Women’s Experience in New Panchayats: The Emerging Leadership of Rural Women

Abstract

This paper presents some of the findings of our recent study on women’s representation and participation in panchayats and is in three parts. In the first part we briefly recapture the steps taken in India from time to time for revitalisation of panchayats.  In the second part we see the evolution of representation of women in these institutions in colonial and postcolonial India.