The discussion on women empowerment in India has largely been contextualized within the homogenous understanding of women s reality. As a result, the multiple realties of women s oppression with respect to their caste and religious positions is often undermined both in academic and bureaucratic explanations of women s subordination. Therefore, first part of this paper tries to explore both the local and global perspectives of women empowerment and locates Dalit women reality in contemporary discourse of women s empowerment. Further on, this paper tries to trace the specific political context of Dalit women s exclusion in the Panchayati Raj System and attempts to unravel the patterns of relationships existing between Dalit women and socio‐political norms, dominant local culture and Panchayti Raj System. The study was conducted in March –April 2012 in three panchayats in the Latur district of Maharashtra and all samples are elected Dalit women leaders.
