India's Political Wome

GAMBIER, Ohio (December 5, 2003) Professor of History Wendy Singer was quoted in the December 4 New York Times in a story about the position of women in Indian politics. According to the Times, many women in India are held back not by voters, but by big parties that do not want to give tickets to women. Singer, who specializes in women in Indian politics, told the Times that many women frustrated by the "ticket ceiling," simply went into other kinds of political, or even social, work.

The question, Singer said, was whether a decade-old law that reserved one-third of the seats on village council for women would change the status quo, creating a larger pool of women with the connections to run for state assemblies and Parliament.

For more than a decade, Singer has visited and lived in India to explore its history, customs, and people. In Singer's most recent book, Creating Histories: Oral Narratives and the Politics of History-Making, she addresses the history of India in a way that is local, regional, national, and global. During her last year-long sabbatical in India, she was the recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes Senior Research Grant. During the 1999-2000 academic year, Singer lived in England, where she was the director of Kenyon's Exeter Program.