Womens Political Representation and Empowerment in India: A MillionIndiras Now?
scrutinizes the processes that have been set in motionthrough the demand for a
33 per cent reservation for women in rurallocal governments in India. Taking up
the proposition that womenspresence in rural political bodies will also lead to
theirempowerment, the author developed an analytical framework based onrecent
theoretical literature on quotas in politics and the conceptof empowerment, as
well as on studies on women in the PanchayatiRaj. The empirical data was
collected in Orissa through a survey of105 women and 80 men and a large number
of qualitative interviews.Among the major issues discussed in this book is