SEMINOR ON WOMEN'S ISSUES
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RF_WH_.11_12_SUDHA
Women in Media- Finally Coming into their Own
When women started working in Bengal, it was more out of an economic
necessity. And the first women (apart from the working class) to venture out
as professionals, were displaced women from erstwhile East Pakistan.
Needless to say, what prompted them to work was not primarily necessarily
professional fulfillment or corporate success.
Journalism was never the Bengali woman's first choice. She was primarily
encouraged to teach in schools. When women started working in some other
professions, their presence was minimal and innocuous, and men could not
have imagined that they would turn into professional rivals and threaten
their supremacy some day.
Even when women joined the journalistic profession, they continued to
remain subservient to their male counterparts. They were not considered fit
for reporting, especially political stories. Women are mostly assigned to do
desk jobs, or feature stories pertaining to lifestyle and other light features.
How much has this trend changed?
Or has it at all? A report card tracing the legacy of Vidya Munshi, the first
female reporter from Bengal.
Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti
AA 171A, Salt Lake, Calcutta 700 064
Telefax: 00 91(33) 2359 6303, 23375757
email: cinemawoman2004@vahoo.co.in
website: www.cinemawoman.com
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SRI LANKA: THE CHANGING AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR - A GENDERED APPRAISAL
Historically. Sri Lanka (SL) has been an agricultural country, blessed with an
abundance of rivers, which originate from the central hills and flow in all directions of
the island - the Mahaveli to the east, the Kelani to the west and the Walawe to the
south to name but a few. The early Aryans, who settled here over 2500 years ago.
recoenized this great resource and following their traditional practices, settled near
some of these rivers and introduced rice cultivation to SL. As the population increased
and spread, the rivers could not supply enough water tor cultivation purposes
throughout the year. This was especially evident during the long dry season. April to
September. SL is divided agro-climatically into two main areas - the Wet Zone which
encompasses the central hills and the south-west part of the island and has an annual
rainfall of approximately 1.800 to 6,000mm: the Dry Zone which constitutes the rest
of the island and has an annual rainfall of approximately 900 to 1,800mm. The Dry
Zone takes up most of the land mass of Sri Lanka’s 65,610 square Km. The ancient
Sinhala kings, who made their kingdoms in the Dry Zone, recognized the importance
of providing enough water for cultivation purposes, and built huge tanks (Van) to
conserve rain-water, thereby ensuring that their subjects had a high level ol food
security, predominantly in rice. In fact, during the reign of Parakramabahu I in the
twelfth century. Sri Lanka was known as the Granary of the East .
The other type of cultivation prevalent in the Dry Zone has been Chena Cultivation
(the “slasl/and burn” method of cultivation). This method of cultivation is totally
dependent on rainfall and usually commences in September, before the North-East
monsoon rains. Vegetables, yams and cereals are the main food crops, while chillies
are grown for both food and cash.
SL was colonized bv the Portuguese. Dutch and British from the 16 century to the
mid twentieth century. Under the British who ruled for the longest period of time
(almost 200 years), plantation agriculture was introduced to SL in the form ol tea.
coffee, rubber and coconut. These were mainly cash crops which enriched the coffers
of the British Raj and were serviced by cheap labour from South India.
SL had gained historical repute as a vast treasury of various spices, and had been an
important trading point between East and West, because of this commodity. Peppei.
cardomom. cloves and cinnamon are some of the many spices found in SL.
SL’s 1565Km-long coast-line has been a source of livelihood for generations ol fisher
families. Animal husbandry has been at a very low-level in SL, because of the strong
Buddhist influence, and it is only in the last 15 years that there has been a shift to
poultry-farming and raising pigs and goats, for meat, in many aieas in SL.
In the immediate post independence period. SL clung to its agricultural roots, and
agriculture accounted for 38% of the total GDP in 1950.121 However, with a shift to
open-market economics in 1978 and the impact of Structural Adjustment
Programmes, Trade Liberalization and Accelerated Development within the
Globalization framework, agriculture has been accounting for less and less of Sri
Lanka’s GDP-30.7% in 1978131, 21.3% in 1998 1 17.2% in 2005.
1
Sri Lankan women have always enjoyed more freedom and mobility than many of
their South Asian neighbours. The early influence ol Buddhism and the founding of a
Bikkhuni order (female Buddhist clergy) did create a space for women, although it
was alwavs subservient to the male clergy: this was hitherto unheard of within
religious and social frameworks. Sri Lankan history records the ascension of queens
(Leelawathie and Kalyanawathie) to the throne, as early as the 13lh century, while
aristocratic women, who had made gifts of land to the Temples (Sugala) and
supported their sons in battle (Vihara Maha Devi), also have their place in Sri Lanka’s
history. The following facts have also contributed to promoting gender equality within
Sri Lankan society: the gaining of Universal Adult Franchise in 1931 w hich benefited
both men and women: the social reforms and welfare programmes ol the 1940s and
1950s: and the
1978 Constitution, which provides for “Equal
Rights without
Discrimination on the grounds of Sex” and also recognizes that women are a
marginalized group that needs special attention. SL also ratified the “Convention foi
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women” (CEDAW) in 1981.
1 lowever. the follow ing have remained as thorns and barriers for Sri Lankan women
to achieve gender equality and equity:
•
Although w'omen are guaranteed equal rights through the General Law,
they are discriminated against, in the various provisions of the Family Law
of each community pertaining to marriage, divorce, property and financial
•
•
•
transactions16'
Women are denied equal rights to land in stale assisted settlements under
the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) of 1935'7'
Labour legislation conforms to international practices but enforcement is
relatively weak, so that many women workers, especially in the informal
sector are outside the ambit of these labour laws
Amendments to the Penal Code in 1995 and 1998 expanded the scope of
legislation to counter gender-based violence, but there was an absence of
legislation regarding domestic violence, due to the intense pressure
®
brought to bear by certain ethnic and religious groups
Although SL has the prestige of producing both the World’s
1 1 Woman
Prime Minister and the 1st Woman President, in almost 7 decades ol
Universal Franchise the percentage of women in Parliament has never
•
exceeded 4%
The unemployment rate among women has always been higher than that of
men and within this situation, that of women with better educational
attainments, much higher.181
What I attempt to show is that that the participation of women in the agricultural
sector has diminished in the past two decades, while in spite of upward social
mobility, brought about by free education and healthcare, the overall status of Sri
Lankan women in the economic sector too has diminished. Gendered social norms,
the armed conflict, slow economic growth, accelerated development programmes and
a chronic apathy and lack of political will among legislators for dynamic and
affirmative action and intervention, have all resulted in SL having a long way to go in
achieving gender equality and equity in keeping with international norms.
2
SL emerged unscathed from the 2IR* World War and gained independence without any
bloodshed in 1948, unlike its closest neighbour, India. SL had achieved Universal
Adult Franchise as early as 1931 and by 1948 had a well functioning political
democracy in place. The country was politically polarized between a conservative
centre-right party - the United National Party (UNP) - and a centre-left party - the Sri
Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The two political parties following Marxist ideology.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Ceylon Communist Party (CPC), often
formed alliances with the SLFP. These leftist parties were particularly strong in the
early 1930s and from then to the 1970s. whether in government or in the opposition,
were instrumental in bringing about the implementation of state sponsored education,
health and transportation services. These were maintained at very high standaids,
thereby setting the stage for SL to gain one of the highest Human Development
Indexes in Asia - Life"Expectancy of 74 years for men and 77 for women: 92%
literacy for men and 89% for women.1
When SL achieved independence from the British in 1948, it had the highest pei
capita income outside Japan in Asia.ll0] SL also inherited from the British a
prosperous export sector, organized along commercial lines, which brought in around
90% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, and a relatively stable macro
economy. One of the most distinctive features of the time immediately following
independence was that historical ethnic tensions remained dormant, due to the nation
building efforts of the new national government under the leadership of D.S.
Senanayake. On the other hand it was also a turbulent time, as Trade Unions wielded
a lot of power, and Industrial Strikes ended up as General Strikes, thereby ensuring
better wages and working conditions in the newly emerging industrial sector.
Despite all of the above. SL was considered a low-income country, with substantial
poverty, most of which was located in the rural areas among the country ’s peasantry.
According to the Department of Agriculture, about 80% of paddy farmers own less
than one "ha. of land1"1, while a 1953 Consumer Finance Survey conducted by the
Central Bank of SL showed that the poorest 40% of the spending units in the income
ladder received only 14.5% of the total income generated in the country, whereas the
richest 20% received 53.8% of the income.1121 Subsistence farming, which was the
traditional form of agriculture, had lagged behind the efficient plantation sector,
mainly due to being largely ignored by the British, and at independence, Sii Lanka
only produced 3.3% of its rice requirement.1131
According to statistics in the “Economic Progress of Independent Sri Lanka: 1948 1998”, published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to commemorate Sri Lanka’s 50
years’ of Independence: in 1948 SL had a population of 7 million, of which almost
85% lived in the rural sector and depended on agriculture or agriculture related
activities for a livelihood. The agriculture sector, which was mainly divided between
an export agricultural sector (the plantation sector) and a subsistence agricultural
sector (the domestic non-plantation sector), directly contributed 40% to the national
income in 1948. The domestic non-plantation sector produced food crops such as
paddy, kurakkan, sweet potato, maize and vegetables, while the plantation sector
produced pereniel crops such as tea. rubber, coconut and spices. Howevei. even then,
SL produced only 3.3% of its rice requirement and depended heavily on imported
foods which the government subsidized. The plantation sector brought in about 90/o
3
of SL’s foreign exchange earnings the bulk of which was used for food imports in the
early 1950s.1141
The period between 1948 and 1977 saw the following:
fhe Welfare State being maintained by taxation of the plantation exports
The restoration of some of the irrigation projects in the Dry Zone and
settlement of peasant colonies in that region, w ith a view to boosting rice
production (The Gal Ova project, which was one such project, was
financed from budget surpluses.)1'?l
The bulk of foreign exchange earned from the plantation sector being used
for food imports - as much as 25% for rice in the early 1950s. although
rice production doubled between 1947 and 1949 and again between 1956
and 19611161
Attempts to rejuvenate existing export industries or diversify into new
areas in either agriculture or industry being very modest
Continued dependency on a few primary commodities for earning vital
foreign exchange (These themselves were based on fluctuating prices in
the World Market, so that when these prices deteriorated in 1956. Sri
Lanka was in a very vulnerable position).
The optimistic and pioneering spirit of nation-building in the late 1940s.
giving way to ethnic and religious tensions, which were heightened by the
Sinhala Only Act of 1956. which made Sinhala, the language of the
majority community, the only official language of the country, effectively
ending the two-language formula which had been accepted until this time
by the Sri Lankan polity. (This Act, which is termed as the “single most
riots of
of
damaging piece of legislation’ '17’ in turn culminated in the ethnic Hots
1956 and 1958.)
The state sponsored education, health and transportation programmes
reaping rich rewards for Sri Lanka - achieving the highest literacy levels,
low infant mortality and longer life expectancy in Asia
The Youth Uprising of 1971, caused by the poverty, lack of opportunities
and unemployment (created by the very programmes that generated higher
social aspirations)
Enactment of the first republican Constitution in 1972, which ended the
dominion status of Sri Lanka, but created a political structure that removed
previous minority safeguards and gave pre-eminence to Buddhism and
ensured the superiority of a Sinhala-dominated parliament (The federal
Party, w hich was the main political party of the 4 amils, did not participate
in the framing of the new/ Constitution, which resulted in further estranging
ties and cooperation between the different ethnic groups and led to the
creation of militant Tamil youth groups in the North.)
The Land Reform Law' of 1972 which established a ceiling on agricultural
lands that could be owned by a Sri Lankan - 25 acres of paddy land or 50
acres of other agricultural land
The Land Reform Law of 1975 which vested estate land owned by public
companies in the Land Reform Commission
The introduction of minimum wage legislation
4
A story of tightening, partially relaxing and again tightening more
stringently than before, the trade regime and associated areas, to overcome
a perceived foreign exchange crisis
The United National Party, which was swept into political power with an
overwhelming majority in 1977. acted swiftly to try and rejuvenate a stale and
deteriorating economy. Immediate adoption of open market economic policies which
led to the creation of Export Processing Zones, an aggressive implementation of
accelerated development programmes such as the Mahaveli River Basin Irrigation and
Hydro-power Scheme, the formulation ol a new Constitution that cieated an
Executive Presidency vested with sweeping powers and the amendment of labour and
tariff protection laws, were some of the actions taken in trying to achieve the above.
However, this time also saw the bloodiest ethnic riots (1983). the start of the war in
the North and East, the political violence in the south, spearheaded by the Marxist.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the meteoric rise to pow er of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam, the LTTE, who systematically annihilated all other militant groups and
political parties in the North and East of SL. The Peace Keeping Force from India also
played a role for a while, before having to withdraw' in 1987.
Since 1978. the situation in the political and socio-economic scenario of SL has
changed little, although political power has changed hands increasingly rapidly in
recent times. Trade liberalization under the growing ambit of the World Irade
Organization’s sphere of influence and dictates. Structural Adjustment Programmes at
the dictates of the leading international financial institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and most recently the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation Assistance, state sponsored Accelerated
Development Programmes based on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers have all
left their mark, both positive and negative, on SL.
While all of the above have combined since 1948 to make SL achieve a relatively
high HDI, they have also contributed to create the current rather dismal economic
situation and emerging widening socio-economic disparities. Specifically, the
following factors have contributed to the lack of female participation in the
agricultural sector and have led to an overall diminishing of women’s economic status
in society:
(1) ’
Slow economic growth
Structural Adjustment Programmes
(2)
Chronic
apathy and lack of political will among politicians and legislators.
(3)
Gendered social norms
(4)
The
armed conflict
(5)
(1)
Slow economic growth:
When SL achieved independence in 1948, she had the highest per capita
income outside Japan in Asia. However, although her long-term growth of
2.5% in per capita terms compared favourably with most of the developing
world (World Bank 1995a), it fell well short of the growth rate achieved
by high performing East Asian countries like Malaysia, Korea and
Thailand. By 1960 SL’s per capita income was almost equal to South
Korea and higher than that of Thailand and Indonesia. However, by 1997,
5
South Korea had achieved a per capita income that was 14 times higher
than that of SL. while Thailand’s was 4 times higher and that of Indonesia,
marginally so.'lsJ SL’s economic growth between 1951 and 1977 averaged
onh 3.6%. while partial liberalization of the economy and a shift to open
market economic policies after 1978. resulted in an economic growth rate
average of 5.2%.|,9J In addition to short-sighted government interventions
regarding economic and trading policies between 1948 and 1998. the
following external shocks were also responsible for slow economic growth
in SL: The sharp escalation of oil prices in 1973 and 1981: the world
recession that followed the 1981 oil price hike; the Gulf Crisis of 1990
which resulted in substantially decreased foreign exchange remittances
from the Middle East. The internal shocks that had serious economic
disruptions as well as political implications were the youth insurrection ol
1971. the eruption of ethnic conflicts in 1956. 1958. 1977 and 1983. the
war in the north and east from 1983 onwards and the southern political
violence from 1987 to 1990. Economic conditions were also adversely
affected by droughts in the mid 1960s, 1972. 1986 and 1996. 1 hese
adverse external, internal and climatic factors resulted in low productivity
and inadequate incomes in the agricultural sector, which in turn compelled
many small-farm families to look for job opportunities in the burgeoning
industrial and service sectors after 1978. so that employment in the
agriculture sector only increased by 0.8% during 1953 - 1996.1'0'
(2)
The Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), undertaken by the
governments of many developing countries at the insistence of
International Funding Institutions like the IMF. WB and ADB. sounded
the death knell for Sri Lanka’s subsistence agriculture and drastically
endangered any attempts she could have made towards achieving food
security. Sri Lanka is considered an agricultural country and her economv
is very sensitive to changes in agriculture production, pricing and all other
related policy options. An estimated 1.8 million families (about 75% of the
population who live in the rural sector) derive their livelihood from
agriculture.'21J The SAPs which have been incorporated almost word for
word into the “Accelerated Development Programmes” being promoted
under a different name by each party wielding political power since 1994
(Regaining Sri Lanka - UNP in 2001: Rata Perata - PA in 2004). had at
their base the government’s priority to stimulate the economy and achieve
a growth rate of 8 - 10%. However, the distribution of the benefits of
economic growth and social and gender equity are buried under macroeconomic growth policies that are envisaged as accelerating growth and
resulting in “trickling down” to all segments of the population, while
subsistence agriculture was identified as “unprofitable” and all the
recommendations dealing with the agricultural sector were based on the
privatization of land and water resources in order to “improve production”
and “diversification of agricultural products” - another way of initiating a
shift from producing food crops to cash crops. The fertilizer subsidy was
also withdrawn, resulting in escalating costs of production. As real
incomes of peasant families declined as a result of these policies and
programmes, women’s participation in agriculture deteriorated in the
1980s and 1990s, as women in poor families started looking for alternative
6
employment in the rapidly growing industrial and service sectors and for
the job opportunities created in the Middle East for unskilled labour.
