March 2018

THE POWER OF INDIA'S VILLAGE WOMEN

While the introduction of quotas for women to be represented at the village level government is a positive move in empowering women, many challenges still abound as women strive to use whatever levers they have to improve their societies.

By Moin Qazi

Lightly, O lightly we bear her along

She sways like a flower in the wind of our song

Skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,

...   Palanquin Bearers  Sarojini Naidu

            For a country that has a poor record of its overall commitment to women’s rights, India has set a stellar example of reserved quotas for women in local governance. It is an example of how a country can indeed successfully empower women, politically, economically, and socially. In 1993, an amendment to India’s constitution formally established the Panchayati Raj (local democracy), a three-tiered structure of local governance at the village, block, and district levels, to provide representation for small rural communities. It has been called a watershed revolution, the greatest social experiment of our time, and one of the greatest innovations in grassroots democracy. It is one of the crown jewels in India’s democracy and, thanks to quotas reserving spots for female representatives; several women have been making their way up India’s governance ladder.

            In Wanoja village in Maharashtra, Nirmala Geghate, a literate village sarpanch, has lobbied state officials for a medical clinic. Nirmala watched helplessly as her children died of diseases she only vaguely understood — a curse that she believes might have been avoided had there been a reliable, convenient and accessible health support for checkups and vaccinations. From drinking water and polio vaccine campaigns to schools and primary health centers, women are redesigning the development agenda. Women are also pushing to make administration and financial management transparent. Earlier it was the power of the wallet that determined the local electoral contests; wads of cash were used to buy votes. Women like Nirmala have changed the game.

            Under Nirmala’s inspiring leadership, villagers dug long trenches to channel rain into shallow reservoirs that replenish the groundwater supply. They built small dams made of stones to stem rain run-off and to prevent precious topsoil from being washed away. Women are out of the house and working on village improvement projects such as sanitation systems and vegetable gardens. They have started small businesses. People eat more nutritious foods; they use mosquito nets and repellents to ward off mosquitoes. They know they must boil water for drinking to protect the family from water-borne diseases.

            Beginning in the benign area of health, the women slowly gained confidence and moved on to other social areas. They began asking for change from the bus conductor, Introducing new farming practices, saving enough money to engage banks and acquire simple irrigation equipment like water tanks, agitating for an improved road (and getting it), mapping the village land and rethinking what’s planted to produce year-round yields and income, demanding the presence of the school teacher, negotiating with local officials for providing services to which they were entitled.

            Like termites they have furrowed the male-dominated power-grid in villages and are hollowing  the whole patriarchal foundation. Where once participation of women in public meetings was an anathema in rural society, it has now become a ritual. The concern for development flutters everywhere in the village. Hope has begun coursing through communities once shackled by fatalism and low expectations. No one drinks; only a handful smoke. There hasn’t been a crime here in years. The village is brisk and prosperous. Moneylenders have vanished; local officials no longer sniff for bribes. Notions of caste purity are no longer evident. Village elders no longer dart out distasteful looks at women going to town without a male chaperone. Signs of prosperity and modernity abound.

            But these positive improvements are just a drop in the bucket. Across India, tens of thousands of villages lack government support and access to banks.

            A lot of the positive changes are coming in the better governed villages. There are still large swathes where traditions abound. Several factors constrain the effective participation of women leaders. Some of these relate to a patriarchal culture, which neither sees women as political entities nor allows them to develop their potential. The same cultural standards also prohibit women from seeing themselves as political entities. Other related factors that constrain participation are a lack of basic familiarity with political governance and legal skill.

            To enter public life, women have to cross many barriers and the many constraints and challenges that are inherent in them.

            First, the barrier of home and family, with the economic and sociocultural barriers and demands that exist.

            The second barrier is access to knowledge and information. The education of girls has not been a priority for decades, and though this is changing, girls are still deprived. Moreover, literacy is not enough to enable a woman to access all the skills and knowledge required to govern.

            Third, the new age of information technology has penetrated villages. Gram panchayats have become more technologically savvy thanks to the state governments’ attempt to computerize all data and communications of the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) to introduce the concept of e-governance. Here again, the lack of access to education and training makes the prevalence of technology a barrier to women.

            The social pecking order of villages cannot be overturned easily. Several challenges remain to fuller empowerment.  Legitimately elected women representatives remain vulnerable to manipulation and harassment and are often reduced to mere proxies, while the real decision-making authority remains with their husbands or power brokers from higher castes. There are also instances where a woman belonging to a scheduled caste or tribe has been elected as head of a panchayat but is at the mercy of her upper caste landlord in the village for her livelihood. In such cases, too, the reins of power and decision-making clearly lie elsewhere.

            But still, women are using whatever their levers of authority provide to bring about change in their societies. The World Bank’s World Development Report on gender equality and development shows progress in some areas, while in others gaps between men and women stubbornly persist. In India, the World Bank team discovered that measures like the introduction of quotas for women in the Panchayati Raj, or village level government, led to better access to clean water and sanitation, crimes against women being reported more often, and a jump in prosecution for those crimes.

            “When women have the support of other women, and when they have income of their own,” say Ela  Bhatt, founder of  Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which  represents 1.2 million women working in India's informal sector , “they are able to fight their own battles in their own way.”

            Bhatt speaks of a quiet yet persistent strength particular to women: “Once a woman knows what she wants,” Bhatt says, “she’s not afraid to take risks. If we cannot break through, we just find a way around.”

            The quotas have certainly been useful in ensuring that women are equally represented and have the opportunity to improve the quality of governance. Women have the potential to turn around the pyramid of their societies. Enabling them to participate in an active, informed, and meaningful manner in the governance of a village is the key to making each village, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, a “perfect democracy based upon individual freedom.”

            For this to happen, women need to actively compete in the present political game in the rural arena. It’s going to be a much harder, longer road than policy wonks may imagine. But if they can muster the will, they can succeed. They know from their past lessons that they have the tools and they need to back reforms that can engender greater empowerment for women. – Third World Network Features.

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About the author: Moin Qazi is the author of the bestselling book, Village Diary of a Heretic Banker .He has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades. He can be reached at moinqazi123@gmail.com

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