Women s Political Participation in Kerala, South India

Transcription

1 Peace and Development Research Institute Göteborg University Autumn Term 2000 Women s Political Participation in Kerala, South India - a case study based on obstacles met when entering the political sphere Sara Andersson Susanne Bohman Tutors: Monica Erwér Aleyamma Vijayan Bachelor Thesis in Development Studies (advanced course I) Minor Field Study Gothenburg, November 2001

2 Abstract This essay is based on an empirical study including interviews with women who have been politically participating in the local decision-making unit Gram Panchayat in Kerala, South India. It is specifically concentrated on the women elected during the first five-year-term after the 73 rd and 74 th Amendments were enacted in The objective of this essay is to get a better understanding of the different obstacles these women may have had to face when entering into the public sphere, and the emphasis is on the women s own perceptions and perspectives. Our intention is also to investigate the underlying power relations to these obstacles and how they may affect the women while entering the political arena. To do this, we will explain the context concerning the reservation of one-third seats for women in Panchayati Raj as well as the decentralisation process taken place in Kerala. We will also look upon theoretical aspects considering gender, power, possibilities for enhanced empowerment as well as the notion of the public and the private spheres. But foremost, we will try to make the women s voices about their own participation in the political life heard. Keywords within the essay; Kerala, South India Obstacles to political participation Gender Decentralisation Power relations Private and public spheres Political empowerment 2

3 Acknowledgements This essay is a result of a Minor Field Study, financed by the Swedish International Cooperation Agency, SIDA. There are several very special people who we wish to thank for their help and support throughout this study. Foremost, we would like to pay our greatest gratitude to our Swedish tutor Monica Erwér who has supported and encouraged us at all times, guiding us practically and theoretically in both India and in Sweden. We would also like to thank our Indian tutor Aleyamma Vijayan and J. Sandhya as well as the rest of the staff at the women s organisation Sakhi in Trivandrum. Thanks to our translator, Anila Hameed, for travelling with us and for doing a very thorough job translating as well as explaining cultural differences to us. Also, thanks to Mr. Mohan and Asuntha Mohan for explaining the social networks of neighbourhood groups and self-help groups and to Unni Krishnan at the State Planning Board in Trivandrum. We also wish to thank Dr. Manu Bhaskar who invited us to the Department of Sociology at the University of Kerala and to Dr. Radha who took the time to discuss the women s situation from an academic aspect. Last, but not the least, a very special and grateful thank you to all the women who put their own work aside to let us interview them and who gave us an insight of their experiences of being a Gram Panchayat member! - Sara and Susanne 3

4 Glossary - Gram Panchayat - self-governing body on a local village level consisting of 7-17 members (in the three-tier governing system) - Grama Sabha - a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of the panchayat at the village level - Panchayati Raj three-tier governing system - Panchayat Samiti block level (in the three-tier governing system) - Rajya Sabha political body at the national level - Ward - division within the Panchayat consisting of 1-7 villages - Zilla Parishad district level (in the three-tier governing system) Local Governance - Panchayati Raj Zilla Parishad Zilla Parishad (district level) Panchayat Samiti (block level) Gram Panchayat (village level) 4

5 Abbreviations CPI - Communist Party of India GAD - Gender and Development GNP - Gross National Product HDI - Human Development Index LDF - Left Democratic Front LSGI - Local Self Government Institution MP - Madhya Pradesh NGO - Non-governmental Organisation NHG - Neighbourhood Group SAP - Structural Adjustment Programme SC - Scheduled Caste SHG - Self-help Group ST - Scheduled Tribe UP - Uttar Pradesh 5

6 Abstract Acknowledgements Glossary and Local Governance in India Abbreviations 1. INTRODUCTION PROBLEM PRESENTATION Aim and Objectives Limitation Obstacles to political participation Gender METHOD Fieldwork Interviews primary sources Secondary sources Difficulties concerning method DISPOSITION KERALA AN INITIAL BACKGROUND THE KERALA MODEL Consequences of the Kerala model affecting women DECENTRALISATION AND DEMOCRATISATION THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 73 RD AND 74 TH AMENDMENTS Panchayati Raj system at work Women in Panchayati Raj Criticism on the reservation system PEOPLE S PLANNING CAMPAIGN Gender aspects on the People s Planning Campaign FEMINIST ARGUMENTS WITHIN THE POLITICAL DOMAIN THEORETICAL ISSUES POWER THE PUBLIC AND THE PRIVATE THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL The triple role THE POWER OF PART TAKING IN DECISION-MAKING The role of power within the household EMPOWERMENT THE VOICES OF THE WOMEN INTERVIEW THEMES THE WOMEN S PERSPECTIVES ON POWER RELATIONS Family support and cultural constraints The power of political parties The Gram Panchayat Increased confidence THE WOMEN S PERSPECTIVES ON TIME LIMITATIONS The reservation The private and the public The triple burden ANALYSES CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDICES 73 Map of Kerala..79 6

