Should we have Reservations about Reservations? An analysis of the impact of reservations for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions drawing from field observations in Uttar Pradesh
It has almost been three decades since the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed, which granted 33% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions ( PRI). The move was heralded as “ a watershed in the history of state initiative on political empowerment of rural women”. [1] The rationale for these reservations was to give women a platform to directly participate in decision-making in local self-government from which they historically have been denied. However, as Sudha Pai noted, participation of women in these institutions does not exist in the abstract but is heavily interwoven with ideological and cultural factors where social inequality and oppression are reflected and maintained. [2] In this short article I will argue that reservations for women have not gone far enough to empower women once they enter in to these positions. I will demonstrate that the lack of support for these women in the form of training and education in a strongly patriarchal socie...