Women in local governance the west bengal experience 1957 2013

Abstract

This study is on participation of women in local governance in newlineWest Bengal. The time period of the study is between 1957 and 2013. The year 1957 signifies the beginning of women s representation even though in a token form in the rural local bodies. The Seventy-Third Constitutional Amendment, which has provided thirty-three percent reservation for women in rural local bodies and Seventy-Fourth Constitutional Amendment, which has provided thirty-three percent reservation in urban local bodies was made in 1993. I have tried to investigate the impact of those two amendments in a time-frame of twenty years, Thus I have tried to explore the significance of women s participation in local bodies and have tried to probe the act in practice for two decades. That is why the study ends in 2013. newline