A change is underway

LAST week I met my namesake in a village outside Vadodara, Gujarat. She was less than half my age, in her last year of college. Her family was in the jewellery business.

Kalpana (also called Kailash for some reason) was eager to talk when I began a conversation with a group of people standing under a neem tree. She was curious about me but also volunteered information about herself. She told me, for instance, that she planned to become a lawyer. Why, I asked. "Because I want to set all these people right," she said pointing to the people lining up to present their cases before the Nari Adalat, a women's court held once a week in the panchayat headquarters of Padra village. Her cousin, 19-year-old Daksha, had come before the court asking for justice because her husband had deserted her. And Kalpana witnessed the obduracy of the man who refused to cooperate, would not come to the hearing and abused the women who went to talk to him.

I asked this young woman how many others in her family were educated. She said that neither of her parents had studied much but both encouraged her to study. Had they also encouraged her to think of a profession, I asked. No, she said, this was her own idea. Where did she get such ideas from, I asked. Were there other girls like her who wanted to become professionals?

Kalpana's answer was intriguing. She said that she had felt she should do something with her life after watching the serials on television. She realised that girls can also contribute to society and wanted to do that. She was also clear that she would not be pushed into marriage until she was ready for it. "I don't want to end up like my cousin", she said.

Many of us have criticised what appears on television. But is it possible that, subliminally, some positive messages are getting through to thousands of girls like Kalpana? Not all of them will be able to pursue their dream. But the fact that they can even articulate their aspirations suggests that a process of change, of changing perceptions, is underway. We will not know the extent of it for another decade or more.

Similarly, although much is written and discussed about the impact of women's participation in panchayati raj institutions ever since the 73rd Amendment guaranteed 30 per cent reservation of seats in panchayats for women, the impact of this on women's self-perception will take a while to manifest itself.

Gujarat and Rajasthan share a common border and similar topography in some regions. Both States suffer from an annual drought, although it is more extensive and severe in Rajasthan. The latter, however, continues to lead in its abysmally low female literacy rates.

Despite this, women's participation in panchayati raj institutions is notable. A study by the Ajmer-based Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti on women in panchayats in Rajasthan throws light on a number of interesting aspects of this effort to correct the gender imbalance in governance. We often hear of the successes but do not know precisely the kind of hurdles that women have to face in the process of entering public life.

For the study, the Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti spoke to 76 women sarpanchs from 13 panchayat samitis (development blocks) across four districts in Rajasthan. The findings are most interesting. They found, for instance, that almost 75 per cent of these women were below the age of 50 and of them one third were below 35. The significantly lower percentage of younger women participating in panchayats was because the men in the families would not permit them to do so.

Although in many States, upper caste women dominated the women's quota in the first round of elections, it is encouraging to find that a third of the women sarpanchs now are from the Scheduled Castes. Almost half of them had studied upto the primary level and therefore had basic literacy skills. And 65 per cent of them came from families where the men had never been involved in any political activity.

That is the good news. The bad news is that most of these women faced severe hurdles in conducting their business as sarpanchs with the gram sevaks (who are government appointees) and the upasarpanch (most often a man) ganging up to discredit the woman sarpanch. Often, a no-confidence motion would be engineered in the panchayat to remove the woman sarpanch. This happened everytime a woman became confident enough to question the gram sevak's decisions, or to expose fraud and misuse of funds. She would be accused of inefficiency and removed.

Worse still, many of them had to suffer sexual abuse and caste- related abuse. In Mokhunda panchayat, for instance, Pyaridevi Balai tried to take control of the panchayat when she found that money was being embezzled by the upasarpanch who had been running the panchayat until then. For doing this, she had to suffer casteist abuses from the upasarpanch:"A low caste woman cannot be the sarpanch. Have your grandfathers ever become sarpanches?" Fortunately for Pyaridevi, the no-confidence motion brought against her failed as the allegation that she had neglected developmental work could not be substantiated.

Against such instances of opposition, one would have thought that most women would give up and would not want to participate in these institutions after the first term. This is where the study yields the most pleasant surprise. Only 18 of the 76 women sarpanches said they would not fight another election in the future. But 31 said they would try again, and 10 said they would even contest for the Assembly if seats were reserved for women. According to the report, "The remaining 27 have become so enthused by their new found power and energy within themselves that they are confident enough to fight the elections even without reservations; 15 think they can even become MLAs and MPs."

So, to come back to my namesake from Padra, something is changing in women's perceptions of themselves. Whether it is the media, or direct interventions such as reservations in panchayats, or developmental programmes aimed for women, the message is getting through. The hurdles will not disappear; they could even become more extensive and more difficult to overcome. But despite adversity, women are showing their true grit and resilience. So there is something to cheer about.

KALPANA SHARMA

E-mail the writer at ksharma@vsnl.com

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