gender combinations. They are struggling hard to hold their position and on the
other side, the marginalized sections of society continue to stage tough resistance to the
dominance. However, the dominant social strata of the country have all access to resources,
power and unlimited authority, while the marginalized sections of the society like the Dalits,
Scheduled Tribes, Women, backward classes, OBCs, cultural, linguistic, sexual minorities are
subjected to the extreme forms of discrimination and deprivation and are excluded from the
process of ‘development’. In this context, the reservation in the grass-root level political
institution of Panchayat Raj System, which spearheads the state planned programmes of
economic development and social justice is very crucial to study.

Historical analysis of Reservation in India

Pre-Independence

Critical analysis of the history and background of the Independence movement in India
clearly indicate that while the nationalists movements was more concerned with the transfer
and acquiring of power from the British, there were representations of women and dalit
movements struggling to find their due space for equality and equal opportunity. The
demand for Universal franchise and principle of equality from both the movements of
women and dalits were strongly emerged. The dalit movements under the leadership of Dr.
B. R. Ambedkar have gone one step ahead to demand for separate electorate. The most
important work Ambedkar did during this time was the preparation of the document titled
‘Declaration of Fundamental Rights safeguarding the cultural, religious and economic rights
of the Depressed Classes’ and which he submitted to the Minorities Sub-Committee. The
document demanded right of equal citizenship, abolishing untouchability and any other
disadvantage, disability or discrimination in the law and demanded adequate representation
in the Legislatures and a right to elect their own men as their representatives by separate
electorates, adequate representation of the Depressed Classes in the services and
establishment of Public Service Commission for recruitment. After hearing various
arguments and debates, the British Premier announced the Communal Award on 17 th August
1932. According to this Award, the Depressed Classes were granted ‘separate seats in the
Provincial Assemblies and the right of double vote’ under which they were to elect their own
representatives and to vote also in the general constituencies. However, it was later turn
down due to the protest by M.K. Gandhi and resulted in signing of ‘Puna Pact’ accepting the
withdrawal of demand for separate electorate by dalit movements and policy of Reservation
came as an outcome of negotiation for the depressed classes.

While dalit movements demanding for equality and political representation through
submission of memoranda’s in various round table conferences and commissions, the
emergence of women’s movement along the line from the year of 1910 till the Indian
Independence like All India Women’s Conference (1927), Women’s India Association (1917)
and National Council of India Women(1925), had made the demand that when franchise was
extended to India, women must be recognized as ‘people’. During the round table
conferences organized by British, for discussing a new Constitution for India, the demand of

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the women’s movements was for universal adult suffrage and mixed general electorates, but
not for reservation, nomination or co-option of women. Repeatedly the various
memorandum submitted by the women’s movements stated that they did not wish to seek
any form of preferential treatment as that would violate the integrity of the universal
demand of Indian women for absolute equality of political status (AIWC, 1931a). While the
nationalist movements gets united with the women’s movements on Universal Franchise,
they divided over personal law reform which includes issues like marriage and inheritance
which were special concern to women.(Link 1)

Further, the Communal Award (1932) specifically mentioned that in the provincial
legislature, all seats including those reserved for women would be allocated to the members
of specific communities and the electorate for each seat would consist of members of single
community. This was strongly opposed by congress and women’s organizations, stating that
joint electorate or the communal award would lead us to party politics and demanded for
women status be recognized fully on an equal basis with men from the very beginning of the
new constitution.

The above processes predominantly played a role for no reservation for women in political
representation of legislature and parliament during the constitution making process unlike
reservation for SCs/STs

Choice of Reservation for women in Independent India

Evolution of Independent India on the basis of liberal democracy has exposed the
contradiction between the stated political equality and pre-existing social and economic
inequalities. Reservation has become an unavoidable choice for political representation to
provide scope for equal status and opportunities for depressed classes and women to
overcome all inequalities. The ever first amendment made to the Constitution of India in
1951 is to accommodate non-discrimination to Article 15 & 16, which empowered the state
to make reservation in favor of any disadvantaged group without being challenged on the
grounds of discrimination.

