Women And Politics In India

With the advent of feminism in the U.S.A. in 1960s, women's studies got academic currency and recognition. In India, the interest in women's studies received fillip after the international women's year in 1975. While scholars have devoted a good deal of attention to the study of socio-economic position of women in India, very little attention has been paid to the role of women in politics in the context of changing scenario. Though no study in political arena in the democratic set-up can be possible without taking into consideration women's role and position. Without investigating into the nature and scope of their participation in politics, we would not be in a position to have an adequate and objective assessment regarding democratic participation and the framing of right policies, programmes and laws for the welfare and uplift of women. This book analyses and evaluates the role and impact of family and education of women's participation in politics. This is a micro-level empirical study confined to the women's segment of the political realm of the state of Himachal Pradesh. In the proposed study, family and education have been taken as two major determinants to examine the political participation of women. These two variables have been chosen mainly because they are significantly related to the political participation of women and are considered booster as well as hindrance in their participation in politics. The book also seeks to explore how and to what extent these variables effect the nature and scope of women's participation in politics and determine the variation in their participatory level.