Women empowerment through political participation – a perception study of Indian rural women

Abstract

The present study was intended to study the perception of rural women of Dinhata Subdivision on the empowerment of women through political participation. The study was conducted in Dinhata Sub-Division of Coochbehar District, India. The qualitative study is phenomenological in nature. The sample was purposive and qualitative data were collected through semi structured interview of rural women from study area. After deductive coding as per predetermined themes, data were analysed thematically. The study found that the perception of rural women on the empowerment of women through political participation is widely divided. Though most of the rural women (47%) perceive that women should participate in active politics for women empowerment, 29% of them perceive it negatively whereas 24% of them have no ideas of women empowerment through political participation. However, 67 % of rural women are keen to participate in active politics. They also opine that male members of the family will have no objection if they participate in politics actively. Further, they also perceive some challenges in case they are engaged in active politics, like accomplishing the household chores and looking after kids as these are solely women’s jobs by tradition and culture in rural India.