Bhavana Sajeev
Dynamics of women leadership in local self government for agricultural development of Kerala - Vellanikkara Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture 2025 - 336,lxvp.
Ph.D
Local government system has existed in India in every phase of its history. The National Policy on the Empowerment of Women of 2001 and National Policy for Women of 2016 were the cardinal initiatives taken by the Government of India for accelerating the pace of women empowerment. According to the population census of 2011 women constitute 52.03 per cent of the population of Kerala and the state hold pride in attaining and maintaining highest sex ratio of 1084 females per thousand males. Moving one more step forward from the provision of 33.33 per cent reservation as per the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992, Kerala assembly has passed two bills namely Kerala Panchayati Raj (2nd Amendment) Bill and Kerala Municipality Amendment Bill in 2009 reserving 50 per cent seats in local bodies and panchayats for women. Given this substantial increase in women representation, it becomes essential to examine how these elected women representatives (EWRs) are contributing to Kerala’s agricultural development. In this background the present study has been formulated as a comprehensive investigation into the leadership roles of EWRs in gender responsive development, the determinants shaping their leadership performance, the empowerment of women farmers and agricultural development, the challenges encountered by EWRs in decentralised planning, and the formulation of strategies to strengthen inclusive governance and advance gender equity. A multi stage random sampling design was employed in which one district each was selected randomly from the five agro climatic zones of Kerala. The districts selected were Kasaragod, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, and Alappuzha from Northern zone, Central zone, Southern zone, High Range zone and Special zone on Problem area respectively. Three agriculturally predominant block panchayats in terms of cropping intensity were selected from each district and further two gram panchayats were selected based on the same criteria from each block panchayat. Four EWRs from each gram panchayat and six EWRs from block panchayat and district panchayat of each selected district were selected by following probability proportionate random sampling making the sample size of EWRs 150. Also, eight women farmers were selected randomly from each of the women headed wards of gram panchayat as another category of respondents making the total sample of women farmers 240 which makes the total sample size for the study as 390. Women Leadership Role Index (WLRI) was developed to quantitatively assess the leadership performance of EWRs in gender responsive development. This index was developed using ten critical leadership dimensions such as empathy, self confidence, aspiration, problem solving ability, conflict management and negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, assertiveness, vision, decision making power, and managerial ability using principal component analysis. Empathy (0.334), self confidence (0.330), aspiration (0.327), and problem solving ability (0.326) were found as the most significant contributors of women leadership. After computing the composite scores for each respondent using quartiles, they were categorized into high, medium, and low leadership categories at 25.34 per cent, 49.33 per cent and 25.33 per cent, respectively. District level analysis of the WLRI showed that Thrissur and Kasaragod in the high category (36.67 % each), Idukki in the medium category (70.00 %), and Thiruvananthapuram exhibited the highest proportion of EWRs in the low category (43.33 %). The livelihood security of women farmers was assessed through the construction of a composite index by modifying the Livelihood Security Index (LSI) developed by Mishra and Debata (2021) with five dimensions ie; educational security, occupational security, social security, food security, and health security using principal component analysis. It was found that educational security (0.51) and occupational security (0.49) were most influential in defining livelihood security of the women farmers. By standardizing the index values at mean ± standard deviation, women farmers were categorized into high, medium and low livelihood security groups, representing 31.25 per cent, 41.25 per cent and 27.50 per cent respectively. District wise analysis revealed that Thrissur had the greatest share in the high category (47.92 %), Alappuzha led the medium category (52.08 %), and Idukki recorded the highest proportion of women farmers in the low livelihood security category (50.00 %). Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that educational qualification, percentage of annual income from agriculture and allied fields, family landholdings, land ownership, extension contact, social participation, information source utilization and mass media exposure were positively and significantly associated with livelihood security among women farmers. The analysis of women oriented developmental schemes under decentralised planning of Kerala was carried out in which a total of 48 schemes which were active from 2020 to 2025 were identified and documented under ten thematic areas. A detailed content analysis was done for agriculture and allied sector schemes using NVivo 15 software and hierarchical maps were constructed. The basic profile and socio-economic development of EWRs revealed that 54 per cent of EWRs were belonged to the 31 to 50 years category. Respondents included presidents and vice presidents of local self government and nominated members of different standing committees in which 22 per cent belonged to the development standing committee and 19.33 per cent belonged to the welfare standing committee. Secondary education had been completed by 38 per cent of EWRs making it the most common level. A large majority of EWRs (89.33 %) were married. The predominance of nuclear households was evident, as 57.33 per cent of EWRs resided in nuclear families. Regarding occupational status, 42 per cent of EWRs were employed in the service sector. In case of annual income 42.67 per cent of EWRs belonged to the ₹5-10 lakh per annum income category. Meanwhile, agriculture and allied field contributed up to 20 per cent of annual income for 58 per cent of EWRs. Higher percentage of EWRs fall under the medium category of social participation, extension contact, information source utilization, ICT tools usage, and mass media exposure. The political profile of EWRs revealed that 39.33 per cent of EWRs entered their leadership roles between the age of 31 and 40 and elected service duration of 1-5 years was reported by 56 per cent of EWRs. Regarding political background, 55.33 per cent of EWRs reported having family members in political or organizational roles. High awareness of local body functioning was reported by 74 per cent of EWRs. Regarding their entry into politics, 47.33 per cent of EWRs cited political parties as their primary source of encouragement, whereas 32.67 per cent attributed it to self motivation. Spearman rank correlation revealed that only knowledge about local body functioning exhibited a statistically significant positive correlation with leadership performance of EWRs. