http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/contact_sheet/27355 G U N S A N D B A N G L E S S H A R B E N D U D E India has been known as the world's biggest democracy. yet, it is predominantly a feudal and patriarchal society. The country is presently battling these home grown contradictions. In 1993, India introduced the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ guaranteeing a minimum of 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in local governance. These village councils known as panchayats spanning the country are the foundation of Indian democracy, the grassroot pillar of administrative functioning. For every 1000 men there are only 933 women. Every day women work more than men but earn only 38 per cent of the average male wage, reflecting a deep gender divide. Despite all odds, over three million women have been elected to public office. Women’s reservation was recently increased to 50 per cent demonstrating a serious political will to engender local democracy. However, this is just at the policy level and is far from the disconcerted reality at the grassroots. Patriarchy in the Indian context is filtered and refracted through differences of class, caste, race, religion and tribes as well. ‘Guns and bangles’ brings together stories of several elected women leaders from rural India - examining their social standing in a feudal and patriarchal society. It however, focusses on Sunita Bai an elected village head of Morgarhi Panchayat in Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The post of village head for Morgarhi panchayat was reserved as a ‘woman-only’ seat for 2010. Power hungry men contested the election in their wives’ names hoping to seize authority. Most failed. With the support from other village women, 34 year-old Sunita Bai initiated a door-to-door campaign in the village. She won, and most men were inadvertently ousted, except her husband, Ramprasad Ouike. Post elections, her husband seized power. Now, he sits in the panchayat every day performing the official role of the village head and the villagers address him as ‘Sarpanch sahab’ -Sir village president. Bhagwandas Kanwe, the Panchayat secretary defends Ramprasad saying, “he’s a good man without any bad habits,” but fails to defend him on his possible intention of running a proxy panchayat. Kanwe is responsible for the smooth functioning of the panchayat office and supporting Sunita Bai in her work. Instead, he doubts the government’s judgment of bringing women into power sharing. “Do you think these illiterate women can ever make any change or handle village development work?” he questions. “Women should stay in the house, look after the family, cook and raise children,” says Kanwe. Sunita blames illiteracy for her dependence on her husband. “I never sign any paper until my husband has read it,” she says. “Both of us are the village heads as we both are working for the village development” says Sunita. She attends the panchayat meetings, but is largely unaware of her power and responsibilities. She doesn’t even visit the schools in the village for monitoring the quality of mid-day meals (free daily food to draw children into schools) or level of education being imparted. Sunita has never attended school, whereas Ramprasad received only five years of schooling. When asked about her dreams, she sings to her husband’s tunes, “I want to construct roads, get water and electricity across the entire village”. Ramprasad wants to earn fame. During panchayat meetings, Sunita lurks in a corner. Her body language gives away the extent of fear and unease she suffers. After years of living in the shadows of patriarchy, she was suddenly brought to the centre stage under the scrutinising eyes of the society eagerly waiting for her to fail. Men continue to live with a fractured notion of patriarchal supremacy. http://www.lightstalkers.org en-us http://images.lightstalkers.org/avatars/25984/DSC_0054_small.jpg http://www.lightstalkers.org/Sharbendu De <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1120496/De-1338_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120496'>view full-size image</a> http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120496 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:24:03 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120496 <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1120496/De-1338_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120496'>view full-size image</a> Sharbendu De <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1120502/De-9362_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120502'>view full-size image</a> http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1120502 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:26:00 +0000 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