The Indian government had provided reservation of 33 percent seats in the local self governing bodies to women by 73rd and 74th Constitution amendment. Later the reservation was raised to 50 percent in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) in some states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharastra, Orissa, Tripura and Kerala. However Haryana has yet to raise the reservation for women to 50 percent. Women who got elected due to reservation are often seen as puppets in the hands of their husbands and other male family members. For the common perception is that women have a decidedly marginalized and subordinate position in the traditional, conservative, patriarchal and caste ridden Indian society with rigid private female and public male role demarcation. In such a scenario women are seen as misfits in politics. This accusation is never made for men who enter politics due to reservation. The objective of this paper is to find out the actual position. Hence we made a comparative study of men and women elected in upper two tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Rohtak district of Haryana. Thus, all the 107 members of block committee and 14 members of district council were included in the study. The elected men and women representatives’ were asked questions pertaining to their background, views on women’s issues, politics, local self governing bodies etc to find out the difference or similarities between the views and performances of men and women elected representatives in a state which is known for its misogynistic attitudes.

Keywords: Women; Panchayti Raj Institutions; Rohtak; Haryana; India.