CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN

RAJASTHAN

There are many different castes, race, creed,religion etc. but in basic terminology we can divide it in two-
Man and Women. Where the society considers that the man are the alpha’s and the women are the betas.
The men or who we can call the alphas can take any decision without considering the views of the women.
There is no participation of women in any areas of importance and that’s the reason behind the being
oppressive. And from there the word comes that is “Women issues”. Although it’s a buzzword, the term
women issues is used regularly without any precise definition, and often has slighting divisive undertones.
When refer to equal rights and participation, gender-based violence or reproductive health.
To fight all these issues related to women’s, a few have started taking steps to improve the position of
women in the society. That is where the concept of “Women Empowerment” came from. So, the basic
concept of women empowerment is that “it is the process where women elaborate and recreate what it is that
they can do and accomplish in a circumstance that they previously were denied in.
According to me, Politics provides us a great platform to share your views, experience or what society
thinks. So that’s why Political empowerment of women is necessary.
Politics provides us the best stage and opportunity to share your views, or what you think. So that's why
Political empowerment of women is necessary for the development and advancement of the society.
Politics connect the term "Democracy". Democracy is system where people elect there representative by
casting votes for the leader or the party. This shows that voting is an important pillar of democracy. But in a
democracy also, the women are not granted rights. Specifically, the right to vote and take part in decision
asking has been achieved at various times throughout the world.
In 1893, New Zealand became the 1st permanent and independent country to grant women's the right to cast
votes. Nine years later, Australia followed suit and also passed a suffrage act for women, after independence
from the Great Britain. Finland was the 1st European country to grant the right to vote to women’s and joined
the ranks of other. In recent times, Saudi Arabia was added in this list. Elections in Saudi Arabia have been
historically rare. Municipal elections were held in 2005 and were planned for 2009. After two years delay ,
they were held in 2011. It was in September 2011, King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and
contest in elections in the year 2015 municipal elections.

In India, a vast majority of women were excluded from voting and contesting in the elections. But the
scenario changed in 1950 after the independence of the country. Universal Suffrage Act was granted to all
women which was enshrined in the Article 326 of our Indian Constitution. But still it took many years for
women to cope with society and rise.

1
 Figure 1.

The 2014 general elections saw around 670 women candidature contesting and competing in elections,
recorded as the highest while seeing a 20% increase from 2009. This came up as a part of larger trend of
more candidature being fielded. Howsoever, even where the sum total candidature pool has expanded, the
ratio of women to men candidates has also increased. In 1984 elections, for every 100 male candidates there
was only three female candidates. But by 2014, this figure had risen to nine, a significant improvement, but
still a very low figure.
As my present study is about the Political Empowerment of Women in Rajasthan, let’s talk about the
political scenario of Rajasthan.
Participation of women has remained very low in the Lok Sabha in Rajasthan, though there has been an
increase but still it needs to improve more.
In the past 14 Lok Sabha elections which had held since 1952, around 180 women candidates were in fray,
and many among them repeat nominees, and around 28 in them were elected in Lok Sabha (the lower house)
from the state which has 25 constituencies in it. In fact, not more than six women candidates had contested
in the LokSabha elections held between 1952 to 1989. The highest candidature of 31 women were fielded in
2009 as compared to its less than half in 1952 Lok Sabha elections when Rani devi bhargava and Sharda Bai
contested from the seats of Pali-Sirohi and Bharatpur-Swai Madhopur respectively. But they failed to get
one-sixth of the total votes polled of their constituencies and so was their security deposits forfeited.

2
Shri. Vasundhara Raje, has been the Chief Minister of Rajasthan for two times that is from 2003 to 2008 and
from 2013 to 2018. She is a prominent leader in BJP Bhartiya Janta Party and contested from Jhalawar seat
from where she won for five times starting from 1989.
A total of around 125 women candidate’s security has been forfeited till now. The highest of four women
candidates were elected by voters in Rajasthan in 1991 and 1996 polls respectively.
This level of low representation of women in Lok Sabha elections reflects the difficulty and bias they suffer
in the society. According to a few women lawmakers and political analysts who contend that giving 33%
reservations to females in the legislature will address the gender imbalances in the Indian politics.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

3
PPALAITHURI (1997) in case study "NEW PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM AT WORK: AN
EVALUATION" reported that they were not informed or invited to the meetings in male headed Gram
Panchayat. Women members have always projected the issues relating to women. It is common that the
husbands of the members used to accompany them (women) when they come to attend meetings.

