Saumya Patel & Nitika Goyal, BBA L.L.B. (H.), Amity University, Rajasthan
ABSTRACT
It is well known fact that women are generally biased in our society. For many generations, they have been treated as "objects" with no self-respect. Even in this fast-growing society, they still do not get much respect and are considered powerless in the male-dominated society. The rights and decisions of women are highly influenced by the ideologies of patriarchal culture. Thus, even after having the best abilities, women often lack various opportunities, like education, jobs, no equal work payment, etc. And in this list of lack of opportunities, women's representation in local self-government is no exception.
In this article we aimed to study whether women are allowed to participate in local governance bodies and whether they are treated as equal to men and apart from that what are the factors which are hampering the rights of participation of women in local governance, using secondary data and qualitative research methodology. Before any major amendments and provisions, many women were deprived of their right of representation in local governance because of lack of awareness and suppression by patriarchal society. But the 73rd and 74th amendments ensured the participation of women, along with the 63rd amendment which specifically reserved 30% of seats for women in local bodies. Many committees also supported this conviction that women should be "empowered" and "self- reliant."
Keywords: Women representation, Local governance, Constitutional Amendment, Challenges, Reservation.
