Socio-economic and political backgrounds of women legislators in Himachal Pradesh state legislative assembly: A study

Abstract

Leadership decides the nature and efficiency of the political system. In representative democracy it is one of the important variables that collective leadership should represent the masses. It’s composition should also reflect the various colours of that society. According to ‘elite theory’ power in the democratic system circulate in particular section that comprises election section of that particular society. Present study is mainly focused on the issues of understanding the composition of the women leadership. Questions addressed in the paper are: who are women political leaders? Do they have political lineage? Do they belong to a section of the society which has hold over power in the pre-independence period? What is the location of the common women in the political arena? Hypothesis is structured on the basis of macro, micro and observation bases: women is still politically on the back foot. Her role in the politics still requires toning and boosting. Although Socio- economic (literacy, sex ratio) conditions of the Himachal Pradesh is better than neighbouring State but if we look at the State Legislative Assembly, we find representation of women steadily increasing. Therefore, it is important to study the socio-economic and political profile of elected women (1998-2022) for the purpose of our present study.