Deliberative Democracy and Gender Inclusion: Assessing Female-Only Deliberation Platforms as Catalysts to Women's Empowerment Based on The Case Study of Mahila Sabhas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26821/IJSRC.13.9.2025.130904Keywords:
Deliberative Democracy, Female-only Deliberation Platforms, Gender-Responsive Policies, Mahila Sabhas, Local and Rural Governance, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Women’s Political RepresentationAbstract
Deliberative democracy is often seen as a necessary complement to electoral democracy yet its ability to ensure the inclusive representation of female voices, especially in rural areas of the Global South, remains limited. This paper casts light on the Indian Mahila Sabhas, understudied female-only deliberation platforms, introduced in the world’s largest democratic system. It addresses the gap where empirical solutions to women’s involvement are often overlooked in favour of theoretical discussions in scholarship on deliberative democracy. As seen in the case study of Mahila Sabhas, females are often compelled to form female-only forums to ensure that gender-responsive policies are being catered towards. However, it calls for further research into comparative female-only frameworks and into their practical implementation in deliberative democracies highlighting both its benefits as well as limitations.
References
Bächtiger, A., Warren, M., Mansbridge, J., & Dryzek, J. (2018n.d.). The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy.
Biswas, S., & Mishra, D. (2016, March). MAKING THE MAHILA SABHA WORK: A STUDY IN THE KUTCH DISTRICT OF GUJARAT.
Das, S. (6 May 2015n.d.). How effective are gram sabhas? Ideas For India. Retrieved January 16, 2025, from http://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/governance/how-effective-are-gram-sabhas.html
Hammad, L. (n.d.). Building Women’s Solidarity to Advance Women’s Rights in Bolivia.
In Bihar, women in local politics rendered puppets by husbands. (2022, March 9). 101Reporters - Compelling Stories from Grassroots. https://101reporters.com/article/politics/In_Bihar_women_in_local_politics_rendered_puppets_by_husbands
Jürgen, H. (1992). (PDF) Jürgen Habermas’ Between Facts and Norms. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317300372_Jurgen_Habermas'_Between_Facts_and_Norms
Madhuri, N. V., Vanishree Joseph, Praveen Savarapu (2023), Mahila Sabhas and Bala Sabhas: Best Practices, Unicef, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NRDPR).
Madhuri, N. V. (n.d.). Enhancing Women’s Political Participation through Mahila Sabha.
Panda, K. (2015). Role of Women in Rural Development in the State of Odisha Through Gram Sabha: An Overview. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 76(3), 605–610.
Parthasarathy, R., Rao, V., & Palaniswamy, N. (2019). Deliberative Democracy in an Unequal World: A Text-As-Data Study of South India’s Village Assemblies. American Political Science Association.
Pateman, C. (Ed.). (1970). Recent theories of democracy and the ‘classical myth.’ In Participation and Democratic Theory (pp. 1–21). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511720444.001
Polletta, F., & Chen, P. (2013). Gender and Public Talk: Accounting for Women’s Variable Participation in the Public Sphere. American Sociological Association.
Rajasthan’s Pride: The exemplary functioning of Mahila Sabhas. (2013, March 21). UN Women – Asia-Pacific. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2013/3/rajasthan-s-pride-the-exemplary-functioning-of-mahila-sabhas
Redlund, J. (2004n.d.). Women in the Panchayats. Lund University.
Sanders, L. (1997n.d.). Against Deliberation. SAGE Social Science Collections.
Sharma, M. (2019, August 4). Rural women in Rajasthan demand health, and sanitation facilities. 101Reporters - Compelling Stories from Grassroots. https://101reporters.com/article/health/Rural_women_in_Rajasthan_demand_health_sanitation_facilities
Sweety, Ms. (2024). WOMEN AS PROXIES IN INDIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: IMPACT ON DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION, GENDER EQUALITY AND EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE. In Dr. Shambunath, Dr. Amit Kumar Mandal, Mrs. Dhanya John, Ms. Nelofar Ara, Dr. Chitta Ranjan Malik, Dr. Farha Yashmin Rohman, Dr. Piyali Mitra, Mr. Prajwal Rastogi, Dr. Nidhi Bagaria, Dr. Kabita Choudhury, Mr. Javaid Ahmad Malik, Ms. Urooj Sabir, Dr. Tanvi Kumari, Dr. Dilipbhai Vasava, Ms. Harkirandeep, Mrs. Iram Fatima, Dr. C. Senthilkumar, Dr. Jipsy Malhotra, Mr. Masum Ahmed, … Ms. Vijeta Salaria (Eds.), Futuristic Trends in Social Sciences Volume 3 Book 11 (First, pp. 96–108). Iterative International Publishers, Selfypage Developers Pvt Ltd. https://doi.org/10.58532/V3BESO11P5CH2
Syukri, M. (2023). Gender Policies of the new Developmental State: The Case of Indonesian new Participatory Village Governance. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221149750
Vyasulu, P., & Vyasulu, V. (1999). Women in Panchayati Raj: Grass Roots Democracy in Malgudi. Economic and Political Weekly, 34(52), 3677–3686.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Myra Dhingra
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