(3)
Chronic apathy and lack of political will among politicians and legislators.
3.1 There was an attempt to revitalize paddy production both in the 1950s.
1960s and the 1980s with the implementation of the Gal Ova project,
the Uda Walawe Scheme and the Accelerated Mahaweli Scheme.
which actually resulted in an increase in rice production due to
increased extent and increased yield per unit of land. Successive
governments since Independence also invested heavily to increase rice
production by providing fertilizer subsidies, guaranteed prices, free
irrigation water and the establishment of the Paddy Marketing Board.
However, since SL imports all of its machinery, agro-chemicals and
fertilizer, the cost of production of rice has remained very high, w hen
compared to other rice growing countries in Asia. There has been no
serious and sustained state intervention in trying to identify and
address these factors, while in fact, the reverse has been true - the
government withdrawing its fertilizer subsidy under the SAPs in the
earl) 1990s.
3.2 There has been a heavy dependency on rice and other food imports
since Independence, with both the private sector and the government
being involved in this process. Wheat has become the second staple
diet of many Sri Lankans and 1.057.000 mt. of wheat were imported at
a value of Rs. 10,015 million in 1995.[22] The total revenue gained
from exports in 2005 was SLRs. 638 billion, while that spent on
imports was SLRs. 891 billion.1-’1
3.3 Women have equal rights in the General Law, but discriminatory
provisions exist in varying degrees in the Family Law of each
community, pertaining to the areas of marriage, divorce, property and
financial transactions. Since these are closely linked to economic
security and livelihoods, many women do not have access over
resources in order to operate as independent economic entities. I his is
especially true of the Mahaweli Scheme, the plantation sector, the war
torn areas in the North and East and property settlements in the south,
where women have been marginalized and deprived of their right to
land, their access to loans, the right to apply for agricultural extension
services and overall decision-making processes. SL has been wracked
by both political and ethnic violence since 1983, and the number of
women headed households in the Wanni District alone is about
20%,24]. This has serious implications because many of these women
belong to the rural agricultural sector and are the backbone of Sri
Lanka’s food security.
3.4 The UN Decade for Women increased the visibility of women, both in
the public and private spheres. The Women’s Bureau was established
in 1978 and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was created in 1997.
Regrettably, although these entities were created at Cabinet level,
neither the Ministry nor the Bureau have been integrated in the
7
national planning processes, even after two decades. In addition, the
programmes formulated by both the Ministry and Bureau have been
implemented outside mainstream national development programmes,
continued to be “gender neutral” and have been influenced by gender
role assumptions. Two of the tangible results of such biased and non
visionary action has been that agricultural courses conducted b\ the
Technical Colleges island-wide attract few women (or men) students,
while the percentage of women enrolling in Technical Education and
Information Technology is deplorably low with less than 25% ol
women enrolling in technical courses, and these too in areas that are
linked to “accepted” female occupations like nursing, secretarial and
clerical work, accounting and textile and garment related work.1 The
IT courses attract women students but are concentrated at the lower
level of operations - data entry, etc.
(4)
Gendered social norms
This has been the curse for Sri Lankan w'omen in their long trek towards
true equality and equity. These norms have also created the paradox of Sri
Lankan women enjoying Universal Adult Franchise since the 1930s.
having a high literacy rate as a result of the social development
programmes of the 1950s and 1960s and becoming visible in both the
national and international forums as a result of the ratification of
international conventions in the 1980s and 1990s. but continuing to being
increasingly favoured as “reproducers”, being integrated in the labour
market on unequal terms, having very low representation at decision
making at all levels due to the existence of the “glass-ceiling”, becoming
invisible in the assesments of economic productivity, becoming absorbed
in household assesments as recepients or participants of development
programmes and having very little space or place in national-level
statistics. In consonance with the facts given above, this has led to many
women either deserting or being forced to give up agriculture as a
livelihood, due to alienation in land entitlements, absence of bank loan
colateral and lack of support services.
(5)
The armed conflict in the north and east.
This, more than anything else in the last two decades, has affected the lives
of the civilian population living in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Before
the conflict the Vanni region and the Ampara district had been two of the
main rice producing areas in SL. The North and East Provinces were also
the major producers of Red Onions, Chillies, potatoes, cereals and
vegetables for the country. However, by 2000. all agricultural activities
have dropped by almost 50% in some instances, and the short-fall is being
bridged, by imports from India. The conflict in the North and East has also
negatively affected the livestock sub-sector, which in turn has resulted in a
decline in milk and egg production in the North. However, improved
production in the East, has helped balance these downward trends in
production. Fishing has been a major economic activity in the N & E
provinces. In 1980 56% of the total fish caught in the country was from the
N & E.[26] However, the severe restrictions imposed on fishing in the N &
8
E due to security reasons has resulted in the contribution by the N & E on
the country’s fishing industry to drop to 16% in 2000.
What has all of this meant for women, mainly in the agricultural sector of Sri Lanka?
Currently, women account for more than 50% of SL’s total population. 1 he most
recent official data estimates it as 10,060 million of a total population of 19.886
million for 2006.’271 Female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 26.1% in the
urban sector and 32.4% in the rural sectors.'281 However, this excludes both the
Mullaitivu and Killinochchi Districts, which are in the North and under LTTE control
The overall share of the agricultural sector in GDP has declined from 38% in I950k9
to 16.8% in 2006.1301 In contrast, the share of the industrial and services sectors in
SL’s GDP has risen to 27.0% and 56.2%1311 respectively. The number of females
leaving SL for employment abroad in 2006 was over one million (112,396)’of
which 50% were as housemaids.'331 Foreign exchange remittances from the MiddleEast accounted for 56% of the total migrant remittances in 2005 and for 30.6% of the
total export earnings.' Women between 25 and 29 years of age accounted lor the
highest percentage of migrant labour: 21.0% in 2003 and 2004. 19.6% in 2005.' '
The figures clearly show that Sri Lanka is fast moving away from any attempt
towards working for food security, as women, who carried this responsibility by
working alongside men in the paddy fields, chena cultivation and tending home
gardens, became marginalized in the decision-making processes of the Mahaweli
Development Project, alienated in state land settlements because statutes of Family
Law superseded in practice those of General Law and did not get the recognition and
support needed through the policies and programmes engendered by the Women’s
Affairs Ministry and the Women’s Bureau. The political parties in power since
Independence have been going for the easy options, and importing more and moie ol
Sri Lankas food requirements, without making any concerted, systematic and long
term interventions to stimulate production of essential food-crops.
Analysis of available data also shows that many of the options available to or selected
by the majority of women seeking employment outside the agricultural sector are
concentrated in the low-paying, high risk and high labour categories such as garment
factories, sub-contracted labour and as domestic workers in the Middle-East job
market, a situation which is neither being challenged nor questioned by the policy
makers or the majority of “gender-blind” development workers.
Notes:
|i]
|2]
13]
|4]
[51
[6]
|7]
[8]
Shanthi P. Kumar, The Mahaweli Scheme and Rural Women in Sri
Lanka.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic Progress of Independent Sri
Lanka, Part 3 - Output and Infrastructure.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report 1990.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report 2000.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007, Table 1.
Asian Development Bank, The Changing Agricultural Sector
Shanthi P. Kumar, The Mahaweli Scheme and Rural Women in Sri
Lanka.
Swarna Jayaweera, Gender Dimensions of Five Decades of
Development in Sri Lanka.
9
|9]
110]
[HI
[12]
113]
[14]
|15]
[16]
[17]
[IS]
[19]
|2(>|
[21]
[22]
1231
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28|
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007, Table 1.
Saman Kelegama, Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50
years of Independence: What went wrong?
H.P.M. Gunasena, Development of Agriculture in Sri Lanka
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic Progress of Independent Sri
Lanka, Part 2 - People and Quality of Life.
Ministry of Finance and Planning. Facets of Development in
Independent Sri Lanka
Saman Kelegama, Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50
years of Independence: What went wrong?
Ministry of Finance and Planning, Facets of Development in
Independent Sri Lanka
Saman Kelegama, Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50
years of Independence: What went wrong?
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake. The Tyranny of the Majority:
Democracy and Development in Post/Colonial Sri Lanka
Saman Kelegama, Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50
years of Independence: What went wrong?
Saman Kelegama, Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50
years of Independence: What went wrong?
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic Progress of Independent Sri
Lanka. Part 3 - Output and Infrastructure
H.P.M. Gunasena, Development of Agriculture in Sri Lanka
H.P.M. Gunasena. Development of Agriculture in Sri Lanka
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007, Table 1.
CARE International, Household Livelihood Security Assessment in the
Wanni District.
Asian Development Bank, Women in Sri Lanka
Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, An Introduction to the Contiict Time
Economy of the North & East Province of Sri Lanka.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics ofSri
Lanka 2007. Table 1.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics ofSri
Lanka 2007,Table 30.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Economic Progress ofIndependent Sri
Lanka, Part 3 - Output and Infrastructure, 3.1 Agriculture.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007, Table 1.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics ofSri
Lanka 2007, Table 1.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007Table 26.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Socicd Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2007;\'^\q 26.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics ofSri
Lanka 2007;Table 26.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic and Social Statistics ofSri
Lanka 2007,^^ 27.
10
Bibliography:
Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2007.
Colombo. March 2007
Asian Development Bank - South Asia Regional Department and Regional
Sustainable Development Department , Manilla Philippines. The Changing
Agricultural Sector: Countiy Gender Assessment Sri Lanka. 2004
Asian Development Bank - South Asia Regional Department and Regional
Sustainable Development Department , Manilla. Philippines, Women in Sri
Lanka:Country Briefing Paper. 2004
Muttukrishna Sarvananlhan, An Introduction to the Conflict Time Economy of the
North & East Province of Sri Lanka, Working Paper I. International Centre for Ethnic
Studies, Colombo. Sri Lanka. May 2003
Muttukrishna San'ananthan. 14 hat impedes economic revival in the North & East
Province of Sri Lanka, Working Paper 2. International Centre for Ethnic Studies,
Colombo, Sri Lanka. June 2003
Muttukrishna Sarvananlhan. Economic Imperative for Peace in Sri Lanka, Working
Paper 3. International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo. Sri Lanka. July 2003
Care International Sri Lanka in collaboration with World Food Programme,
Household Livelihood Security Assessment in the Wanni District. October 2000
Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Annual Report 2000
Saman Kelegama. Economic Development in Sri Lanka during the 50 years of
Independence: What went wrong? People's Bank, Milestones to Independence. A
Publication to Commemorate the Golden Jubilee of National Independence, 1999
1-LP.M. Gunasena, Development of Agriculture in Sri Lanka, People’s Bank,
Milestones to Independence: A Publication to Commemorate the Golden Jubilee of
National Independence, 1999
Swarna Jayctweera, Gender Dimensions of Five Decades oj Development in Sri
Lanka, People’s Bank. Milestones to Independence: A Publication to Commemorate
the Golden Jubilee of National Independence, 1999
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake^ The Tyranny of the Majority:Democracy and
Development in Post/Colonial Sri Lanka, Ethnic Futures: The state and identity
politics in Asia, 1999
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Economic Progress ofIndependent Sri Lanka, 1998
A.T.P.L. Abeykoon, The Changing Pattern of Female Labour Force Participation in
Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Labour Gazette: A special issue to commemorate the dawn of
the new millenium
11
Centra) Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report 1990
Centre for Development Studies: University of Bergen, Sri Lanka: Country Study and
Norwegian Aid Review, 1987
Shanthi P. Kumar, The Mahaweli Scheme and Rural Women in Sri Lanka, Women
Farmers and Rural Change in Asia: Towards Equal Access and Participation, Asian
and Pacific Development Centre, Kuala Lampur 1987
Ministry of Finance & Planning, Facets of Development in Independent Sri Lanka:
Ronnie de Mel Felicitation Volume, 1986
12
Women in the Emerging Economic Scenario
Padmashree Patricia Mary Mukhim
While the World Economic Forum places India way ahead of some advanced
nations like the US, France Japan insofar as political empowerment is
concerned, the participation of women in the economy, their educational
attainments and access to health is way below par with the above countries.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2006 which surveyed 115 world
economies, India ranks 20th in political empowerment. In India women
constitute 8% of the Lok Sabha and 3% hold ministerial posts. In the US
women hold 15% of seats in Parliament and 14 % in ministerial positions but
India fared better than the US because it does not have female leadership in
the executive.
The Global Gender Gap Index measure the difference between the sexes in
matters of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment,
health, survival and political empowerment. As far as economic
empowerment of women is concerned India is placed in the 110th position. In
the US the study finds 60% participation of women in the labour force and 55
% in professional and technical workforce. India has only 34% and 21%
respectively.
Interestingly the Gender Gap Report throws light on the lesser known facts
about women's economic empowerment like the duration of paid maternity
leave, maternal mortality rate, and access to skilled health staff for
childbirth. Norway provides 42-52 weeks parental leave which is all paid for.
Sweden allows 14 weeks paid maternal leave and maternity benefits of 480
days paid parental leave. In India we are way behind these indicators
particularly in the private sectors. That is one reason why female workers in
the IT and ITES sectors repeatedly and sub-consciously say they cannot
afford to have a family. With almost no maternity benefits, those in the IT
sector would have to
leave their jobs if they plan to have a family. Such are
the constraints of women employees in this competitive age.
Coming to infant mortality rate in India most states do not even have the
statistics for this important indicator. However the National Family Health
Survey pegs the IMR at 540 deaths per one lakh live births. In some states
like Meghalaya the IMR is as high as 820 per one lakh live births. Equally
important is the maternal mortality rate MMR) which many states in India
do not have the figures for. 58% cildbirths in India happen without skilled
health staff. Naturally there will be many casualties among child bearing
women. Even if they survive a difficult labour they carry the scars
throughout life because they suffer from gynecological problems and become
unproductive as a work force.
1
In recent times a more alarming phenomenon is the premature menopause
among Indian women. The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC)
Bangalore working with NFHS drew samples form 100,000 women in the age
group of 15-50 years across 26 states. The percentage of menopausal women
was highest in Andhra with 31.4 %. The study found that the percentage of
menopausal women was higher in rural India then in the urban areas. ISEC
also found that menopause in the age group of 29’34 was highest in India.
The natural age for menopause is between 45 -55 years with an average age
of 51 years. The medical findings denote that early marriage with the
attendant problems of women’s malnutrition tends, lack of family support
and the tension of having to eke out a living to supplement the family income
all add up to early menopause. Delayed marriages means delayed
menopause.
Dr Vidhi Choudhury claims that the changing dynamics of the Indian family
with increased stress on women to be financially independent, the loss of
family support structures and tremendous physical,
emotional and mental
strains on women also affects their hormonal production. Menopause is the
strongest biological transitory phase in a woman's life which is accompanied
by volatile physical changes. Naturally this also affects the woman
psychologically. Yet many women have no access to post menopausal care in
the form of hormone replacement therapy or even counseling. Many women
are traumatized just thinking that there may be something seriously wrong
with themselves when they do not menstruate at the age of 35 years. It can
also have serious impact on the family life.
There may be arguments galore about the increasing women workforce in
the IT sector and how they are making it up the corporate ladder. Also quite
a few Indian women like Indira Nuyee of Coca Cola fame or Kiran Mazumdar
Shaw and Anu Aga who have spiraled to the top of the corporate ladder
through sheer grit, have shown they are equal if not better than their male
colleagues. But India is a land of contrasts. Those who have made it to a
certain economic bracket are not even 1% of the mass of Indian women whose
work remains unaccounted for and is not considered 'work' in economic
terms.
Redefining childbirth and parenting to maker them not just social
responsibilities of the woman but an economic contribution towards the
natural progression of a society is imperative. There is need to engender all
institutions in this country which plan and implement multifarious schemes.
Unless women are part of the planning process and also oversee the
implementation part they will continue to be economical^ marginalized.
2
Today roughly one'third of the workforce in Indian software companies aie
women. NASSCOM puts the figure at 38% which is higher than in most
western countries. This has happened mainly because girls from middle class
families who attended engineering colleges avoided civil and mechanical
engineering courses since these were considered areas that included more
outdoor activities and hence unsuitable for Indian middle class girls. Hence
girls opted for softer options like electronics and communication and
computer science. In fact the number of girls taking up these courses is
swelling. But as stated earlier the kind of work hours that women have to put
up in these sectors leaves them with little or no space for starting a family.