7 1. Introduction So, women start coming out now on their own. The experience of the others (female members from the previous five-year term in the Gram Panchayat) has started helping them ( ) the change has to come from the family, and ( ) women have to start thinking of themselves. You have to have someone to accept you in public, who will know you are ok, doing the work correctly. Society can react in a positive way if women are doing good for the women. There is always a challenge for the men. They don t accept women work (discussion with Dr. S Radha, Trivandrum) 1.1 Problem Presentation The fact that political participation is an equal democratic right for women does not mean that they have the same possibilities in entering the political field, as do men. The women s entrance into the political arena, here including a wider definition of both the private and the public sphere, usually imply that they face a number of hindrance that obstruct their participation. The public sphere has long been assumed to concern only men, and the private sphere, which was defined as feminine, was thought to be irrelevant to political activity (Afshar 1996:17). This matter still reflects on the prevailing discourses in male-dominated societies, and creates obstacles for women as men set rules and norms for men in the public arena (Lilja 2001:137ff). The state of Kerala in South India has been recognised on an international level for its very specific development, known as the Kerala model. The state has been a role model for working with questions concerning the high human development. The positive development is a result of several factors such as social reform movements and well-developed health- and education systems as well as land reform. This has led to positive consequences for women so far as a higher social status 1 has been achieved in Kerala compared to all India. However, the Kerala model contains a paradox concerning the development of the high social status of women since it has never been transformed into political empowerment (Erwér 1998:passim). In 1993 the 73 rd and 74 th Amendments in the Indian Constitution prescribed a decentralised self-governing system, the Panchayati Raj, reaching from district down to village level. When the election of this smallest local decision-making unit was held in Kerala in 1995 it followed the new directions of the 73 rd Constitutional Amendment that one third of 7

8 the seats should be reserved for women in the local level politics to enhance women s political participation. This was followed by another democratisation process implemented by the government of Kerala, named the People s Planning Campaign. This campaign involved awareness raising programmes for the Gram Panchayat members in favour for increased political empowerment of the women. But for different reasons women still face several obstacles when trying to participate in the political field. So, how have the decentralisation and democratisation come out in reality when considering women s present cultural status 2 and political empowerment? In this essay, social relations and (the lack of) political power processes will be studied in order to try to reveal the sources of the obstacles concerning women s difficulties in the political field. As power relations are embedded in this social structure they are specifically important to take into consideration when studying political participation (Kabeer 1994:229). The obstacles to political participation for women are discussed and analysed through the concept of gender, routes to increased empowerment as well as existing power relations in both the private and the public arena from a feminist power perspective. The study is specifically concentrated on the reservation system and the decentralisation process in Kerala in connection to the women s political participation. A large part of the material was collected through a two-month field study in Kerala to make an attempt to let the voices of politically active women be heard. The interviews were held with formerly elected women in the Gram Panchayat, who have experience of the political life. These women bring new perspectives on the situation which women face when entering the political arena, hence they give us an inside view perceived by women themselves Aim and Objectives The aim of this essay is to study the difficulties the Gram Panchayat women in Kerala may face when entering the political field. As the emphasis of this study is on the women s own experiences of their political participation in the Gram Panchayat, it has resulted in a focus on the women s social relations to their friends, family and the political unit where they participate politically. We will look at their ascribed roles in 1 Here connected to social welfare achievements defined as health, education and demography 8

9 the society, as well as the existing power structures in the above relations, as they set the informal norms and rules for the society. This is to find underlying causes to the difficulties women may come across. In order to achieve the aims of this study, we pose the following questions: What are the major obstacles the interviewed women face when entering the political field? How are the social relations in the women s daily lives connected to the obstacles the women face in the political arena? How do the power relations within the Gram Panchayat affect the participation of the elected women? Limitation The democratic right to equal political participation for women is seldom achieved no matter which country one take as an example. Therefore we find it important to analyse the obstacles women have to face in the process of political empowerment. Due to the specific history of Kerala along with the recently implemented reservationand decentralisation policy, it is particularly interesting to focus on the women s political empowerment process in Kerala, South India. To increase the equality between men and women it is important to broaden the political participation of women on a grassroots level, therefore our focus is on the local level of the Gram Panchayat. We have chosen to make interviews with women who had previously been members of the Gram Panchayat as these women had valuable and firsthand experiences about obstacles that may arise in processes of political participation. As for the analysis we are aware of the importance to look at the issue analysed from different perspectives to get as complete a picture as possible of reality. As the women interviewed are the focus of this study, their told experiences will serve as the base for our choice of analytical angle, which has resulted in a focal point on social relations. We further argue that social relations have its roots in complex power structures that are important underlying bases to the organisation of the society. It is therefore of great importance to pay high attention to women s political engagement 2 Here defined as moral values/responsibilities of men/women based on gender differences 9

