Women Who Only Serve Chai: Gender Quotas, Reservations and Proxies in India

169 Pages·2022·2.003 MB·English

by  Brian Turnbull

WOMEN WHO ONLY SERVE CHAI
This book investigates the experiences of women city councilors in India. It
follows the careers of women in Jaipur, Rajasthan, who were brought into
public office through a gender quota instituted over two decades ago. It reveals
how, even in office, women continue to face stigma and normative restrictions
imposed by a society not entirely willing to accept them in a public and
independent position; and how men, technically blocked by the gender quota
from holding office themselves, continue to exert control and influence over
women officeholders, even sidelining them in many cases as proxies. The volume
also documents the role of these men, colloquially known as parshad-patis,
who have uniquely subverted the gender quota without violating any of the
formal quota rules. To combat these challenges, the author presents pragmatic
approaches to empower women in political offices at the grassroots and
highlights the need for a comprehensive support structure to aid gender quota
institutions in delivering equality in highly patriarchal environments.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with elected members and
their spouses, as well as journalists, women’s rights activists, and student
political leaders, this book provides fascinating insights into the everyday
politics of India. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of
gender studies, politics, political processes, and South Asian studies.
Brian Turnbull is a faculty member at the University of South Florida in
the Department of Sociology, USA, with interdisciplinary interests in
democratic representation, gender and politics, South Asian politics, and
qualitative methodology. He has primarily conducted research on the use
of gender quotas to improve representational equality in the global South,
but he has also published on authoritarian consolidation and qualitative
methodologies in the field. He teaches comparative politics and coordinates
student internships for the department. He enjoys preparing students for
their careers and post-university work by encouraging the development of
communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. He received his
PhD in political science with focuses in comparative politics and international
relations from the University of Kansas, USA. Prior, he received his MA in
security studies from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C, USA.

WOMEN WHO ONLY
SERVE CHAI
Gender Quotas, Reservations and
Proxies in India
Brian Turnbull
First published 2022
by Routledge
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© 2022 Brian Turnbull
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has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-19844-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-27123-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-29146-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003291466
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vi
List of abbreviations viii
1 Parshad-patis and proxies 1
2 No quick fixes 24
3 The parshad-patis 43
4 Demanding a place 68
5 Entrenched obstacles 96
6 Moving forward 139
Index 157
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank a number of incredible and supportive people who volun-
teered so much of their time and care to the completion of this book. This
project would not have been possible without them. Starting at the begin-
ning, I want to thank Dr. Mariya Omelicheva for finding the departmental
resources at the University of Kansas that enabled me to start a PhD in the
first place (I do apologize for the abrupt shift from Central Asia to South
Asia) and to my mentor Dr. Gary Reich, whose ability to make electoral
institutions fascinating triggered the initial interest in gender quotas that
led to this project. The many hours he then had to spend reading draft
after draft of the dissertation that led to this manuscript are much appreci-
ated. The fieldwork for this dissertation would also not have been possible
without the funding and support from the Fulbright US Student Program
and US-India Educational Foundation. The dissertation then took a big step
towards a real manuscript at the excellent dissertation-to-book workshop
hosted at the annual Madison South Asia Conference, thanks to feedback
from a number of colleagues, in particular Dr. Kimberly Walters.
I have to express my real gratitude to my first Hindi teacher and men-
tor, Geetaji, and her family, whose patience and prodding enabled me to
develop the skills and confidence to observe and engage in South Asia. My
next teacher, Manjriji, also deserves considerable thanks for her guidance
and friendship, which helped me really start to feel at home in India. Out of
the many more Indians whose hospitality and friendship made every stay an
incredibly fulfilling experience, I also want to thank Taren and Upena Patel
and their family, who welcomed me to their home based solely on shared
friends. Their wonderful father will be missed. I then must thank, and
strongly recommend, the American Institute for Indian Studies in Jaipur,
whose faculty and staff were so helpful and welcoming both in language
learning and supporting my research. Without Kumarji, I likely would have
never made it out of Jaipur and certainly would not have lived so comfort-
ably. I have also been fortunate to stay in touch with Babu Lalji, whose
Hindi instruction and connections landed me my first parshad interview.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to express how thankful I am to the JMC parshads themselves (and
their spouses) who agreed to tolerate multiple phone calls and sit down for
intrusive questions with a foreign stranger to discuss their lives and careers.
I must also sincerely note how vital the work of my research assistant, Ved-
ant Swami, was to the gathering of so many detailed interviews in under
a year. His local knowledge, translation help, and warm personality both
compensated for my tooti-footi Hindi and really encouraged parshads to
open up to us. I want to thank him for his support and patience during our
long translation sessions, and for his continuing friendship.
Credit for the impetus of this project goes entirely to my family. My
grandmother put me on my first trip abroad, then my father’s inquisitive-
ness and my mother’s determination were all called upon to see this book
through from beginning to end. Finally, so much credit and thanks go to
my wonderful wife and her family, all of whose unconditional welcome and
genuine caring always remind me what I love most about India. She has
stood up to and overcome so many obstacles, often while I was far away.
Her support, love, and trust throughout will always be treasured.
vii
ABBREVIATIONS
JDA Jaipur Development Authority
JMC Jaipur Municipal Corporation
GBM General Board Meeting
GOI Government of India
MP Member of Parliament
MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
INC Congress Party
GEN General-castes and Communities
GEN(W) General Woman Castes and Communities
OBC Other Backward Classes
OBC(W) Other Backward Classes Woman
RU Rajasthan University
SC Scheduled Castes
SC(W) Scheduled Castes Woman
ST Scheduled Tribes
ST(W) Scheduled Tribes Woman
viii
1
PARSHAD-PATIS AND PROXIES
She was not very interested in politics originally, going through
the elections and being a politician, but this ward was reserved
for a woman candidate. If it had been unreserved then I would
have run, and if it is in the future, I will, but it was reserved so
I encouraged my wife to run instead.1
This quote came from the ninth interview since I had arrived in Jaipur.
While fairly early in the project, it marked a significant change in both my
understanding of political power on the city council and my methodology.
A new class of politician had emerged – men who had circumvented the
gender quota by standing their wives and daughters for office and then tak-
ing that office for themselves after the election. My research assistant Vedant
and I walked into our ninth interview encouraged and expectant. We had
done a solid month of work by interviewing eight parshads (city councilors),
who had provided nearly four hours of recorded narratives. So far, the par-
shads, both men and women, had generally demonstrated a strong inter-
est in their wards and a solid understanding of their responsibilities, which
came from years of political experience. However, over the last two inter-
views a new dynamic had started to emerge – first with a young parshad
who had recently won a seat reserved for women only, who spoke with us
at home while caring for her young son. She provided a significantly shorter
narrative and did not appear to understand how her office functioned. This
contrasted with the previous two women we had spoken with, who went
on for nearly an hour each about road maintenance, zoning struggles, and
intransigent bureaucrats. We initially assumed we had caught her at a bad
time with a sick child and her husband out of the house. However, the next
interview provided another new case, with a woman who had also won a
woman-reserved seat but had to balance her official responsibilities with the
private shop she ran with her husband. She described how she managed by
delegating some of her parshad duties to her husband. He would walk the
ward and meet with constituents and contractors, while she would focus on
1 DOI: 10.4324/9781003291466-1