In 1993 one of the most important step for the empowerment of women and increasing their participation in decision making was taken by reserving 33% seats for women in panchayat raj institutions. This paved the way for election of around one million at the village, block and district level. By now most states with a few exceptions like Bihar have completed at least one five year term. What has been the experience of around 7 to 8 lakh women during their first tenure? What lessons can be learnt for the future from this experience?

Given the chance, they excel:

It is easy to point out numerous examples of women who have worked entirely according to what they were told by their husbands or other male members of their families. In some cases elected women remained at home while their husbands attended the panchayat meetings and carried out official transactions on their behalf. Some of the elected women were approached by men only when their signatures (or thumb impressions) were needed.

All this is true to a substantial extent, but this is not the whole picture. In our male dominated society it is easy to hear jokes about the subservient role of several elected women, and some fierce arguments based on this that reservations for women has failed. Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to realise the greater potential created by these reservations, we should look at several other examples in which women got an opportunity to play an independent role. In such situations time and again, we see them making remarkable achievements for development of their village and quite often resisting the presence of vested interests with a lot of grit and determination.

They bring new perspectives:

The yearnings of several women to assert their independence and make a significant contribution to the welfare of the people is visible in many such examples. In many cases they have been helped by volunteer organisations and people's movements active in their region. In some cases enlightened family members, including husbands, have also encouraged them to realise their potential of initiating meaningful social change.

From such examples it is quite clear that when conducive conditions exist for women to play a leading and active role in the decision making of the village, the entire village community benefits. This increased participation of women is often associated with better utilisation of financial resources, increased harmony in village and prioritisation of some important but neglected aspects of development such as girls' education and sanitation. Social reform measures such as reduction in alcohol consumption and domestic violence clearly get more prominence when women come to the forefront in rural communities.

Corruption has been one of the main problems of panchayat raj institutions. Interviews in several villages confirm that when women representatives function in an independent way, possibilities for corruption are lesser. Even if a pradhan or sarpanch is honest, there is the other threat that government officials refuse to release money and do not cooperate in other ways unless a certain commission is paid to them. There have been numerous examples of women sarpanchs resisting these demands of officials. In fact one hears of such resistance from women more frequently than from men. This opposition to the demand for commission has been strongly voiced by several women pradhans at their open meetings and training programmes.

Specific cases:

Pushpa Rana, pradhan of Arakfarm panchayat in Dehradun district strongly resisted the bribe demands of officials. Although this created a lot of delays and other problems, she finally had her way. Sojar Bai of Ramtek panchayat [district Harda in Madhya Pradesh] went one step further and got the corrupt official [who demanded a cut from her] suspended from his job.

As for the careful use of scarce funds, Alka Chauhan provided a lesson to government engineers. A support wall that had been built in her village Nalapani [district Dehradun] at a cost of Rs. 42,000 had collapsed. A junior government engineer estimated that it will cost Rs.45,000 to rebuild the wall. But Alka Chauhan mobilised the villagers to build the wall at a cost of only Rs.23,500 and the money saved in this way could be spent on other development work.

When Suraiya Begum became the chairperson of Sultanpur Chilkana Nagar panchayat, it was saddled with debts and even some of her supporters feared that new development work may be hindered by the need to first clear old debts. But she managed the situation in such a way that by the time she completed her first five year tenure, a record number of development works worth Rs.80 lakhs had been completed.

More women leaders:

As Rehana, a social worker of Sultanpur says, "Women are known to use money very carefully at home and somehow manage the family budget even when income is low. Women show the same abilities when they manage the village funds." Her colleague Shaheen adds, "When men are in-charge of development works, they indulge in a lot of wasteful spending in inaugurations and completion ceremonies. Women know how to be frugal and concentrate on the real work." Women representatives have shown the capacity to increase the panchayat income to make the development work more self-reliant. Many elected women have been closely involved with the promotion of self-help groups in villages. Urmila Yadav, sarpanch from Kosli village [Haryana] first took a step to clear encroachments on panchayat land and then built some shops on it. The rent from these shops can provide a regular income to the panchayat.

Women are generally known to have a greater capacity for resolving disputes. When she was the chairperson Suraiya Begum's door always remained open for many victims domestic violence. She helped to resolve many disputes. Pushpa Rana prevailed upon villagers to first settle all disputes locally and  go to the police only if village level efforts failed. The result was that the money people had to spend on paying bribes to the police and middlemen was saved.

Many elected women representatives have made an effort to reduce liquor consumption and to remove liquor vends. In Ghazidipur village of Saharanpur district, a panchayat member Kamia confronted the pradhan who supported the location of a liquor vend in the village and successfully mobilised village women for the removal of this liquor vend. Veena Sajwan, who was elected block pradhan of Bhilangana block [Tehri Garhwal district] at the young age of only 23 says, "I have taken up anti-liquor issue as the most important issue to mobilise women. When I had the opportunity to meet the Chief Minister, I immediately reminded him of his promise to curb the liquor menace." All over Uttaranchal state this has been an important issue for elected women and they raised it vociferously at a recent 'Open Forum' meeting in Almora.

Battling the male empire:

It is hoped that greater participation of women will result in better implementation of water, sanitation, girls education, women's health and maternity. Chandravati Singh made a detailed survey of where exactly hand pumps were needed in her panchayat. [Garchapa in Chitrakut district, UP] which is spread over a wide area. This led to maximising benefits from the limited budget at her disposal for drinking water schemes. Some women elected members have prioritised toilets for ladies at bus stops, a clear need which had been ignored earlier by men pradhans.

In Sirmaul panchayat of Indore district, the sarpanch Kiran Kanchal not only set up a maternity home but also set up a committee to run it on a viable basis without raising the service charges too high for villagers. Madhu Semval [Nathuvala panchayat, Dehradun district] helped to check the spread of a cholera epidemic. Natho Begum [pradhan of Enfield gram panchayat, Dehradun district] was so devoted to promoting the education of girls that she donated her own land for this purpose, even though she herself belongs to a poor family.

Some women have overcome heavy odds to accomplish very commendable work in panchayats. Sudha Patel [sarpanch of Changa village, Anand district of Gujarat] is blind, but her work with the help of a friend has won widespread praise. Rajjo, a Dalit woman is completely illiterate and comes from a very poor family. However her work in Sultanpur Chilkana as deputy chairman was so good that almost the entire village adores her.

Some women have resisted efforts of vested interests to harass and dislodge them with a lot of courage and firmness. So many efforts were made to dislodge Ramali Behn from Ahmedabad zila panchayat by powerful vested interests, but she survived them all by her transparent way of functioning and by establishing direct relationship with people. When efforts were made to implicate Savita Behn Bharat Singh Pasaya [sarpanch of Pandra, Dohod district, Gujarat] and her family members in false allegations, she proved her innocence before a large gathering of villagers and officials.

All round progress:

When women succeed in overcoming heavy odds to achieve good results in panchayats and also face vested interests with courage, it has an exemplary impact on a large number of other women. They also want to come forward to participate more actively in village affairs and contribute to the welfare of the community. Apart from this, it is also quite evident from the examples given above that the more active role of women in village often contributes to the welfare of the entire community and several important areas which were neglected earlier, now get prioritised. Thus it is in the interests of not just women but the entire village community to encourage the further empowerment of women in village affairs. The 33% reservation for women in panchayat raj institutions is an important part of this empowerment of women. To further strengthen the effort of elected women representatives, the government should provide greater security to women from the anger of powerful vested interests who try to harm and harass them in various ways. Voluntary organisations should also play a crucial role in helping and training elected women representatives.