During 80’s the mobilization of women at the grass-root level and pressure from women’s
organizations through policy and legal interventions made the political parties to view
women as a constituency and included women’s issues in their manifesto. During this period
the demand for reservation for political representation has re-emerged. Some policy
statement on reservation have been made in which the National Perspective Plan for
Women(1988) is one such recommends for 30% reservation for women at Panchayat and
zilla or district level and municipal bodies to be filled by election. This demand was emerged
out of the need for engaging women in “development planning”. But the same was not
demanded for the decision making on policy and law making arenas of state assemblies and
parliament. Voice raised by women’s groups during the National Conference on Panchayat
Raj and Women, made the late Rajiv Gandhi to accept the proposal of reservation for
women in Panchayat Raj Institutions. Many parliamentarians and political parties
appreciated this move as historical measure and revolutionary approach. But the same was
not appreciated on the debate on reservation for women in State Assemblies and Parliament
in the recent decade. This shows the will of political institutions in the country to keep the

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women in the lower rung of the state only for implementing the decision of the larger
political body, in which men have the predominant control and women not to get their due
representation in policy and law making process of the country.

73rd Constitutional Amendment- historical milestone for women’s political participation

To protect the interests of disadvantaged segments of the population, notably women, the
scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled tribes (ST), and to ensure their participation in
democratic decentralisation process, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments was
passed with the provision of Reservation on 23rd April 1993. The Act reserved one-third of
all seats in the Local Self Governing bodies for rural (All three levels of Panchayats) and
urban areas (Municipal body) respectively for women and reservation for SC/STs
proportionate to their population.

Though reservation for SCs and STs are in place in other elected bodies (National and State
legislative assemblies), the 73 rd Amendment is the first one in India that mandated women’s
reservation in local body election. Article 243D of 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in
detail cover the manner in which reservations are to be provided to women and others
belonging to the SC / STs in the local panchayat election at all three levels.

(a) Reservations to elected seats are mandated by the Constitution in the following
pattern:

(i) One-third of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every panchayat
are to be reserved for women. This is inclusive of the reservation provided for women
belonging to the SC / STs (Article 243D (3)).

(ii) Within the reservation provided for persons belonging to the SC / STs as detailed above,
not less than one-third of the total number of seats that are reserved for different categories
in each panchayat are to be reserved for women belonging to the SC / STs (Article 243D (2)).

(b) These seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies within a panchayat
(Article 243D (1) and (3)).

(c) The provision for reservation to the office of chairperson is nearly identical to the above
provisions. The additional features are as follows:

(i) While providing for reservations up to a minimum level of one-third in respect of women
and in proportion to the population in each panchayat for the SC / STs, the manner in which
this is done is left to the legislature of a state to provide by law (Article 243D (4)).

(ii) Unlike in the case of rotation of reservations to elected seats, which is discretionary, the
rotation of reservations to the office of chairperson in different Panchayats is mandatory
(Refer the second proviso to Article 243D (4)).

Reservation of seats for women in various States

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Even before the 73rd Amendment, women in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra
had been contesting elections and participating in Panchayats. The oldest known all-women
panchayat that held office was ‘Nimbut village’ in Pune district of Maharashtra (1963-68).

Karnataka had 25 % reservation for its two-tier Panchayati Raj system in 1987 that was
replaced by the constitutionally mandated 33% in 1993.

Three States viz., Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra conducted elections, with 33 per
cent reservation for women immediately after the 73 rd Amendment, but before the State
conformity acts were enacted. For instance the Panchayat Constitution Rule of West Bengal
was modified in April of 1998 [Government of West Bengal 1998] to introduce reservation of
Pradhan positions for women and SC / STs. Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, by contrast, held
elections after the Amendment, and before the conformity Acts were passed, but without
reservation for women.

The status of reservation of seats for women in local election for various States and Union
Territory is presented below.