10 connected to social relations in the daily life, to understand the power structures and by that the possibilities for empowerment. Due to the limitation of time and space of this essay we have chosen to concentrate on the power relations of gender, despite the important factors of class and caste in the Indian society. Further more, the silence of the women on the subject of economic income lead to the choice not to look at this factor in the analysis. We also chose not to look at the present political debates and the situation of the party system in Kerala because we wanted to focus on social relations disregarding of which party the women belong to. However, during the process of the essay we have become aware that party politics are of great relevance. But in order to be able to consider its influence, we would have needed to deeply analyse coalitions and issues raised and pursued in a Gram Panchayat. To create the confident relation needed with both representatives and political parties to pursue such a delicate study would have required much more time. We will, however discuss the matter of party politics (somewhat implicit) later on in the essay when considering the political hindrances as well as in chapter three and when the voices of the women in chapter five are brought up. Further more, we consider the matter in our analysis. It was not possible to interview a big enough group of people to be able to reflect the reality for all politically active women in India, nor even Kerala, but that was never our intention. Still we believe that we can distinguish a pattern from the stories told by the fifteen women interviewed, and that their experiences represent a larger group of women than just themselves. A choice had to be made concerning the selection of interviewees. The optimal situation would have been a mix of interviews with men and women as men, of course, are a part of a gender perspective analysis. But as a major part of the field study concerned women s own perceptions of their situation, we came to the decision that a greater number of interviews of women were to be our priority. An effort has been made to compensate this by a group discussion with men. We do establish our interviews on existing theories such as the notion of power structures to some extent, but the main intention is to put the women we interviewed in focus and to find out how and what they feel about their situation concerning political participation. Our interviews were made to get an insight into the women s own perception of their situation as gram panchayat members, to hear some women s voices in a specific context. 10

11 1.1.3 Obstacles to political participation In this section we will give an initial definition to obstacles concerning women s political participation. Shvedova (1998:22) discusses some major obstacles that women face of which seven will be brought up here. The hindrances are all important to take into consideration when analysing women s difficulties in entering the public sphere. But due to the decentralisation process in Kerala some of the obstacles discussed are no longer impediments to the women already part taking in the political field. Hence we will, later in the essay, specifically look upon the masculine domination in politics, the lack of party support for women and the ideological hindrances and how these obstacles may harden an equal participation for women. It will show the basis of power relations between men and women and how this influences women s political participation in the public sphere. The nature of the electoral system. The absence of well-developed education and training systems for women s leadership, and for young women toward political life. The prevalence of the masculine model of political life and governmental bodies. The lack of party support. The lack of contacts and co-operation with other public organisations. Socio-economic obstacles. Ideological and psychological hindrances. The electoral system plays an important part in women s political representation. To get elected they need to pass three stages; first to select themselves to stand for election, then they need to get selected as a candidate by the party, and last they need to get selected by the voters. Here women s organisations are crucial for the first stage. As for the other stages a hindrance in participation is often the country s development 3, and the cultural status of women. As these obstacles are very complex and difficult and slow to change, a more realistic goal to work towards can be that of changing the electoral system (Matland 1998:65ff). As we can see, the reservation system, which we will discuss further in chapter 3.1, has already helped women to partly overcome a hindrance such as the political arena being only for men. However, the fact that they are already there does not mean that the obstacles have 3 Development leads to a weakening of traditional values, decreased fertility rates, increased urbanisation, greater education and labour force participation of women and attitudinal changes in perceptions regarding the appropriate role for women - all factors that increase women s political activity (Matland 1998:29) 11

