Abstract
While women have made many advances, their inferior status to men continues to be a global phenomenon. At a time of unprecedented economic growth, India is experiencing a dramatic intensification of violence against women and the majority of girls are still not getting equal educational opportunity. In one of the most important steps for the empowerment of women, the Indian government gave constitutional status to village-level councils or Panchayati Raj institutions and reserved 33% of the seats in Panchayats for women. In addition, women were organized into Self-help Groups to mark the beginning of a major process of empowering women, although not much attention was paid to women's formal education. Our aim was to explore the impact of these measures on women's empowerment in the states of West Bengal and Mizoram.
In general, we found that affirmative action does ensure that larger numbers of women enter politics but it does not ensure that the women participate in politics and function as elected representatives, because of lack of education. Empowerment needs to be seen as a holistic outcome of processes of critical education that enables women to lead autonomous lives and the freedom to act. Both affirmative action and education are necessary to empower women who have suffered discrimination and lack of power always.
Introduction
Gender inequality has been identified as the classic “inequality trap” (World Bank, 2005) that produces further inequalities in societies with negative consequences not only for women, their families and communities, but also for nation states, their economies and ultimately the well being of their people. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent a global partnership to respond to the main development challenges. MDG 3: “Promoting gender equality and empowering women” represents the strong belief that this is an important development objective on the basis of both justice and efficiency (economic and social). Moreover, there is compelling evidence that (a) there is a strong relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction (MDG1) and (b) that women's empowerment and gender equality are channels to attaining other MDGs, such as universal primary education (MDG2) and reducing child mortality (MDG4), not to mention obvious connections to improving maternal health (MDG5), combating infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria (MDG 6) and ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG 7). While it is evident that progress towards one Goal affects progress towards the others, in their attempts to reach the Goals many countries have not linked them to make them mutually reinforcing.
Although the issue of gender equality and women's empowerment have long been debated and demanded worldwide, the declaration of the MDGs in 2002 provided a new urgency to education and women's issues. With the deadline set at 2015, the eight MDGs – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education – bring together the entire world community to form a blueprint to meet the needs of the world's poorest, and fight inequality and injustice.
While many advances have been made by women, their inferior status to men continues to be a global phenomenon. As one of the 191 member states of the United Nations, India is also bound by MDGs and is accountable to fulfill these goals. Globally, India is one of the fastest growing economies (although the recent figure of 5% gross domestic product (GDP) for 2012–2013 shows a decline from 8–9% two years ago) and a knowledge super-power, yet it has the largest number of illiterate women in the world and is ranked 101 among 136 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index. Within India, literacy figures show a significant gender gap: 82.14% of men as compared to 65.46% women are literate (Census, 2011). Maternal mortality is the second-highest in the world and its negative sex ratio is among the worst in the world (gender gap). In the Education for All Development Index, India is among the lowest 22 on the scale of countries. A 2004 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report puts India high in gender disparity (close to Arabian countries).
The dismal condition of women does not, however, mean that the Government of India (GOI) has been silent over these issues. The Constitution of India enshrined very progressive rights for women and stipulated free and compulsory education for girls and boys (up to age 14). There is also provision for affirmative action for women and other disadvantaged groups. In fact it has adopted ambitious targets related to development that are in line with, and at times more ambitious than, the MDGs. For example, the reservation of 33% seats for women in Panchayats (local self-government) is a bold step by the government for the political representation of women. To make women economically independent, the government supports Self-help Groups (SHGs). Both these steps by the government are aimed at ensuring women's empowerment. However, neither the scheme for political representation (in Panchayats or village councils) nor that for economic empowerment (SHGs) have paid much attention to women's formal education. The overall goal of this research was to ask if political representation and economic empowerment without a focus on educational programs could fulfill the aim of women's empowerment.
This article attempts to review the women's empowerment agenda in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and SHGs. It questions the impact of 33% reservation for women in PRIs to women's lives. Do women, in fact, participate in the governance of Panchayats or are they dependant on their husbands and fathers-in-law or fathers for decision-making and it is they who run the Panchayat by proxy (Nolen, 2011)? SHGs are seen as important means of empowering women in rural areas whereby a group of mostly poor women get together to contribute monthly dues as savings and provide group loans to their members. Generally supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the members of SHGs are trained in income-generating activities aimed to improve the overall status of women through income generation. Given their significance, does economic self-reliance brought about by SHGs help women to be independent players or are they dependent on bank mangers and others who offer them micro-financing because they lack basic education to understand business?
This article further explores the extent to which Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of Panchayats are themselves pushing girls' education, if the members of SHGs are discussing the need for a more empowering education, and whether educational efforts for girls can create aspirations for more empowered lives. It also aims to identify the links between the two different initiatives (women in PRIs and SHGs) undertaken by the government vis-à-vis the overall vision of women's empowerment and to enquire whether the existing educational programs take into account or ignore the issue of women's overall empowerment.
Data was collected from the urban and rural areas of West Bengal and Mizoram over the 2010–2011 period through various meetings, workshops and seminars. The rationale for including two districts in West Bengal is that Coochbehar is far from Kolkata (Calcutta), not industrialized, and close to the Bangladesh border with high vulnerability to trafficking of girls. Howrah was taken as a point of contrast being close to Kolkata, at one time a heavily industrialized area, with many schools, good communication and a fairly prosperous region compared to Coochbehar.
