Behind every woman... lies history

Behind every woman... lies history

Using a well-worn axiom, namely that `behind every woman lies... ( unstated).. a man', Supriya RoyChowdhury has argued (The Hindu, 21 April, 2002) that the effort to `empower women' by reserving seats for them in local self-government, has not only been a farce, but it has distracted from developing a more genuine voice of women, for removing the age-old discrimination.

To quote "many of the emerging features of women's role in panchayats indicate that first, reservation, in itself, is insufficient as an instrument of empowerment. Second, reservation in fact may turn out to be a handicap insofar as an obvious insignia of empowerment detracts attention from deeper, structural sources of powerlessness and the need to address these through movemental struggles rather than through institutionalised power'' . . .

She questions the elected women's "capacity to effectively represent the general interests of the community, and second, more specifically, their capacity to conceptualise and effectively represent the interests of women in the community. . .''

She notices, "There appeared to be a hiatus between the projects that the women seemed to uniformly want to implement in their villages, and the absence of a vision of overall economic betterment, which would provide, above all, employment and higher wages . . .'' and goes on to say, "More importantly, perhaps, their political placement in these institutions in relationships of dependence to locally powerful persons prevents them from evolving a broader political agenda to push for the interests of the poor in the community. Effectively, the women remain tied to the project / grant discourse which reinforces the power of the local strongman.''

``In such a context, participation in institutionalised forms of power, through mechanisms of state-sponsored affirmative action, has only limited possibilities of addressing larger issues of justice and equality.''

She builds her argument from her interviews / interaction with elected women in Karnataka, who informed her that they were stimulated, guided or ordered to stand for elections by their husbands; that they did not see women as their constituency, as those whom they represented, that they perceived themselves as representing the area or perhaps their class, caste or political party. Further, that many of them belonged to the contractor or landlord class.

Thus apart from being male and elite-driven, her investigations showed that women are not representing women. Some labouring women she interviewed said they had not really heard about anything called panchayat, but one said that they were happy that some drinking water arrangement had been made for them - and she believed by the panchayat.

Her critical analysis, she suggests is (I quote), "necessary in the context of the present euphoria over women's role in panchayats''.

Taking the first finding of Ms. Chowdhury, namely that women were there because of their men. The seats reserved for women, have been "taken'' from men, - a reallotment of an occupied seat. In the first instance, it is quite natural that the dislodged man would put his women - be it wife, daughter or daughter-in-law - as a "proxy''. But what is missing from Ms. Chowdhury's commentary is the fact that in many constituencies, areas, especially in the second round of elections, women have gained more than 33 1/3 per cent of the seats reserved. In Karnataka, in successive elections, it went up to above 40 per cent. So also in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc

In those areas where women fought in non-reserved seats, they have come out on top because of their own political drive and show it too. A pilot study with 60 women G.P. members (Stephen 2001), who had undergone a three-phased training, revealed that one-third were still functioning as proxy candidates, one-third did not face any constraints at home but found it difficult to overcome gender-subordination within the gram panchayat and about one-third were functioning effectively and have gained some power within the family.

Secondly, in many parts of Karnataka for example, women who belong to the Mahila Samakhya Sanghas fought electoral battles not because their men told them to, but because they could see this as a natural next step to the evolution of what could be called a consciousness of themselves as citizens, as persons with some special voice, issues on which they required power to redress their subordination. Here and in some areas where there have been strong women-led community-based organization, or women support centers, women are their own agents. In some constituencies, resolutions have been passed removing a woman sarpanch, after manipulating non-attendance. In as many places, local women's campaigns have had them re-instated. Thus important battles are being fought in local areas between women and men, and the historically male-dominated political arenas, restructuring gender relations which would not have been possible without the Amendment and the reservation.

Here are interesting findings from conversations with groups of political Elected Women Representatives (EWRs). First, it was women as different in their opinion from their men, in Karnataka as far back as in 1987 when Karnataka introduced reservation of seats for women in local self-government (prior to the Constitutional amendment) who objected to the clause in the Bill - (which has now been unfortunately passed) that elections to Gram Sabha are to be held on a non-party basis. Their explanation was that it is through party membership and party participation that they could rise in the political sphere. This mature political sense shook the women NGOs.

In consultations, in several States, "EWRs'' have said they see themselves as representatives of the area. "We are interested in all the issues and development initiatives." Why, we asked. Again, if they associate themselves only with one social category, they feel they cannot gain the area support which is what they need when it comes to fighting elections.

Thus women at the grassroots are getting politicised. As they understand and deal with hard politics, they also push for its transformation to accommodate their own location and needs. This political astuteness has to be recognised, rather than demeaned.

Behind every woman who attempts to claim power lies a history - a complex experience of exclusion, requiring deep understanding of her attempts to emerge from the underground. It may look like scratches on the surface; but the one million women released through the reservation of seats in local self-government, will crack open that chink in the contemporary political armour.