12 suddenly vanished. Instead, they now have to deal with getting access to education and awareness programmes, in order to maintain their position in the political field. The absence of well-developed education and training systems for women impede the recruitment of women for a political career. It can be improved by giving women access to work patterns that are conductive to political leadership. This could include special training in community-based or neighbourhood organisations. Common understanding of women s concerns, gendered political awareness-raising, lobbying skills and networking are important for the process of training women for political careers (ibid:27f). A step has been taken in Kerala to achieve this goal through projects and training camps for women initiated by the People s Planning Campaign 4. The masculine model of politics dominates the political arena, as men formulate the rules of the political game and define the standards for evaluation. Political life is organised according to male norms, values and lifestyles (Shvedova 1998:22f). The model is structured around winners and losers, competition and confrontation, which may be alien to women s experiences and norms. The decision-making priorities also differ between men and women determined by their interests, background and working patterns where women tend to give priorities to societal concerns. The working pattern of the political body is also male-dominated, often characterised by lack of supportive structures for working mothers, and the workload women face when trying to balance the family life with the demands of this work (ibid:23f). The lack of party support has different sides. Women do not benefit from the parties resources for conducting election campaigns, and the selection and nomination process is also in favour for men as the male characteristics are emphasised and often become the criteria in selecting candidates. The male atmosphere and prejudice also inhibit and prohibit politically interested women from integrating themselves into their party s work (ibid:24). The lack of contacts and co-operation with other public organisations has a negative 4 Further discussed in chapter 3.2 and

13 effect on women s representation in politics. The positive effects of women s organisations work is due to both inside and outside work with political parties. Studies have shown that civil society in general must play a role in advancing women s representation. It is necessary to extend the scope of women s involvement at the grass-roots level of women s movements to empower and to assist women already in politics with skills and strategies. This is to ensure that women s issues are taken into account in the debate and discourse that take place in the political bodies (ibid:26f). The socio-economic status of women has a direct influence on their participation in political institutions and elected bodies. Researchers show the correlation between women s political participation and the proportion of women working outside the home, as well as the percentage of women college graduates. In most countries, women have to face the triple burden of being in the productive and reproductive roles as well as in the community service. To enter politics during these conditions is not only difficult but will put the woman under a third full-time job (Shvedova 1998:28ff). The ideological and psychological hindrances are connected to gender ideology, cultural patterns and pre-determined social roles for women and men. Traditions continue to emphasise the primary role of a woman as the mother and housewife. A strong patriarchal value system favours sexually segregated roles and might be against the advancement, progress and participation of women in any political process. This can lead to a sense of guilt for the betrayal of womanhood, and for the improprieties of the woman s own womanhood as a politician. The lack of confidence is a great obstacle for women s political participation, and the idea of the politics as a dirty game has affected their confidence even more. Another obstacle is the media due to its influence on public opinion and consciousness. The obstacle is the minimised coverage of events interesting to women (Shvedova 1998:37). In the case of Kerala the magazines, advertisements and television serials strengthen the view that the woman s place is in the kitchen, always weak and with an aim of only love, marriage and family. As a non-politicising picture is produced about the ideal woman as the good wife, mother, daughter in law etc. the problems and characters of women are trivialised and made secondary to men s (Seema et al 2000:49ff). A 13

14 woman that diverges from the set social rules easily gets stigmatised as immoral. It might not be approved by the many but the idea that women are immoral by nature still goes on in the Kerala society (ibid:3). To enhance women s power and effectiveness as representatives, awareness raising is important. With knowledge of the customs and informal practices that govern the way a legislature functions 5 there is a possibility of challenging existing arrangements and procedures for the benefit of both men and women. This should be done in partnership with men, with co-operation of the media and women s organisations to involve even the public and to mainstream gender issues into political, social and economic concerns (Lovenduski and Karam 1998:passim). To better understand the above obstacles to women s participation and how they are brought about on a general day-to-day basis it is also of importance to examine theoretical arguments that may enhance these obstacles positively or negatively. These arguments will be more thoroughly discussed in chapter four, but we will start here by giving a definition to the notion of gender, as we argue it to be a basic concept in this discussion Gender This part will be an introduction to the concept of gender in order to understand that gender is also a component of power, as argued by Kelly and Duerst-Lahti (Duerst- Lahti and Kelly 1995:44). They argue that the gender framework is based on relations hence posits the social construction of reality. Lipman-Blumen (Lipman-Blumen 1984:5) takes this argument even further as she suggests that gender roles are the model for power relations. These gender power relations are themselves influenced by the changes in the larger society, both within the private and public spheres. This view of gender power will be more thoroughly discussed later on in part 4.2 and 4.3, but we will first give an initial background to the gender concept itself. The word man and woman are known in most languages. Still, there are different ways in which the man-woman relationship is constructed in different societies 14

