The first time she heard of a woman leading a village in Bihar as its mukhiya (head), Ramvati Devi (name changed), 50, was astounded. “I could not even comprehend how a woman could lead,” she told IndiaSpend. “How could she have any power over a man or the dominant castes in a village where she had walked all her life with her head covered?”
In 2006, the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had just introduced 50% reservation for women in the state’s rural governance bodies or its Panchayati Raj Institutions to encourage more women to join mainstream politics. Bihar, the first to reserve half the seats for women, is conducting the first round of polling to elect its state legislators today. Many of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s pro-women decisions, from the 2016 liquor ban to bicycles for girl students to reservation for women in Panchayati Raj…