We chose to work in Mizoram because it would provide an intriguing contrast to West Bengal as a state that has performed exceptionally well for women in terms of markers such as literacy rates and sex ratio. Although in West Bengal the SHG movement has met with great success in terms of representation, and women have 33% reservation in the Panchayats, the literacy rate is still low (in 2011 the female literacy was 66.57%); the sex ratio is 950 girls per 1000 boys. Mizoram has the second-highest female literacy rate in the country (86.72% in 2011) and has one of the best sex ratios (976 girls per 1000 boys, according to Census, 2011). This state also has more women's participation in the workforce than most other states in India. In Mizoram, women are active participants in economic activities and appear to be liberated. The North East comprises of eight states and Mizoram is one of them. The Mizos have various tribes and the tribes have their own systems of local administration, which are highly evolved. Most parts of the North East are under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Indian constitution. The tribal dominated states of India, which were within the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, were given the option of either introducing the Panchayati Raj and embracing the 73rd Amendment or continuing with their traditional forms of local governance. Mizoram was one of the states, along with Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Jammu and Kashmir, which chose to carry on with their own system rather than embracing the 73rd Amendment. The Panchayat Act and the 73rd Amendment are extended to only the Fifth Schedule areas. In Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya, which fall within the Sixth Schedule, the 73rd Amendment is not valid so that the requirement of reserving 33% seats for women in the village councils is not applicable there. The Sixth Schedule gives legislative, administrative and judicial powers to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), which are also empowered to constitute village councils and also village courts. So, Mizoram does not have the Panchayat system. The local government in Mizoram is formed by ADCs where there is no reservation of seats for women.
The SHG concept has been operationalized differently in the various states in India, but this movement has not been very successful in the North Eastern areas as a whole, including Mizoram. Two reasons suggested by government documents are the lack of homogeneity in the Groups and, more importantly, the lack of experience in the NGOs for the formation and nurturing of the SHGs (Government of Meghalaya, 2005).
This article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the concept of empowerment. In this section an effort has been made to understand empowerment and its markers, especially for women. It attempts to look at the triangulated relationship between the markers of power, namely, education, economics and politics.
Having understood the concept of empowerment, especially women's empowerment, the second part looks into the role of initiatives, such as PRIs and SHGs, in women's empowerment and in promoting gender equality and women's education. This section explores how 33% reservation in PRIs along with the SHG movement has impacted women's life in West Bengal and how this compares with Mizoram, where there is no affirmative action in politics for women.
Based on the findings of data collected from West Bengal and Mizoram, the third part discusses the relevance of these initiatives (PRIs and SHGs) in empowering women in political or economic terms. This section also looks into the initiatives undertaken by women members of PRIs and SHGs themselves to promote girls' education in order to make that a tool for women's empowerment.
The article concludes by making a few recommendations directed at policy makers so as to strengthen women's participation in Panchayats and SHGs so that they can fully utilize the opportunities that have been made available to them.
Part I. Empowerment and education
The term “empowerment”, due to its widespread usage, is interpreted in a variety of ways. Since this article focuses on women's empowerment and women's empowerment schemes, such as SHGs, it becomes imperative to understand the concept of empowerment in terms of gender equality so as to have a better understanding of its policy implications in achieving this goal.
Empowerment: concept and meaning
According to the World Bank (2005), “empowerment is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes”. Empowered people have freedom of choice and the ability for action. This in turn enables them to better influence the course of their lives and the decisions that affect them. Linda Mayoux (2006) suggests that empowerment is a process of internal change, or power within, augmentation of capabilities, or power to do something, and collective mobilization of women (and men) or power with others, to the purpose of questioning and changing the subordination connected with gender that implies power over (emphasis ours). Empowerment signifies increased participation in decision-making and it is this process through which people feel themselves to be capable of making decisions and the right to do so (Kabeer, 2001). Further, the notion of empowerment is radical and political. The basic connotation of “power” (in em-power-ment) is ability – it is capability and agency. Capability involves more than knowledge of something. As Amartya Sen (1999) has emphasized, human agency is the power or ability and choice to act. Human agency – both individual and collective – is crucial for participation in personal, cultural, economic, social and political life. Empowerment also connotes authority. The power of choice and action by women is crucial for the overall development of society.
Empowerment through education
Empowerment, as mentioned above, is the capability to make choices and transform the choices into desired action. There is a need to enable women to access means of empowerment. One of the primary ways in which this access can be guaranteed is through education. Education here is not just about literacy, but also about awareness of the social injustices and discriminations that women face; it is about a critical understanding of the links between the women's own lives and the larger socio-political structures that they are a part of. To be educated is to be empowered with the tools of decoding the structures of patriarchy and seeking to actively deconstruct its norms. Education, especially critical education, helps women negotiate existing power structures, build collectives and bring change. This kind of education is what can ultimately lead to women's empowerment.
The Global Monitoring Report (2007) observes that the countries that perform well on MDG3 (women's empowerment) illustrate that investments in equality of rights, resources and voice can make a difference. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports indicate that there are two prominent trends in India: on the one hand there is impressive economic growth and wealth creation; on the other hand there is stagnation in key social indicators, particularly among disadvantaged populations (i.e. geographically, by caste and by gender). The rapid growth of the economy since the early 1990s and the GOI's increased commitment to accelerating social development present a unique opportunity to improve the condition of women and other disadvantaged groups. However, the question remains, can the condition of women improve until they have the confidence and agency, developed through education, that are essential for empowerment?
Education is regarded at the national level as an important catalyst for development of the country. Several initiatives have been undertaken by the GOI for girls' education in order to empower women and girls. A legal framework was provided by making elementary education a fundamental right. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been introduced in India, with the objective of making the right to universal elementary education effective. The National Programme for Education of Girls at the Elementary Level is a component of the SSA that introduces region-specific strategies to bring girls to school, and include bridging courses and remedial education.
Despite these provisions and the rhetoric of inclusive education for girls, the idea of women's empowerment seems to have slipped out of the agenda of education and very little is being done to empower women and girls through formal education, as is apparent from their dropout rates and level of school enrolment. The curriculum still remains very abstract and unconnected to the ground realities of women's lives and work. What is more alarming is that the National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2000) actually stresses the need to strengthen women's traditional roles as wives and mothers. Although the new NCF 2005 appears to be more empowering for girls, the government's efforts are failing to retain girls in school. In higher education, gender has completely ceased to be a concern (Knowledge Commission Report Recommendations, 2006). While enrolment is increasing and quantitative indicators are important for international statistics, such as the Human Development Index and the MDGs, the qualitative aspects of education are often overlooked. For example, the main reasons for the high dropout rate for girls are a social environment that continues to devalue them, and fails to continue their education because they see the education they receive as irrelevant to their lives.
