Why women sarpanches are still not empowered

WITH so much emphasis on women’s betterment and empowerment in India these days, it is time we evaluated the story of a programme highlighted as a women beneficiary scheme. It relates to women's role in the panchayat system, which has been acclaimed as truly 'women-oriented'. The state of Haryana is a good example to measure the veracity of this claim.

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The Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2020 provides 50 per cent reservation for women. Consequently, at present, there are 6,186 sarpanches in Haryana. Of them, 3,621 are male and 2,585 female. Out of these, 1,436 sarpanches belong to the Scheduled Castes, 1,671 to the Other Backward Classes and 3,079 to the general category.

This gives the impression that there has been increased empowerment of women in the gram panchayats of Haryana because the Panchayati Raj System is sarpanch-centric and the panches have little share in it. The erroneous impression of increased empowerment of women is further strengthened by the fact that education is the basic requirement for a woman to become a sarpanch. Thus, all of them have education above the middle school level, with some of them having education above that level.

However, the claim of increased empowerment of women in Panchayati Raj institutions by prescribing the minimum educational qualification stands

challenged by the ground realities.

By making it mandatory for its candidates to be eighth and tenth pass, along with other criteria like the two-child norm and toilets, the Government of Haryana (and Rajasthan) has debarred more than 70 per cent of the rural electorate, especially women, from contesting the panchayat poll.

It has also made hardly any difference to the women representatives who get elected as they continue to face discrimination. They are generally ignored and bypassed in official, semiofficial and even informal meetings by the male elected representatives. The male officials manning the government machinery, too, generally prefer to interact with the male representatives.

This has fostered the culture of sarpanch pati or pradhan pati, depriving the elected women representatives of their leadership and voice in public affairs.

What can one expect in a state where rigid socio-cultural norms, such as the pardah pratha or the covering of the head by women in front of their male peers, is a reality, more so if the males are elders and they are at a public place.

Women are also required not to speak out in male gatherings in general and cover their face with a veil. This orientation is extended to the panchayat and gram sabha meetings.

The sarpanch’s husband, the so-called sarpanch pati, is someone who is recognised in the village. People vote for him, and not for the proxy woman candidate. He is the person who mobilises the community on the ground and has a pulse on the local politics. During elections, be it panchayat, assembly or parliamentary, he is involved in coordinating election efforts. For all practical purposes, once the proxy woman sarpanch is elected, the sarpanch pati runs the show.

In fact, this phenomenon of sarpanch patis (husbands of the sarpanch) performing the role of their wives who get elected as sarpanch in the village has been extended. Now, there are sarpanch bhais (woman sarpanch’s brother), sarpanch pitas (sarpanch’s father), sarpanch sasurs (father-in-law of sarpanch) and sarpanch jeths (elder brother-in-law of sarpanch).

This has happened because some families that did not have an educated daughter-in-law decided to field their educated daughters to retain the chaudhar (power) in the village. Some other families hurriedly married their sons to the girls fulfilling the educational qualifications required for contesting the office of the sarpanch.

The position of the backward caste women sarpanches is worse because the landless backward classes from the artisan services or agricultural labour class cannot dare to have any control over the power structure of the village.

The position of the Schedule Caste women sarpanches is the worst because they suffer from a double disadvantage — first as Dalits and secondly as women.

This mixed caste representation is visible in the panchayat meetings, where women representatives are seen wearing the ghunghat.

The women representatives face multiple burdens as they are expected to balance their public life with their domestic and caregiving responsibilities.

The elected women are hesitant to take financial decisions independently, which leads to their being dependent on their husbands/male relatives. It restricts the development of an independent mindset as well as a measure of autonomy and independent action.

Moreover, most elected women panchayat members lack sufficient knowledge of the governance structures. As a result, they are often isolated, with hardly any support from the government-appointed functionaries in the panchayat.

This vacuum creates a space for male relative or other males to step in, effectively rendering the elected women representatives powerless.

Women's representation in panchayats is, therefore, more symbolic than real. The elected women representatives in most panchayats face a lack of or limited opportunities and access to rapid and customised capacity-building training. They also have very limited access to mentors who can advise and guide them in their new roles, making them effective political leaders. They must get training in effective local governance.

Clearly, there is an urgent need to rectify the matters. The district administrations must take a firm stand and not allow the male kin of elected women representatives to function as their proxies.

Further, a group of educated women must be formed by the Women and Child Development Department to assist the women sarpanches. Self-help groups may also be encouraged to extend logistic support to the women sarpanches. For capacity-building of women sarpanches, exclusive programmes may be organised.

All these efforts are urgently needed as the Haryanvi society remains rooted in a culture which is hardly mindful of women's rights.