ABSTRACT
The competitive-capability discourse and the structural-transformative discourse both interpellated women as responsible agents, thus increasing women’s potential agency relative to their interpellation as weak, vulnerable, and dependent subjects of the protective-paternalist discourse. However, this gendered developmental subjectivity presented some detrimental implications for women. Gender-sensitised bureaucrats constitute a potential new developmental subjectivity: opportunities for gender-sensitisation may arise in their formal professional capacity rather than as private citizens through gender training, or exposure to gender-equitable development concepts and practices through postings to parastatal programmes, and through exposure to gender inequality and discrimination in postings. Two factors enabled a high degree of agency amongst the most senior party political leaders in both states when in government as chief ministers. The political personalisation of social welfare in Tamil Nadu occurred with state government programmes for women’s development. The extent of engagement by both states’ women’s movements with state policies and programmes has not been uniform across different sectors.