Childbirth is out of question. So are we not then producing a generation of
women who cannot even have a natural family life?
In India women still have to take on the parallel roles of wives, mother and
kitchen mistresses even if they have a welbplaced job outside the home. A
woman's option to work is still considered secondary. What a man earns is
considered the main income. So unless these mindsets change and women
assert their right to earn incomes and for shared parenthood within the
home, economic empowerment will still be an ideal that we can only be
striving at but never achieve.
Padmashree Patricia Mary Mukhim
Activist and Columnist
Meghalaya
■)
3
The Development of Women In China’s Economy
Wang Xiu
• The track of Chinese
women join economy
• The emerging market
economy has changed
and is reshaping
Chinese women
I,
• Problems
ll
B
sw •
<
The Track of China Women Join
Economy
1
•
•
•
•
1950s : Huge jump start
1990: peak
1996 .’collapse
2004:rebound
HL T
•
kJ
.-M
■
1 I
1
• 1950s Jump
•
Urban career women ratio from 10%-90%
•
The proportion of house women from90%-10%
• 1990:peak
•
National Census .women worker near 50%,word women ratio 34.5%
• 1996:collapse
•
•
•
to 2001,declined 16,000,000, 0.5%
Losses of enterprise, laid-off
Shaanxi trade survey, 30%more than women workers
• 2004:rebund
r2004 year
N urn her
To t a I
vv o r k e r s
| W om en
w o rk e rs
7 4 4,0 0 0,0 0
0___________
3 3 7 ,0 0 0 ,0 0
0
Ratio
4 4.8% (5.6
higher than
2 0 0 0 ) _____
The Emerging Market Economy Has Changed
and Is Reshaping Chinese Women
(two new social classes)
fl
i - rS
IB
2
Female Entrepreneurs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
State
Most private:
41 %pri vate,28%state,28%others;41
% of total private entrepreneurs
recruited women workers 60%of
total employees
size:sales of 70% of all is around
US$100,000
89% in trade,
catering,manufacturing industries
average age 46.5
Founds source : 65% rely on saving,
• Startup reasons
• the opportunities for
equitable development
• laid-Off
• support family
• unstable family,
survive independent
• tO pFOVC ability,
family, friends, only 30% received
bank loans
Workers status structure (%)
State- Village- agricult Empl owners of Indiv | others
idual
oyees private:
ure
owned owned
work
of
ers
privat
e___
7. 4 1. J
57. 3
total IL 1 L o
1 3_- 4
8. 5 1. 5
53. 3 HL 6 3.^9
men 19.
3. 2
6. 1 1. 1
9. 6 2. 7
62. 2
wo 15.' 6 2. 7
men |
3
Three Typical Entrepreneurs
Zhang Yin(3.4b asset,lOy ago), Lei Jufang(10y scientist, resigned 1987 )
Wang Qingyu (laid off 1995,recruited 800 laid off)
White-Collar Women
international enterprises, female intellectuals ,promote formation
Special features
Most were born ini 970s& 1980s
Higher education background
more professional skills
More can speak English
More salary at the beginning
More pressurerovertime,training
Higher threshold than men
WW'.
Jh
■I
liRI'
4
4
Emerging Industries of WhiteCollar Concentrated
• IT,technology updating traditional industry
• education,training,financial services,low
consulting,other emerging services
• advertisement,media,entertainment,trade
negotiations
• pharmacy and health care
• sports fitness,tourism
• direct sale
Problems
• Irrational employment structure
W
•
near 80% women work in rural and private,5.5% higher than men
•
Women entrepreneurs, no more than 20%
o
r k c r s statu s s t r u c t u re
| a g r i
V i 1 II
Stat
cult
a g e e u rc
own
own
e
d
e d
total
I 7
3 .
0
men
3 .
1 9
2
0
w o
men
2 0 0 5
TT
2 .
6
C h in o
5 7
.____ 3_
5
7
5 3
___ 3^
6 2
< % )
E m p
I o y e
e s of
p r i v
a t e_____
I 0
own
e rs
o f
p r i v
a te
3 .
4
i d u
I n d
a I
w o r k e rs
others
7 .
4
1
.
3
__ J__
1 0
_2
3 .
9
8 .
5
2 .
7
6 .
I
6
9
6
in p I o y m c n I R c p <> r I
5
Problems
LJp- 1I1
■
Sud
cl'S'
i
.
• Lower average position
•
only 6.3 %engaged in technology and management work;82.3% work on
manual labor and non-management
•
glass ceiling for white-collar (40% lack)
•
cleaner
Problems
• Education
•
2000 -5th Census
2000 China Workers Education Situation
Female(%) Male (%)
Education \
gender_____
6 .9
15 .8
illiterate
30 .8
36 .1
primary
44 .4
Junior______ 34 ,8
13 .4
High school 10^2
4 .5
3 .1
Diploma up
100
100
total
6
Problems
• Concept
• typical manifestation:
female graduates job
hunting
•
•
•
more difficult to find a satisfied
job(2006BU survey,44;40,70%)
narrow space
Companies value
height,build,beauty
Problems
H
J
• The frustration of
pregnant employees
• The marriage problem
of senior white-collar
women
7
Conclusion
•
Chinese women's status in the economy is showing a upward trend
•
•
•
Hundreds y ago, they could only belong to men and family, as they had no opportunities to work.
Tens y agojhey could work, but just look up to men boss
Today ,they could not only choose their own favorite work,but also can become elites to promote the
society
Si
,, I
Hl
I
SfW
g:. Jjjj
jgm
8
CHANGING GENDER ROLES: SILENCE TO VOICE
By ICHIKAELI MARO
A paper presented to the international conference on women in changing
Indian economy-Silence in voice: Problems and Possibilities in Bangalore,
India, November 27, 2007
1
INTRODUCTION
On behalf of the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA), I am pleased to
be invited to this conference to join our sisters from different parts of the globe
on this important conference on Women in Changing Indian Economy-Silence
to Voice: Problems and Possibilities and share experiences the path we have
taken in Tanzania on issues around gender and learn from each other.
This paper tries to highlight steps that Tanzania has taken in championing
changes in legal systems, policies and traditions for the benefit of all with
particular emphasis on women, children and marginalized groups in the country.
It starts by defining what gender is, background to gender movement in
Tanzania, roles of stakeholders, achievements and challenges and the way
forward.
DEFINING GENDER
Gender is defined as socially constructed roles between men and women in a
particular society that shape their thinking and attitudes towards each other.
These roles are not static, they change from time to time and place to place
depending on specific situations.
For many societies in Africa, Tanzania included, these roles have put men and
women at different levels. For example, in most societies women have been
looked upon and inferior, weak human beings, who should be guided, taken
care off, told what to do and not to do. These attitudes have been ingrained in
all the thinking of both men and women in the Tanzanian society. This is the
situation that has been accepted as “culture” in most social settings in Tanzania.
And this is what has been generally accepted as “African culture."
For most cultures men have been, and still are, taken to be strong, leaders,
controllers, protectors, managers and rulers-the situation which is seeing even at
house hold level where men have been taken as heads of houses, providers in
families, leaders in all public life-politics, business, management, sports, travel,
etc.
Such situations are nurtured right at the beginning of life at family level, and this
is express in the way families treat and care for the baby boys and girls from the
start when they are born. Social analysts argue that the kind of clothes we dress
our children when they are born, health care, education, determines his/her life
2
at adulthood. It was agreed then and true that boys were are still preferred in
most societies in Africa, Tanzania inclusive. Care accorded to boys was different
from that of girls because they were expected to be what I have explained
above. Therefore they must be well fed for them to assume the rightful
responsibilities expected of them in adulthood. They must also get the best
education because "they are the rulers, managers, businessmen, etc.
What do all these meant to some societies in Tanzania is that boy child must be
born in a family otherwise the woman will risk being divorced if she did not bore
a boy child in the family that she is married to. In other situations a woman will
marry another woman who will bear boy child in the family “in order to keep the
clan generation.” This explains the reason why most households in Africa have
big families (the woman must continue to bear children until a boy is born,
otherwise she will suffer. It is widely accepted by both men and women then
that men are better off than women.) The woman then was viewed as an
object or tool to be exploited.
What was not understood to them was that big families were the source of
poverty in their families because they could not provide for them. And because
women were required by tradition to be at home to care for families, the
burden of providing for families was left to men. The poverty in the family
increased. This went up to the national level because majority of the section of
the society had been left out in the development process of most countries in
Africa.
BACKGROUND TO GENDER MOVEMENT IN TANZANIA
The wind of change on gender equality that swept the world on early 1970s has
a lot of impact in Tanzania as it was to the rest of African continent. Tanzania is
one of the countries in Africa which ratified the international treaties and
conventions that advocated for the protection of the rights and women and
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women as well as the protection
of rights and development of children. The initial Gender and Development
(GAD) advocacy had its impact in Tanzania in most of the (few) women who
were fortunate of have a semblance of education were actively involved in the
GAD campaign.
The appointment of Tanzanian woman. Ambassador Getrude Mongolia as
secretary to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing is an indication
that the women of Tanzania were highly conscious of this changes and they
3
wanted a real change in Tanzania's society. Tanzania also played an active role
m implementing the Beijing declaration and Plan of Action. In Tanzania there
was what was known as “Bringing the Beijing Declaration Home” by ensuring the
incorporation of the declaration into the country’s policies and development
programmes.
Conscious of the situation in the country, of the 12-pint declaration, certain
clauses were considered a priority for Tanzania, thus, were adopted for
implementation. Priority areas for Tanzania are: (1) Women’s education, (2)
Legal literacy, (3) Economic empowerment, and (4) Political participation. This
was adopted immediately after the Beijing Conference in 1995.
The above mentioned priority areas were adopted considering that lack of
education among women were a great hinderance to their advancement -be
it in
legal systems, employment, economic empowerment and their
participation in the political activities of the country. Therefore all the advocacy
activities in the country centered on the above mentioned areas.
CRUSADE IN GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN TANZANIA
Proponents of gender equality in Tanzania argue that real economic
development in the country will be realized when both men and women take
their rightful positions in the overall development of the country. Realizing that all
national development programmes in Tanzania lacked gender dimensions
major thrust was placed on advocacy for gender mainstreaming was adopted
m all policies and development programmes in the country. Resource allocation
in the part of the government that touch across the entire population spectrum
was lacking. Even the policy makers at the national level had difficulty in
understanding what the gender activists were advocating for. Therefore a
challenge was thrown to gender activists to come up with justifiable arguments
on how the resources allocation were affecting the development of the country
because the majority of the population (women constitute 52% of Tanzania’s 38
million population) in the country.
Gender activists, under the leadership of the Tanzania Gender Networking
Programme (TGNP) were engaged in series of research and policy analysis with
the aim of telling authorities the seriousness of the problem. As' mentioned
above even the legal systems in the country did not notice that there was any
4
problem in it that needs major review of the country’s legal systems to take into
consideration gender dimensions. The development programmes also lacked
this aspect, therefore they had negative impact the overall development of the
country.
The government of Tanzania commissioned TGNP to carry out capacity building
programme I on gender mainstreaming n key ministries in the country. This was
done in ministries of Planning (which has since changed to be known as the
Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment), Education, Health,
Agriculture, Community Development women affairs and children (which has
come to be known as the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and
Children Affairs), Finance, and Transport (which is now known as the Ministry of
Infrastructure Development).
Although it was a tedious it came out a major success with the introduction of
what is known as Gender Budget Initiative (GBI) which is a move to ensure that
all budgetary processes in the country carry gender dimension. This came about
after research findings revealed that the budget plans and allocation of
resources lacked gender dimension. The GBI therefore is meant to ensure that
the budget processes state clearly how the budget of a certain ministry will
address concerns and aspirations of the men and women of Tanzania.
The impact of this exercise was great in that the government of Tanzania
instituted a policy requiring ministries to have their budget proposals and
development plans endorsed by experts as being gender sensitive. Tanzania
became the champion of GBI and several African countries and beyond came
to Tanzania to learn about this best practice and apply the same in their
respective countries.
RESISTANCE TO GENDER ADVOCACY
The successes I have mentioned above are not without challenges. I
should\mention here that majority of players in the gender movement then
were women, for one thing that has already been explained above. Cultures
have placed African women (Tanzania inclusive) at a disadvantage -they were
the victims of malnutrition from childhood, denies education, victims of poverty
in the community and invisible in public life.
5
Resistance in gender mainstreaming came from both men and women. Most
men left threatened with gender concept because they wanted to keep the
status quo. On the hand, women because of their upbringing and socialization
to “obey” they did not want to against their culture. They termed it as elite move
to destabilize their marriage. And because they are poor there was that feeling
of insecurity if they fall out. This is what the gender activists termed “the fear of
the unknown.”
And because advocates of the gender movement were men, then came the
misconception of relating gender to women. This had negative impact as well
because gender activists were not taken seriously. Men were' also afraid to join
the movement.
ADVOCACY GAINED STRENGTH
But as advocacy activities continued, thing started to change and took a new
shape. The capacity building activities in key government ministries were a great
breakthrough. The government issued a directive that required all ministries to
have expert clearance that clearly indicated that development plans and
budgets in all ministries have a gender dimension.
Gender has also been incorporated in the schools curricular from Primary
schools of institutes of higher learning. More girls are now taking interest in
challenging science subjects. Get as an example, for the last three years
consecutively; girls have been the majority in the ten best students at national
levels in secondary school leaving certificates. Most of them are excelling in
science subjects and are taking science combinations in institutes of higher
learning, including universities. Statistics from Institutions of higher learning
indicate that there has been increased enrolment of young women joining both
public and private universities in Tanzania by 40% in the country.
STAKEHOLDERS IN GENDER MOVEMENT
TAMWA is a strategic stakeholder in the gender advocacy and movement in
Tanzania and it has been playing media and publicity role on the movement in
the FemAct. TAMWA’s role is media and publicity in the FemAct activities. As
mentioned earlier FemAct is a coalition of over 40 NGO dealing with issues
related to gender equality, democracy and development.
The coalition has been successful in pressurizing the government to enact laws
that ensures protection of women and children in the country as well as
6
enactment of Land Laws of 1999 that allow women to acquire and own land.
Through the TAMWA’s bang style media campaign the laws are very popular
among women in the country. As a result the women, particularly young women
are buying plots and built their own houses. For example, research by the
Ministry of Lands and settlement development in 2006 indicate that 70% of the
plots that were surveyed and sold to individuals in Dar es Salaam have been
bought by young women.
One important thing worth to note here is that TAMWA has been able to
challenge the media in Tanzania to do away with the traditional stereotyping
kind of journalism that existed before-that is the report about the government
and about those in power where majority of the people are missing. The media
has great changed in this aspect.
Another achievement that TAMWA was able to achieve is the empowerment
training programmes aimed to increase the visibility of women in public life
especially those in politics as well as those vying in elective posts in the countries
political parties in Tanzania. I am happy to share with you here that those
women who participated in our trainings have been elected to represent
constituencies in the National Assembly.
88888888888888888888
7
FREDSKORPSET INDIA PARTNER NETWORK PRESENTS
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN EMERGING INDIAN ECONOMY -SILENCE TO VOICE - PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES
26th AND 27th November 2007 AT CHRIST COLLEGE, BENGALOORU - 29
INFORMATION ABOUT VARIOUS VENUES AND PARALLEL SESSSIONS
DAY I
Inauguration and Plenary Session- “Main stream Development Paradigm - Critical Appraisal from a Gender
Perspective”
Main Auditorium - III rd Floor of Auditorium Block
Parallel Sessions:
Session I
A.
Changing Nature of Work - A Gender perspective
Timing: 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm -
Venue: Syndicate Room - Room Number 802 (Ground Floor - Auditorium Block)
Session I
B.