Education and empowerment: the case of India
In a broadly liberal framework it was understood that education would lead to various forms of empowerment, such as within the family, in the field of employment, in securing rights and also in increasing women's representation and allowing women's voices to be heard in politics. However, in India this process could not unfold because the experiences of colonization and deeply entrenched gender, caste and class hierarchies prevented women from accessing education. As a result, other means of ensuring women's representation in a burgeoning democracy had to be sought. In a situation where women's illiteracy meant that they could not access jobs (and enrolment and retention of girls in school was not a great success), a means had to be found to make females economically self-reliant to ensure that they could play a part in the nation's development.
In one of the most important steps for the empowerment of women and for increasing their participation in decision-making, the Indian Constitution Act (73rd Amendment, 1992) gave constitutional status to PRIs and reserved 33% of the seats in Panchayats for women. The reservation of about one third of the seats in Panchayats for women was a bold step and around one million women are now elected representatives in rural councils.
To empower women economically, the SHG movement and micro-financing was initiated by the government. The SHGs were initially envisaged as units that would empower women by providing credit and alleviating poverty. However, both these programs focused narrowly on political representation in local self-government or Panchayats, or only on economic activities (SHGs), but their plans did not include a foundation on education on which to build these skills. Therefore, as the literature indicates (Bhalla, 2011), there is the possibility that women will remain dependant on their husbands (literate or not) and fathers-in-law or fathers and it is likely that it is the men who will run the Panchayat by proxy. Similarly, the women of SHGs could remain dependent on bank mangers and others who offer them micro-financing because they lack basic education to understand business.
The link that exists between education and empowerment cannot be ignored. Education equips people to meet the challenges of development. Brazilian educator Paolo Freire puts the focus of development on human agency through education for social transformation. His method of “conscientization” as a concept of popular education for adults is about developing critical consciousness. Conscientization helps end the “culture of silence” and empowers the socially dispossessed by giving them a voice. Hence, in order to empower women, critical education is as much necessary as any affirmative action. This is required so that women can break this “culture of silence” and come out and speak for their rights, and claim their life.
Now the question is, to what extent has the espoused commitment of India's policy to promote women's empowerment raised the critical consciousness of women and helped them to benefit from government initiatives? Do the policies only serve the rhetoric of women's empowerment or is there actually an element of empowerment bestowed on women by these initiatives? And is it possible to really achieve these claims and counterclaims of women's empowerment sans education only by policies that do not have a holistic approach to development?
Part II. Panchayats, Self-help Groups and women's empowerment
The 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution in 1992 ensured 33% reservation for women in the Panchayat system. It was a major change in local self-governance in India hitherto considered a male domain. As Nirmala Buch (2000: 2) puts it, “The 73rd amendment mandated representation of at least one-third women through election instead of the earlier token of one or two women nominated by government or co-opted by the predominantly influential, powerful male membership/leadership of these Panchayats”.
Although constitutionally women were to be given equal rights in all spheres of life as men, there were no provisions for the political empowerment of women. This reservation meant acknowledgment of affirmative action that was required to improve and empower women politically. Similarly, the SHG movement was initiated with an aim of social and economic empowerment of women. This was not achieved overnight. It took a long time to actually work on this front by the government: a long journey in the history of women's empowerment.
Panchayats and political empowerment
If we look at the history of the Panchayat system in India, the idea of having local governance was included in the Indian Constitution as a Directive Principle of State Policy (Article 40, 1950) to organize village Panchayats and endow them with power and authority to function as units of self-government. After independence, there were periods of great interest in implementing this directive principle.
The first decade of Independence laid emphasis on the importance of rural governance through the Community Development Programme. In 1957 the government appointed the Balwantrai Mehta Committee to examine the Community Development Programme. One of the most important recommendations was the suggestion of “democratic decentralization” with a three-tiered structure of rural governance. However, women's representation was not addressed at this stage.
The Government policies that were directed towards women were focused on achieving the goal of women's literacy, but political and economic empowerment was not addressed at that time. In 1958, a National Committee on Women's Education was appointed by the government to make recommendations that would reduce the gender gap in literacy. So far as women in Panchayats are concerned, a decision was taken in 1957 that representatives (about 20 in number in each block Panchayat) were to co-opt two women who would work with women and children (Buch, 2000).
However, what followed was a phase of “neglect and decline”, owing to a certain resistance in the bureaucracy and at the Centre to share power with those at the grassroots level (Buch, 2000). It was not until 1977–1978 that the Ashok Mehta Committee gave as many as 153 recommendations to strengthen the Panchayat system in India. On the issue of women's representation, the Committee made two new suggestions – to include women who received the highest number of votes but had lost in the Panchayat elections, and in case no women contested an election, eligible women were to be co-opted. Positive results of the recommendations of this committee were seen in a few states, such as Karnataka and West Bengal. However, it was only after the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution in 1992 that any major change in local self-governance, in terms of women representation, could be achieved. The reservation ensured for women in the Panchayat system mandated reservation of at least one-third membership and chairpersons' positions in Panchayats at all the three levels. 1 Further, this reservation is not only in the total membership but also within those reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, thus providing for women's reservation across castes and background. Thus, now all Panchayats at every level will have at least one-third women members (they can contest for other seats too), and at least one-third of Panchayats at each level – district to village – will be headed by women chairpersons. This mandated minimum of one-third reservation has legitimated the entry of women as a critical mass in mainstream politics at the grassroots level in the whole country and has created political space for women across caste and class. It is a major step for inclusive politics and, by addressing women's political marginality, it has a potential of changing the existing gender relations (Buch, 2000). Around one million women are elected representatives at the village, block and district levels.
