From the homestead to centerstage: A journey of empowerment

Abstract

The Kerala Model of Development has been widely acclaimed for its contribution in generating favourable social indices at par with Scandinavia. The central issue to the development in almost all underdeveloped and developing countries is the empowerment of women constituents. In Kerala, the story of empowerment of women is not just economic, but psychological too. Under Article 243(D) of the Constitution of India, there is a mandate to provide 50% reservation for women in Local Self-Government Institutions (LSGIs). This constitutional amendment is regarded as a path-breaking move to empower women at the grassroots level. This article portrays the impact of government interventions for ensuring the participation of women in decision-making as well as in the power structure in LSGIs. The researcher(s) used multiple case study design and adopted purposive sampling. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used for triangulation. The finding of the study shows that how the women are empowered though various government interventions such as Kudumbashree (the name of Kerala’s Poverty Eradication Mission), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (the job guarantee scheme in India), Accredited Social Health Activist Scheme (a scheme of National Rural Health Mission) and Local Self-Government Institutions.