15 (Menon 1999:495). When gender was first being used it was argued that there are norms to how men and women should act in society rather than determined biologically. Hence the apparent biological differences between women and men are defined as sex differences and gender is defined as socially constructed differences (Corrin 1999:81). The term gender was taken to be the way that sex was expressed in society in terms of social and psychological behaviour, norms, attitudes and values i.e. masculine and feminine (Carver 1998:20f, Duerst-Lathi and Kelly 1995:40). It is important to cease using gender as a synonym for sex or for women, and to realise that gender includes men just as much as women. Therefore, it may have considerable significance studying gender as a conceptual framework within socio-politics instead of classical notions of sex, as according to table 1.1; Table 1.1 A comparison of the Attributes and Assumptions Underlying the Use of Gender versus Sex in Analysis Sex Parts determine the whole Separation based on essential differences Life as determined Truth as ahistorical Focus on individual Isolated and atomised Self-interest primary Gender Social construction of reality Whole affects parts Parts affect whole Human agency impacts direction/movement Change Opportunity Choice Transformation Focus on interaction Vertical and horizontal relationships (Duerst-Lathi and Kelly 1995:42) Here, using gender assumes an interactive and independent flow, instead of when using sex whereas the parts are seen to determine the whole and the causal flow is linear. Also, the relational and interdisciplinary perspectives are repeatedly highlighted in order to gain a greater comprehension of the role of gender and power 5 Law making processes, division of labour in the assembly, hierarchy structures, ceremonies, disciplines, traditions, habits and the norms of the assembly (Lovenduski and Karam 1998:129). 15

16 in social and political life (ibid:43). Because the gender concept is, as mentioned above, socially constructed, one must take in consideration the impact of gender on institutions, where there is a need for achange on all levels. These changes are necessary for women when entering the public sphere in order to be able to take an equally active part in the political field. This is because the socially constructed notions of entitlement embedded in the gender-based roles, which men and women play, deny the women their right to survival and access to resources and control over their production (Tapan 2000:43). Given initial definitions about the obstacles women might face when entering the political sphere and an introduction to the concept of gender, we will now discuss the method used. 1.2 Method In this section we will present the method used in this study concerning our fieldwork and our analysis. We will also discuss the difficulties concerning this method. Considering the fact that India has such a variety of people and cultures and that it is very different geographically, we have chosen to concentrate on the state of Kerala since it has a very interesting social development contra the relatively low political empowerment of women. The choice of method concerning this particular study is based on the need of information about people s own experiences and interpretation of their own social situation. Therefore we have used a qualitative method. We based the empirical data on interviews made concerning women s experiences of political participation in the Gram Panchayat. Harding argues that to understand how the daily experiences are formed the way they are we have to critically examine the sources of social power (Harding 1997:163f). We further listened to the women s perceptions of the situation in their own households and also their opinions about change of gender norms. When discussing the political participation for women in Kerala, we will specifically take the decentralisation, meaning the People s Planning Campaign, and the 73 rd Amendment concerning the reservation in consideration. These will be further explained in chapter three. 16

17 To be able to understand the causes to the political obstacles we find that a feminist power perspective is necessary. This is to understand the underlying gender relations that shape a society s social structure between men and women, a relation of subordination and inequality connected to men s and women s roles in the society (Corrin 1999:81). It is also of importance to be cautious of defining what is in need of explanation only from the western society s experience, to avoid partial and biased understanding of social life. We will try to avoid this by looking from an actor s perspective; actors here meaning the women interviewed, and then see how they themselves find their situation in an already existing social structure. We argue that it is a necessity that there are women who reveal what women s experiences are, as a counterbalance to prevailing male-dominating discourses, because only partial and distorted understandings of ourselves and the world around us can be produced in a culture which systematically silences and devalues the voices of women (Harding 1997:162ff) Our intention is therefore to use a bottom-up perspective to let the women interviewed stand in focus. To try to avoid a western bias and top-down perspective of the analysis we have let the women s experiences serve as the base for our theoretical choices and to let the women be the speakers Fieldwork This study was conducted during the two hot months of January and February of The main location was Trivandrum, a polluted and noisy city beautifully located between the mountains and the sea on the southern tip of the state of Kerala. Though the Indian society might seem chaotic for an outsider, the helpfulness and hospitality of the people, and all the memorable situations we were put in, balanced all the stressful situations that a fieldwork may imply. Our aim of the fieldwork was to get as close an insight as possible of the process of political participation of women. Through contacts we got three valuable invitations that have contributed a lot to our understanding of the political atmosphere and practical procedures of political activities. At the beginning of our field study we got 17