Local self-government through PRIs in rural areas aims to give more power to people's elected representatives in matters of governance. The Panchayats have the responsibility of administering local infrastructure and ensuring the welfare of the people living in the villages. They disburse money for development and monitor how the funds are used (Duflo and Chattopadhyay, 2004) and therefore have an important role to play in health, education, governance and women's empowerment.
In West Bengal, an additional responsibility was given to the Panchayats after the 73rd Amendment. This was the responsibility to run alternate education programs called Shishu Shiksha Karmasuchi (Primary Education Program, known as SSKs) and Madhyamik Shiksha Karmasuchi (Upper Primary/ Secondary Education Program, known as MSKs). The Panchayat and Rural Development Department had launched this alternative education program in 1997.
Self-help Groups and economic empowerment
Economic independence is an important element of empowerment. The SHGs were envisaged as units that would provide credit and alleviate poverty with an aim to provide economic power to women. The structure and functioning of the SHGs was also envisioned in such a way that it would promote solidarities between women and enable women to become successful entrepreneurs. Currently, the government's SHG Schemes sponsor as many as 2 million SHGs in India (Sharma and Parthasarathy, 2007) and these are the very schemes that have given 16 million poor households access to formal banking systems. The importance of the SHGs in poverty alleviation and women's empowerment is further emphasized by the fact that as many as 90% of SHGs are entirely comprised of women.
It is interesting to note that the SHG movement has its beginnings in the struggle led by women's collectives to demand microcredit in the 1970s, which was later on supported by the government. In fact, the SHGs began as savings and credit groups and, by the 1990s, after intervention from governmental and NGOs, and were transformed into powerful units that have a wide range of concerns from creating and marketing products to leading community movements against illegal country liquor trade.
The propelling force behind this movement was unequal development and illiteracy (following the failure of formal education), which implied gross inequalities in the lives of women. As a result, organizations such as the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and Working Women's Forum (WWF) raised their voices and demanded a microcredit system that would do away with exploitative moneylenders and enable women to create enterprises. Following the success of the experiments conducted by SEWA and WWF, many NGOs adopted microcredit strategies. Microcredit-based groups that accessed and repaid loans as a collective were formed.
During the liberalization phase in India in the 1990s, the loss of jobs and problems of unemployment emerged as one of the greatest crises in the country. It was at this time that SHGs were promoted nationally and internationally as credit-based neo-liberal development interventions for poverty alleviation. Credit began to be seen as one of the most effective ways to alleviate poverty. The Central and State Governments, along with the newly nationalized banks, launched programs and initiatives that attempted to strengthen the rural banking infrastructure of the country. The National Bank for Rural and Agricultural Development (NABARD) was set up during this phase for facilitating credit flow for the promotion and development of agriculture, small-scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts (NABARD, n.d.).
The processes of collecting and managing microcredit, which required close involvement with the banks, were promising to provide subsidized credit but failed to empower women and involve them in the financial scenario of the family because women depended on men for help and often husbands took over the loans. Since then, a lot of effort has been put in by the Government to develop and sustain microfinance programs without the banks. The most successful of these schemes is the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarazagar Yojana (SGSY) Scheme. It was from microfinance schemes such as these that the SHG movement materialized in India (Reddy and Manak, 2005).
The main question is, to what extent could women be actually empowered? In other words, theoretically women have been politically empowered by 33% reservation in Panchayats and economically empowered by SHGs, which provides them with credit. Do these steps percolate to the roots of gender inequality (politically and economically) and help ensure women's actual participation in politics and in the economy of the country? In short, do women really feel empowered in Panchayats and SHGs? Do the women who are already in the system work to promote women's empowerment and education? What does empowerment mean to them?
Part III. Women in Panchayati Raj institutions and Self-help Groups: education and empowerment
In order to get women's vision of empowerment through Panchayats and where education fits into this vision, data was collected from the urban and rural areas of West Bengal and Mizoram. In addition, the role of SHGs in promoting women's empowerment, especially their role in promoting education for girls, was also under scrutiny. To start with, it is imperative to know the level of education of members of PRIs and SHGs and how their association with these institutions has helped them to carry forward the importance of education.
Level of education in PRIs and SHGs
Of the 51 EWRs interviewed, 39% have studied until less than the eighth grade. A great number of these women are financially dependent on male members of the family. Eighty-eight percent of these women belong to lower income groups, 57% live in mud huts, and the children of 15% of these women do not go to school. This data is true for all three tiers of the PRIs.
Since the women in SHGs are generally from Below Poverty Line (BPL), it has been observed that most of them are illiterate but they have some functional literacy skills. The data from West Bengal shows that the illiterate women who come to the SHGs are taught to sign their names and attain a small degree of functional literacy with help from literate group members. In the personal interviews and discussions, it became evident that almost all SHGs have one or two members in the group who have a certain level of education which ensures that they can look after accounts and fill out forms for work with the bank.
Most of the respondents also said that the group members are helpful when it comes to teaching the other members to sign their names. This is an important activity for the group that builds up solidarity between the members and more often than not creates an atmosphere of co-operation and understanding. Creation of solidarity among women through activities such as these is crucial to ensuring women's empowerment. This sense of togetherness and co-operation, as the respondents reported in the personal interviews, not only gives them a sense of belonging to a community, but it also provides strength and courage to stand up to injustices within the family or the society.
Second-generation education for women involved in PRIs and SHGs
Looking at the dismal level of education of women in PRIs and SHGs it was necessary to find out how important the education of their children – especially their daughters – is for these women. The next big question is whether political and economic empowerment has made the women aware of the importance of education for their daughters. Furthermore, it is interesting to find out whether the mothers, who are members of Panchayats or SHGs, discriminate between their sons and daughters as far as schooling is concerned because of boy preference.