The Changing Agricultural Sector-A Gendered Appraisal
Venue: Appraisal Room (Ground Floor - Auditorium Block)
Timing: 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm
Session I
C. Status of Health of Urban and Rural Women
Venue: P.U. Seminar Room - 09 - Christ Junior College
Timings: 3.30 to 5.30 pm
•
PARTICIPANT LIST FOR PARALLEL SESSION -Day -1: 26 November 2007
A. Changing nature of work — Gender perspective
1. GAO KUANGYUN (JOE)
2. DR. ANITA MANANDHAR
3. UNDARYA TUMURSUKH
4. PYONETHETTHET KYAW
5. MS. WANG XIU
6. MR. TORBJORN URFJELL
7. MR. KNUT JOSTEIN BERGLYD
8. MS. TORHILD JACOBSON (TUTU)
9. CHADA RADHA REDDY
10. DR. PATRICIA GABRIEL
11. MRS. UME SALMA
12. MS. SUCHISEN
13.SPRIHASRIVASTAVA
14. DR. CHITRA SRIVASTAVA
15. MR. D. K. MITRA
16. ASHWINI N. V.
17. GEETA S. THATRA
18. GERARD RASSENDRAN
19. MS. SUNITI PHADKE
20. FR. JOSE P. K.
21. BRINDA ADIGE
22. JINU SAM JACOB
23. MRS. C. LORA SUDHA RANI
24. MS. PAMPA CHOWDHURY
25. B. SHANKAR GANESH
26. RESHMA PRADIP LUDBE
27. MS. PRATYASMA RATH
28. SHUHITA BHATTACHARJEE ■
29. DEEPAK MADAN
30. DR. SURESH K. SRIVASTAVA
31. BRAJESH MOHAN
Parallel sessions - Day 1 -26 November 2007
B. The changing Agricultural Sector - A Gender Appraisal
Participants name:
1. MS. SUPARA JANCHITFAH
2. MS. SUBHATRA BHUMI PRABHAS
3. MS. GLORIA DESILVA
4. MR. DULAL CHANDRAKAR
5. MS. ICHIKAELI MARO
6. HELGE ESPE
7. MR. SACHA JOTISALIKORN
8. MS. SAOWALAK JINGJUNGVISUT
9. TAMIL SNIYA KUMAR K.
10. R. VENDER VENDAN
ll.S.SUJA
12. A. KISHAN SEN
13. MINATI ADHIKARI
14. VIJAY KUMAR MADAN
15. PRABHATH BHAT
16. NIRMAL JOSEPH DS.
17. KALPANA KANWA
18. DR. RAJESHWARI
19. DHANVANTHI JAIN
20. N. PANKAJA
21. JATKAR UJJWALA
22. R. SELVAN
23. GANESH V. SHETTY
24. B. SHIVA SHANKAR
25. ASHIMA DEV BURMAN
.'
26. H. VALLEYROSE
27. DURGA JHA
28. MS.SUKLADEV (MITRA)
29. DEVASHREE BHATTACHARJEE
30. DR. ALPHA PRITAM TANDON
7.-4ui—
Parallel sessions -Day 1- 26 November 2007
C Status of Health of Urban and Rural women
Participants list
1. BIJAY RAJ GAUTHAM
2. SAYTHALAT KHAMPHOUI
3. LINDA ROSE DANIELS
4. MRS. KITIWAN DECHWAYUKUL (WHITE)
5. MS. PAKAMAS PAIROT (JAE)
6. H. E. MS. ANN OLLESTAD
7. MS NISA CHAMSUWAN
8. SUJATA SUREPALLY
9. VIMALA STEPHEN
10. SR. NAMBIKAI KITHARI
11. MR. TATHAGATA
12. AFRRENS. KITTUR
13. JERALD D SOUZA
14. PROF. SARITHA KRISHNAN
15. PROF. BARATHUNNISA
16. FRANCIS J.
17. WALTER MENDOZA
18. YESUPUTHRAMMA
19. K. MEENAKSHI
20. DR. A. LALITHA
21. MANJUSHAS.
22. DR. DODDAPANENI UMA DEVI
23. REJITHA G.
24. DR. SWETA GHOSY
25. MS. ARYANI BANNERJEE
26. SHYAMALI KAR
27. VANDANATHOUSEN
28. RAVI NANDAN SINGH
i
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International Conference on Women in Changing Indian Economy-Silence to Voice: Problems and Possibilities
26 & 27 November 2007
Cultural Evening
Monday, 26th November 2007
6.30 pm
Venue: Christ College auditorium
(The conference venue)
Programmes
Theme dance
Showcasing the Christ College dance team
Mime
beyond words...
Dance
Featuring the Christ College non-theme dance team
Prakash Sontakke and band
A musical evening offusion
Mr. Sontakke is a highly creative and accomplished musician of international acclaim.
A triple master degree holder in classical music on the guitar, vocals and the violin, his
creative experiments in jazz and fusion are deeply underlined by his classical training.
Prakash prefers toplay the “GayakiAng” (vocal style) on the slide guitar.
He is the recipient of the Aryabhatta’ and ‘Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai’ awards,
and has many recordings and CD releases to his credit. Apart from being a senior
artiste in Radio and T.V., Prakash has been a judge for various music competitions as
well.
Prakash will be assisted by a professional group of musicians whom he regularly plays
with.
Globalisation and Women’s Education in India:
Questioning and gendering ‘development’ paradigms
In the new globalized economy, there is a renewed focus on higher education,
particularly technical education, as a driving factor for growth and
development. India supplies a significant part of the educated manpower
needed for the expansion of new sectors. It is against this background that
the National Knowledge Commission presented its report in 2006, envisaging
a comprehensive and radical programme of educational reform. These
proposed changes have significant implications for women engaged in
education whether as students, teachers or educational administrators. In
this context, the proposed paper seeks to develop a gendered analysis of the
National Knowledge Commission Report 2006 to understand how it will
influence Indian women’s educational opportunities, disciplinary preferences,
career options and life choices. The paper will examine whether the proposed
educational system will strengthen women’s access to and participation in
higher education or deepen existing inequities. In doing so the paper will
question the developmental paradigm which regards education more as a
means of creating trained manpower for industry than as a tool for
empowerment, equity and social change.
By Dr. Paromita Chakravarti
D. Phil (University of Oxford)
Joint-Director, School of Women’s Studies
And Senior Lecturer, Department ofEnglish
Jadavp ur University
Kolkata-700032
Session Title: Changing Nature of Work - A Gender Perspective
WOMEN AND WORK IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR
IMPORTANCE, PROBLEM AND POSSIBILITIES
Shoma A. Chatterji
Women’s empowerment has become a buzzword in the lexicon of politicians and
bureaucrats in India after the official pronouncements on the status of women and the enactment
of the constitutional amendments. The 73rd and 74,h amendments have added new dimensions to
the issue of women’s empowerment by making provisions for the compulsory participation of
women in local governing bodies and involvement in development activities. The amendments
make provisions for reservation of not less than one-third of the total number of seats in
panchayats and municipalities for women. The amendments have resulted in about three million
elected representatives in panchayats and municipalities and out of this, one million are women.
How far have these amendments helped women in the informal sector? Women
contribute largely to the country’s development but their needs are not addressed adequately or at
the right time and place. Their lives are still characterized by low income, ill health, low nutrition
and high level of exploitation. The National Service Scheme (NSS) has identified women’s
development and gender justice as one of its thrust areas for two reasons - (a) increasing
atrocities against women and (b) marginalization and exploitation ol women.
This paper seeks to explore the questions of women engaged in the informal sector. What
keeps women working in the informal sector down? Why is employment of women in informal
sectors important for women? How can their position be bettered? How do NGOs help organize
women in the informal sector? These are important questions to be looked at in the context of all
questions raised about the empowerment of women in India.
The Informal Sector
The informal sector was ’discovered' in the 1970s when Keith Hail first used the term.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) then embraced this. This view largely saw the
informal sector as "covering marginal livelihoods and survival activity outside the regulatory
reach of state and not yet able to be absorbed by industry (and) emphasized the role (or failure)
of formal sector employment in defining the informal sector". The 1980s, however, saw the
emergence of a more textured understanding of informality. Informal activity was then
considered as much a rural or ‘rurban’ phenomenon as it was an urban one.
Abstract of the Presentation
Growing up and sexual identity are closely tied to important themes like
health, economic well-being, equal access to public services and freedom in
general. Lately sexuality and masculinities are issues that have gained more
space in public dialogue. However these discussions have not been able to
engage mainstream attention and engagement perhaps because of the
context in which the issues get discussed -that of sexual identities alone.
Newer challenges are arising constantly regarding the position of women in
this increasingly globalized context in India. There is a need to bring out
newer discussions and dimensions regarding these issues to reach today's
audiences.
The presentation identifies the challenges in addressing diversity as a core
issue amongst young people in discussing issues of sexual health, identity
and sexuality in India.
Ms. Vidya Shah
Di rector- Programmes,
Centre of Media & Alternative
Communication (CMAC), New Delhi
Globalization and- Anjaii
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• State presence in the .social sector on the decrease,
including health
• Privatization and NGO-ization - dividing citizens into
purchasers and beneficiaries
• Aniali resisting this withdrawal - working, towards a
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critical manifestations emerging due to globalization
• ^Anjali ensuring community participation of multi
stakeholders - especially adolescents and women - a
Mental Health Care & Treatmient
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problems
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• Putting the issue of human rights on the agenda
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- Family Reintegration / Organizing alternative Shelter
- Follow-up visits and continued support
... How is Anjali Doing It
Janamanas: People’s Mind
Tw,I,gM Claims
• Objects
irses and other
- Sensitization of psychiatrists, nurses
caregivers attached to state-run mental hospitals
scenarios
Activities;
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-Workshops
- Action Group formation
• Objectives:
- Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and
Panchayts to increase community awareness,
participation, and referral for people with mental
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health problems
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- Working with communities through partnership with
the local self governance bodies (ULBs and
Panchayats) - addressing both urban and rural
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Focus on Women
Lattoo: The Spinning Wheel
* Objectives:
- Empowering young populations to be more tolerant
and aware of mental health needs of themselves and
• Globalization or not, women remain the unequal among
equals - the manifest forms becoming more critical with
globalization
• Women face inequality, inequity and injustice within the
mental health care system
• Gender gaps in mental health care and treatment are
manifested through the following
- Bio-medical pathologization of women
- Abuse and Sexual Coercion
- Human Rights Violations inside Mental Hospitals specific to women
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- Facilitating the process of creating change agents
among the young
• Activities:
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- Conducting workshops with twin access to mental
health and human rights
- Facilitating hands-on trainings ' through micro level
social action projects
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Working with Women:
ChaHenges
• The factors that make it necessary to focus on
women are also the challenges:
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- Gender-biased social norms that make-women more
vulnerable to being easily abandoned
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- Inequality, discrimination and poor opportunity for
women in the mental health sector
- Clinical action also a legal action - the legal system is
not entirely gender just - so women suffer more
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Achievements
• Human Rights of persons with mental health
problems have become an issue at least, being
discussed in national and international forums
• New therapeutic concepts that have come into
mental health which are more integrated into a
social perspective - such as "psycho-social
disability", “recovery” and “quality of life”
• New legal terms such as “reasonable
accommodation”, “non-discrimination", “full legal
capacity", “integrity” being taken seriously by all
of us who are working in this sec
sector
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2
Farm Women in India: The Ignored and the Invisible Mass in
‘Development’
Tattwamasi Paltasingh
It is important to understand the social structure, especially the agrarian structure in the
context of a stratified society like India. The pattern of stratification is distinct across
caste, class and gender. Indian developmental policies are largely urban biased with a
marginal attention to the rural agrarian structure. The rural economic structure is very
much connected and interdependent on each other. This is clear, as majority of the
population are dependent upon the agriculture and allied activities. The rural mass
consisting of the peasants, artisans, weavers and others - all of them rely on the
agricultural farms, where women’s contribution is remarkable. At the same time they are
not the real beneficiaries of the developmental initiatives undertaken by the state. The
consistent efforts and labor of these women have hardly been recognized. It is important
to include gender dimension to understand and exploit the potential and human resources
involved in farming sector.
The gender concern in agriculture sector is a positive step to bring more women to the
mainstream of agriculture. As per the statistical information it is evident that a large
number of women contribute in different ways and they occupy the largest proportion of
labour force in agriculture. Despite their substantial contribution, women’s work remains
invisible. Even the large-scale survey such as census data doesn’t capture the accurate
rate of the labour force participation. The concept of women farmers is yet to be
introduced in Indian situation. The division of labour in the agricultural sector is distinct
for men and women. For instance, men perform the activities like ploughing, irrigation,
sowing and leveling and the females perform activities like weeding, transplanting etc.
In such instances there is a substantial wage difference between the male and female
agricultural labourers. There have been instances especially in the rice growing states
located in southern and eastern part of the country where women have substantial
contribution to the process of cultivation. Considering the present scenario agricultural
sector in India requires more attention. It is alarming that with the development of
science and technology, globalization of the economy; the condition of the rural poor
especially the women remains to be unaltered.
Women are not just engaged as agricultural labourers, they are also engaged in related
activities such as fetching water, raising the cattle, collecting the cow dung for different
purposes. In rural India, women work harder and for longer hours but their work remain
unrecognized. Apart from the invisibility, there are many other societal problems. There
is very often an exploitative relationship between the landlords and the female farm
workers, especially those who are from families with lack of cultivable land or small land
holdings. Because of the social stigma and role expectation from the women there is
marketing difficulties for selling the farm products by the women. There is lack of access
to the resources in addition to the burden of house work and farm work.
It is in this context there has to be serious efforts from government and non-governmental
agencies to provide adequate support to the women involved in farm activities through
adequate training and information. There is an urgent need to establish a strong database
on farm women. The information base can be strengthened by collection of gender
disaggregated data through both primary and secondary sources. It is important to
examine and evaluate the various schemes implemented at the national level. There is a
need to examine the relevant policy measures, various interventions during plan periods
and subsequent contribution in gender mainstreaming in agriculture that can help the
needy and deserving women to get the benefits of such initiatives.
The paper would address these issues from a gender perspective. The lsl section of the
paper would focus on the invisibility of women’s work participation in the agricultural
sector. The thrust of the second section would be on understanding the specific problems
pertaining to the farm women, substantiated by relevant information across regions. The
last section would highlight on relevant suggestions and recommendations connected to
different areas such as innovative state policies, private initiatives, technological and
infrastructure changes and intervention , public awareness in understanding the
importance of gender mainstreaming in agriculture and allied sectors. On the whole there
would be discussion on the urgent need for combined and intensified etforts from all
developmental sectors to enrich the status of the farm women.
Abstract Paper- Of Markets and Margins- Women and Media
The proposed paper will locate the experience of television in India
within the larger process of globalization, and interrogate some of
the ways it is impacting on women’s lives.
In doing so. the paper
will also probe how differences in social and economic locations of
women, influence their relations and negotiations with the media. The
larger question would be- How, in a world dominated by a global market
economy, a prerogative of defining citizens as consumers is
seeing
women. And conversely, how women are seeing the media, as part of a
process of visualizing their own selves.
INSTITUTIONALISING GENDER ,
ENGENDERING INSTITUTIONS-
Issues for consideration for the 11th plan 1
Soma Ki shore Parthasarathy
August 2006
1 This paper is informed by the learnings that have emerged during the course of a study on “SHGs,
empowerment and equity” undertaken by the author with Jaya Shanna and Archana Srivastava of Nirantar,
New Delhi. The study entailed an intensive assessment of selected SHG programmes in Andhra Pradesh
and Gujarat as well as a survey of 2,700 SHGs in 17 states.
In the preparation of this paper 1 have drawn extensively on a note prepared with Nirantar for the working
group of the Women Child Development Deptt, Govtt of India for the 1 l,h FYP and upon interviews and
interactions with researchers and practitioners across the country, as well as my experiences of having
worked closely with the Deptt of Women and Child Development, Government of India. 1 gratefully
acknowledge their inputs and analysis, and acknowledge the friendship and sisterhood that I have shared
with my friends in Nirantar through these past five years.
Any errors or shortcomings are however my own and may please be shared through feedback/comments on
the following address: somakp@gmail.com.
1
INSTITUTIONALISING GENDER, ENGENDERING INSTITUTIONS
Issues for consideration for the 11th plan 2
Soma Kishore Parthasarathy
Context
The emergence and rapid multiplication of Self Help Groups (SHGs) based on micro
credit is a phenomenon of immense importance. By 2006, the number of SHGs in India
in India is estimated to be 2.2 million3. About 16 million poor households are said to have
gained access to formal banking system through SHG bank linkage programme. Nearly
90% of the groups are women only groups. (Source: NABARD website).
SHGs in the development space
* SHGs have been viewed as a strategy for both women’s empowerment as well
as poverty reduction.
* SHGs are also used as conduits for routing a wide range of government
sponsored development messages and schemes.
* NGOs have also increasingly been adopting SHG formation as a strategy to
bring women together, at a faster pace and larger scale than the collective
building processes adopted by them earlier.
Despite their burgeoning numbers in the development landscape of the country, there
has been little dialogue on experiences with SHGs and their potential for empowerment
or poverty reduction between civil society actors and policy makers regarding the
expectations from SHGs, the ground level realities as well as possible ways of
strengthening SHGs in order that they may serve better the interests of poor women, he
process currently underway towards the formulation of the 11th Five year plan provides
an important opportunity to undertake a stock taking of the SHG phenomenon, which
began to manifest itself in a significant manner in the early 90s.
