Age and education of women in gram panchayat activities in Haryana

Pages: 381-385
Sunita Singh, Vinod Kumari and Subhash Chander (Department of Sociology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana)

Gender equality and empowerment of women is recognized globally as a key element to achieve progress in all spheres of life. Democratic decentralization is best bet for good governance. The study was conducted in two districts of Haryana state having highest and lowest female literacy status i.e. Panchkula and Mewat, respectively. Majority of respondents were of middle age, illiterate and primary school educated. Majority of them had entered in PRI for the first time and overwhelming majority had attended training at village and block level. About 80% of them were interested to know more about PRI, their roles and responsibilities and preferred village as venue of training. Majority of respondents were having no knowledge about most of structural aspects of panchayat. Literacy advanced area had clear and positive effect on knowledge level of elected women representatives about structural and functional activities. Younger age respondents were having high knowledge level about most of panchayat activities, structural aspects and decision making. It is suggested that efforts are required for real empowerment of rural women by bringing about an attitudinal change in both men and women.