Women Engaging Politically in Rajasthan: Finding Spaces through Winding Paths of Power

Abstract

The enforcement of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment in India mandated the representation of at least one-third women through elections and was in direct contrast to the earlier token inclusion of one or two women nominated by government or co-opted by the predominantly influential, powerful male membership/leadership of the panchayats. In 2010, reservation for women increased to 50 percent in Rajasthan and this has enabled an even larger number of women to be elected for the first time and engage in grassroots democracy as independent leaders in their own right. This paper aims to critically understand the ‘positionality’ of Elected Women Representatives in the state at multiple levels - political, social and economic with the aim of analyzing the factors enabling and constraining women’s political pathways through the intersections of gender, caste, ethinicity and class.