The data from West Bengal indicates some interesting trends. Where the education level of children of respondents is impressive (as in certain Panchayats such as Domjur (Howrah)), it is because of their mothers' involvement with empowering groups. None of the respondents' children had gone to higher education in Panchayats, such as Bauria, where the women who had been elected were younger, from minority communities and unlike in other regions where we interviewed women, they did not work with SHGs. The data also indicates that gender discrimination between boys and girls continues to exist in households where mothers are politically empowered, as in the case of Domjur, where as many as six out of 28 boys had completed their bachelor's degrees while none of the girls of the respondents had college education.
As far as members of SHGs are concerned, the data illustrates that there is a rise in the average levels of education of the second generation of the members. This is an important factor, especially in the case of girls, since the gender gaps in literacy (rural) in the districts of Howrah and Coochbehar are 16.2 and 20.8, respectively (Census, 2011). Considering this gender gap, the levels of education of the children of our respondents suggests a positive picture where gender discrimination is visibly less. This shows a positive impact of the SHG movement, where awareness created within the groups about gender equality has had an impact on the lives of the women and their next generation.
Empowerment: PRIs and SHGs members' perspectives
During the discussion, the Panchayat members themselves pointed out the markers of empowerment for the women in Panchayats. According to them many women today are able to converse freely, exchange opinions, express grievances etc. They are becoming more and more aware about health issues. Many women have become literate, and have received training in various fields. They attend Gram Sansad meetings. The women are manufacturing various hand-made goods and selling them in the market today. This participation of women in cottage industries proves that they have achieved a certain degree of empowerment.
Furthermore, these women are now aware of social development factors, such as population control. The birth rate in West Bengal declined by 28% between 1997 and 2008, compared to a decline of 19.3% for India as a whole (Chandrashekhar and Ghosh, 2010). The sex ratio has increased from 934 (2001 Census) to 950 (2011 Census). The average age of marriage for girls has increased from 14 to 19. All of this has been possible because of these women representatives, who have gone into the homes in the villages, and talked to women individually about the need for family planning, etc. Even if they are not educated themselves, they are nonetheless more aware than before and want to fight the social malaise. Now that they can express themselves, are they empowered enough to make decisions?
Empowerment in terms of decision-making
One of the main components of empowerment is decision-making power. Has this been achieved by these women? Has direct involvement in politics equipped the women members of the Panchayat with decision-making power and political empowerment?
Our research findings represent a sorry state of affairs in this respect. The majority of women members do not take decisions independently and are dependent on male members (of their family, Panchayat or political party). This percentage is as high as 100% in Domjur Panchayat and 90% in Bauria. What differs is the consulting male: in Bauria 30% of the respondents consult their husbands before they take any decision, 70% consult their colleagues in the Panchayat and 20% consult their party members. However, in Domjur the women members mostly consult their colleagues. This is different from the common scenario where EWRs function as puppet politicians because they allow male members of the family, primarily husbands, to take decisions for them. Only one of the respondents in each of the Bauria Panchayat and Bagnan Panchayat replied that they took all Panchayat-related decisions based on their own discretion, without consulting anyone.
From the responses, coupled with the information gathered from the personal interviews, it is clear that a large number of the women members of the Panchayats were operating like rubber stamps. One respondent said that she had contested the elections because her father-in-law, who had been a member of the Panchayat earlier, had asked her to do so. Her father-in-law had been persuaded by the local party members to make her contest the elections. She added that it was not possible to be both a housewife and a Panchayat member. She found it difficult to attend meetings all the time because she could not devote time to housework. This respondent also said that she used to do Zari (machine embroidery with metallic thread) work before becoming a member of the Panchayat. Zari work used to help her earn more money than she can in the Panchayat, and this was one of the major reasons why she is eager to finish her term as soon as possible. A few other respondents also said that they found it difficult to attend the Panchayat meetings and often sent their husbands or brothers-in-law instead.
This data suggests that most of the women join because of pressure from family members. In some cases, such as the one mentioned above, local parties create pressure on existing male party members to make women in their family contest elections. The party members and the male family members take important decisions pertaining to the Panchayat while the women merely remain formal representatives with positions but no real power.
In case of SHGs, findings suggest that the majority of the women feel that they have achieved a certain degree of economic empowerment since joining the SHG. But not all have achieved any decision-making power within the domestic space, or independent mobility. One woman even said that the fact that she earns money has led to a decrease of her power within her family, because when she is unable to contribute economically, she faces discrimination from her family members. So basically, even if they are making an economic contribution to the family, their empowerment is incomplete. Moreover, they are pressured into turning over their earnings to their husbands.
If empowerment is defined broadly as the power to make decisions and choices with respect to one's self and the resources generated by one, then we are forced to conclude that despite a certain degree of economic self-reliance, overall empowerment has not been achieved by most of these women. Greater independence and mobility need to be looked at as important markers of empowerment. In Coochbehar and Domjur, a substantial percentage of women said that joining the SHGs had impacted their lives by increasing their mobility. Although mobility is a very important marker of empowerment, the increase in decision-making power has not happened for most of the women in all areas of their lives. Women members in both institutions – PRIs and SHGs – are very much part of the system that has been initiated to empower them, but when it comes to markers of empowerment like “decision-making”, their success remains debatable.
Impact of PRIs and SHGs
If the women, even after being a part of Panchayat and SHG, do not have decision-making power, does that mean their lives have not changed?
Almost all of the respondents said that joining the Panchayat had changed their lives in one way or the other. Ninety percent of the members said that they enjoyed greater mobility and independence after joining the Panchayat. In the personal interviews, all of the women said that joining the Panchayat has forced them to venture outside their houses. Since they have to attend meetings and go to the Panchayat office, their families have come to accept that they have to go out of their homes and even travel. Thus, they do not have to answer questions every time they leave their house. They now have the freedom to go anywhere they want. A majority believed that the change in their lives consists of increased political awareness, they now know about the national government, state schemes for citizens in general and women in particular. One respondent said, “Before joining the Panchayat, I was scared of everything. But now I am not scared anymore. Joining the Panchayat has brought for me a lot of courage.” So, for almost all of them empowerment can be defined as increased mobility, which has given them a sense of liberation. Also, a direct involvement in local politics has made them feel powerful because they have overcome fear of public institutions by gaining greater confidence.