PAI (1998) according to his field notes in Meerut district” PRADHANIS IN NEW PANCHAYATS”
revealed that many of the Pradhan’s were illiterate and only able to put their signatures on official papers.
Regarding their roles, the study revealed that they were almost insignificant in the functioning of Gram and
Block Panchayat bodies. As they belonged to better off families in the villages, they do not work outside
their homes. They agreed to stand for elections due to family pressure and also the decision of their
community and not because they were keen to do so. The reservations provided by the government had
forced them to contest elections; provision of reservation has not led them to participate in election

KULDEEP FADIAin his article “WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH POLITICAL

PARTICIPATION IN INDIA” shares that the concept of women empowerment is not new, it is just that in
different times the meaning gets changed and shifted or reshaped to women’s empowerment from women’s
welfare and their development. But women in our society are still invisible in the political scenario. This
type of invisibility depicts the backwardness and less participation of women in decision making and other
areas of importance. Reservation of seats for women will be in a rotation and will cease 15 years after the
commencement of the act. All the due process will be done according to norms decided by the Parliament of
the country.

VIRGINIA WOOLF in her non fictional essay “A ROOM’S OF ONE’S OWN” writes that for a women two
things are must, money and a room of her own. It directly points to how a woman is chained to the societal
norms urges to break open and live independently and freely with all her rights and privileges. She dared the
society that even if a woman is obliged to follow all the norms and customs of the society, still she has a free
and open mind and no one can take away her freedom to think. She marks a line in her book i.e. “Lock up
your libraries if you like: but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my
mind.”

Writer SYAMALA DEVI and G. LAKSHMI in their articles “POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF

WOMEN IN INDIAN LEGISLATURE” talk about the backwardness of women remaining in the society
after 72 years of independence. The Indian Constitution provides more provision for the women in the
society, nevertheless only a few could avail it by taking part in the policy and decision making of the
country.

OBJECTIVES

4
The objectives of the proposed study are:
1.To study the status of women in Rajasthan
2.To know the political empowerment of women in Rajasthan
3.To find out factors affecting political empowerment of women in Rajasthan
4.To provide suggestions for the improvement of political empowerment of women in Rajasthan

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a specific procedure or technique used to analyse information about the topic. In a
research paper, the methodology section allows the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall validity and
its reliability. This research design is a Doctrinal research, that is based on online data’s available with
trusted resources.

CHAPTER -2

5
 POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN
RAJASTHAN: PROVISIONS AND SCHEMES

The tradition and customs of Indian society is considered as the oldest and greatest all over the world where
people worship various saints, female goddesses and poets. India is also listed among powerful nation of the
world and famous for being the largest democracy in the world however, women backwardness is also very
clear in the Indian society because of the social issues, problems and lots of restrictions against women.
Women belong to the lower and middle class family suffers more than that what is suffered by the female in
higher classes of the family. Women in the Indian society generally face problems of sex discrimination,
high percentage of illiteracy, female infanticide, dowry system, etc.
That’s why for the upliftment of the status of women in the Indian societyGovernment has bee make efforts
by making special provisions and schemes. Few of the schemes are discussed below:-

Sr NAME OF THE YEAR OF AIM

No PROGRAMME ESTABLISHMEN
. T
1. Central Social 1953 To promote socialy welfare activities and to
Welfare Board implement welfare programmes for women
(CSWB) and children through voluntary participation
of the organizations

2. Development of 1982 To improve the socio-economic status of the

Women and poor women in the rural areas through
Children in Rural creation of groups of women income
Areas (DWCRA) generating activities on a self-sustaining basis

6
 3. Gender Budgeting For economic empowerment of women
Scheme

4. Indira Gandhi Cash incentives are provided to for improved

Matritva Sahyog health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing
Yojana (IGMSY) mothers.

