What Factors Influence the Performance of Women Leaders in Urban Local Bodies? A Study of Two Municipalities in West Bengal

Women are constantly denied their rights and their capabilities are questioned in different socio-political spheres. Although society puts hindrances in the form of patriarchy and norms, women leaders come forward to take part in the public sphere. Their leadership is however found to have different forms ranging from proxy workers to independent leaders, especially in urban areas, where social constraints are thought to be relatively flexible. Against this background, this chapter evaluates the performances of elected women representatives in peri-urban Kolkata. Following Moser’s gender-sensitive analysis method, the chapter discusses the performance of elected women representatives (EWRs) in the fulfilment of practical and strategic needs of women and factors that influence their performance. This chapter finds that EWRs are working to serve society as well as fulfil of gender-sensitive needs depending on their leadership quality, which varies on the basis of whether they are from the background of social workers, political leaders or party representatives. The main factors influencing their performance are their will, attitude to their duties at home and outside and their political upbringing. Therefore, to make the strategic plan effective, the mode of training must be altered to introduce innovative methods for building leadership capacity and sense of responsibility among the local leaders.