Identification of barriers in the political empowerment of hill rural women: A study of Pauri district in Uttarakhand

Women even though being reflecting a strong dimension in the current socio-economic scenario of the hill areas are still a million miles away from attaining the equal status as been prearranged to the other gender of the society. Several resurrecting policy actions have been taken by the government in the past but all lacked the perseverance to revive the condition of the women in these areas. Women reservation in the Panchayats is one of such policy action, although lot of studies reflects a negative portrait of the women‘s role as representative in Panchayats even to the extent that women representative are considered as mere dummy, functioning as proxy candidates under the close supervision of their guardians. The use of ‘pati pradhans’ has become quite common in the context. Keeping in mind the importance of women in the hill regions it becomes highly important to assess the impact of increase of women participation in governance. In the same framework the following study being carried out in micro level in Pauri district of Uttarakhand state examines the problems a hill woman has to face in the governance emanating not only from her family but also from the society. The study further scrutinizes the role of women in the decision making process while further assessing the contribution they have made to the development process along with the efforts towards empowerment of women in the region.