One of the key concerns is the overloading of expectations from SHGs as a means to
women’s empowerment and poverty reduction. Women’s subordination as well as
poverty is both deep rooted and complex phenomena. Micro credit provisioning through
women’s collectives in the form of SHGs can contribute to the process of addressing
these inequities, but in our view, SHGs cannot be a substitute for poverty reduction
strategies such as employment generation and the redistribution of resources in the
interest of the poor. The challenges before the State in terms of meeting the need to
invest sufficient resources and plan in an innovative manner to address women’s
subordination and poverty are immense. Promotion of SHGs can only form part of the
larger strategy of addressing these phenomena.
In order that SHGs can contribute to the processes of empowerment and equity, there is
a need to address certain ground level realities related to the manner in which the SHG
phenomenon is currently unfolding.
3 according to Sa-DHAN estimates
2
Dilemmas of SHGs: Instrumentalities for development or spaces for a holistic
approach to women’s empowerment
Defunct groups
Given the rapid growth and the ambitious targets of SHG programmes, combined with
inadequate investment in processes to support the groups, a large number of groups are
defunct and exist only on paper. The numbers of SHGs that exist appear to be much
higher also because of the phenomenon of multiple identities - i.e. the same group is
claimed by more than one sponsoring agency.
Limitedjmprovement in livelihoods situation
The |evidence| suggests that the impact of micro credit on poverty alleviation is very
limited. Savings and credit is being used by women members of SHGs for crisis related,
particularly those related to health and survival. The micro enterprise activities focussed
upon tend to lay emphasis on “new” trades, for which women have neither the skills nor
the wherewithal to become competitive in an increasingly globalising market space.
Hence while such activities at best yield supplementary incomes, this cycle is also
perpetuated by the “micro nature of credit and non-existent support activities available to
women to ensure the viability of such initiatives.. There continues to be a prevalence of
income generation activities that have very limited viability such as agarbatti, papad and
soap making. We find that many women become piece rate workers through such
processes, remaining at vulnerable levels of the value chain. The fundamental
livelihoods concerns related to the existing economic realities (such as those related to
agriculture, food and seed security or access to commons and natural resources) of poor
women’s lives remain largely unaddressed in the process.
Conditional and Restricted access to credit
Women’s groups are first required to prove their worth as credit worthy by means of
saving and internal lending and then put through the rigor of rating, which many of them
are unaware of the norms. SHG members’ access to bank credit remains restricted, as
Banks are eager to hold poor women’s savings as an increasingly important source of
their financial capital. Nationalized banks are also keen to have subsidized credit from
government sponsored SHG programmes routed through them. While women can only
access group based micro credit, a comparative analysis reveals that men within the
same scheme (e.g. SGSY) are eligible for individual loans, and may even become
entitled to larger than micro loans. Thus the micro nomenclature defines the limits for
women’s credit while men in the same category make claims to resources based on the
viability requirements of a proposed activity.
Access and Interest burdens
There continue to be serious hurdles faced by women when they want to access credit
from banks. There are numerous extremely worrying instances of women being
pressurized by banks to recover loans made earlier to men in the village, before the loan
applications from SHGs are sanctioned. Although this is an unwritten practice, it has
serious implications for women as creditors. This is particularly unjust in a context in
which women’s regularity as savers and creditors is the very basis on which micro credit
the world over has come to focus on women. The instrumentalist use of women in this
manner is a source of grave concern. A grave area of concern is the burden that women
must finally bear of escalating interest rates down the credit chain, as each
3
intermediary level adds its own costs to the charges levied as interest Thus the
final cost of credit for the end user- the poor and marginalize women- finally bear
the costs and more of what is touted as a “sustainable model” of credit delivery.
Exclusion of the poorest
The demand for group homogeneity as a means of efficiency and smooth running of
groups has an adverse fallout for the poorest. The exclusion of the poorest, including
members from Dalit, tribal and Muslim communities from SHGs by virtue of their inability
to save is another source of concern. The survey conducted by Nirantar of 2700 groups
across 17 states reveals that only —% of group members are from minority
communities. It is by now well recognized that the amount and regularity of savings
expected from SHGs and the lack of support to enable the poorest to undertake the risks
entailed in micro enterprise have proved to be highly exclusionary. Hence the claims
that micro credit is a panacea for poverty reduction is a myth when one take into
consideration the lack of access of the poorest to such groups.
Lack of support to address GENDER concerns
While women members of SHGs are saving and repaying regularly, they are not being
enabled to address gender inequalities in the domestic realm because of which they
have little control over the financial resources, which they bring into the family. SHGs
are also not being enabled to take up social justice and equity issues, although they may
take up issues related to violence against women of their own accord, even in the
absence of support from the sponsoring agency. Members of SHGs are also making
demands from governance institutions most often without success. The institutional
frameworks to support SHGs are limited to the financial functions related to
management of micro credit and to some extent to enabling them to engage with
enterprise and self-employment. Thus claims of empowerment agenda being addressed
is more in the absence of such support as women struggle to survive in an environment
that is increasingly dependent on their ability to withstand social and economic crises.
The recent reports of suicides by women in Andhra Pradesh bear testimony to the
pressure that women experience as the responsibility and burden of family
survival and their own struggles rests more and more on their oppressed
shoulders.
Capacity building limited in content and reach
The capacity building inputs being provided are overwhelming focussed on the cadre of
sponsoring agencies. Amongst SHG members it is group leaders (who are invariably the
more educated) who receive any inputs and even these are invariably limited to the
functional agenda related to group formation and ensuring regular savings and
repayment. Issues related to gender when included in-group leader trainings, receive
only tokenistic attention and do not receive any institutional support to enable
women to use their awareness for the resolution of issues and problems. Programs and
organizations working with micro-credit based SHGs have increasingly witnessed a
shrinking of their agendas so that the management of credit and the financial flow and
upward linkage towards enterprise are the agenda for which they have also limited
their institutional support frameworks. In the event that the cadre are provided inputs
on social justice and equity issues, either these do not reach SHGs or if they do it is in a
highly diluted manner, and women are expected to use this information and awareness
at their own level with negligible support from the organization.
4
Inadequate access to sustainable literacy
Although many of the existing groups were part of the erstwhile adult literacy
programmes, few if any have sustained their character as a sustained educational
space. Literacy programmes are seldom designed in a manner which is responsive to
the realities of learners’ and in particular women’s lives. Mobilization is sporadic, timing
of classes inappropriate and the pedagogy weak. Most importantly there is an absence
of a vision as to how to enable neo-literate people to use and sustain their literacy skills.
The necessary linkages with Continuing Education are not being made.
In the specific context of SHGs, the numerous possibilities of linkages with literacy and
numeracy that would enable members to access information and lessen their
dependence on sponsoring agencies remain unexplored. What we find instead is that in
the name of Continuing Education, neo-literates are being formed into SHGs and weak
efforts at starting income generation activities are being made. Relapse into illiteracy of
neo-literates, including those who are linked to SHGs, is a common phenomenon, which
makes the endless chasing of targets an exercise, which disrespects learners and
wastes national resources.
Group dynamics and power relations
Notions of homogeneity define the desirable composition of the group, but these have in
fact led to the perpetuation of social fragmentation, as neighbourhood and kinship
proximity become the surrogate variables for formation of groups along caste and ethnic
lines. Arguments of “sameness” or universality in application of rules and distribution of
benefit then operate to flatten the playing field, rather than a more sensitive
rationalisation of resources based on principles of equity.
Another factor often ignored is the facet of intra group dynamics within the SHGs, as
hierarchies of class interplay with educational status among these women from “similar”
socio- economic categories; our research reveals that women with higher educational
attainment (who may also be marginally better off) tend to acquire positions of
leadership due to the requirements of financial record-keeping rather than
leadership qualities per se. Once in such positions, leadership is seldom rotated,
and they then acquire access to the “spiral of learning” as the leaders are the ones
invariably targeted to participate in any knowledge dissemination, decision-making or
capacity building endeavour.
Lack of investment in women themselves
SHGs serve the interests of numerous institutional players such as the State (including
in the delivery of development messages and schemes), banks and corporations. There
is grossly insufficient engagement with ploughing back of any resources for the women,
in terms of capacity development or resource sharing for livelihood security / food
security/life security etc.
NEED FOR A HOLISTIC APPROACH
Although SHGs are meant to meet the objectives of both women’s empowerment and
poverty reduction, we find that the approach of a majority of the sponsoring agencies is
focussed on a narrowly defined and increasingly reductionist financial agenda. This
narrow focus is insufficient to ensure economic empowerment, a goal, which would
require enabling women to negotiate with the multiple factors that impact upon their
material realities. Too often in the discourse and practice on micro credit there is an
5
assumption that the provisioning of savings and credit opportunities in and of itself
automatically ensures economic empowerment. The reality is that whether in the realm
of decision making within the household or the with respect to the terms of their
engagement with livelihoods opportunities, women remain largely disempowered. The
claims on the other hand extend beyond economic empowerment to empowerment per
se.
The assumption here is that SHGs will not only economically empower women but will
also enable other dimensions of empowerment. While women in SHGs are expected to
run with the model, based on an assumption of spontaneous solidarity and mutual
support, not much is done to build or invest in processes to build such bonds between
women or to address the fundamental problems of oppression within their families or in
society. Hence while women are expected to bring about change in multiple arenas of
their lives, the institutional response or support is one-dimensional and increasingly
defined by a pace that magnifies the financial and overwhelms any other agenda,
thereby reinforcing the instrumentality of women.
PEvidencel strongly suggests that there is a bifurcation between the social and economic
inputs, although the expectation is that changes in both realms will take place.
Therefore, as mentioned above, we find that the capacity building efforts focus largely on
the agenda of ensuring that groups are formed and that they continue as spaces where
women can save and repay regularly. In the absence of inputs and institutional support
that address women’s lives in all its dimensions, empowerment cannot happen.
The bifurcation of women’s lives and problems into realms of the social and the
economic is a forced one, determined not by the women themselves, but by those
who wish to address the problem by simplifying it and dealing the parts, rather
than by understanding the complexities and dealing with the interlinkages. (This
should come in a much earlier part of the paper) The sectoralisation of planning and
governance has compelled a view of women and their issues into a dilemma that posits
the economic and social as if these are competing, disconnected and mutually exclusive
ends of the spectrum of programmatic priorities. It is necessary to restore a unified view
in order to effectively deal with the reality of their lives and the oppressions they
experience, and to deal with them. Thus while economic and social may be used as
categories for analysis, the extension of these categories for purposes of planning loses
sight of the fact that any action in any space is likely to impinge upon the other, and
therefore the holistic approach is necessary to inform the planning and institutional
frameworks that seek to address the empowerment of women, or for that matter any
group experiencing vulnerability.
For example, if women do not have the opportunity to understand and strengthen their
ability to address the gendered power relations within the family, they will not be able to
have a say in how credit is used, and nor will they be able to negotiate how work is
distributed and how benefits are shared within the family. Addressing the multiple
dimensions of empowerment becomes critical in the context of SHGs because in the
absence of such an engagement women are in a situation in which they are having to
bear an even higher burden of work than before, and are unable to negotiate change
in the gendered social relations; it is also necessary to ensure that the planning for
women in SHGs does not become an isolated exercise, but is integrated into an overall
institutional framework of planning for development in an integrated way, wherein SHGs
6
are the spaces for enabling women to gain collective strength while defining their
strategies for engagement with the development space.
SHIFTS IN THE ‘EMPOWERMENT’ DISCOURSE
There are discernible shifts evident in the empowerment discourse that are largely
attributable to the proliferation of SHG phenomena hand in hand (or rather hand in
glove) with the advent of neo-liberalism which has led to a fundamental lack of clarity
about what sponsoring agencies mean by empowerment. Whereas the
conceptualisation of empowerment in the context of Gender was in a holistic framework
to embody the “changing the power relations between individuals and groups in society”,
viewed both as an outcome and a process;4 it incorporates the notion of capabilities and
enablement as a key concept. Implicit is the reference to the process of gaining power,
both over external resources, and growth in inner self-confidence and capability; and as
political process that may entail social upheavals, and to which group processes are
often critical in enabling transformation of individuals and societies. Empowerment in
this context reflects a continuum between the individual in the group and society
at large and the process of transforming relationships in a holistic space towards
social change. It enables engagement with the self and society at various levels in
a quest to challenge and transform gender relations and to enable social change
aimed towards equality and justice.
Current understanding of empowerment, in keeping with the liberalisation paradigm, are
however much more limited and linear and relate to the abilities and capacities of
individuals to deal with and compete in the market, either individually or through the
group as a space for transaction and refinement of capabilities5. Thus empowerment is
reduced to an outcome, with a linear flow and related to predetermined goals. The
notions of empowerment articulated by some of the key implementers of key “innovative”
state programmes also reflect such an understanding of empowerment. In the project
context however their conceptualisation of empowerment is limited to economic
empowerment, and even that is defined in a limited way as confined to the ability of
individuals to gain access and enhance capacities for the use of credit for enhancement
of incomes. One finds therefore an unwillingness to deal with the complexity of
power relations and an eagerness to prescribe boundaries to the notion of
economic empowerment and even that to limit that to the function of financial
enablement as the goals of development initiatives. While this may be done as a
pragmatic measure towards rendering tangible the goals of empowerment, in the interest
of achievable goals as is often argued by Micro credit practitioners; instead such a
confined ascribing of the boundaries of empowerment has shifted the focus from the
collective struggles for social transformation to individual aspirations in a competing
world; it has also bereft itself of engagement with the notion of power relations, and the
structures and institutions that ascribe such relationships. Empowerment viewed in
such narrow and instrumentalist definitions in fact has the adverse impact of
reinforcing women’s situation as primarily responsible for welfare of the family,
4 Batliwala
5 This description is based on the understanding and articulation of empowerment shared by many
practitioners in the field we interacted with in the course of the Nirantar study and the author’s interactions
with program implementers and planners of micro credit programs especially in the government and multi
lateral aided programs currently being implemented in India
7
community and nation even while they struggle with the added burden of income
earning and family survival through income substitution.
RE-DEFINED NOMENCLATURES
A related need for clarity has to do with the ambiguity associated with the terms
“social “ and “economic”.
The discourse around economic empowerment has
encompassed attempts to discern the social dimensions of poverty; recognition of the
fact for example that the face of poverty is largely feminine, old or very young and is not
randomly occurring6. The struggles that have arisen from such a conceptual
understanding therefore have been located in the people’s efforts to restore their basis
of life and livelihoods rendered inaccessible for various reasons, through collective
struggles such as the NBA or through organizational efforts such as the SEWA union.
Struggles for economic empowerment have therefore been informed by the collective
struggles of communities and of women through various forms of organization to
challenge the construction and perpetuation of poverty and oppression through structural
and institutional means. Currently however the conceptualisation of economic
empowerment is articulated in a fragmented and linear way and encompasses the ability
of individual women to garner credit resources to address family needs7; a marked shift
is discernible from the quest for equity and distribution (including intra household
distribution) to struggles for survival and to be able to remain viable in an increasingly
competitive market place, irrespective of the cost to women themselves.
CHANGING CULTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Aspirations for surplus and assured cash flows now determine the interface between
women in the SHGs as they compete and impose financial discipline to access a larger
piece of the credit pie, replacing the earlier notions of trust, support to the vulnerable and
solidarity in a common cause to address their social political and economic
marginalization. While some might argue that this focus and discipline is necessary to
keep the focus of large programs on the tangible returns for short run gains, various
large scale programs have shown that the attainment of empowerment goals need not
be attained by redefining the terms themselves, but by changing the mindset of
individuals and institutions that inform these processes, and creating a policy
environment that will enable such holistic processes to play out.
So too in the realm of social issues there appears to be an overwhelming focus on
issues related to sanitation, immunization and population control as good governance
parlance replaces the language of democratic and participatory development. Although
this may be a necessary agenda for development and basic delivery of services, and is
likely to improve the situation of women and their communities, the critical areas that
relate to women’s position in society remain unaddressed. The delimiting of social
agenda to concerns of service delivery and access leaves the structural and institutional
impediments to empowerment unaddressed once more, thus short-changing the agenda
for social justice, equity and transformation.
6 Sen Gita Empowerment as an Approach to Poverty Gita Sen Working Paper Series Number
97.07 December 1997 Page 2. (Background paper to the Human Development Report 1997)
7 articulations shared by Senior personnel of the Swashakti program
8
INSTITUTIONALISING GENDER and ENGENDERING INSTITUTIONS:
A Holistic approach to empowerment and equity
The above analysis reveals disturbing trends both in the discourse and practice of
development and empowerment and in the approach to women as instrumental in the
process. The “gender balancing” approach of the 11th FYP reflects a continuum of a
similar “correctional” view of women’s condition as an instrumentality to address the
situation of women rather than deal with the more rooted and critical questions of
enhancing their position in order to address goals of justice and equity
Defining Empowerment and the holistic framework towards its attainment
A holistic approach is a necessary prerequisite to address the numerous including
structural impediments to the empowerment of women. The National Policy on the
empowerment of Women 2000 sets empowerment as a goal but fails to define the
concept, which has led to ambiguities in its interpretation and therefore fragmentation in
the approach of the state towards its achievement. There needs to be a clear articulation
of the definitions of empowerment, its processual dimension and content and the
attainable objectives towards its achievement.
