ABSTRACT

In the contemporary world of structured human organizations, political participation represents the ultimate level of decision-making in the public sphere of human activity. Women participating in politics is not just a matter of taking up a new activity in the public sphere but rather of breaking into an arena in which the institutions and norms are designed and populated primarily by men. Despite South Asia’s claim to fame of producing a high percentage of female heads of state since the mid-twentieth century, the proportion of women elected to legislatures in the region, from national levels to local levels, remains pitifully low. While policy interventions, such as gender quota systems, particularly at the local level of political processes, have attempted to rectify the overall gender imbalance in political participation, politics in South Asia 1 remain a man’s game, and government remains a man’s club.