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Women play a critical role not just in their homes and offices but also in the progress of the entire human race. While they have always held roles like those of scholars, writers, administrators, and reformers, women’s participation as community leaders in urban local governance is yet to achieve its targets.
This blog talks about gender balance in participatory governance, how it democratizes India’s progress, and how this balance can be attained.
The United Nations defines governance as the exercise of administrative, economic, and political authority to manage the affairs of a country at all levels.
Women’s right to equal participation at all government levels is recognized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. In India, women’s representation is mandated at one-third of the reservation, according to the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Act.
This means not just having women community leaders participate but also giving them equal opportunities to do so.
Despite this, according to a UN Women Working Paper, women hold close to 44 percent of elected seats in local deliberative bodies.
Here is why having women community leaders in urban local governance matters:
While the reservation of seats for women in urban local governance has led to better participatory governance, merely focusing on the numbers is insufficient.
It is critical to pay heed to the quality of the participation of women and how responsive others are to hearing their voices in the decision-making process.
Women’s participation in governance is dependent on several factors, such as social and gender norms, the lack of adequate skill-building opportunities, and traditional perceptions that men make better leaders than women.
Despite reservations and existing structures to enable participatory governance, the relative inexperience of women and their unfamiliarity with governance norms puts them at a huge disadvantage.
Here are some ways in which the participation and role of women community leaders can be strengthened:
When women community leaders are empowered socially and politically to participate in urban governance, society gains the most. Women’s participation is not just an important step towards democracy; it also has the potential to achieve new perspectives focused on diverse priorities.
Ramesh Gadhvi is a dedicated Communication Officer at a non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to social impact and community development. With a passion for understanding relationships and their dynamics, Ramesh strives to explore the intricate read more...
This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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