The Dependency Syndrome of Inclusion: Women in Panchayats Evidence from a Randomised Survey of Bihar

Abstract

This article summarises some of the findings of a sample survey of Bihar on “The impact of Political Reservations on Quality of Participation of Elected Women’s Representatives”. It is a part of the IDRC-NCAER1 research programme on decentralisation and rural development. Using a data set collected from six districts across north Bihar, i.e. Sitamarhi, East Champaran, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, and Supaul, it has tried to answer some questions related to the actual participation of elected women representatives in Gram Sabha meetings, issues they raised during those meetings, the type of development work they undertook, their role in increasing women’s participation, their interface with officials and stakeholders, their interaction with local people across social categories, their awareness of health and education related facilities and issues, the identification of beneficiaries, and so forth. The present decision-making procedures do not allow a greater participation of women and the very absence of women at these levels thus leads to preservation and reinforcement of male-oriented and male-benefiting types of decisions. Women’s low selfesteem at the household level and their new role in local politics where they are now expected to function as leader creates a contradiction.