Trajectory of SC Women in Rural Politics

The feminist movements through all the three waves have made women to come up in political sphere, if not fully but sizeably. In the 'post feminist' era, the Scheduled Caste women in India are far behind their counter parts of upper caste categories in terms of socio-economic development but have been found becoming more participative in exerting political roles at the grassroots level. The book intends to underline the rise of Scheduled Caste (SC) women in political roles in rural India. It finds the trajectory in emergence and roles of self assertive political leadership among SC women which has taken place in recent past, particularly after introduction of new arrangements of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) in rural India (after 73rd constitutional amendment). However, it is not only the PRIs that has alone been responsible for the rise in the emergence of leadership roles among them rather other factors like social capital and voluntarism have facilitated the phenomenon of 'proxy leadership' to dwindle gradually over the years and through elections after elections. The book is based on the empirical study conducted with the use of survey of several villages in four districts of Bihar during 2009-2011. Though the rise in political leadership among SC women is marked, yet it is not at the desired level because the situation of social capital and roles of voluntary organisations have not been sufficient. However, the trend is encouraging. As such the book is composed of following sections:- the first chapter presents the research problem, methodology and profile of surveyed areas and respondents. The second chapter examines the three concepts namely political leadership, social capital and voluntarism in politics. The third chapter presents the women's perceptions and opinions on leadership phenomenon in rural areas. The fourth chapter explores the factors of emergence and level of performance of panchayat leaders belonging to SC women category. The fifth chapter marks the impact of socio-economic factors in emergence and performance of SC women in the sphere of rural politics. Finally the last chapter is epilogue of the entire research. The chapters are captioned as Introduction, Conceptual Considerations, Perception and Opinions, Emergence and Performance, Impact of Socio-economic factors and Summing UP.