18 invited to Mar Ivanios College in Trivandrum, which held a one-week training-camp for Gram Panchayat members and volunteers. This gave us the opportunity to participate and closely observe the awareness campaign 6 that started a few years earlier. Later in the field-study we had the opportunity to get invited to self-help group (SHG) meetings as well as a Grama Sabha meeting 7 to watch the procedures and to talk to the members Interviews primary sources The advantage of a field study is that one get close to many sources and by that has the possibility to get in contact with local experts. As for primary sources on a local level we selected fifteen women who had served as members of the Gram Panchayat in the previous five-year-period, and interviewed them about their day-to-day life and political participation. The interviews were semi-structurally formed with in advance set questions but still giving them the possibility to answer freely and to start an open discussion. The aim was to base the interviews on Friedmann s theory concerning sustainability of empowerment, where he describes the necessity and interrelation of social-, psychological- and political power. He argues that these spheres are interrelating, both in a negative and positive way, depending on the achieved level of empowerment in each of the different spheres (Friedmann 1992:33f). Our intention was to get a picture of these spheres of the women s lives to try to find missing links to political empowerment. As Friedmann states that social empowerment is a necessity for political empowerment, we focused our interview manual on the variables that serve as the base for social empowerment. Friedmann (1992:67ff) talks about eight bases of social power. In this study, six of these served as themes for our interview manual; surplus time, knowledge and skills, appropriate information, social organisation, social networks and financial resources. The questions were double-checked with a field worker at the Women s Organisation Sakhi who has knowledge and experience of interviews and the situation of the women in question. With this guidance the interview manual was revised to reach the essence of the situation of these women. 6 This campaign will be discussed in chapter SHG and Grama Sabha is further explained in part and

19 Beside these interviews we also made two group discussions with active male members respectively female members. Further more, we had group discussions with women involved in SHGs. As a complement to the above interviews we had conversations with Dr. M Bhaskar, head of the Department of Sociology at the Kerala University and with Dr. S. Radha, State Government Employee. We further spoke to Unni Krishnan at the State Planning Board as well as with several others working on different decentralisation projects, in order to get a wider understanding of the women s situation. The location of the interviews was southern Kerala. Some of the interviews were performed in Trivandrum, the capital, and others were held in villages close by. The interviews have been made according to the preference of the interviewees, thus, the setting was different for every interview. Sometimes they were held in the homes of the interviewee and at other times at training camps for Gram Panchayat members. We were also able to have some of the interviews at Sakhi. All interviews and discussions, except the ones made with academics and state employees, were conducted with the Malayalam/English speaking translator and each of them were approximately sixty minutes long Secondary sources The material used is also obtained from written material collected at the State Planning Board, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sakhi and governmental libraries in Trivandrum. The State Planning Board is a most important state body in Kerala with an overall responsibility concerning development planning. Sakhi is an NGO for women located in the heart of Trivandrum. It is a small but well reputed organisation working for women s empowerment through varies awareness meetings and work shops. Further, we were invited to the office in Trivandrum and got the opportunity to take part of the valuable information documented in the library. A tremendous amount of books have been written about Kerala, but many of them are somewhat out of date and yet there were others which we had troubles finding. Because of the limited time that we had, the selection has been based on available and recommended literature by organisations, scholars and activists. 19

20 1.2.3 Difficulties concerning method When using feminist theories it is important to be aware of their possible tendencies of producing an image of a universal third world woman as if all third world women have the same goals and problems despite their class, ethnicity and culture. The danger of using only western feminist theories is the fact that they may construct themselves as the normative referent with a western bias, proclaiming the same analyses and solutions to very different cultures as to their own (Mohanty 1997:94f). To avoid influencing the persons being interviewed, observance and awareness concerning the context in which the women are living is highly important (Holme and Solvang 1997:105). A problem is our bias picture of India based on western perspectives. This bias is, however, a necessity when interpreting new situations, but at the same time it may create problems concerning prejudice, which may limit a more objective interpretation (ibid:326f). However, there are also positive outcomes of being an outsider to the context in which we made the interviews. For example the fact that we are seen more as a neutral person than had we ourselves been Indian. As for now, it felt legitimate for us to ask questions that might have been considered offensive if a native of Kerala had asked them. Also, not being from India was an advantage for us since we do not belong within the caste system and therefore did not intimidate the women in that aspect. Yet another problem was the limited period of time and resources when trying to achieve a high level of reliability and validity. The data collected through interviews certainly suffers from some errors, but considering the limited time and resources we still hope that enough caution has been taken to reduce those errors as much as possible. Concerning the validity, questions were carefully made for correlation between theoretical- and empirical variables. The interview questions were constructed in a way to try to crosscheck the answers given to different variables, to get as reliable answers as possible. One pilot-interview was made ahead of the others to reveal possible difficulties concerning understanding and interpretation of the questions. The interview manual was then corrected. To be able to accomplish the interviews we were in need of a translator. We are aware of the problems that might have occurred when using the translator as the questions and answers have to be 20