Gender based planning frameworks
A prerequisite for this is the challenging task of doing away with the existing divides
between social and economic empowerment and the evolution of holistic frameworks albeit in their complexity - that unravel the linkages of issues that determine and ascribe
the status and position of women, and develop strategies that address these. Thus
holistic frameworks must inform our planning processes, rather than sectoral divides.
Gender based planning must be the basis of determining the priorities across various
departments, so that women’s interests and priorities are adequately represented.
This is all the more challenging as the institutional bulwark of state machineries is
vertically organized along sectoral lines. The task of the DWCD as the core ministry to
represent the interests of women would therefore be to facilitate a shift in mindsets of
planners, policy makers and implementers on two fronts
• to acknowledge women’s roles and plan for the integration of women’s interests
within sectoral priorities
• to focus on women as a priority group within all planned interventions
The Department would need to draw upon the resources within and engage actively with
the women’s studies and women’s organizations and researchers etc to facilitate this
process effectively and to institutionalise it through rigorous inputs and support in the
initial years.
Women’s collectives as core to Empowerment strategy
Investing in strategies at the grassroots level enable women to mobilize and articulate
their issues in collectives/groups, to define their needs and access resources and
abilities to address the same. SHGs and their cluster and federation level formations
have the potential to serve such a role provided they are facilitated into adopting a more
holistic and empowerment approach and become representative forums to address the
issues raised by women in a holistic framework
9
Decentralised Approach to Engendering Institutions & institutionalising gender
Instituting and strengthening decentralised institutional mechanisms will support and
facilitate women’s empowerment through enabling linkages, enhancement of capabilities
and representation of women’s voices and interests in decision-making forums from the
grassroots level upwards. This would entail enhancing women’s engagement through
SHGs and with PRI institutions, enhancing their abilities to negotiate priorities for action
and participation in the decision making and audit spaces of such forums in an informed
way that represents the interests of the most marginalized.
Assessment frameworks
Enable /facilitate the development of assessment frameworks and indicators to track
these processes and to assess the changes in the lives and position of women in all
dimensions. These would need to be done through decentralised / state level
institutional processes, for which the department may consider enhancing capacities of
individuals and institutions/women’s studies centres in colleges and universities etc
Designing Indicators in keeping with holistic approach
In order to ensure that programmes reflect the holistic goals, develop indicators to track
achievements (numerical) goals (attitudes/ changing gender relations etc) and
processes (quality of group consensus building processes, conflict management, and
decision making) that are reflective of a holistic approach. For example, the extent to
which women are engaged in decision-making, their entitlement to assets would need to
be monitored both qualitatively and quantitatively. Also given the reality of the exclusion
of the poorest in current development initiatives, it is imperative that the indicators map
the inclusion of the most marginalized, including members of economically and socially
marginalized communities such as Dalits, tribals and Muslims.
Institution of Commission to inquire into the impacts of current micro credit based
policies and programmes on women
Even as the Deptt of WCD stakes claims for a nodal role in the coordination of SHG
initiatives in the govt and non-governmental space, and we must work towards the
enlargement of such a role of the Rashtrya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to ensure a holistic view
of womens needs, the Planning commission needs to set up A Commission to review
the Status of Micro Credit policies and programmes. The members of the Commission
should include eminent academics, researchers and practitioners who have a
substantive engagement with issues of women’s empowerment, poverty and livelihoods.
This autonomous, high level commission should be mandated to review the existing
vision, policies and programmes related to micro credit in order to assess the extent to
which these are addressing the social, economic and political rights of women. The
mandate of the Commission should include recommending the manner in which the
State will generate data in order that the performance of micro credit based interventions
may be addressed. Some of the critical areas on which information is currently lacking
relates to
Number of functioning (as opposed to defunct) SHGs.
Financial impact of micro credit on poverty alleviation
Inclusion of the poorest
Number of women/groups being able to access credit
Types of enterprises for which women borrowers receive credit
Data on capacity building - extent to which these are being provided, to whom,
nature of the inputs including time allocated to social justice and equity issues.
10
Data on lending practices and norms - both formal and those that are being
practiced although unwritten.
Data and rationalisation of the interest rates levied at different levels of the Micro
credit delivery process, and invisible cost absorption therein
Identification and analysis of existing macro data on indicators that will enable an
assessment of the impact of SHGs. This could include macro data related to poverty
reduction, distress migration, violence against women, inclusion of economically and
socially marginalized communities etc.
Data on the creation of assets and entitlement through the scale of credit
Comparative data on credit access to men and women within lending institutions
and its implication forthem to address sustainable livelihoods needs.
The Commission should also be mandated to recommend the means by which credit
can become a means for substantive agenda for enabling change in the position of
women, and the process whereby indicators that can monitor progress in terms of
empowerment and equity can be designed.
The findings of the review commission should be not be limited to mere
recommendations which might or might not be incorporated. The 11th five-year plan
needs to ensure that the recommendations are necessarily reflected in the formulation of
new policies and programmes or redesigning of existing ones, as well as integrated into
guidelines for the operations of players in the financial sector such as the RBI, NABARD,
Banks, MFIs etc so that women’s interests are addressed and women do not bare unfair
burdens
of
the
credit
economy.
Enabling services and mechanisms to address Violence Against Women
While the state is quick to resort to legislation to institute social change through
enforcement of legal rights of women, the institutional responses are seldom backed by
institutional support or supportive structures. Hence along with the sensitisation of the
justice delivery machinery from the district level upward; the DWCD needs to take into its
ambit the appointment of personnel to ensure that such institutional frameworks are
responsive to the needs of women. Women protection officers proposed in the DW act
are likely to falter in their task if confronted in their task by unresponsive state machinery
unless the state appoints officers to ensure that they receive the support to operate
effectively. Along with this the state also needs to provide space for shelter and crisis,
and for enabling women to enhance capacities to enable them to move out of crisis
circumstances. Recognition and capacity building inputs can for instance be provided to
federations and women’s organizations to make such institutional support available for
women.
• A corpus should be created to enable SHGs to assist survivors of violence against
women and their children, in terms of rehabilitation, legal aid etc. The corpus should
be formed by contributions from government sponsoring agencies and banks.
Women members of SHGs should be expected to make a nominal contribution to the
corpus as a means of strengthening a sense of ownership rather than further
drawing upon scare resources that they have access to.
• Institutional mechanisms need to be designed that will enable SHGs to access the
redressal mechanisms that are being designed as a result of the recently passed
Prevention of Violence Against Women Bill, (need to check title)
11
Institutionalising Holistic capacity building opportunities
The implementation of a holistic framework for women’s empowerment requires in the
first instance that the department facilitate capacity building and evolve policy to support
such an environment
Capacity building initiatives for the department itself and all its associated machineries,
for the state departments, to understand the empowerment perspective and the holistic
approach required to achieve it are necessary inputs to initiate this process.
Gender based programme planning initiatives need to be undertaken with line
departments and agencies to enhance the integration of women’s interests in their
planning processes, within which gender budgeting would then need to be integrated as
a key element and indicator of requisite finance flows.
Training of trainers for the teams in such institutions that impart training and orientation
to line department functionaries, which should include all aspects of empowerment and
gender planning and budgeting
Capacity building inputs provided by sponsoring agencies to SHGs need to go beyond
the office bearer cadres involved to reach all the women members themselves. Our
research reveals that training directed at cadres leaves the cadres empowered but the
losses in transmission to the field level and to women are very large, essentially due to
the deprioritisation of processual and qualitative change agenda, and due to the intensity
of engagement it might then require from the cadres themselves.
In terms of the nature of the inputs, a minimum of 15days of inputs needs to be provided
to all group members in a year. 50% of the total time should be committed to issues of
gender justice, VAW, legal rights etc. In the initial phase women’s organizations that
have substantive experience of working for gender justice should be involved in a
manner that they directly train SHG members. The process of conducting training of
trainers involving the cadre of the sponsoring agencies should take place only once the
vision and design of the trainings have been defined in the context of a holistic
empowerment framework
Ensuring Access to sustainable literacy opportunities
Literacy should be organically linked to information needs and roles expected to be
played by women as SHG members or as agents of transformation in their communities.
The responsibility for ensuring this must lie with the government / sponsoring agency,
while it may seek the assistance of the adult education establishments.
Access to information regarding government schemes
The SHGs provide the State with a forum through which information about how SHG
members can access government schemes that they are entitled to as well as how to
overcome obstacles in actually being able to benefit from them. This should be one
element of the training inputs provided to SHG members and to other women, specially
form poor and marginalized communities. Sponsoring agencies need to design curricula
that specifically cater to SHG members and their learning needs.
Livelihoods securing and strengthening opportunities
The current paradigm of development has compelled people to move away from
traditional occupations to seek work in alternative avenues. Large scale migration
marked by a rise in women’s migration status and sole migrant status indicates the lack
of alternatives available to secure lives and incomes in their own regional contexts,
failing which the availability of work and how to access it must be ensured.
-There needs to be broadening of the vision from narrowly defined micro enterprise
activities (which typically involve starting new, non viable income generation activities) to
12
a livelihoods approach. Economic interventions need to be identified only after a
mapping of existing livelihoods situation and options has been done.
Given that there are key activities that women are engaged in locally that are income
supplementing or substituting there is a need to assess how these may be strengthened
and means of value addition or up gradation to make them viable. This must be done on
a regional basis, for which local institutions may be involved
A survey needs to be conducted on the nature of micro enterprise activities being
selected and their viability. Strong measures need to be taken to ensure that non-viable
activities that fail to contribute towards strengthening livelihoods are not selected.
Governance
In order for women to be enabled to participate actively in the agenda for change, the
provision of infrastructure to address their health, social security and learning needs
would have to be addressed by the women themselves. Our study reveals that while
there is much said about SHGs as monitors of govt services, women’s roles have
invariably been as watch dogs rather than participation in decision-making
forums These spaces for women’s activism need to be ensured while investments in
their capacities to address their needs in a rights framework would enable them to
interact and negotiate change more effectively.
The government must invest in its own infrastructure and delivery mechanisms and not
pass on the burden to SHGs such as for the collection of bills and user fees. There
should be no cut backs on social sector spending, particularly in light of the reality that
SHGs cannot substitute for the basic rights that every citizen of the country is entitled to.
Financial Institutions
The RBI should issue guidelines to the effect that banks cannot use SHGs to recover
other loans. There needs to be a regulatory ceiling on interest rates charged by
Micro Finance Institutions. Financial institutions while benefiting from the labour and
savings of women, must also examine ways of engendering their mainline products, and
designing products that cater to the needs of marginalized women and their
communities.
13
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FREDSKORPSET INDIA PARTNER NETWORK PRESENTS
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN EMERGING INDIAN ECONOMY - SILENCE TO VOICE, PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES
26th AND 27th November 2007 AT CHRIST COLLEGE, BENGALOORU - 29
DAY II
PLENARY SESSION - “Women Making Changes in Rural Economy International and National Experiences"
Timing: 9am to 10 am
Venue: Main Auditorium
PARALLEL SESSIONS
Session I
A: Women In Emerging Economic Sector
Timing: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: Syndicate Room - Room Number 802 (Ground Floor - Auditorium Block)
Session I
B. Changing Gender Role: From Silence To Voice
Timing: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: Appraisal Room - Ground Floor (Auditorium Block)
Session I
C. Development and Displacement-A Gender Perspective
Timing: 10:30 to 12:30 pm
Venue: P.U Seminar Room 09 - Christ Junior College
Concluding Session
Venue: Main Auditorium - Timings: 1:30 pm to 4 pm
Day 2: 27th November 2007
Parallel Session: A: Women In Emerging Economic Sector
1. Mr. Gao Kuangyun (Joe)
2. Mr. Bijay Raj Gautam
3. Dr. Anita Manandhar
4. Ms. Linda Rose Daniels
5. Ms. Kitiwan Dechwayukul (White)
6. Ms Pakamas Piriot (Jae)
7. Ms. Wang Xiu
8. Ms. Torhild Jacobson (Tutu)
9. Mr. Tamil Iniya Kumar
10. Dr. Patricia Gabriel
11. Ms. Ume Salma
12. Ms. Suchi Sen
13. Mr. Vijay Kumar Madan
14. Dr. Chitra Srivastava
15. Mr. D.K. Mitra
16. Mr. Jerald D’souza
17. Mr. Gerard Rassenderan
18. Ms. Suniti Phadke
19. Ms. Brinda Adige
20. Ms. Clora Sudha Rani
21. Ms. Pampa Chowdhury
22. Ms. K. Meenakshi
23. Mr. B. Shankar Ganesh
24. Mr. R. Selvam
25. Ms. Doddapaneni Uma Devi
26. Ms. Pratyasha Rath
27. Ms. Shuhita Bhattacharjee
28. Ms. Devashree Bhattacharjee
29. Ms. Shyamali Kar
30. Mr. Deepak Madan
31. Mr. Brajesh Mohan
Day 2: 27th November 2007
Parallel Session:
B. Changing Gender Role: From Silence To Voice
1. Pyone Thet Thet Kyaw
2. Ms. Subhatra Bhumiprabhas
3. Ms. Gloria De Silva
4. Ms. Ichikeli Maru
5. Mr. Torb Jorn Urfjell
6. Helge Espe
7. Sacha Jotisalikorn
8. Ms. Saowalak Jingjungvisut
9. Ms. Sujata Surepally
10. Mr. R. Vender Vendan
11. Ms. S. Suja
12. Mr. A. Kishan Sen
13. Ms. Minati Adhikari
14. Ms. Spriha Srivastava
15. Mr. Prabhat Bhat
16. Mr. Nirmal Joseph
17. Prof. Sarita Krishnan
18. Fr. Jose P.J
19. Jinu Sam Jacob
20. Dr. Rajeshwari
21. Yesuputhramma
22. Mr. Jatkar Ujjwala
23. Mr. Ganesh V. Shetti
24. Ms. Regitha G.
25. Ms. Ashima Dev Burman
26. H. Valleyrose
27. Ms. Sukla Dev Mitra
28. Ms. Vandana Thousen
29. Dr. Suresh K. Srivastava
30. Dr. Alhla Pritam Tandon
Day 2: 27th November 2007
Parallel Session:
C. Development and Displacement - A Gender Perspective
1. Saythalat Khamphoui
2. Undarya Twmursukh
3. Ms. Supara Janchitfah
4. Mr. Dulal Chandrakar
5. H.E. Ms. Ann Ollestad
6. Mr. Knut Berglyd
7. Ms. Nisa Chamsuwan
8. Chada Radha Reddy
9. Vimala Stephen
10. Sr. Nambikai Kithari A.
11. Mr. Tathagata
12. Ashwini N.V
13. Afreen S. Kittur
14. Geetha S. Thatra
15. Prof. Karkathunneisa
16. Francis J.
17. Walter Mendoza
18. Kalpana Kanna
19. Dhanavanthi Jain
20. N. Pankaja
21. Dr. A. Lalitha
22. Manjusha
23. B. Shiva Shankar
24. Durga Jha
25. Reshma Pradip Ludbe
26'. Aryani Bannerjee
27. Ravinandan Singh
Development-Induced Displacement: The Class and Gender Perspective
Walter Fernandes1
Development-induced displacement has come to stay with globalisation adding to land
acquisition. Also the number of displaced (DP) or project affected persons (PAP) i.e. those
deprived of livelihood without physical relocation is growing. Studies point to the
impoverishment and mariginalisation of the DP/PAPs. It also has a class and gender dimention.
Most DP/PAPs belong to the subaltern classes. Loss of livelihood impoverishes them further
but even among them women suffer more than men do. Development-induced displacement
has existed from the ancient times but became a major problem with colonialism and got
intensified with post-independence planned development. Globalisation involves a greater
attack on land that is the sustenance of most rural communities. To it should be added more
urban displacement in the name of beautiful cities. This paper will take a look at these aspects.
1. The Situation of Displacement
This paper will begin with the British age since the present problem originated with
colonialism whose objective was to turn South Asia into a supplier of capital and raw material
for the British Industrial Revolution and a captive market for its finished products.
The Colonial Age
To achieve this objective already from the 19th century the colonial regime opened coal
mines in Jharkhand, tea gardens in Assam, coffee plantations in Karnataka and other schemes
elsewhere (Mankodi 1989: 140-143). Also legal changes were introduced to make land
acquisition at a low price easy. It began with the Permanent Settlement 1793 and culminated in
the Land Acquisition Act 1894 (LAQ) (Bora 1986: 46) that is based on the principle of the
State’s eminent domain. It has two facets. Firstly, all biodiversity and natural resources as well
as land without individual titles belong to the State. Secondly, the State alone has the right to
define a public purpose and deprive even individuals of their land (Ramanathan 1999: 19-20).
