Political Inclusion and Participation of Women in Local Governance : A Study in Karnataka

The paper examines the situation of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) at various levels - political, social, economic and personal. More particularly, it aims to understand the ways in which the EWRs use their agency to address and negotiate issues like feminisation of invisibility, proxy governance and politics of exclusion. The paper also critically looks at the participation and performance of women and thereby attempts to understand the process of their attaining confidence in undertaking responsibilities in the public sphere. The paper, while documenting the women's participation in panchayats, discusses such criticisms levelled against these women. Examples are the beliefs and prejudices that there is proxy rule in the panchayats by these women; it is their husbands or other male relatives who exercise power and responsibility on their behalf. The findings of the study reveal that there is dearth in literature as to and inadequate understanding of, the ways by which women have succeeded in combining their multiple roles in performing their duties in the panchayats. The study on which this paper is based, significantly demonstrates that at best, these women have been inevitably travelling between genuine participation and proxy participation. It was observed that women's contribution, true to their rights, has to come from their knowledge and further empowerment and not by mere affirmative action in their favour alone. Only this inner transformation and learning can make them contribute better towards democratic decision-making and participation and also lead to substantive difference from what they are today.