Almost all women in SHGs also feel that their lives have changed after joining the SHG. A majority of them said that the most significant change was economic self-reliance. Their independence and mobility has increased ever since they joined the group, and for many women, working together with other women as a part of a group for the first time in their lives was the most significant change. This is a pattern we encountered all over West Bengal. Most women said that their economic condition had improved since joining the group, but whether that translates into empowerment or not remains debatable because they do not always control their earnings.
Affirmative action (reservation) and empowerment
One of the critiques of the 33% reservation is that often male candidates, who have been involved in the Panchayat before, make their wives or sisters-in-law contest the reserved seats and then enjoy power by proxy. If that is the case, to what extent has the 33% reservation actually benefitted women who actively participate in politics?
Almost 80% of the members interviewed said that 33% reservation for women in Panchayats is good for women and had served the purpose of bringing more women into active politics. Twenty percent of the respondents did not answer this question. In the personal interviews, they pointed out that reservation made it easier for women to come into politics and experience a position of power. One of the respondents said that it was extremely important for women to be in positions of power in every field, because that enabled them to listen to and solve other women's problems. This also leads to solidarity building both among the EWRs and with women of the constituency. She said that many women would hesitate to talk about their problems with a male representative. Thus, reservation was useful not just for the women coming into power but also for women in general.
One of the important issues that both Panchayats and SHGs need to undertake is the development of women's education. So here it becomes imperative to look into the co-operation between Panchayats and SHGs on the issue of promoting education.
SHG–Panchayat synergies: effect on education
It is important to locate the interfaces between the microfinance movement and the PRI, and examine whether the economic empowerment of women brought about by the former and the political empowerment guaranteed by the 33% reservation has resulted in any significant increases in the educational levels of women/girl children, especially in rural areas. Ideally, regular meetings between the Panchayat members and the SHG members are supposed to take place to discuss various issues. Now the question is, if the meetings do take place, to what extent does education get attention? Do they organize education-related activities and discussions when they meet?
A large majority of the respondents said that regular meetings are held between the Panchayat members and the SHG members. Most of the respondents said that education does not seem to be on the priority list. Yet, both the SHGs and the Panchayats are mandated to have a direct role in rural education. The Panchayat-run schools – MSKs and SSKs – also require the participation of members from the SHGs.
It was observed that members of SHGs are more actively participating in education-related activities. The instance of women from Bagnan (Howrah) running free coaching centers for the children in the locality shows how women who are educated and empowered can positively impact their communities. The links between literacy movements, SHGs and the education of the second generation emerged as a clear thread through this set of questions.
The emergence of SHG members from literacy centers and higher levels of education lead to less gender discrimination in the education of second-generation girls and boys. The impact is not only limited to the children of the SHG members but also spreads to the locality where the women organize free coaching centers or awareness camps to prevent dropouts.
The trajectory of Bagnan is a successful example of the importance of education in the larger issue of women's empowerment. Although education and SHGs might seem to be apparently unrelated, there exists, as the findings illustrate, a very important link between education and women's economic empowerment in the SHGs. The absence of focus on education, on the other hand, can lead to a failure of the SHG movement. From its inception, the SHG movement was not envisaged as something that would merely circulate credit. It was an important step in the liberation of women and this can happen only with education, critical education that gives people the awareness and knowledge to think critically and act. For this vision to materialize there is an urgent need to ensure that education is brought back on the agenda of women's empowerment.
These findings are true for West Bengal. The other state under study, that is, Mizoram, is entirely a different story. As already mentioned, Mizoram is in total contrast to West Bengal in terms of society, governance and development. 2 Firstly, as mentioned above, Mizoram is now a state in North-Eastern India and under the Indian Constitution its people have been given safeguards under the Sixth Schedule, which gives legislative, administrative and judicial powers to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). The district councils are empowered to constitute village councils and also village courts. The Panchayat Act and the 73rd Amendment are not valid in Mizoram. The ADCs function as local administrative bodies that are governed by the tribes, keeping in mind the specificities of the area.
Since the 73rd Amendment is not valid in Mizoram, the ADCs do not have provisions of reservation for women. The District Councils comprise 30 members for a term of five years. The Governor of the state is empowered to nominate up to four members to the Council, while the others are elected on the basis of adult suffrage. The Chief Executive Member (CEM), the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Council (equivalent of Speaker and Deputy Speaker) are elected from the members and the CEM selects the other executive members. However, each ADC has its own set of rules. In some councils, such as Mara in Mizoram, the electorate are eligible adults (anyone above 18 years) but in others, such as Karbi Anglong, right of access to traditional lands and length of stay in the region are regarded as a qualifying criterion for being included in the voters list for the ADCs (Chaudhury, 2005).
The ADCs are governed by the patriarchal laws, which are responsible for little or no representation of women in the political sphere of the state. The Chairperson of the Women's Commission of Mizoram said in the interview that many people have wrong ideas about women in the State. Since women of Mizoram are visible in the markets and the streets in jobs that society sees as male jobs (for example, butchers, parking lot attendants), people think that Mizoram is way ahead of other States in terms of women's empowerment. However, she said that the customary laws of the Mizos are very patriarchal, and have been created in such a way that women are excluded from all spheres of real power – a glaring example being politics. According to the Election Commissioner of Mizoram there are 555 Village Councilors, among whom only 35 are women. In his interview he added that reservation for women is an essential step towards ensuring participation of women in politics and the Aizawl Municipal Council is an example of the success of reservation. In 2010, The Aizawl Municipal Council was formed with 19 Members. Aizawl became the first district in Mizoram to become a Municipality. As a Municipality, the constitutional rule of 33% reservation for women was followed here, thereby ensuring that six out of these 19 members were women.
