Levelling the playing field: Inside the programme that empowers locally elected women politicians

Sahnaz Khanom, the ward commissioner of the Morigaon Municipal Corporation in Assam, had no plans to get into politics until she noticed how underprivileged people in her area could not reap any government scheme’s benefits due to corruption.

In 2014, Khanom stood for the municipal corporation elections to bring change and became the commissioner. She also got re-elected in 2022.

Khanom is among the 55 elected women representatives who participated in She Represents—a seven-day leadership programme, exclusively designed for locally elected women representatives in Delhi.

“I met multiple women from different walks of life who faced the same challenges as I did. I came to know about their journeys and how they are fighting the odds and making their voices heard. This experience instilled in me a positive spirit to not give up and do more,” Khanom says. 

From the programme, Khanom learned that the most important value in politics is to have good relationships with the party members. Hence, after the programme, she mended her relationship with her party members and tried to foster equal stakeholdership in implementing initiatives. 

In another incident, despite being the district mahila president, Khanom was asked to sit behind the block presidents just because she was a woman representative.

She never raised her voice against this practice, “Post the programme, I have learnt the importance of taking up my space and asking for what I deserve,” she tells HerStory.

Rewriting the rule book

She Represents, started in 2020, is one of the programmes run by the Indian School of Democracy, a not-for-profit organisation, which enables people interested in politics to understand how to go about it from a grassroots level in a principled manner. 

Hemakshi Meghani, Co-founder of the Indian School of Democracy, explains that women have different challenges compared to men when it comes to politics. She realised it once she started conducting programmes for men and women together.

The organisation thus decided to start a separate cohort for women, wherein they could talk about their challenges and get exposure to mitigate those issues. 

She Represents started as an online women-only learning programme to nurture aspiring women political leaders to join politics by building concrete political skills.

“We aim to nurture women in politics and equip them with skills, knowledge, leadership, and create role models for other women,” Meghani says. 

Its first two cohorts consisted of both elected women representatives and aspiring women politicians. However, in 2022, it decided to narrow down its approach and create a specialised cohort for only elected women representatives from rural and urban local governments.

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The 7-day programme

While the seven-day programme cannot entirely change things, Senior Program Associate Pousali Sarkar believes it sows seeds of curiosity, good leadership, and knowledge, which would help women leaders shape their immediate political plans better.

On the first day, the programme introduces the concept of six capitals of political readiness—political, social, financial, network, intellectual, and moral—which they require in their political journey.

The second day involves the study of important events in Indian History and crucial concepts of the Constitution, including the Preamble, the history of the Constitution, articles, and more. 

This is followed by a self-audit, where women become self-aware of their values as political leaders. They are given situations like—"If there is caste-based violence in your area and your voter base is from the upper caste, what would you do as a leader?”

According to Sarkar, the programme also conducts a role-playing activity, wherein each woman is blindfolded and given a role, such as the son of a Member of Parliament (MP) or a tribal orphan. It also gives them about 20 situations, and based on that, they have to either take a step forward or stand at their spots.

The exercise helps them be aware of the privileges and social disadvantages and understand the structure of society. Additionally, women also brainstorm on what they can do in their position to bridge the gap.

On the third day, women largely try to understand their own identity, and the role it plays in the larger system. They share their journeys and talk about their social circle, conduct activities to understand their biases, and debate on various topics, including the Mandal Commission, the Women’s Reservation Bill, etc. 

On day four, women talk about their challenges and learn about the best practices to mitigate those issues. They also discuss case studies of positive examples and how they solved the problems in some areas. The organisation has knowledge partners such as an Accountability Initiative for rural governance and Praja for urban governance.

Last year, She Represents held sessions on understanding the 73rd and 74th Amendments, functions and responsibilities of elected representatives, challenges faced by elected women representatives, how funds are allocated, and other ways to raise funds for elected bodies.

The organisation also conducts sessions with various experts like Abha Banerjee, Motivational Speaker and Author; Anu Aga, former Rajya Sabha MP and Padma Shri awardee; Charu Pragya, National Media Panelist, Bharatiya Janata Party, and more. These women also visit the parliament as part of the programme.

On the last two days, the programme focuses on understanding campaigns, key issues in their areas, using social media effectively in politics, and more.

According to Meghani, the programme receives funding from individuals and crowdfunding.

So far, She Represents has conducted four cohorts with 124 women representatives. It takes applications from women between 21 and 50 years old, followed by an interview. 

“We choose people who have the fire to serve people, openness to learn, and are independent thinkers, among other qualities,” Meghani adds. 

Highlighting the systemic problems, Meghani believes that many women in politics are not given decision-making positions. Moreover, their selection can be sized up as mere tokenism at times.

Last September, the Lok Sabha approved a bill giving women one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. It means 33% of seats will be reserved for women, including those from Scheduled Castes and Tribes, for 15 years.

While the bill aims to empower women, critics worry it could keep gender inequality alive. They fear women might not be seen as winning on merit alone. Also, the rotation of which areas get reserved seats in each election could make MPs less eager to work hard for their constituency, knowing they might not be able to run for re-election there.

“In India's patriarchal society, women’s roles have been defined. When we are asked to think of a politician, we get the image of an old man, but hardly of a woman,” she adds.

She explains that the political environment may also not be conducive for women, with the lack of accessibility of toilets at the campaigns, the harsh language used, etc. Another major problem is the lack of role models for women politicians.

“If they see other women do it, they will think I can do it too. Indian women have immense potential, which is just waiting to be unleashed,” she says.

(The copy was updated to correct a name.)