Women’s Talk-centered Political Participation in Indian Democracy and the Influence of Self-Help Group Membership

• In Event: 3259 - Political Culture and Gender

Abstract

In democracies, political institutions based on deliberation have opened up scope for citizens' talk-based participation in development planning and governance. A prominent example is the Indian gram sabha, or village assemblies. In this article, we undertake a talk-centered analysis of women's participation in village assemblies and study if there is a difference between women who are members of microcredit self-help groups (SHGs), who have access to an associational life, and other women in the issues they raise and the narrative styles they use. Based on qualitative analysis of 255 village assembly transcripts from four South Indian states, we find that women identifiably associated with SHGs employ a wider variety of narrative styles and utilize a more multilayered structure to convey their messages compared to non-member women. Theoretically, we make a contribution by conceptualization deliberation as a capability and a competency.

Authors

• Paromita Sanyal, Florida State University

• V. Rao