Empowerment of women panchayat members: Learning from Kerala (India)

This study seeks to examine some initial outcomes of the incorporation of w omen in local governance, following the introduction of 33 percent reservat ion of seats for women representatives in local-level political bodies in r ural areas of India in 1995. The paper is therefore based on extensive inte rviews with 27 women, who were elected members of bodies of local governanc e, i.e, panchayats, of Vaikom Block in Kottayam District, Kerala, the south ern-most state of India. Most of the interviewees had acquired knowledge an d skills appropriate to elected office during a three-year period after ass uming office, when the survey uas undertaken. it was seen that these women representatives were not able to change the style and practice of the wider political arena, especially of the political parties. In fact, they found the local party; machinery, especially of the Leftist parties, exercised co nsiderable control over them, because of which they were unable to function independently or in a non-partisan manner, in dealing with development iss ues. The paper concludes by noting that quotas in local bodies alone are in sufficient for ensuring women's political visibility. Therefore, more funda mental changes are needed for creating a more women-friendly political envi ronment. This is particularly important for the organizations of cadre-base d and supposedly progressive political parties, who, in the name of party d iscipline, tend to adopt means of patriarchal domination to control women p anchayat members.