Women Stir Silent Grassroots Revolution
29/5/08
Aruna Singh never left her house until five years ago. Now, the upper-caste Hindu heads a local administrative body in Bihar state, eastern India. Similarly, Chanchalben Sanabhai Chavda was a timid, low-caste Hindu woman in Gujarat, a western Indian state, until seven years ago. Now, she heads a village where upper-caste Hindus predominate. Coming from different social backgrounds and regions, the two are among 1,041,000 women in local administrative councils across India. According to the federal panchayat ministry, these women account for 37.5 percent of panchayat (village council) members. The councils operate at the village, block and district levels. In the Indian administrative system, a state is subdivided into districts. Villages in a district are grouped into blocks. According to a ministry report published in April, about 80 percent of the women in these councils have no political background. Singh and Chavda credit their success to their association with Church-initiated self-help groups.
See: http://www.ucanews.com/
Related UCAN Reports
Church-initiated Women’s Groups Come Of Age In Bihar Villages (August 12, 2004)
Catholic Nun Heads Women’s Political Party (February 15, 2000)
Diocese-Trained Women Change Village Life In Central India (November 4, 1997)
Tags: Casteism, Christianity, Human Rights, India, Religion, Women