The seminar
entitled Grassroot Democracy by Women in Governance,
organized by the RSCD (Resource and Support
Center for Developement) and the persons responsible
of the Mahila Rajsatta Andolan (Women's Governance
Campaign) with the support of the «women
and economy» Workshop and of the socio-economy
of solidarity Workgroup of the Alliance for
a responsible, plural and united world welcomed
more than hundred people on January 19, during
the World Social Forum in Mumbaï 2004.
Women of the Maharashtra made an evaluation
of five years of their campaign for the
engagement of women in the panchayat, the
councils of local government in India. A
law adopted in 1994 reserved the third of
the seats for the women within these councils.
The women involved themselves in large number,
they were elected, some of them as chiefs
of council, becoming then persons responsible
of the management of the affairs of the
community. If the law protected the process
of elections, the women encountered numerous
difficulties in the exercise of their new
functions. The resistances were expressed
more seriously when the ideas and resolutions
that they put forward shocked the traditional
powers. Working on the political grounds
required therefore from the new elected
a constant determination at all levels in
order to translate the vested rights in
concrete practices.
At the time of the seminar, Kamal Tai,
Sunita Raut, Nita Mhatre, Sumitra Kanhat,
Vidya Tawde, Ambubai, Kusumtai Salvo, Shubhangi
Kolte, Vandana, Ratnamala, Shantatai, Sunanda
Shirsat, Mayatai, Anuya, Anita Bhoyar expressed
themselves on their concrete experiences,
their efforts, their successes, their analyses.
They approached themes regarding the political,
economic, social and cultural aspects and
made it with emotion, strength and determination
underlining the importance of the tasks
to be accomplished. Among the themes noted,
let's mention the elections and the dynamics
of power, the assemblies of women and the
means to reinforce them, the resolutions
presented to the local councils, the votes
of non confidence towards women and the
necessity to conduct recourses, the Self-help
Groups, these groups of support developed
at the grass root, the redistribution systems
of food and of essential goods, the conditions
of work in the sector of sugar cane, the
problem of the women abandoned by their
husband, the land rights and the equitable
distribution of land, the cooperative societies,
the corruption and the strategies of struggle
for the transparency of decisions, the atrocities
towards the Dalits, the prohibition of alcohol,
the flag hosting, the hierarchy between
the women and the system of castes, the
persistence of the masculine domination
in the political and other relations.
An international panel composed of Cécile
Sabourin (Canada), Madeleine Hersent (France),
Nedda Angulo (Peru), Pinky Cupino (Philippines)
and Isis of Palma (Brazil) had the opportunity
to express their deep admiration for the
work of the women of the Maharashtra and
underlined the ressemblance of the struggles
in which women are engaged everywhere in
the world for the democratization of the
political processes, the equitable involvement
of women into decisions, the equality between
women and men and the economic rights of
women. The meeting had started by a homage
to Savitribai Phule, one of the most admired
militant in Maharashtra and in India, and
ended by a collective oath of the participants
to pursue their work.
Cécile Sabourin
For the «women and economy»
Workshop
womeneco@socioeco.org.