5. National Mission This is for the holistic empowerment of

for Empowerment women. It is a centrally sponsored scheme
of women conceived as an umbrella mission with a
(NMEW) mandate to strengthen inter sectoral
convergence and facilitate the process of
coordinating all the women’s welfare and
socio-economic development programmes
across ministries and departments.

6. Priyadarshini Aims at holistic empowerment of vulnerable

Adarsh Scheme groups of women and adolescent girls through
SHG (Selfhelp formation of Self-Help groups and promotion
group) of improved livelihood opportunities

7. Rajiv Gandhi With a view to encourage women to join or

National Creche continue with gainful employment. Scheme
Scheme (RGNCS) benefiting for the working parents who have
no time for their children. They can leave
their children of age between 0 to 5 in nursing
homes where they can be taken care of
properly.

And many more benefiting the women who are helpless and need moral,social and economic support to
stand in the society.

7
There are also a few schemes implemented by the state of Rajasthan particularly covering all women and
empowering them in the state.

Sr. NAME OF THE YEAR OF AIM

NO. PROGRAMME ESTABLIS
HMENT
1. Integrated Child 1975 The purpose behind this scheme is to provide
Development women safe and a convenient for them to work
Services Scheme with day care facility for their facility for their
(ICDS) children in all areas (rural, urban) if suitable as
per the conditions.

2. Women and Child 1985 To protect rights of women according to the

Development provisions and articles provided in the
Department Constitution of India.
(WCD)

Not only the Government and State provide programmes in the society but also the Constitution of India
provides some articles and recommendations for the help and upliftment of the women in our country.

Constitutional articles for political empowerment of women -:

1.Article 326
State- Central Government, Year- 1950
The elections for the House of People and for the Legislative Assembly of every state shall be conducted on
the basis of Adult Suffrage Act; that is every person who is the citizen of India as per the law requires and
should not be disqualified by the law, is not less than the age of eighteen years shall be entitled to be
registered as a voter at any such election.

2.Women’s Reservation Bill

The Constitution 108 Amendment Bill, Year-2008
It has been the longest pending bill in the Parliament of India for seeking approval. As per the conditions In
the bill, it seeks to reserve 33.33% seats for women candidates in the Lok Sabha, in the state Legislative
Assemblies keeping in view the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment on the recommendations of the
Balwant Rai Mehta Committee that initiated the process of reservations of women in Panchayati Raj System
at Block, District and Taluka level.

3.Article 243D (3) Reservation of Seats

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It says that not less then one-third of the total number (also including the number of seats reserved for
women belonging to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes) are to be filled by conducting Direct elections
in every Panchayat shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different
constituencies in a Panchayat.

4.Article 243D (4) Reservation of Seats

It says that the offices of the Chairpersons in the Panchayats at the village or any other level shall be
reserved for the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women in such a manner as the legislature of a state
may, by law provide, that is the number of offices if Chairpersons reserved for the scheduled caste and the
scheduled tribes in the Panchayat at each level as be in the same proportion to the total number of such
offices in the Panchayats at each level as the population of the Schedule Castes in the State or of the
Schedule Tribes in the state bears to the total population of the state.

5.Article 243T (3) Reservation of Seats

Not less than one-third of the total numbers of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipality shall
be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a
Municipality.

6.Article 243 T (4) Reservation of Seats

The offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled
Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may, provided by the Law.

 Apart from strongly implementing the various schemes and programmes related to gender-
based legislation like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Sexual
Harassment at Workplace Act (Preventions, Prohibition and Redressal) 2013etc. Government
of Rajasthan passed the Landmark Rajasthan Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2015 and
framed the Rules for the Act as well.

CHAPTER-3

9
 FACTORS AFFECTING THE POLITICAL
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN RAJASTHAN
In this chapter I would like to throw some light on the circumstances faced by the for getting politically
empowered.

Distribution of People of Rajasthan in age groups:

AGE GROUPS LEVEL TOTAL PEOPLE IN
PERCENTAGE
0-20 HIGHEST 45.28

20-40 MORE 30.39

40-60 MEDIUM 16.48

60-80 LOW 6.6

80+ LOWEST 1.25

Table1.