This paper will not go into its details other than to say that, colonial inputs deprived
many lakhs of people of their sustenance. But most displacement by it was process-induced i.e.
resulting from loss of sustenance through technological, economic and legal changes such as
laws recognising only individual ownership and obstacles put in the way of the manufacturing
sector in order to support British industrial products. One does not know the exact number they
affected. Dadhabhai Naoroji (1988) puts it at 35 millions. It is an estimate, not the final total.
But they certainly impoverished millions, particularly Dalits and tribals, most of whom got
indebted and became bonded labourers or migrated as indentured labour in the plantations in
the British colonies the world over. Many tribals from Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa went
in slavelike conditions to work in the tea gardens of North Bengal and Assam (Sen 1979: 8-12).
' Paper presented at the International Conference on, Christ College, Bangalore, November 36-27, 2007. Dr
Walter Fernandes is Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre, 110 Kharghuli Road (1st floor), Guwahati
781004. Tel. (0361) 2602819; Mobile (0) 9435547828; Email: walter.nesrc@gmail.com; nesrcghy@gmail.com
1
Not surprisingly revolts followed particularly in the biodiversity and mineral rich tribal areas
(Singh 1985; Mackenzie 1995). The best-known non-tribal struggle against project-induced
displacement is the one of MuLshi-Peta near Pune in the 1920s (Bhuskute 1997: 170-172).
The Post-Independence Age
The freedom fighters appropriated these struggles and opposed the British on this count
but they had themselves internalised much of the colonial value system including the eminent
domain. Ihus, post-independence India has kept the thinking on development more or less
unchanged and has not only retained the colonial laws but has even strengthened them to make
acquisition easier. As a result, people continue to be displaced in the name of national
development that involved large-scale investment in schemes like dams, industries, roads,
mines and power plants. For example, according to one estimate (Nag 2002: 40) 15% of the
world’s large dams 1947-1979 were built in India. Today the country has over 4,000 of them.
These projects brought about irreversible changes in land use and in the lives of millions of its
dependants. The number of DP/PAPs has thus risen enormously so have struggles against it.
Table 1: Number of DP/PAPs of Some States Where Studies Have Been Done *
State/Year
1951-1995
1947-2000
1947-04
65-95 Total
Andhra Jharkhand Kerala Orissa
Type
Assam
Bengal
Gujarat
Goa
Water
1865471
232968
133846
800000
448812 1723990 2378553
18680
7602320|
Industry
539877
87896
222814
158069
57732
403980
140924
3110
1614402
Mines
100541
402882
78
300000
41200
418061
4128
4740
1271630
Power
87387
NA
2556
NA
7400
146300
11344
0
254987
Defence
33512
264353
1800
NA
50420
119009
2471
1255
472820
Environmt 135754
509918
14888
107840 265409 784952
26201
300
1845262
Transport 46671
0
151623
NA
168805 1164200 1356076
20190
2907565
Refugees
NA
NA
0
NA
283500 500000
646
Nil
784146
Farms
NA
NA
6161
NA
I 13889
110000
7142
1745
238937
Hum Res.
NA
NA
14649
NA
90970
220000
16343
8500
350462
Health
NA
NA
NA
NA
23292
84000
NA
1850
109142
Admin
NA
NA
NA
NA
322906 -150000
7441
3220
483567
Welfare
37560
0
2472
.NA
25253
720000
20470
NA
805755
Tourism
0
0
343
0
0
0
26464
640
27447
Urban
103310
0
1003
NA
1241
400000
85213
1750
592517
Others
265537
50000
0
100000
18045
0
15453
840
449875
Total
3215620 1548017
552233
1465909 1918874 6944492 4098869
66820
19810834
*Since the understanding of displacement has grown during the 15 years of the studies, Orissa has very few
categories. They are more in later years. Sources: AP, Fernandes et al. 2001: 89; Assam, Fernandes & Bharali
2006: 107; Goa, Fernandes & Naik 2001: 55; Gujarat, Lobo & Kumar.2007: 99; Jharkhand, Ekka & Asif 2000:
97; Kerala, Muricken et al. 2003: 189; Orissa, Fernandes & Asif 1997: 130; Bengal, Fernandes et al. 2006: 123
However, no official database exists on the total and type of DP/PAPs. In its absence,
researchers came to a reliable database by studying development-induced displacement and
deprivation in several States. In Orissa, Kerala and Jharkhand only 60% of the projects 19511995 were studied and in AP around 80%. When their figures are updated to 2004, the total of
DP/PAPs in Jharkhand and Orissa would be 3 million each, 5 million in AP, 1 million in
Kerala, 100,000 in Goa, 2 million in Assam and 7.5 million in West Bengal or a total of 27
2
million. Once high displacement States like Chhattisgarh and MP are studied one will probably
come to an All-India figure of 60 million DP/PAPs 1947-2004 from 25 million ha including 7
million ha of forests and 6 million ha of other CPRs (Fernandes 2007: 204) (Table 1).
The class component is seen in the fact that more than half of the 25 million ha are
commons in the administratively neglected “backward” areas where land can be acquired at a
low price and with very little resistance. It is also seen in the type of DP/PAPs some 80% of
whom are voiceless. The tribals who are 8.6% of the population are 40% of them. In Table 2
they are 29.15% of the total but 34.5% of the 16,729,392 whose caste-tribe is known. There are
indications that they are 50% of the DP/PAPs of Assam and 30% of Bengal whose caste/tribe is
not known. Besides, studies have not been done in MP, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra that have
a big number of tribal DP/PAPs. Their caste/tribe was not got in Kerala. Its biggest projects like
Idukki are in its tribal areas. So more than 10% of its DP/PAPs are bound to be tribals who are
1.3% of its population. Once all of them are counted, the tribal proportion will reach 40%
(Fernandes 2007: 204). 18.96% of those whose caste-tribe is known are Dalits.
Table 2: Caste-Tribe of DP/PAPs from Some States
State
Tribals
%
%
NA
%
%
Dalits
Others
Total
970654
628824
Andhra
30.19
19.56
1467286
45.63
148856
3215620
04.63
Assam
416321
1918874
21.80
NA
NA
609015
31.90
893538
46.30
Goa
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
66820
66820
100
Gujarat
1821283
44.43
462626
11.29
1791142
43.70
23818
4098869
0.58
Jharkhand 620372
40.08
212892
13.75
676575
43.71
1548017
38178
02.47
Kerala
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
552233
552233
100
Orissa
616116
40.38
178442
11.64
671351
48.01
0
1465909
0
W. Bengal 1330663
19.16
1689607
24.33
2566223
36.95
1357999
6944492
19.55
Total
5775409 29.15
3172391 16.01
7781592 39.28
3081442 15.55 19810834
Source: Ekka & Asif 2000: 99; Fernandes et al. 2001: 89; Fernandes & Bharali 2006: 108; Fernandes & Naik
2001; Lobo & Kumar 2007: 99; Muricken et al. 2003: 189; Fernandes & Asif 1997: 87; Fernandes et al. 2006: 91.
Since they are a big proportion of those whose caste-tribe is not known, they are at least
20% of the total. Another 20% are from the weakest of the backwards like fish and quarry
workers. For example, they are a majority of the 10,000 DPs of the Sriharikota Rocket Range,
43,000 of the Simhadri Thermal plant and other coastal schemes in AP (Fernandes et al 2001:
80-81) and in Kerala like the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (Murickan et al 2003: 178-179).
Since more than 50% of the land used is commons for which no compensation is paid and 80%
of the DP/PAPs are voiceless some (e.g. Singh 1989: 96) ask whether it is done deliberately in
order to keep the project cost down. It is also a probable reason for lack of an official database.
Resettlement and Impoverishment
The fact that 80% of the DP/PAPs are from among the rural poor may explain also poor
resettlement. Orissa has resettled 35.27% of its DPs (Fernandes and Asif 1997: 135), AP
28.82% (Fernandes et al. 2001: 87), Kerala 13.8% (Murickan et al. 2003: 185-189) 1951-1995,
Goa 40.78% of 1965-1995 (Fernandes and Naik 2001: 62), West Bengal 9% (Fernandes et al.
2006: 123-124) and Assam of some 10 projects (Fernandes and Bharali 2006: 109) 1947-2000.
Its result is impoverishment that begins with landlessness. For example, landlessness among the
3
Assam DP/PAPs grew from 15.56% before the project to 24.38% after it (Fernandes and
Bharali 2006: 188) and in AP from 10.9% to 36.5% (Fernandes et al 2001: 1 12-113). In Orissa,
among the mining displaced families, 16.7% of the tribal and 13% of the Dalit DPs became
landless against 3.6% of the general castes (Pandey 1995: 180). Also the cultivated area
declines, for example in Assam from an average of 3.04 acres per family to 1.45 acres and in
AP from 4.2 to 2.3 acres. In other words, the DP/PAPs experience a downward mobility in their
cultivator status. Most big farmers become medium, the medium farmers become small and
marginal and small and marginal farmers become landless. Many of them own only homestead
land. Also support mechanisms such as the number of ponds, wells, poultry, cattle and draft
animals that supplement agricultural income decline (Bharali 2007).
The next step is joblessness that takes two forms. The first is lack of access to work and
the second is downward occupational mobility. To begin with the first, the project that alienates
from them the land that gives them work and provides them security, resettles very few oi them
and gives fewer jobs. For example, out of 266,500 displaced or deprived families studied in
Orissa, only some 9,000 were given project jobs (Fernandes and Asif 1997: 137-139). No job
was given in Goa and very few in Kerala (Murickan et al 2003: 222-223). West Bengal gave a
job each to fewer than 20% of the DP/PAPs in the 1950s and very few recent ones (Fernandes
et al. 2006: 201). In Assam 3 projects gave some jobs (Fernandes and Bharali 2006).
Lower access to work is the first form that the resultant joblessness takes. In AP,
83.72% of the DP/PAPs used to work on their land or elsewhere. After land loss access to work
declined to 41.61% (Fernandes et al. 2001: 141). In West Bengal it declined from 91.02% to
53.18% (Fernandes et al. 2006: 203) and in Assam from 77.27% to 56.41% (Fernandes and
Bharali 2006: 165). Secondly, most of those who have access to work experience downward
occupational mobility. For example, in AP 45% of the cultivators among the DP/PAPs became
landless agricultural labourers or daily wage earners (Fernandes et al 2001: 112-113). In Assam
50% became daily wage unskilled workers (Fernandes and Bharali 2006: 188).
2. Impact on Women and Children
All feel the impact of the consequent impoverishment but women and children feel it
more than the others do. The lower the social stratum they belong to, the greater the impact. It
takes the form of higher joblessness, greater malnutrition and deterioration in their social status.
Its first impact is seen in children’s lower access to schools since most DP/PAPs are subalterns.
Impact on children
Since most DP/PAPs are from the administratively neglected “backward” areas their
access to education is low. It declines further after displacement and child labour grows among
them because of “new poverty” resulting from loss of land and forests that are their sustenance.
For example a researcher who studied the National Aluminium Plant (NALCO) at Damanjodi
in the tribal majority Koraput district of Orissa claims that the literacy rate in the area has gone
from 22.63% before the project to 34% after it (Kar 1991: 5). He does not mention that the rise
is in the project township. Among the displaced tribals it was 18% male and 3% female and
many children had been pulled out of school (Fernandes and Raj 1992: 58-59).
4
In some cases literacy may deteriorate even when the resettled DPs. For example, the
predominantly tribal DPs of the Salandi dam in the Keonjhar district of Orissa were earlier
living close to a town that had some schools, so most children were at school. They were
resettled in a forest area in which they were given some land and a house but no school was
built for a few years. By the time schools were built the children had lost the habit of going to
school. Besides, poverty had increased among them because land allotted to them was of poor
quality and they could not grow enough food and had to buy much of it. In the absence ol other
sources they had to turn their children into child labourers in order to earn an income (ibid: 60).
In most cases impoverishment itself forces the parents to put their children to work full
time to maintain the family. By impoverishment we mean not the relative economic deprivation
or poverty in which many of them lived prior to their displacement, but “new poverty” caused
by the alienation of their sustenance. As stated above, it begins with landldssness and slowly
turns into joblessness, loss of income, lack of access to health care and to education and into
other forms of deprivation (Downing 2002: 8-9). It forces parents to pull even school going
children out of it. For example, 49% of the displaced or deprived families in West Bengal
(Fernandes et al. 2006: 140-141) and 56% in Assam (Fernandes and Bharali 2006: 125-126)
have pulled their children out of school in order to turn them into child labourers.
Such negative impact continues in other aspects too, health being one of them. All the
studies show an enormous rise in water borne, malnutrition and environmental degradation
related diseases among the DP/PAPs. In AP, for example, one noticed a rise of more than 100%
in dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis and skin diseases (Fernandes et al. 2001: 151). While all
suffer from it, the incidence of such diseases is greater among children. One can continue with
other aspects such as malnutrition and the cultural impact but what has been said above should
suffice to show that there is a gradation of impacts and children suffer more than adults do.
The Gender Impact among Children
Apart from the class differential mentioned above, one sees a gender differential in the
negative impact both among children and adults. It is visible in children’s access to school,
health status and even sex-ratio. Such feminisation of poverty exists in other sectors too. For
example, among former tea garden workers of Assam, the sex ratio in the 10-19 age-group is a
low 739 because poverty forces teenaged girls to leave their homes for domestic work in the
urban middle class families in Assam and outside (Fernandes, Barbora and Bharali 2003: 5).
One notices a similar situation among the DP/PAPs. For example, even in Goa that has made
much social investment and is considered socially advances one noticed a gender differential in
the sex ratio and access to school among children. While the number of boys and girls in the 514 age groups was almost the same one noticed a sudden decline in the 0-4 age-groups of
recent DPs who were not resettled, as such were impoverished. Similarly, the number of girls in
the primary and middle schools was around half of that of the boys and all the girls had
dropped out before high school (Fernandes and Naik 2001: 62-63).
The situation is worse in other States in which investment in the social sector is low.
For example, among the NALCO DPs of Orissa the very low sex ratio of 739 among teenaged
5
tribal girls came as a surprise to the researchers because studies show that tribal sex ratio is
high because of the higher social status of tribal women that that of her caste counterparts As
long as land and other resources continue to be community controlled, she has a say in their
management and she is an economic asset unlike in the settled agriculture-based dowry-paying
groups that consider her an economic liability (Menon 1995: 101). Further inquiries showed
that the situation of girls at Damanjodi was similar to that of the former tea garden workers of
Assam. Because of “new poverty” many families had sent their teenaged daughters out as
domestic helps in the middle class famihes ot the township (Fernandes and Raj 199 .
Similar were the findings of the health status after the alienation of their land and other
resources that sustained them. As stated above, there was greater incidence of diseases than
among adults. Among them girl children suffered more than boys did In
f°r
incidence of most diseases was 50% higher among girls (Fernandes et al. 2001. 151) Studies
show that 60% of all child labourers are girls (e.g. Burra 1995). Among the project-displaced
families of West Bengal, boys were a third and girls two thirds of the children who were pulled
p
out of school to work for an income (Fernandes et al. 2006: 140-141).
Impact on Women
Children suffer more than adults do mainly because the mother is unable to attend to her
duties as the caretaker of the family. As stated above, access to work declines after the: project
alienates the land that is also the foundation of the tribal woman s relatively high statusWhile
the access of the whole family declines, that of women declines more than that of men. Wc
have said already that, if the project gives jobs, except in women headed famihes they g
almost exclusively to men considered heads of famihes. If they
to men. So domestic power passes fully to the man and from him to his son (Thekkekara 993.
92). As a result, after displacement joblessness is higher among women than among, meri. But
for exceptions, women who want to work have to be satisfied with unskilled daily wage labour.
It reduces women to being housewives alone depending on the man’s single salary. But
men spend a part of their salary on alcohol. Tribal women who are deprived o The resource that
is the basis of their relatively high status, experience downward economic and social ^dit^
Dependence on men grows further among other women whose social status is not the same as
that of the tribals (Menon 1995: 100-101). It also deprives women of the ““^Xloes
family’s food, water and other needs that are traditionally their responsibdity^ Thei role
not change but they have fewer resources to attend to it (Ganguly Thukral and Singh 995).