21 translated and interpreted by three different persons. This might have lead to inhibition of the interviewees as well as a loss of information as we all have different cultural glasses. To try to avoid this as much as possible, Sakhi helped us select a female translator with good knowledge of the subject of the study, and insight of the problematic structures of gender and power. We also made our best to describe our aims concerning the field study thoroughly to our translator. One must, however, put faith in the translator who after all has more knowledge of the local structure of the society in Kerala. Another problem related to the interviews is the reliability of the answers given to us by the women. When analysing them it is important to take in consideration under what circumstances the interviews were made and our influence on the interviewee. The selection of the women to be interviewed was somehow difficult. As outsiders we did not have the possibility or the time needed to establish a confident relation with fifteen women. To solve this we got help from Sakhi as a mediator with good relations to elected women. We were introduced to some women who in their turn led us to other members, the so-called snowball sampling (Bernard 1995:97). We are aware of the influence Sakhi might have had on our selection of the women interviewed because of the organisation s effect on the women chosen, but we made the evaluation that this was the best method for selection considering the circumstances. As for the secondary sources there were problems concerning the search for statistics at governmental institutions that showed a tendency to send you off to other departments with the result that you might end up empty handed. Part of the material used come from Sakhi, which can be both positive and negative. Positive because they have an insight in gender issues which made a lot of the material relevant for our study. The negative part might be their bias as a women s organisation, meaning that the material is perhaps based on women s issues only. Yet another problem is the selection of material from North because of the western bias. We have tried to use material from Kerala and India in order to create a more reliable balance. 21

22 1.3 Disposition The first chapter of this essay includes a problem presentation and the aim and objectives as well as method and limitation. It also includes a definition of obstacles women may have to face when entering the political arena, followed by a brief introduction to the gender concept. Chapter two and three, the first part of the essay, is giving a background to the state of Kerala as we find it important to first understand the specific context in which the women live their lives. The second chapter will initially describe the situation in Kerala concerning the women s social and cultural status and the so-called Kerala model. It will also briefly discuss what consequence these processes may have for the women. Following this, chapter three will explain the decentralisation and the reservation processes. It will take into discussion the routes for women to political participation as well as criticisms of the reservation system. The second part of the essay contains of chapter four and five, introducing some theory and most importantly the women s own voices. Chapter four will give an insight to the feminist arguments within the political field in order to try to understand and make the women s own perceptions more clear from a feminist perspective. This chapter is merely to help understand where the women s perceptions may come from, because our intention is to use a bottom-up approach from an actor s (the women) point of view. We will further discuss power relations, both how they are embedded in the social structure and to what extent they may have an influence on women s life on a day-to-day basis. This will be discussed in relation to the notions of the public and the private, including the triple role that women face when they are now becoming participants of both the public and the private sphere. The last part of the fourth chapter will end with a discussion on empowerment. Chapter five is an introduction to the empirical work and contains the result of the interviews made with politically active women in Kerala. This chapter is based on two themes, that is the power relation dimension and the time dimension, and here the voices and perceptions of the women themselves are brought up. 22

23 The last two chapters will be our analyses and conclusion respectively. 2. Kerala an initial background Women should always be dependent on men. She should be protected by her father in adolescence, by her husband in youth and her son during old age (Seema et al 2000:2) We will in this chapter raise the problem the women face when participating politically within the context where our fieldwork has taken place - the state of Kerala, South India. It is not our intention to make a deep analysis of the Kerala model, but to give an insight of the social and cultural status of women in the context of the Kerala model, which we believe, are crucial factors for the development of political empowerment. 2.1 The Kerala model In 1957, the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Kerala, became the first elected communist government in the world. CPI had grown from and through the Gandhian Congress into Congress Socialism and then finally into Communism in 1939, with great support from the peasants and workers agitating against extreme hierarchical land and labour relations (Nossiter 1988:46f). The state-government pursued a socialistic re-distributive development strategy with strong efforts to create a welfare state. The education system was improved and opened for different groups of the society, an industrial policy was created to promote the industry and The Agrarian Relation Bill put a ceiling on land holdings, fixed fair rents and redistributed surplus land to minimise the unequal social structure (Jeffrey 1992:passim). Today Kerala has astonished people around the world with its high social development amongst its population of thirty million people, with standards close to some western countries. As for the women in Kerala they do almost reach to the Human Development Index (HDI) 8 rankings of some western countries when it comes to social status (Erwér 1998:44f). 8 An index measuring national socioeconomic development, based on measures of life expectancy at birth, educational attainment, and adjusted real per capita income (Todaro 1997:697). 23

