Gender Quota and Women’s Participation in Rural Local Bodies in India: The Context, Constraints and Consequences

Abstract

Gender quota in democratic institutions is now widely regarded as a tested tool to promote gender justice despite limitations. In this article, an attempt has been made to capture and analyse in the light of secondary source material including my own small study in one of the Indian States, West Bengal, on the impact of reservation of seats for women as elected women representatives in rural local government in India, with special reference to the challenges experienced by them. It has been argued that, despite a number of inherent structural constraints, women elected leaders have been able to prove their competence to run the institutions of governance and to bring about positive change in the agenda of governance and development. It has also been suggested that there is a need for a much more proactive role of the state which has created space for women through an amendment of the Constitution.