A Study on Socio-political Empowerment among Women Representatives (members) of Gram Panchayat in Puttur Taluk

Abstract

It is commonly observed fact that women, half of the human resource, have been deprived of the opportunities. Recognizing the need of involving women in the political system and ensuring their participation in political process the introduction of reservation policy in favour of women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions has, therefore, been an important government intervention for maximizing the women participation and thereby to improve their status. Hence this paper examines the role awareness, participation process of elected women members, familial support received, the way they manage their household responsibilities, possible areas of blocks and constraints in performing their roles, the awareness on the local self governance and various developmental programmes/schemes , exposure to the capacity building and its impact on their role performance, the nature of public relationship established by them in the public and also their vision on the developmental aspects and suggestions to improve their functioning. 50 women representatives (members) drawn from various Gram Panchayaths in Puttur Taluk are taken through the simple random sampling method for the study. The study revealed that most of the women representatives joined politics who lack previous experience in this domain and thereby find it difficult to make balance between the household chores and tasks at Panchayath. Inadequate political knowledge in roles and communication skill deficiency add to the problem. Better political orientation and training are suggested.