Gender discriminations in Mizo society exist at a deeper level. Apart from politics, within a largely Christian society it exists in the Church and makes it very difficult for women to occupy positions of power. The Church here is not just a powerful religious body but also an influential social body. Gender discrimination within the Church, coupled with the still unchanged Mizo customary laws, make women vulnerable members within the society. Although they are economically empowered to the extent that they operate in the market, and are educationally ahead of most other States in the country, women are excluded from the administrative committees of the Church, of major organizations like the Young Mizo Association (one of the most powerful organizations in the State) and also from politics. In Mizoram, the customary laws of the Mizos still prevail. These laws do not grant any property rights to women, men can divorce their wives without giving them alimony and women also do not have any custody rights over their children.
The overall empowerment of women in Mizoram cannot be achieved without proper representation in the Church and in all political spheres, since these two are the centers of power that women need to access in order to bring about change.
Part IV. Policy Recommendations and Conclusion
While the “transfer of power” in the form of the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution ensuring 33% reservation for women in Panchayats has been called one of the greatest social experiments of our time, there is still great resistance to the movement, and women are often being used as rubber stamps by male counterparts and husbands/fathers/brothers. Male family members and other males manage the functions of the local bodies “on behalf” of women. This fact is not only connected with lack of schooling but more importantly to lack of agency and voice, which can come only with critical education. Critical education would make what they learn relevant to their lives. They do not have an education that gives them voice and agency that imply the ability and the freedom to act (Sen, 1999).
Leadership positions in politics, such as the Panchayati Raj (local government), are crucial in women's empowerment but our research supports the findings of several studies which show that in South Asia affirmative action in local government has given rise to what has been termed “de facto” politics, that is, a situation where despite being elected the majority of women politicians do not actively participate in governance (Vijayalakshmi, 2002). Several studies in South Asian countries indicate that women councilors do not know their rights, lack confidence to conduct meetings, are often ignorant of Council agendas, etc. (Mukhopadhay, 2005); despite the numerous rights the Constitution has guaranteed women, the society itself has remained patriarchal. The Constitution guarantees the theoretical equality of men and women but that does not always translate that into practice. Women have come a long way in the past few decades, but they are yet to achieve empowerment and equal status to men.
The participation in PRIs and SHGs has given them some kind of empowerment but that still remains superficial. They are not actually empowered because they do not have decision-making power and they follow what is being imposed on them by the male members of the Panchayat or society. They are still subordinated and mostly do not even question the many inequalities they face daily in their lives, leave aside opposing decisions made by male members of the society. A recent example is the shocking case in Birbhum (West Bengal) where a gang rape was sanctioned in December 2013 by a local Panchayat court.
In this case a 20-year-old tribal girl was gang raped by 13 persons following a diktat by a kangaroo court (Salishi Shabha) of the Panchayat after her family expressed their inability to pay the “fine” of Rs. 25,000 imposed on her for an alleged affair with a boy from another community. When the alleged rapists were arrested, the women of their respective families came to rescue them and encountered the police saying that their men had not been involved. This is shocking given that 33% of Panchayat members are women and this was a Panchayat-sanctioned act. Moreover, had these women been empowered, politically, economically and educationally, it is likely that they would have tried to stop these men at the beginning and this criminal and shameful act would not have taken place. At the least they would have tried to get these men punished rather save them from being arrested for criminal violence against a young woman who they all know.
Be it the case of West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab or Rajasthan where these kangaroo courts (Khap Panchayats) are active, it has been observed that they are run by men who perpetuate patriarchal violence towards women who step out of their control. The irony is that women support them in maintaining the traditional patriarchal culture, which places all sorts of restrictions on women, and grant extreme liberties to men. In order to stop these sanctions, women need to be empowered where they can distinguish between right and wrong, become aware of their rights and act accordingly. Instead, women themselves are complicit in perpetuating women's conditions of oppression. Women need to be conscientized in order to change the plight of women rather than perpetuate oppressive customs in order to please men in the patriarchal order.
One of the primary ways in which women can be conscientized is through education. Education here is not just about literacy but about awareness of the social injustices and discriminations that women face. To be educated is to be empowered with the tools of decoding the structures of patriarchy and seeking to actively destruct its norms. This kind of education is what can ultimately lead to women's empowerment. Education is a crucial factor in ensuring both economic and political empowerment. The government schemes and drives for women's empowerment seem to completely ignore this factor and aims at achieving physical, measurable markers of empowerment in order to satisfy the MDGs and other statistics. There is an urgent need to include education in the empowerment agenda and to ensure that the efforts for political and economic empowerment do not remain myths in women's lives.
The following recommendations to policy makers are derived from the research data in order to strengthen the participation of women in Panchayats, which is a unique social experiment that legislates power to women but that women are unable to fully utilize.
Policy recommendations for Panchayats
Panchayat members need to be more active and responsible. Both elected members and ordinary members need to attend training sessions and their follow-ups and then apply what they learn. There should be more interaction between EWRs of the Panchayat and bureaucrats. Bureaucrats work within the government machinery and are more involved in policy-making decisions. There needs to be a balance, bestowing more powers on the Panchayat members, especially EWRs, if they are to achieve women's empowerment. Women also need to compete for the general seats – usually only the reserved seats are given to them. Women bring a different perspective in their approach. They would gain strength in numbers and be more able to change discriminatory decisions if there were more women. Beaman et al. (2010–2011) point to several studies demonstrating that men and women differ in their political and policy preferences (Edlund and Pande, 2002; Miller, 2008). There should be more interaction and coordination between the different departments and sections of the Panchayat. There is a need to hold awareness camps, training programs and educational programs for the EWRs. Women are unable to utilize their power without training. These programs can be directed towards ensuring overall empowerment of EWRs. The Culture and Information Department allocates funds to the Zilla Parishads. The Panchayat should use these funds to create awareness. Students in general need to be educated about the role of the Panchayat and particularly the EWRs. This would help generate awareness about local self-government and their own stake in it. There is a need to develop a syllabus that is connected to the lives and concerns of the children who live in rural areas, thereby bridging the gap between classroom education and local needs. For example, in the Standard 10 syllabus, there should be information about legal rights and the Panchayat. The notions of gender equality also need to be incorporated in the formal school syllabus. The Panchayat should be given a concrete role in education. MSKs and SSKs need to be given more facilities and the Panchayats should be more involved in the functions of MSKs and SSKs.
