The Complexities of Empowering Rural Indian Women (A story of Indian Panchayats)

Sammanfattning: In the following research I strive to focus on the various aspects that influence the‘empowerment’ issue of rural Indian women. I refer to two governmental reforms inparticular - the historic ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ (WRB) which insists on a onethird participation of women at the lower tier of political structure in India called thePanchayats and the controversial ‘Two Child Norm’ (TCN) which restricts politicalparticipation of both men and women Panchayat candidates if the couple chooses tohave more that two children (Buch, 2005).I spread my research over a variety of social actors relevant to this issue and useKabeer’s (1999) three-dimensional model of dissecting empowerment that analyzesthe term at an intrinsic level. It is revealed through this research and analysis that inspite of the government’s efforts through the WRB reform of providing resources tothe rural women toward economic and social empowerment through politicalparticipation, the power terrains of caste, culture and religion withhold their agency.On the other hand, the tainted TCN stipulation, which in some cases has proveddetrimental to women, has also shown signs of being helpful in determining theintrinsic aspect of empowerment like gaining a voice in terms of reproductive rights.Such findings however bring into focus the government’s lack of commitment andforesight in designing such reforms and hence this research helps us locate the sites ofdevelopment to make the term ‘empowerment’ more meaningful.