Role of Social Work in Strengthening Women's Political Participation in Bihar: Study reference to West Champaran, East Champaran and Muzaffarpur

Abstract
Gender equality and democratic governance require women's political participation. The reservation of 50 percent for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions has made women visible in Bihar but socio-cultural, economic, and institutional barriers remain in the way of women's meaningful participation in the political decision-making process. The present study focuses on the role of social work in strengthening political participation of women in West Champaran, East Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar. The study follows the qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews and document analysis as data collection techniques and thematic analysis as a data analysis. The results show how important social work practices such as political awareness, leadership development, community mobilization, advocacy and capacity building are in building confidence, leadership and participation of women in local governance. The study concludes that the reservation has resulted in better political representation for women in Bihar, but the social work effort and support from NGOs, SHG, government etc. is important to achieve political empowerment and to develop grassroots democracy in Bihar.