Women Leaders in Village Panchayats

I come from a family of six brothers and sisters. I was married at the age of 14,

and have never been to school. Till now my story could be one of the many

women of Maharashtra leading our lives in anonymity. However, there is a

slight difference now, my story is being written down. This is because I am the

President of my village.

My husband is a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Before

me, he had unsuccessfully contested elections, for the post of the President.

I did not even campaign for him when he stood for elections. I used to work

for the Mahatma Phule Samajik Sanshodhan Sanstha to augment the family

income and I was immediately made to look after women- related projects like

savings, domestic violence, right to earn etc. I was happy with my work and

was never keen on entering the domain of political life.

Once the seat was announced as being reserved for women, my husband

pressurised me to contest. However, after seeing him loose I was not interested

in contesting. However, despite my protests, my husband forcibly filed my

nomination papers and before I knew what was happening I was contesting

the elections. My husband played a big role in campaigning for me for I was

oblivious of how things had to be done. None of this was enough however,

and I lost the elections by three votes. I was disappointed but I went back to

work without losing much sleep every my loss. However, something in me had

changed, I was determined to contest again, working harder at it the next time

round. After all, the first contest had been close and had given me hope.

I used the interim time until the next election to build up my support base,

taking up projects even in neighbouring villages. I used my credit and savings

work as a tool to organize the women and get them to fight for their rights

collectively. As the next election approached the women from the savings

program pushed me to file my nominations. I did not disappoint them. My

husband left the decision entirely upon me. The women from my savings

program handled the entire election process and I won the elections defeating

six candidates. Those who had up until now traditionally held power were

resentful of my win. However, I knew that this time I was in the majority. Six

of the eleven ward members from my Panchayat were women and we all took

Fatima B Shaikh
President
Panchayat: Raimoha
Block: Shirur (Kasar)
District: Beed