24 The social development includes reduced deprivation and absolute poverty and has high health indicators such as infant mortality at 12 per 1000 compared to the all India average of 65 in 1997 and a life expectancy of 71 for Kerala and 62 for all India (Isaac and Franke 2000:3). The state of Kerala also has a widespread literacy. Compared to the literacy rate in all India with 50 per cent, Kerala reaches a high of over 90 per cent. Kerala further has the largest per-capita circulation of newspapers and magazines (Parayil 2000:4). This is important to take in consideration when it comes to women participating politically as it is a must that they are able to read in order to educate themselves about the political system. According to Dr. M. Bhaskar there are many positive indicators developing, comparable to the western countries but in spite of all these parameters she believes that these positive indicators for the women in the state of Kerala has been wrongly emphasised. the emphasis goes on health and education, still we do not see women in the public arena and here comes the Kerala Paradox and suddenly the Kerala Paradox is also a gender paradox because if you look at the national movement and talk to the national women you find that women did have a space in the public domain (discussion with Dr. M. Bhaskar) When the status of women is discussed in literature there are mostly the above mentioned indicators that are analysed. But the improvements in social conditions for women are not the same as increased equality between men and women and does not necessarily lead to equal political power where women have their own voices to defend their own rights (Seema et al 2000:59). Despite the high social status of women there is a low participation of women in positions of decision-making. The Kerala society is still male dominated when it comes to public life and holds on to many traditional concepts mixed with modernisation. The division of labour based on sex has played a major role in determining the positions of women. The most important job of a woman is in the household where she is expected to fulfil her responsibilities as a housewife, even if she is also working outside the household. This is seen as a duty of the woman (ibid:passim). As for working outside the household, many inequalities persist. For example, positions that are supposed to be suited for women are the ones with the lowest wages, maintaining women as dependent on men. Despite the fact that many women in Kerala are well educated, 24

25 that they are members of different unions and institutions and have reached high positions as department heads at universities and in the field of service, just to mention a few examples, there are few leaders. According to Seema et al (2000:55f), the reason to this is the prescribed roles of the women as incapable of decisionmaking in public and that they have a heavy workload within the household. Table 2.1 No. of women in legislative Assembly in Kerala: Year Men Women Total (source ibid 2000:56) Not only did the Kerala model contain a paradox concerning the social development for women, it also contained a paradox concerning the high HDI in contrast to a low per capita GNP as well 9. The economic stagnation in Kerala eventually resulted in a crisis of the model. Franke and Chasin are discussing some major components of the crisis of which three of them have been particularly destructive for the women (Franke and Chasin 2000:27f). The high unemployment Fiscal crises that might undermine redistribution programs Up to 15 per cent of the population might have been left out of the model Consequences of the Kerala model affecting women Due to the role and situation of the women the crisis of the model came to affect women at a somewhat higher level than men. One factor is the serious problem of the high unemployment that has affected women in particular. The registered unemployment for rural women was 25% and for urban women 34% in Kerala in 1998, about the double compared to men and about seven times that of all India average (Seema et al 2000:35). 9 The per capita GNP for Kerala was one-hundredth of the US but had a HDI at compared with for the US in 1994 (Erwér 1998:42) 25

26 Also, most of the employed women are low-paid in unskilled jobs. The fiscal crisis in Kerala then had a major impact on women as needed redistribution programmes were undermined. Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP) were introduced in the beginning of the 90s due to the economic situation. These programmes did not benefit but aggravate the situation and the female-headed households were hit hardest. In 1998, per cent of the people in Kerala were below the poverty line 10 (ibid 2000:47) Among these families, 35 per cent were women-headed. The women at the bottom of the job hierarchy were forced into the informal sector and unemployment (ibid:47f). All the above-mentioned problems taken together also created a crisis in politics, as the Kerala government did not have enough resources to meet the demands and needs of the people. Hence a debt situation was created. The government had to find a solution, and again it showed creativity in an alternative way of acting. A massive decentralisation plan called the People s Planning Campaign was formed to empower the local bodies, department officials, experts and volunteers. The aim was to create an environment for radical institutional reforms (Isaac and Franke 2000:9ff) and for a successful implementation of the already started decentralisation project through the 73 rd and 74 th Amendments that were passed to the Constitution in This combination of decentralisation strategies and its effect on village level democracy as well as on women s political empowerment will be discussed in the following chapter. 3. Decentralisation and democratisation The women s movements in India have grown stronger, especially in the 80s and have succeeded in putting women questions on the political agenda. One of the questions the movement agitated for was that of political representation of women, which has been a recurrent theme since the 70s. When the Indian Constitution passed the 73 rd and 74 th Amendments in 1993 (Rai 1997:107f), the legislation focused on the village level democracy. This democratic decentralisation of the power was to delegate the central government s authority to elected members at a grassroots level. The reservation policy of the 73 rd Amendment prescribed that scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) should be represented proportionate to the population and that 10 An arbitrary international real income measure used as a basis for estimating the proportion of the world s 26