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that economic (0.922), institutional (0.858), social (0.849), and personal and psychological (0.834) factors were the primary determinants of EWRs’ leadership performance. To quantify empowerment levels among women farmers, a composite Women Farmer Empowerment Index (WFEI) was developed by modifying Shilparani’s (2016) Farm Women Empowerment Scale and applying principal component analysis to the five dimensions. It was found that social (0.49), political (0.46), health and hygiene (0.44), cultural (0.43) and economic (0.42) dimensions were influencing women empowerment. Classification by quartiles yielded 25 per cent of women farmers in the high and low categories and 50 per cent in the medium category. Alappuzha recorded the highest high empowerment proportion (45.83 %) while Idukki had the highest medium empowerment (64.58 %). Spearman rank correlation analysis demonstrated that educational qualification, family landholdings, farming experience, information source utilization and mass media exposure were positively and significantly associated with empowerment among women farmers. Analysis of involvement of EWRs in different phases of decentralised agricultural planning revealed that the highest engagement recorded during the participatory need assessment phase. It was observed that Thiruvananthapuram district demonstrated 100 per cent in high awareness category while considering all the respondents 86.67 per cent showed high awareness on agricultural development projects. Spearman rank correlation analysis between selected profile characteristics and awareness of agricultural development initiatives by EWRs indicated that only extension contact exhibited a statistically significant positive association. The challenges encountered by EWRs were classified into five categories such as personal and psychological, administrative, technical, social and institutional and analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII). The top ranked challenges were fear of failure or being dishonoured by the society, non-receipt of timely instructions, limited technical assistance, modest socio‐economic background, and occasional underestimation of women contributions within panchayat settings. Based on empirical findings among EWRs and women farmers across Kerala’s five agro climatic zones, six evidence based, context specific strategies were formulated to address critical gaps in leadership performance, socio-economic empowerment, involvement in decentralised planning and systemic constraints.
Agricultural Extension
Women leadership
Local self government
Agricultural development
Kerala
630.71 / BHA/DY Ph.D
Dynamics of women leadership in local self government for agricultural development of Kerala - Vellanikkara Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture 2025 - 336,lxvp.
Ph.D
Local government system has existed in India in every phase of its history. The National Policy on the Empowerment of Women of 2001 and National Policy for Women of 2016 were the cardinal initiatives taken by the Government of India for accelerating the pace of women empowerment. According to the population census of 2011 women constitute 52.03 per cent of the population of Kerala and the state hold pride in attaining and maintaining highest sex ratio of 1084 females per thousand males. Moving one more step forward from the provision of 33.33 per cent reservation as per the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992, Kerala assembly has passed two bills namely Kerala Panchayati Raj (2nd Amendment) Bill and Kerala Municipality Amendment Bill in 2009 reserving 50 per cent seats in local bodies and panchayats for women. Given this substantial increase in women representation, it becomes essential to examine how these elected women representatives (EWRs) are contributing to Kerala’s agricultural development. In this background the present study has been formulated as a comprehensive investigation into the leadership roles of EWRs in gender responsive development, the determinants shaping their leadership performance, the empowerment of women farmers and agricultural development, the challenges encountered by EWRs in decentralised planning, and the formulation of strategies to strengthen inclusive governance and advance gender equity. A multi stage random sampling design was employed in which one district each was selected randomly from the five agro climatic zones of Kerala. The districts selected were Kasaragod, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, and Alappuzha from Northern zone, Central zone, Southern zone, High Range zone and Special zone on Problem area respectively. Three agriculturally predominant block panchayats in terms of cropping intensity were selected from each district and further two gram panchayats were selected based on the same criteria from each block panchayat. Four EWRs from each gram panchayat and six EWRs from block panchayat and district panchayat of each selected district were selected by following probability proportionate random sampling making the sample size of EWRs 150. Also, eight women farmers were selected randomly from each of the women headed wards of gram panchayat as another category of respondents making the total sample of women farmers 240 which makes the total sample size for the study as 390. Women Leadership Role Index (WLRI) was developed to quantitatively assess the leadership performance of EWRs in gender responsive development. This index was developed using ten critical leadership dimensions such as empathy, self confidence, aspiration, problem solving ability, conflict management and negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, assertiveness, vision, decision making power, and managerial ability using principal component analysis. Empathy (0.334), self confidence (0.330), aspiration (0.327), and problem solving ability (0.326) were found as the most significant contributors of women leadership. After computing the composite scores