From Margins to Mainstream: Women Empowerment in Gram Panchayats of Haryana Challenges, Strategies, and Success Stories

The most meaningful benchmark of a nation’s democratic health is the extent of equal,actual, and effective women’s role in the electoral process. Women’s inclusion inpolitical structures is necessary for advancing their interests and for reinforcinglegitimacy of the democracy (Rai, 2017). However, the patriarchal value system in manysocieties, including India, has systematically excluded women from political spheres,which led to their subjugation and dependence on men. Therefore, to promote women’sinterests and empower them politically, “more than 130 countries” globally have adoptedgender-based quotas at both “national and local levels” (Hughes et al. 2019). India didthe same in 1992 with the “73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts”, and Haryanaprovided gender reservations through its Panchayati Raj Act 1994 and subsequentamendments. The affirmative action policy has been instrumental in the politicalempowerment of women in Haryana allowing them to display their leadership skills.However, on the other hand, women in Haryana are still denied the right to activelyparticipate in local governance due to social and institutional constraints. Though theirnumerical strength has been increasing in local politics, in reality, they still do notexercise real power and influence on decision-making in local institutions. Therefore,this gap makes it pertinent to analyse the impact of gender-based reservation atgrassroots levels on women in Haryana and to identify the impediments still beingfaced by them in making the best use of gender quotas available for their empowerment.