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“Higher Education and Participation of Women in

Decision Making Process at Panchayat Level in
Assam” : A case Study of Narayanpur Block Under
Lakhimpur District.
Minaram Gogoi
Assistant Professor, Deptt. of Education
Kherajkhat College, Lakhimpur, Assam

Introduction:
The status of women is usually determined in terms of role and position in a social
system. The status of women is a key indicator to the progress of a society as well as of the
country. Women could play a vital role in the development process of the country or state.
The state makes no discrimination between men and women and the rights and
privileges of women are equal as per the constitution of India. Still there exists a wide gap
between the enunciated goal and situational reality of status of women.
The political development of any region and the growth of democratic institutions, to a
large extent depend upon the quality of local leadership and its style of functioning in the
Panchayati Raj Institutions. The success of Panchayati Raj Institutions itself depends upon
the quality and competency of local leadership available in the local level. Therefore the
study of leadership at grass-root level particularly women leadership carries a great
political relevance as it throws light on essential condition of democratic decentralization .
Thus education is considered as the major force which can bring changes in the society
as well as to the status of women. Therefore, in this paper an attempt has been made to
analyse higher educational attainment and participation of women in decision making
process at Panchayat level in Assam with special reference to Narayanpur Block under
Lakhimpur District.

Objective of the study:

The proposed study has the following objectives-

1) To study the women participation at the Panchayat level politics.
2) To study the quality and competency level of the women leaders at Panchayat
level .
3) To examine the role of education in the performance of the women leaders at
Panchayat level.

Methodology:

Assam has adopted three tier system of Panchayati Raj- the first is Gaon Panchayat at
the Village level, the second is Panchayat Samity at the Block level and the third one is
Zila Parishad at the District level and 33% seat has been reserve for women in all the
levels. In the election of Panchayati Raj Institutions which were held in 2012, in the entire
block of Narayanpur out of a total 154 seats of Gram Panchayat 50 seats were reserved for
women, in the Anchalik panchayat out of 14 seats 5 seats were reserved for women and in
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the Zila Parishad out of 3 seats 1 seat was reserved for women. But after election a total of
53 women in gram panchayat, 6 women in anchalik panchayat and 2 women in zila
parishad were elected. For the proposed study, we have selected all the women elected
leaders as our respondent from all the three levels.

Education and Women Leadership

Education may be regarded as an important criterion to reflect the progress of

individuals and level of understanding in day to day activities. Education is the fullest
realisation of all the potentialities of an individual. Thus education is considered as the
major force which can bring changes in the society as well as the status of women.
As earlier we have stated that the political development of any region and the growth
of democratic institutions, to a large extent depend upon the quality of the local leadership.
The quality and competency of the leaders are completely dependent on the level of
educational attainment of the leaders at grass root level. Therefore there exist a close
relationship between education and the quality and the competency of the leaders.
The Panchayati Raj Institution plays a central role in the process of enhancing
women’s participation in public life. The PRIs and local self government were to be
actively involved in the implementation and execution of all the government policies and
schemes at grassroots level. The success of the PRIs completely depends upon the quality
and the competency of the leaders at grassroots level. As a result of the 73 rd Constitutional
Amendment Act the women representation in all the levels of panchayati raj had gone up to
a considerable level. But most of the time there arise a question mark regarding the quality
and competency of the women leaders.

Table-1

Education Level of Women Leaders at Panchayat Level (Narayanpur Block)

Name of the Panchayat Without Primary Secondary Technical/Non

Education Technical Graduate
Diploma
1No.Rajgarh - 2 3 - -
2No.Rongoti - 2 2 - -
3No.Simoluguri - 2 3 - 1
4No.Ganak Daloni - 3 2 - -
5No.Dhalpur - 1 2 - 1
6No.Jamuguri - - 3 - 1
7No.Pichala - - 3 - 1
8No.Narayanpur - 1 2 - -
9No.DakhinNarayanpur - 1 3 - -
10No.Pub Narayanpur - - 2 - 1
11No.Panbari - - 4 - 1
12No.Bholabori - 1 2 - 1
13No.Pathalipahar - 2 2 - 1
14No.Barbali - 1 - - 2
Source-Lakhimpur Zila Parishad

The above table shows that educational background of the sample women leaders in
the gram panchayat and anchalik panchayat level , 55.7% members had upto secondary
level education and 27.87% women leaders had upto primary level education respectively .
Only 18.03% elected women leaders had attained the education level up to graduation . On
the other hand none of them had any technical or non technical diploma .
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Findings and Conclusion

Empowerment of women is the most publicised issue of the 21 st century . The

media, local leaders , politicians , policy makers , even the International Community talks
about it . But still there is a wide gap between the goal and the situational reality .
As per the survey conducted in the entire block the number of women leaders at
the panchayat level had numerically gone up to 35.67% . The increased participation of
women in political power structure has empowered the women politically but the degree of
empowerment varies from women to women. Majority of the women leaders in the area are
on the way to empowerment and only 20% of the women leaders are fully empowered.
The study reveals that factors like caste, creed, wealth did not play vital role in
limiting the active participation of women in the PRIs. The major factor that stands as the
barrier in the active participation of the women in the PRIs is the education. Attainment of
higher education level and the technical education is very low and negligible respectively .
The low level of education among the women leaders results in the lack of understanding
of role and responsibilities of the leaders in the Panchayati Raj Institution. Shyness and the
submissiveness of the female leaders restricts them in active participation in the Panchayati
Raj Institutions. Only those women leaders who had good educational background were in
the position to influence the decision making process of the Panchayat and those who have
low educational background were sitting silently and listening to the male members and not
taking the active participation in the decision making process .
To achieve equality between men and women in Assam some sort of changes are
required in the field of education, specialy in the rural areas . Scientific and technical
education should be popularised .
There is a need to give political education to the women in order to make them
conscious politically.
Assamese women should themselves develop a positive attitude towards politics .
They should spare time for politics and come out to take part in political activities. Lastly
but not the least, government should take serious steps for the welfare and upliftment of the
women.

REFERENCES

Bhatt, Dr. G.D. ‘ Post 73rd Constitutional Amendment & Women Leadership in Sikkim’
Kurukhetra, Vol-59,August 2011,page 33-36.
Borah, Anjan Jyoti.‘Literacy-Education And Political Participation Of Women in
Meghalaya: With special reference to Garo Hills- A case study’`Women empowerment in
North East India, Osmos Publications, New Delhi,2008,page 118-127.
Dutta Lakhyahira‘Female Literacy, Education And Development in North-East India’
Women empowerment in North East India, Osmos Publications, New Delhi,2008,page 87-
100.
Office Of The Lakhimpur Zila Parishad,Lakhimpur ,Assam.