The Elected Women Representatives of the Kerala Grama Panchayat Elections

Abstract

The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 was a landmark one ininstitutionalising the Panchayati Raj System in India, constitutionally creatinga space for women to become active in the public domain.The presentstudy looks at the Elected Women Representatives (EWR) of the 2010Panchayat elections of Kerala wherein the reservations of seats and positionsof women became 50 per cent.The paper examines the motivating factorof the EWRs to contest the election, the encouragement anddiscouragement they received, and their political and organisationalexposure before becoming EWRs. It was found that the majority of the
persons who became elected women representatives did so because of theprovision they got due to the reservation of seats and they became so dueto the encouragement and motivation of others, especially political activistsThe support of their family members was a crucial factor for them to becomeEWRs. For the self-motivated ones, it was their desire to do something forothers, especially for women, that was the motivating factor to contest inelections. The previous organisational involvement of the EWRs was apositive factor which helped them to perform better in their currentresponsibility as people’s representatives.