Status of Reservation of seats for women in Local Election (As on November, 2009)

1/3rd of the total seat or 33 %

No State / UT Provision in State legislation
1 Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act 1994
2 Arunachal Pradesh The Arunachal Pradhesh Panchayat Raj Act 1997(Act No 5 of
2001)
3 Gujarat Gujarat Panchayat Act. 1993 vide Section 9,10 & 11
4 Haryana The Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994
[Haryana Act No. 11 of 1994]
5 Himachal Pradesh The Himanchal Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994
6 Kerala The Kerala Panchayati Raj Act, 1994
7 Maharashtra The Maharashtra Panchayat Raj Act 1961
8 Punjab The Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (As applicable in
Chandigarh).
9 West Bengal West Bengal Panchayati Raj Act, 1973
10 Manip The Manipur Panchayati Raj Act 1994
11 Tamil Nadu The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act 1994
12 Puducherry Section 11 (4) of the Pondicherry Village and Commune
Panchayats Act 1973.
13 Goa The Goa Panchayati Raj Act 1994
14 Lakshadweep Lakshadweep Panchayat Regulation, 1994
15 Sikkim The Sikkim Panchayat Act, 1993
(Act No. 6 of 1993)
State Govt. enhanced seat reservation from 33% to 40 % in
2007. No proposal to enhance further.

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Increase of 33% to 50%

It is noted that Government of India amended Article 243D of the Constitution to raise the
level of reservation for women including Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women in
Panchayats from the present one-third to at least half of the seats and offices of
Chairpersons in panchayats during the recent Parliament Session to amend Article 243(D) of
the Constitution for this purpose in November 2009 following the initiatives of states like
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Bihar
was the first state to offer 50% reservation for women in panchayats, in 2005, following
which Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan has also announced
50% reservation, to be implemented in the next panchayat election in early 2010. Kerala
recently announced 50% reservation for women in panchayats and other local bodies;
Maharashtra and Gujarat followed.

In most other states, women's representation is around 36.87% of the 28.18 lakh elected
panchayat representatives. The number of women representatives will go up to over 14 lakh
after the proposed constitutional amendment. When provided for, the law will be applicable
in all states and union territories except for Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, tribal
regions of Assam and Tripura, and the hill areas of Manipur.

At present, following states have provision adopted 50 % reservation for women in the
Panchayat body elections.

Enhanced from 33 % to 50 % of the total seats

No State / UT Provision in State legislation
1 Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Panchayati Raj (Amended) Act. 2008
2 Bihar Bihar Panchayati Raj Act 2006
3 Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Panchayat & Gram Swaraj Act. 1993
4 Rajasthan Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994
5 Uttrakhand Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam 1947

The urban development ministry has also passed similar proposal soon, to enhance women's
representation in urban local bodies. With respect to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
too, women's reservation will be enhanced to a minimum of 50% within the quota reserved
for these two categories. Since there is no reservation at the central level for other backward
classes, it will be up to state governments to increase the quota for women under these
categories.

The panchayati raj system, being a state subject, makes it the prerogative of states, where
the quota for women is less than 50%, to formulate their own rules to implement the
provision once it is made part of the Constitution.

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Conclusion

The presence of 1.05 million elected women representatives in the institutions of local
governance in rural part of the country is a huge potential to harness development with
Gender Focus and liberation of all from marginalization. .

The political reservation for women and SC/STs in Panchayat Raj Institutions since the
passage of 73rd Constitutional Amendment has brought out the inner connect between the
Caste and Patriarchal construction of Indian Political System. The multiple burden of caste,
class, gender on the women of marginalised section as against the general notion of
Universal Womanhood has been exposed through the representation of women from
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in Panchayat Raj Institutions. Several case studies are
there to illustrate the struggle of these women in exercising their political position at the
Grass-root level. On the one hand the representation empowers women from marginalised
sections for greater awareness and political engagement towards development; on the other
hand it makes them be a puppet in the hands of castiest, patriarchal forces and some are
experiencing extreme form of atrocities and oppression.(Link 2) Political parties, which are
facilitating the ruling at all levels, have no gender sensitivity towards to its female
candidature, nor are the “village” democratic enough to accept the leadership of women
from marginalised section. The manner in which women are to be represented and their
rights to independent administration have never became part of the political debate in the
country, particularly the role of elected women from marginalised sections and the
protective and promotional mechanism they need, have not been in the mainstream debate
and discussions. Without entering into such basic need of women, 50% reservation has
been hailed as historical move by several state governments as well as the centre.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2007, India’s ranking on the Political
Empowerment of Women is 21 out of 128 countries. This is higher than United States,
Australia and Canada. However, India’s ranking on the economic empowerment of women
is 122 out of 128, which shows the higher rate of dependency of women on their male
relatives. Hence, this imbalance in women’s empowerment makes them more vulnerable to
the family, societal norms and governance structures. Mere representation does not mean
participation. The conditions in which the effective participation of women in the political
governance system is located by the larger society and the experience of empowerment by
women themselves need to be correlated for arriving at any conclusion about the real
political participation of women.