The above table1. shows that according to the census conducted in the Rajasthan the maximum number of
people are in the age group of 0-20. There is more role of the youth generation in state of Rajasthan.

Literacy Rate in State of Rajasthan:

YEAR PERSONS MALES FEMALES

2011 61.03 76.46 44.34

2001 38.55 64.99 20.44

DIFFERENCE 22.48 11.47 23.90

Table2.

The above table shows us the level of illiteracy in the state of Rajasthan. The no. of female who are illiterate
is alarmingly higher than that of the men. This is the biggest factor behind the women being not able to
participate in decision making process. As we saw that in first table, the population is more concentrated in
the age group of below twenty. That’s the time period of schooling. Policy are not implemented properly for

10
keeping the girls focused in education and provide measures like safe transportation and more female faculty
teachers.

There are no correct initiatives taken that must support women’s collective action and leadership, disabling
all the women from challenging the power structure of the country. In lending such support, Government
should implement programs through a gender-sensitive lens which is not done.

Another big problem is the nature of male being oppressive on female, which sometimes lead to domestic
violence. We always say that the men are the breadwinner’s and female are supposed to sit at home and have
babies. This thinking procedure of mind can be easily found in city like Bikaner, Jodhpur, etc.

CHAPTER-4
11
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENTOF
POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN
RAJASTHAN

 Setting up Panchayat Resource Centres (Help desk):

We can set up Panchayati Resource Centres in every block that can create awareness in the minds of
the common people and the PRI can work on issues for development. This set up can be used as a
help desk to provide EWR to get relevant information and get all the Govt. related to circulars
translated in local language so that women functionaries can read it.

 Exposure Visits and Expansion of Training:

Exposure visit to WER to the Panchayats where the Women Sarpanch are doing good work for the
society and take stand of right things can be visited so that they can gat encouragement to do more
goods deeds. Studies on women in politics has emphasized that contact with outside world makes
women more alert and also active in the political process. It can be achieved by two ways that is,
1.Interaction with the enlightened women with a purpose of attaining more knowledge.
2. These women could be taken out to the urban areas to gain more experience and interaction with
elected women representative should be arranged.

 Women Organisation:
The women should also be encouraged to organise themselves on their own. One of the effective
instrument can be the Mahila Mandal in the villages. Some of these organisations that only work for
the upliftment of women can act as a catalyst agent to encourage women to participate in political
and social activities. Also, the Govt. can provide assistance by providing finances and infrastructure
to some of the deserving successful women organisation for taking up the responsibility of
encouraging the elected women representatives.

 Media as source to spread awareness, do creation and get feedback:

Media can be used as a source that covers subjects like role of panchayats in providing basic services
like monitoring, planning, budgeting, domestic violence, legal provisions relating to the rights and
protection of women, social practices and their impact on women. At last we can provide helpline
no. so that if anyone has any query can call and get the issue resolved. It can act as an agent of
political socialization for inculcating the values of gender equality and gender justice.

 Incentives:
It can paly an important role in ensuring the participation of all the elected representatives in decision
making. It has been noticed that there are many upcoming women leaders and are actively taking
part at all levels of the society in politics and helping towards the development of their
constituencies. Such leaders need to be encouraged by publicizing their leadership qualities and
honouring them in public meetings. It will certainly encourage other women representatives and their
success stories and good practices will get replicated.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

“A rooms of one’s own” by Virginia Wolf

“Political empowerment of women in Indian legislation” by Syamaladevi& G. Lakhmi

“women empowerment through political participation in india” by Kuldeep Fadia

“Pradhanis in new panchayats” by Pai (1998)

“New panchayati raj system at work: an evaluation” by Palaithuri (1997)

https://academic.oup.com/ojls/article-abstract/33/4/649/1440921

https://www.abyssinialaw.com/about-us/item/478-definition-and-basic-features-of-law

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1273005

https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-factors-affect-womens-economic-empowerment

13
ANNEXURES

14