Elected Women Representatives in the Local Governments in Kerala: Leaders Hit the Political Glass Ceiling

Women in politics and leadership positions have captured our imagination in recent years, but continued underrepresentation of women in politics is the rule. Kerala is well known for its decentralised model of governance. The human development achievements and gender parity rules out proxies—someone else taking decisions for those elected women. But question of have they risen to leadership positions has not attracted much attention. This paper analyses the issue using the data of three local government elections—2010, 2015 and 2020. Rise of women to the top of the political spectrum as leaders is incumbent on the number, pathways and political clout (Jalalzai, F. (2014). With 50% reservation of seats for women, their numbers are large. Political pathway is analysed by taking the proportion of women members getting re-elected, contrasted with the political parties retaining proportion of seats in Local Governments. Women’s representation in political party committees is then taken up followed by a discussion of representation in the Legislative Assembly and the pathways to it. The paper concludes that the patriarchal mores in the society and within the political parties of all hues are responsible for the lack of political advancement of women to leadership positions in Kerala. If Kerala with high gender parity in education and work participation rates shows such low advancement of women, then why talk of other states and India as a whole?