Patriarchy as an instrument of socio-political exclusion:

The actual notion of dealing with exclusion through reservation originates from the west,
where the miniscule minorities are suffering from exclusion and the majority in Total there
would like to deal with it and convert it to inclusion where the State plays an active and key
role. But here in Indian Context, it is the majority of women, dalits, adivasis and OBC which
suffers with discrimination and oppression in terms of dignity, resources, employment,
political recognition, etc. What needs to be placed here is that `Inclusive policy is not
response/solution to social exclusion`. Exclusion is a conscious, constant, political construct
and there is an agency to enforce. The need is to Identify the excluding practices and bans
those through state policies. The purpose of understanding any theory of exclusion has to

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be to re-look at the entire society not merely the victims since that will result only in mere
self deception.

Historically, the construction of society on the basis of family, Caste, Religion and later
Education, State, etc has formed with the foundational principle of Patriarchy. Households,
labor, kin and caste groups are structurally organized to reproduce the same system of
Patriarchy in which Women are excluded in all forms of recognition of their labor, love, and
relationship, practice of faith, power and authority. The Patriarchal structure of the society
makes sure that women cannot be independent in any family situation and the right to
property is not recognized and their labor to the family is considered as service to their men.
Hence property and labor relationships have been actively connived to disvalue the
independent human entity of Women.

All cultural notions on women have been normalized such as that of touchability,
untouchability, purity-impurity, custom-faith, fertility-infertility, parent-mother, chastity-
promiscuity, widowhood -remarriage, intellectual capacity, labor, correctness and
incorrectness in communication, patience and obedience, appropriate behavior and
inappropriate behavior, dress code, heterosexuality-homosexuality, etc. Anything deviant
from the above notions is considered as abnormal. All these notions are again and again
enforced and reinforced through all institutions of modernity, i.e education, media, political
parties, institutions of governance, etc. Further, the control over the survival and existence
of women in lower caste groups by the ‘Upper’ Caste men, particularly in many villages on
their sexuality is an unwritten law practiced in many parts of the country.

Constitution of India guarantees non-discrimination, equality, dignity for all socially and
economically disadvantaged communities and also women. There are also protective
legislations like Protection of civil rights act, SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, The
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, Equal Remuneration Act, etc. However, in
reality whether even an elected women representative could use these legislations to get
protection is a big question. Once women get elected in a panchayat constituency, she has
to be prepared to face all sorts of societal norms and patterns to make sure she is a role
model and any deviation will get severely punished or harassed in the hands of her own
family and also the community outside. Further, the bureaucracy, who is most often, tends
to follow the popular social norms than the rule of law becomes another arm to control the
role of elected women and being a constant threat to their independent leadership. Very
few women, who have educational as well as economic background, are able to manage all
these forces, but with all same obstacles. (Link 3) Despite of all struggles and obstacles,
women elected for rural local bodies are making all their efforts to fulfill the basic needs and
entitlements of the people and there are several successful stories reported in the media
during the recent decade. Women always give priority to the basic necessities like drinking
water, sanitation, health services, education, while compare to the male representatives,
whose priority varies from construction of community hall, bus shelter, roads and bridges,
etc.

In this context, the political representation of women from both general category and also
from SC/ST through reservation needs to be further deeply studied and suitable policy
changes has to be proposed for independent political participation of women.

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