Decentralised Governance and Political Empowerment of Women: Gram Panchayats in Koraput District of Odisha, India

Abstract

Women‘s participation in publiclifeis often constrained due to various socio-economic conditions.The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of India provides 33 per cent reservationfor women togive them wider representation in the local bodies. In spite of such and other provisions,empowerment of women is not satisfactory because of certain factors like political failure, lack ofeducation and awareness among women. Against this background, a study was conducted in a
backward and tribal district of Odisha, which examined the political processes. The study attemptedto find out how women perceive their political empowerment as people‘s representatives. Italso.examined the perception of elected representatives on political empowerment. Thefindings of thestudy are expected to give a better understanding of the relationship between socio-economic.backwardness of the region and women‘s participation and empowerment. In turn, this will help inmeeting the challenges of women‘s empowerment as envisioned in the 73rd amendment.This.empirical study found that the participation of women is adversely influenced by the socioeconomicstructure of the region. The socio-economic backwardness of the region affectedthe.capabilities of women intheir participation as people‘s representatives. The performance of thewomen members appears to be more adversely affected than the male members. Thus, capabilitiesin the public domain are not only gendered, but also socio-economically structured.