Policy recommendations for Self-help Groups
The SHG movement that started in India a couple of decades ago has brought about many positive changes in the country as far as women's empowerment is concerned. However, if it remains limited to a certain degree of economic self-reliance only, then empowerment will be lopsided and incomplete. The economic self-sufficiency that the microcredit system brings, needs to be supplemented with educational and political empowerment, so that it results in an all round development of women, not only increasing their earnings but most importantly by enabling them to exercise control over those earnings and their lives in general. The importance of education, as illustrated in the report, needs to be underlined once again.
Education needs to be highlighted as one of the indispensable factors on which empowerment depends. The links between formal school education and livelihood need to be made stronger so that formal school education holds some kind of incentive for the children. There should be more stress on technical and vocational education, programs that will equip the children to earn a living for themselves later on. Adult literacy programs such as the National Literacy Mission need to be revived, with specific targets towards reaching out to the minority communities. There should be a concerted effort on the part of the SHG to ensure that the children of the members do not drop out of school due to financial reasons or other social pressures. The organization should provide educational loans and extend other kinds of support to group members. The group should conduct workshops for the children of group members to present the different career or livelihood options to them, and also to discuss the means of accessing these options. At the same time the groups should also take into account the education of the members themselves. Although functional literacy has a symbolic importance, there should be concerted efforts to at least impart basic literacy and numeracy skills to members. Members interested in pursuing or restarting their education should be encouraged and supported. The SHG members should interact more with the local Panchayats. Together with the PRI they need to ensure that the children, especially the girl children in their area, are attending school regularly, and have access to books and other kinds of resources. They need to convince reluctant parents to send their children to school. SHGs should function more as women's collectives and less as institutions that merely handle their savings. It is for the group to encourage communal activity and strengthen bonds between the members, to provide an alternative support system for the woman, besides her family. Capacity-building training sessions need to be organized for the SHG members and not only for the group leaders.
In West Bengal the government has put structures in place but women are unable to avail of the opportunities fully because they are kept back socially due to their lack of education. The situation in Mizoram is rather different and while women are certainly more educated and enlightened socially, they have not been able to penetrate the power structures.
It is imperative that 33% reservation for women candidates in the ADC is mandated so that more women come into politics and the political parties also field women candidates during elections. The SHG–Panchayat interface in some parts of West Bengal (for example Coochbehar) is benefitting women greatly. Women can discuss and solve their problems through this forum. Creating an interface between women's organizations in Mizoram could help make women more conscious of their problems and co-operatively generate solutions. Although the social structure of Mizoram is very unlike that of West Bengal, this is one aspect that can be emulated. There is a need for representation of women in the national Parliament as well. This was suggested by the women members of the Aizawl Municipal Council. As was mentioned before, women need access to higher structures of power in order to bring about changes in the law. The Church administration definitely needs to change. Women should be ordained and given more power in the administrative processes of the Church. For a few women, Church organizations brought them into politics. This is an important platform that should become less discriminatory.
Conclusion
Succinctly put, the problem is somewhat of a paradox: affirmative action does ensure that larger numbers of women enter politics but it does not ensure that the women participate in politics and function as elected representatives. On the other hand, literacy or education in its present form are not enough to empower women. For example, with no reservations for women in ADCs and despite high levels of literacy, women remain outside the power structure so that there is negligible participation of women in politics or in the Church structure in Mizoram. Our study in West Bengal and Mizoram indicates that there is a symbiotic relationship between affirmative action and education. Neither is a sufficient condition for women's empowerment by itself. In Mizoram women have a high level of literacy and education but they are debarred from the corridors of power because they are not able to participate in the spheres of power. In West Bengal affirmative action and organizational help have given them access to political and economic spaces, but because they are not educated they do not have the ability to exercise their power. It appears that schooling itself is not a sufficient condition for empowerment because it does not give agency and power to women who are oppressed by societal norms. On the other hand, political and economic opportunities are not able to fully empower women because their earnings are most often controlled by men just as women's elected positions are used to a large extent to represent men's decisions in village councils. Affirmative action in Panchayats and organizing SHGs have done much to give confidence and mobility to women. These are both effective and necessary but not sufficient conditions: they need to act in synergistic ways to empower women. Most importantly, education has to be more than rote learning because education is more than just schooling: it is consciousness raising. Critical education can conscientize people in order that societal attitudes evolve to challenge the patriarchal stranglehold across the country.
Hence, education is a crucial factor in ensuring both economic and political empowerment. Empowerment, in turn, enables women to transform existing power relations, to engage in capacity building and to create solidarities. The government schemes and drives for women's empowerment seem to completely ignore this factor and aim at achieving physical, measurable markers of empowerment in order to satisfy statistical reports. There is an urgent need to include education in the empowerment agenda and to ensure that the efforts for political and economic empowerment do not remain myths in women's lives. Moreover, if affirmative action is to end at some future date, the education of women who are elected to Panchayats is essential.
There is a need to focus on their right to elementary education and not feel complacent that the goal of empowerment has been served through the election of women to local self-government or exposure to the SHGs.
Footnotes
Funding
This work was supported by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.