Abstract
There have been several powerful women leaders in Indian politics. Available literature documenting women’s experiences in Indian politics have been drawn from the lived experiences of elected members of parliament, with little attention paid to political workers. This paper traces the journey of seven political volunteers from India, who identify as women and have worked with political parties for 5 years or more. The study employs a qualitative approach to thematically analyze data about the life-worlds of party workers. Motivations to volunteer with political parties were explored. The relationship between gender and the policing of behavior was an emergent theme. The role social media played in influencing women volunteers’ experiences was revelatory. Insights emerged on coping mechanisms employed by the participants, and sources of support.
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Data Availability
The data are not publicly available due to the ethical considerations of the study. The interviews have data that could compromise the privacy and anonymity of the participants.
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Notes
This paper is drawn from a larger study on political volunteering in India, as a part of the PhD research of the first author, under the supervision of the second author.
Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India. Passed away in 2016.
A 4-month fellowship at Yale University, for selected fellows to learn about World Affairs.
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We would like to thank all the participants for their valuable insights, and the referees for their comments and feedback.
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This paper draws from the first author’s PhD Thesis, being pursued in Mumbai, India. The paper was completed under the guidance of the second author. Data collection and preliminary coding were done by the first author. Finalizing the themes, analysis, and writing were done by both the authors. The second author approved the final manuscript for submission.
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Bhandari, A., Sriram, S. Political Volunteers in India: Experiences of Women. Trends in Psychol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-024-00381-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-024-00381-4