for each respondent using quartiles, they were categorized into high, medium, and low leadership categories at 25.34 per cent, 49.33 per cent and 25.33 per cent, respectively. District level analysis of the WLRI showed that Thrissur and Kasaragod in the high category (36.67 % each), Idukki in the medium category (70.00 %), and Thiruvananthapuram exhibited the highest proportion of EWRs in the low category (43.33 %). The livelihood security of women farmers was assessed through the construction of a composite index by modifying the Livelihood Security Index (LSI) developed by Mishra and Debata (2021) with five dimensions ie; educational security, occupational security, social security, food security, and health security using principal component analysis. It was found that educational security (0.51) and occupational security (0.49) were most influential in defining livelihood security of the women farmers. By standardizing the index values at mean ± standard deviation, women farmers were categorized into high, medium and low livelihood security groups, representing 31.25 per cent, 41.25 per cent and 27.50 per cent respectively. District wise analysis revealed that Thrissur had the greatest share in the high category (47.92 %), Alappuzha led the medium category (52.08 %), and Idukki recorded the highest proportion of women farmers in the low livelihood security category (50.00 %). Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that educational qualification, percentage of annual income from agriculture and allied fields, family landholdings, land ownership, extension contact, social participation, information source utilization and mass media exposure were positively and significantly associated with livelihood security among women farmers. The analysis of women oriented developmental schemes under decentralised planning of Kerala was carried out in which a total of 48 schemes which were active from 2020 to 2025 were identified and documented under ten thematic areas. A detailed content analysis was done for agriculture and allied sector schemes using NVivo 15 software and hierarchical maps were constructed. The basic profile and socio-economic development of EWRs revealed that 54 per cent of EWRs were belonged to the 31 to 50 years category. Respondents included presidents and vice presidents of local self government and nominated members of different standing committees in which 22 per cent belonged to the development standing committee and 19.33 per cent belonged to the welfare standing committee. Secondary education had been completed by 38 per cent of EWRs making it the most common level. A large majority of EWRs (89.33 %) were married. The predominance of nuclear households was evident, as 57.33 per cent of EWRs resided in nuclear families. Regarding occupational status, 42 per cent of EWRs were employed in the service sector. In case of annual income 42.67 per cent of EWRs belonged to the ₹5-10 lakh per annum income category. Meanwhile, agriculture and allied field contributed up to 20 per cent of annual income for 58 per cent of EWRs. Higher percentage of EWRs fall under the medium category of social participation, extension contact, information source utilization, ICT tools usage, and mass media exposure. The political profile of EWRs revealed that 39.33 per cent of EWRs entered their leadership roles between the age of 31 and 40 and elected service duration of 1-5 years was reported by 56 per cent of EWRs. Regarding political background, 55.33 per cent of EWRs reported having family members in political or organizational roles. High awareness of local body functioning was reported by 74 per cent of EWRs. Regarding their entry into politics, 47.33 per cent of EWRs cited political parties as their primary source of encouragement, whereas 32.67 per cent attributed it to self motivation. Spearman rank correlation revealed that only knowledge about local body functioning exhibited a statistically significant positive correlation with leadership performance of EWRs. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that economic (0.922), institutional (0.858), social (0.849), and personal and psychological (0.834) factors were the primary determinants of EWRs’ leadership performance. To quantify empowerment levels among women farmers, a composite Women Farmer Empowerment Index (WFEI) was developed by modifying Shilparani’s (2016) Farm Women Empowerment Scale and applying principal component analysis to the five dimensions. It was found that social (0.49), political (0.46), health and hygiene (0.44), cultural (0.43) and economic (0.42) dimensions were influencing women empowerment. Classification by quartiles yielded 25 per cent of women farmers in the high and low categories and 50 per cent in the medium category. Alappuzha recorded the highest high empowerment proportion (45.83 %) while Idukki had the highest medium empowerment (64.58 %). Spearman rank correlation analysis demonstrated that educational qualification, family landholdings, farming experience, information source utilization and mass media exposure were positively and significantly associated with empowerment among women farmers. Analysis of involvement of EWRs in different phases of decentralised agricultural planning revealed that the highest engagement recorded during the participatory need assessment phase. It was observed that Thiruvananthapuram district demonstrated 100 per cent in high awareness category while considering all the respondents 86.67 per cent showed high awareness on agricultural development projects. Spearman rank correlation analysis between selected profile characteristics and awareness of agricultural development initiatives by EWRs indicated that only extension contact exhibited a statistically significant positive association. The challenges encountered by EWRs were classified into five categories such as personal and psychological, administrative, technical, social and institutional and analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII). The top ranked challenges were fear of failure or being dishonoured by the society, non-receipt of timely instructions, limited technical assistance, modest socio‐economic background, and occasional underestimation of women contributions within panchayat settings. Based on empirical findings among EWRs and women farmers across Kerala’s five agro climatic zones, six evidence based, context specific strategies were formulated to address critical gaps in leadership performance, socio-economic empowerment, involvement in decentralised planning and systemic constraints.
Agricultural Extension
Women leadership
Local self government
Agricultural development
Kerala
630.71 / BHA/DY Ph.D