WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Key findings:

• Socio-economic class also determines women’s participation in electoral activities. Women belonging to the upper social (castes) and upper economic classes were found to be more active in electoral politics as compared to women placed at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy.
  
  
• Women’s participation as voters has seen a sharp increase over the years.
  
  
• Although the number of women candidates has increased, there still exists a wide gap. Only a little over one-fourth of the women respondents were keen to make a career in politics if given an opportunity.
  
  
• Half of the women respondents agreed that parties always prefer a male candidate while giving tickets. Only one-seventh of respondents disagreed and one in 10 had no opinion.
  
  
• Patriarchal norms/structure of the society were the biggest obstacles that prevented women from taking part in politics.