Elected women’s representatives in decentralized governance

Abstract

With the advent of panchayat as a Constitutional body, women’s participation has been recognized as an important measure of status of women in society. This chapter presents case studies of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) and their participation in local governance at the districts/municipal assemblies level in Lucknow with a special focus on the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. This is part of the research on Women’s Participation in Decentralized Governance in Lucknow and focuses only on the successful experiences of EWRs. The study has collected required material from both primary and secondary data. The collection of primary data was done through a combination of interview schedule, observation method, personal interaction with local leaders of political parties and non-governmental organisations. Qualitative research methodology was used in the study, and the standardized scheduled interview was used to interview respondents. Secondary data was collected from Government reports, data, United Nations papers, reports of non-governmental organizations and other available sources. The chapter deals with detailed stories of women representatives who are becoming role models for others and presenting examples of women empowerment. Though they were few in number, they have proved that social experience, social work, media exposure and education are associated positively with the performance of women in political sphere.