Hisar: No more women panchayat, decide villagers

Tribune News Service

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, March 11

Residents of Bhiwani Rohillan village in the district which had set an example by unanimously electing an all-women panchayat five years ago are disappointed with their performance on the completion of their tenure and decided not to have such panchayat in the next election.

Hurdles in the way

The idea was to take the issue of women empowerment to the next level in Haryana. Pressing working conditions at home, lack of education and a male-dominant society hindered their activities. A village resident

Village youths had taken the initiative and mobilised youngsters to elect all women as panchayat members five years ago at the time of the elections. The entire village agreed with the idea and elected all women as panchayat members, including a sarpanch and 12 members unopposed.

Surender Kumar, one of the youths who took the initiative, said they had not been able to come up to the expectations of the villagers. “The entire village supported them and backed them wholeheartedly. The idea was to take the issue of women empowerment to the next level in Haryana. Though there were some women in the panchayat who were energetic, the pressing working conditions at home came as a restriction in their activities,” he said.

He stated that initially the women panchayat members tried to assert themselves. “The lack of education was another factor which came in the way of their performance. One of the panchayat members, Sushila Devi, was the most educated in the group. She was a quick learner. However, she got married off to another village,” he said.

Shakuntala Jakhar, a woman activist, said there were many complexities before the women, especially in rural areas, due to the patriarchal society. “The male-dominant households restrain women even though they are holding a position in society. This mindset is a major stumbling block in the performance of the women panchayat,” she said, adding that it was a welcome initiative on part of the village. Jakhar said there should be more opportunities for the women at the grassroots level, the panchayat level. She said even the administration officials did not give weight to the women representatives as the meetings were also dominated by males.

Manoj Singh, husband of the woman sarpanch Asha Rani, admitted that the panchayat was not able to perform well. “The panchayat took up the issues to set up a government college and a government hospital in the village, but most of the issues remain incomplete.”

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