Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

328 MANDAKINI PANT
Block, Madhya Pradesh, the women are members of various samitis
(panchayat committees) such as the swasthya (health), shiksha (education),
suraksha (security) and samajik nyaya (social justice) samitis.
PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL SPACES
The SHGs in the study have moved beyond their mandate of economic
self-reliance to participate in the overall affairs of society through PRIs.
Their participation has taken various forms, such as (i) disseminating
information in the community to raise their awareness about the issues;
(ii) deliberation or dialogue in public fora such as the gram sabha where
issues for discussion are put forward; (iii) activism as pressure groups;
(iv) leveraging access to resources; (v) agenda setting; and (vi) altering rules
and norms in deliberations through active interfacing.
Attending the Gram Sabha
Prior to the participation of SHGs in the study areas, none of the women
had attended gram sabha meetings. Women participated in meetings only
to seek approval for their application for social security pensions, or to
seek solutions to employment or land-related problems. The gram sabha
was seen primarily as a male domain by them.
The SHGs have worked towards making the women realise the importance
of the gram sabha. Though many more women are now regular
participants in gram sabha meetings, they still remember their first attendance:
‘In the first two-three gram sabhas we just sat and came back’.
They sat with a ghoonghat (long veil) over their faces. Male villagers in
particular reacted derisively, remarking, ‘Yahan kahan aa gayee ho!’ (How
is it that you have come here!’) Women members belonging to the Scheduled
Castes were subjected to particularly embarrassing remarks.
The sheer persistence of the women members led to a situation where
the number of women in a gram sabha was more than the number required
for the quorum. Women who were not SHG members also attended
the meetings. Sarju Bai, the woman sarpanch of Bijora, Sehore Block,
Madhya Pradesh, corroborated the regular attendance of SHG members
in the gram sabha: ‘The women from the SHGs come regularly to the