Panchayat, Gender, and Power in Bihar

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Panchayat, Gender, and Power in Bihar

Journal Title: International Journal of Research in Social Sciences - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 2

Abstract

This paper examines women experiences in the local bodies and how they have altered the gender relations through political representation in the rural social order. The collection of data was completed by a field study in district of Bhojpur and Jehanabad in Bihar, adopting a qualitative method based on the interview. The paper tries to understand the changes in women‟s life especially political knowledge, participation, network, protest, their role in society. In this respect, it appears that women reservation is an important tool to reduce male domination. This might bring women concerns in local bodies to a certain extent, thus women may gain confidence to deal with their problem. The equal participation of women in political life in the Seneca Fall convention1 in New York in 1848, to demand equal political right is seen as the central issue in the discourse of the liberal framework. Historically, androcentric (male centered) assumptions and arguments produced knowledge which tried to exclude women from the political sphere. The androcentric assumptions like private versus public which developed its validity from women‟s restrictions to the private area on the basis of their natural role in society. Politics is considered as the public activity that is to be done by men. The demands of political participation of women by feminist movement are understood as a violation of established gender roles. Despite that feminists continued tried to expose the men domination in the political arena. As results, women got equal political rights such as the voting rights. However, it did not help women to create space for themselves to the extent that could make them visible in the political representation. This kind of equality advanced by women could not translate into substantive forms of democratic participation. After the realization of this fact by the feminists, we can see political shifting within feminist movement such as demand for a quota to ensure women‟s presence in the politics; hope to translate into women friendly political structure and policies. In other words, we can say that it was progressing within feminist politics which shifted “politics of ideology” to “politics of presence”. For instance, Anne Phillip (1995) noted that “The shift from direct to representative democracy has shifted the emphasis form who the politicians are to what (policies preference and ideas) they represent” (Phillip, 1995, p. 4). It argued that policies formulated for any group cannot be significant if there was no representation of those sections and decisions during the formulation of the policies. In India anti-colonial struggle tried to bring women into the political realm and played a significant role in the nationalist movement. Women got voting rights in 1921. However, during constituency debate in 1946, Sarojini Naidu and Hansa Mehta opposed the women reservation and argued that women participated in large number in the nationalist struggle which ensured substantive equality in the political sphere in the form of voting rights. There is no need for separate women reservation. Mary John noted that “Sarojini Naidu made it unequivocally clear that women did not want preferential treatment [i.e. any form of nomination or reservation], for this would amount to an admission of women‟s “inferiority” (John, 2017, p. 4). Hansa Mehta said “the women‟s organisation to which I have the honour to belong has never asked for reserved seats, for quotas, or for separate electorates. What we have asked for is social justice, economic justice, and political justice”.2 Sarojini Naidu and Hansa Mehta were failed to understand that women rights to vote could not challenge or eliminate the androcentric nature of politics. However, after national freedom, Indian constitution provides equal opportunity irrespective of sex in all spheres including political participation. The reality was exposed in “Towards Equality Report” published in 1974. The report showed that women progress was very minimal in the socio-economical and political sphere. This report emphasized that “Political status of women can define as the degree of equality and freedom enjoyed by women in the shaping and sharing of power in the value given by the society to this role of women” (Towards Equality Report, 1974, p. 283).

Authors and Affiliations

Archana Pandey

Keywords

Panchayat Gender Power In Bihar

EP ID EP20891
DOI -
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