Breaking the yoke

Caste and class have remained at the core of exclusion even in the Panchayati Raj system where reservation for women was implemented more than 30 years ago

- Haima Deshpande

WHEN Manisha Ware began her journey as the sarpanch of Kisal in Thane district, Maharashtra, she was confident of changing the landscape of her village. A tribal woman, who had fought all odds to get educated and empowered, Ware had stood up to competition. When she became the village head, she had prioritised her goals and the action plan needed to achieve them. Then she realised that achieving all that she had planned was not easy, for she was a tribal woman for whom many doors still remained closed, even if she was the sarpanch.

“There are so many challenges. Caste plays a very dominant role and cannot be side-stepped even if you are the sarpanch,” she says. “Every decision, even the simple ones, has to be weighed multiple times. The job is more challenging for a woman,” says Ware.

In the past three decades since the reservation quota for women was first implemented in Maharashtra, women leaders in local bodies have become more assertive and emerged as independent decision-makers. According to the data of the Rural Development Ministry of Maharashtra, there are 14,000 women village heads across the state. This reservation quota also saw the emergence of multiple movements in the state that have helped women in local bodies become more effective and impactful leaders. However, challenging the male patriarchy is not easy, says Bhim Raskar, adviser of the Mahila Rajsatta Andolan and director of the Resource and Support Centre for Development, Navi Mumbai.