Gender Equality in Local Governments




                                                                             Dr. Keshab Chandra Mandal

E-Mail: mandalkeshab2013@gmail.com
Abstract
Gender equality and empowerment of women are now considered as most important issues in development discourse and sex equity is a prerequisite for sustainable development of a nation. Women form the half of human capital and they are the greatest assets of a country, who need rational care, legal protection and growth opportunities. But in almost every society, women’s human rights are violated and they are treated as second class citizens. Democracy fails to survive if fifty percent of its population remains out of the corridor of power and are not allowed to participate in various decision making bodies. Considering women’s contribution in freedom movement, the Government of India conferred the right to franchise to all its adult citizens irrespective of caste, creed, sex and place of birth immediately after Independence; but this could not ensure women’s equal and effective participation in political institutions. However, it took more than four decades for the Union Government to ensure women’s political participation in three-tier PRIs and Municipalities. The twin Amendment Acts created a silent revolution in the history of women’s political empowerment in India by reserving one third seats for women including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. But how far, are the Acts have been able to transform the rate of participation of women in PRIs and Municipalities and brought about empowerment of women is still a matter of debate. Hence, with a view to examining the effectiveness of the twin Constitutional (Amendment) Acts, a study was undertaken with the financial assistance of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), from 2015-2017 in three Indian states viz. Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Rajasthan, which shows a grim picture of women’s empowerment through participation in local governments.
[Key Words: human capital, gender equality, empowerment, union government, local governments]

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