Does participation improve access to services by women in the panchayats in tribal belt of Odisha ?
- South Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies
- 23(2), Jan-Jun, 2023: p.71-77
How does participation of women in the decision making process at the local level supports them to access the basic services provided by the local governments effectively? What happens when participation of women not achieved the desired goals and local government failed to deliver basic services? What are the alternative perspectives to strengthen participation of women in the local level decision making processes? The Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) performance in the PRIs and ULBs is mixed story until now. This paper is designed to explore these issues through shedding light on participation of women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the tribal areas in Odisha, in particular participation in elections, voting, occupying political office or position in panchayats and in the process of implementation of development programmes of the Panchayats. It is attempted to explore the relationship between PRIs and Women’s participation with regard to access to schemes and programmes by women while focusing on political participation in the form of elections, offices, meetings and raising voices. Exploring the field level findings through a mixed-method research design, the findings of this study presents the case of participation of women in 16 villages in tribal areas in Odisha. Based on an exploratory field study which was conducted through using a mixed-method research design and employing quantitative and qualitative data, it has been observed that political participation of women, in particular the women from the tribal communities have emerged as a key issue in the context of working of Panchayats and their role in promoting socio-economic development in these areas. Access to schemes and programmes through participating in working of Panchayats have observed in various cases though there is insignificant correlation between participation and access to schemes and programmes. Efficacy of women’s participation in working of Panchayats and outcomes of such participation in accessing various services have been captured through qualitative data since quantitative data is not available to ascertain the efficacy of participation. It is not obvious that access to schemes and programmes can be achieved through effective participation in Panchayats. On this basis, this paper proposes some alternative ways to strengthen the participatory practices of the Panchayats and ensuring participation of women in the decision-making processes.- Reproduced