Coping Mechanisms
Moreover, forced displacement is a traumatic experience. A mode of coping will
drunkenness. One of its results is rise in domestic violence. Both drinking and dome
violence existed before displacement but they increase enormously after displacement as a
coning mechanism meant to deal with the trauma. It becomes a coping mechanism even o
many women. Since they have no work, many of them spend their time
^r drinkmg
as we noticed even in a rehabilitation colony in Orissa (Fernandes and Raj 1992. 153-15 ).
6
A second coping mechanism is internalisation of the dominant ideology. For example,
influenced by the consumerist values that enter their area with the outsiders coming to the
township, men spend much of their income on clothes and entertainment. Flence, even those
who earn a higher monetary income than in the past leave women with a relatively little share
of their salary to attend to their role in the family. Thus, women have to find economic
alternatives in order to deal with the reality of catering to family needs with reduced resources.
In the absence of other alternative many of them sell their body since that is the only asset they
own. For example, in most mining towns of Jharkhand, a specific locality has emerged called
“Azad Basti” (freedom shanties) where men who leave their families behind and work in the
mines, come to satiate their sexual thirst. (George 2002: 17).
Besides, the project changes the economy of a village drastically. Village women who
were used to a barter economy in which they played an important role have now to compete
with the salaried class to buy food in the market with no control over its price. This
combination of landlessness, joblessness and lack of exposure to the market economy reduces
their access to food. Already before displacement, women did not have full rights over land and
forests. But as long as they were community resources, they had some control over it.
Displacement deprives them of this control and leaves them with very few resources to take its
place. Malnutrition is one of its consequences (Bhanumathi 2002: 21-22).
Women too often internalise the dominant ideology as a coping mechanism. For
example, when less food is available than in the past, many take to the dominant custom of the
woman eating last after feeding the elders, men, boys and girls in that order. In case of
shortages women and girls live on gruel as studies of the DP/PAP in Orissa and the Delhi slums
show (Fernandes and Raj 1992: 153-155). Internalisation of this ideology continues also in the
attitude towards unskilled work. As stated above, most women are forced to take up unskilled
daily wage jobs since they do not have other alternatives. Some men whom the project employs
as maintenance staff in their offices do not want their wives to do domestic or other unskilled
work because “it is against an office worker’s dignity to have his wife doing menial work”.
Many women internalise the ideology of their place being in the kitchen and of not being
intelligent enough for skilled work (Menon 1995: 101). It closes the vicious circle against them.
3. Globalisation and the Gender Issue
The situation has deteriorated with liberalisation. With the profit motive as its main motor, the
corporate sector in general and the private sector in particular, require more land. Large-scale
mechanisation is integral to it. That has implications for the workers in general and women in particular.
Displacement after Globalisation
Intrinsic to the investor’s profit is the demand for more land than in the past. The Centre
expressed its intention to accede to this demand in the 1994 rehabilitation policy draft that began
“It is expected that there will be large scale investments, both on account of internal generation
of capital and increased inflow of foreign investments, thereby creating an enhanced demand
for land to be provided within a shorter time-span in an increasingly competitive market ruled
economic structure. Majority of our mineral resources... are located in the remote and
backward areas mostly inhabited by tribals” (MRD1994: 1.1-2).
7
The Centre provided it legal backing through the Highways Act 1995. the SEZ Act 2005
and the attempt to change the Fifth Schedule in 2001 to make acquisition of tribal land easier.
Most States too have introduced legal changes to suit this purpose. For example, Karnataka
amended its Land Reforms Act in 1995 to make leasing of land possible for aquaculture and raised
land ceiling to 108 acres and is planning to remove the restrictions on tenancy. Goa has amended
its industrial policy to encourage investment without giving priority to employment generation
(Goswami 2007). Gujarat too is contemplating changes (Lobo and Kumar 2007: 22-23).
Also the extent of land acquired or committed to private companies shows the same trend.
For example, West Bengal has committed 93.994.7 ha to industries alone (Ray 2006). Orissa had
used 40,000 ha for industries 1951-1995 but planned to acquire 40,000 ha more in the succeeding
decade (Fernandes and Asif: 1997: 69-70). AP has acquired in 1996-2000 half as much for
industry as it did in the preceding 45 years (Fernandes et al. 2001: 69-70). Goa had acquired 3.5%
of its landmass 1965-1995. If all its plans go through it will acquire 7.2% of its landmass in this
decade (Fernandes and Naik 2001: 37-39). Gujarat has promised land for 27 SEZs (Lobo and
Kumar 2007). The private sector is eyeing mining land in Jharkhand. Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Thus, there will be more displacement than in the last 60 years, much of it tribal for mining in
Middle India and dams in the Northeast (1WGIA: 2004: 314).
Implications for Women
The negative impacts felt till now will continue but globalisation will intensify them.
There are indications that it has negative gender implications even without displacement. An
example is the well known decline in the sex ratio in the 1990s in the 0-4 cohort in Punjab,
Haryana and the prosperous districts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, attributed to
greater dowry demands to satisfy the demands of consumerism (Bose 2001: 45-46). To counter
it prosperous families in these areas resort to sex-specific abortions (Srivastava 2001: 184-185).
Higher land acquisition has serious implications for women since that is the resource
that she requires more than men do. One is not certain that the rehabilitation policies that some
States have introduced will improve their status. Most speak of a job per family or self
employment. One does not have to repeat that jobs are given mainly to men. Besides one job
per family is not an alternative because after land alienation the remaining members do not
have resources for self-employment. So women from the families that are excluded are bound
to be doubly marginalized. Most women are involved in self-employment and production but
do not control the market. So they may end up as cheap labour without much income.
Besides, mechanisation that is integral to globalisation reduces employment. Till the
mid-1980s, the T. N. Singh Formula 1967 had stipulated that industries and mines give a job
each to the families they displaced. Mechanisation began in the mid-1980s, so SCOPE
abandoned this Formula in 1986 (MRD 1993). One can see its impact, among others, in the
mining companies. Coal India (CIL) gave a job each to 11,901 (36.34%) of the 32,751 families
displaced 1981-1985 (Govt of India 1985). But till 1992 immediately after mechanisation in the
Upper Karanpura Valley of Jharkhand the first 5 of the 25 mines that were to have 1,00,000
DPs, gave a job each to 638 (10.18%) of the 6,265 families displaced (BJA & NBJK 1993: 36).
8
CIL also changed its norms for giving jobs. In what later became Mahanadi Coal Limited in
Orissa, in the 1980s the norm was a job given for 3 acres of land acquired (Fernandes and Raj
1992: 33). In parts of Jharkhand it was changed to 2 acres if the person was a matriculate. Such
jobs went by and large to young men from the dominant castes even in tribal majority districts
since they alone had patta land and had access to high school education (Sherman 1993). By
and large tribals as well as women from the dominant castes were excluded from them.
With traditional transport the NALCO mines in the Koraput district of Orissa activated
in the late 1980s would have created 10,000 jobs and rehabilitated the 50,000 DP/PAPs of the
Upper Kolab dam and 6,000 of the NALCO Plant in the same district. Their income would
have created more indirect jobs. But the fully mechanised mines created some 300 skilled and
semi-skilled jobs that went to outsiders since its predominantly tribal PAPs lacked the skills
they required (Pattanaik and Panda 1992). According to a calculation the first 400,000 acres of
the SEZs that are integral to liberalisation will create 500,000 jobs with an investment of Rs
100,000 crores i.e. at Rs 20 lakhs per job. Studies indicate that in India an acre provides 2 jobs.
Thus, 300,000 out of the 800,000 jobs will be lost. Besides, most of their cultivators lack the
skills these jobs require and they will be rendered jobless (lhakur 2007).
The impact of fewer jobs on women is obvious. In the past too, those who wanted to
work could take up low paid unskilled employment. But they got at least food for their survival.
Even that possibility disappears with mechanisation. For example, the proportion of women in
the coal sector has come down from 30-40% in the 1970s to around 12% today (Bhanumathi
2002: 21). Even in the past, very few women could hope for technical training when the project
offered it to the displaced since high school studies required for it were accessible mostly to
boys, not even girls from the high castes (Sherman 1993). In exceptional cases as at Bhilai,
some women had permanent jobs in the past while their husbands were daily or temporary
workers. When mechanisation reduced jobs, one witnessed frequent cases of the project luring
the man to a distant place with the offer of a permanent job. The woman was thus compelled to
give up her permanent job “voluntarily,” and accompany her husband (Sen 1992: 392-394).
Conclusion
This bird’s eye view of development-induced displacement from a class-caste-gender
perspective shows that Indian society is divided on a ladder of class, caste, habitat and gender.
The lower one is on that ladder, the greater the negative impact of changes introduced in their
lives without their consent. Most DP/PAPs feel the negative impact of displacement but Dalits
and tribals feel it more than the others do and women among them are the worst affected. They
are deprived of the resources that were basic to their survival and are denied access to
education, health services and nutrition. It forces them to deny their children right to childhood
and to a decent adulthood. Women are deprived of the little autonomy they had. Development
cannot be real till such failures are remedied and its benefits reach those who pay its price.
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Lobo, Laney and Shashikant Kumar. 2007. Development-Induced Displacement in Gujarat 19472004. Vadodara: Centre for Culture and Development.
Mackenzie, A. 1995. The North-East Frontier of India. New Delhi: Mittal Publications.
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Fernandes and Enakshi Ganguly Thukral (eds). Development, Displacement and
Rehabilitation: Issues for a National Debate. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, pp.
135-163.
Menon, Geeta. 1995. "The Impact of Migration on the Work and Tribal Women's Status,” in
Loes Schenken-Sandbergen (ed). Women and Seasonal Labour Migration. New Delhi:
Sage, pp. 79-154.
MRD. 1993. The Draft National Policy for Rehabilitation of Persons Displaced as a
Consequence of Acquisition of Land. New Delhi: Ministry of Rural Development,
Government of India.
11
MRD. 1994. The Draft National Policy for Rehabilitation of Persons Displaced as a
Consequence of Acquisition of Land. New Delhi: Ministry of Rural Development,
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Murickan, Jose et al 2003. Development Induced Displacement: The Case of Kerala. Jaipur and
New Delhi: Rawat Publications.
Nag, Sajal 2002. ‘Whose Nation is it anyway: Nation Building and Displacement in Indian
Sub-Continent’ in C J Thomas (ed.) Op.Cit. Pp 26-50.
Naoroji, Dadabhai.1998. Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, New Delhi, Commonwealth
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Projects & Impoverishment Risks: Resettling Project-Affected People in India. Delhi:
Oxford Unversity Press, pp. 174-192.
Ramanathan, Usha. 1999. “Public Purpose: Points for Discussion,” in Walter Fernandes (ed).
The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 1998: For Liberalisation or for the Poor? New
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I louse.
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1, Jan-March), pp. 88-92.
12
V
GENDER BUDGETING IN INDIA
Gender Budgeting, a relatively new concept, aims al bringing in gender equality in the
allocation ol public hinds through recognition and identification of its implications for women in
a country. In budget 2005-06. the union government for the first time included a statement on
gender budgeting, w hich presented the magnitude of allocations for various programmes/schemes
under the 10 demands for grants that were expected to benefit women substantially. The total
allocations included in the gender budgeting statement constituted about 2.8% of the total
expenditure. With budget 2006-07. this gender budgeting exercise has been expanded to cover 24
demands for grants under 18 ministries/departments of the union government and five union
territories. I he total magnitude of the gender budget has now gone up to 4.67% of the total in the
2005-06 budget estimates. And the total magnitude of gender budget shows a rise in 5.1% of the
total in the budget estimate for 2006-07. The 2007-08 budget mentions the growing aw'areness of
gender sensitivities of budgetary allocations. According to the latest figures. 50
ministries/departments have set up gender budgeting cells. For 2007-08, 27
ministries/departments and 5 Union Territories covering 33 demands for grants have contributed
to a statement placed in the budget papers.
But the disappointing part is that even when you ask any person about gender budgeting
they look at you with hundreds of questions on their faces as if they just saw a ghost. People
today are simply not aware of what the concept of gender budgeting offers. 1 wish to trace the
meaning of gender budgeting as suggested by the government and bring out a comparative
analysis between the concept and the actual reality.
Before I move on to the Indian context, a brief background to the origin on gender
budgeting is required. Gender Responsive Budget Initiatives (GBRI) is an outcome of a
collaborative effort of the United Nations Development Research Centre, Canada. Gender
Budgeting is now practiced by many countries with an objective to support government and civil
society in examining national, regional and local budgets from a gender perspective and applying
the study results for the formulation of a gender responsive budgets. The ultimate slated goal of
gender budgeting in any country, therefore, is to bring gender equality in the allocation of public
funds and to enhance women’s participation in the decision making processes that shape their
lives. The first country to adopt gender budgeting was Australia in 1984. Since then gender
budgeting has become a part and parcel of the budgetary processes in many countries.
The inclusion of gender budget in the union budget is a rather promising development
and women’s activism needs to be given a lot of credit for it. The demand for a gender budget is
not a demand for a separate budget for women, rather, an attempt at dissecting the budget for its
gender specific impact since gender-based differences and discrimination are built into the entire
social-economic-political fabric of almost all societies. Here, the aim is to ensure a fair, just and
efficient distribution of public resources for the all round development of the society. A gender
neutral or gender blind national budget ignores the different, socially determined roles and
responsibilities of men and women and is bound to reach and benefit the men more than the
women unless concerted efforts are made to correct gender-based discrimination. The gender
budgeting statement presented in the budget provisions for programmes/schemes that are
substantially meant for the benefit of women in two parts (Part A & Part B). While Part A
presents 100 per cent women specific programmes and Part B presents women-specific budget
provisions under schemes where such allocations constitute at least 30 percent of the total
provisions.
1
4
When we talk of gender equality in India, we should not forget that even the India
Constitution envisages certain provisions that are very much committed to gender equality.
Article 14 — Equal rights and opportunities in political, economic and social sphere.
e
Article 15 - Prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex
Article 15(3) - Enables in affirmative discrimination in favour of women.
c
Article 39— Equal means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work.
e
Article 42 — Just and Humane conditions of work & maternity relief.
•
Article 51(A) (e)
women.
Fundamental duty to renounce practices, derogatory to dignity ol
PROVISIONS IN THE FIVE YEAR PLANS:The plan documents over the years reflected the evolving trends in gender matters.
Formal earmarking of the funds began with the Women’s Component Plan. However, gender
sensitivity in allocation of resources with the seventh plan in 1985.
The Seventh Plan (1985-1989) introduced the concept of monitoring of 27 beneficiary
oriented schemes for women by DWCD. The exercise continues and the number of
schemes is being expanded.
The Eighth Plan (1992-1997) highlighted for the first time a gender perspective and the
need to ensure a definite flow of funds from the general developmental sectors to women.
The plan document expresses that the benefits to development from different sectors
should not bypass women and special programmes on women should complement the
general development programmes.
The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) adopted the “Women’s Component Plan” as one of the
major strategies and directed both the central and the state governments to ensure not less
than 30% of the funds/benefited are earmarked in all the women’s related sectors.
•
The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) under the UPA government reinforces commitment to
gender budgeting to establish its gender differential impact and to translate gender
commitments into budgetary commitments. The Common Minimum Program (CMP) of
the UPA government also promises to work towards gender equality and to eradicate all
sorts of discrimination prevailing on the basis of sex in the country.
•
The Eleventh Plan (2007-2012): The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five Year Plan
mentions "Gender Equity requires adequate provisions to be made in policies and
schemes across Ministries and Departments. It also entails ‘strict adherence to gender
budgeting across the board
The government has also constituted a committee of
“feminist” economists to ensure gender-sensitive allocation of public resources in the 11
five-year plan. The 21-member group, headed by Syeda Hamid, member, Planning
Commission, includes well known “feminist” economists in order to promote gender
equality and more inclusive growth.
2
I he Ministry of Women and Child Development as the nodal ministry for the welfare,
development and empowerment of women has taken many initiatives to conceptualize strategies
and develop tools of Gender Budgeting and disseminate them at all strata. It has been stressed
from time to time by the government that gender budgeting is a process that entails maintaining a
gender perspective at various stages like programme/policy formulation, assessment of needs of
target groups, review of extant policies and guidelines, allocation of resources, implementation
of programmes, impact assessment, reorganization of resources and so on. A gender sensitive
budget is a culmination of this process. As the nodal department, the Ministry of Women and
Child Development has been undertaking advocacy in support of gender mainstreaming and
pursuing dissemination of concepts and tools of gender.
GENDER BUDGETING CELLS:-
In pursuance to the recommendations of the Inter-Departmental Committee set up under
the Chairmanship of Secretary (Expenditure) to consider issues regarding gender budgeting, the
Department has established a “Gender Budgeting Cell”. The Gender Budgeting Committee has
been entrusted with several responsibilities. Firstly, to make an assessment of the benefits
reaching women through the existing programmes and schemes of the Department. The
assessment is to be reflected in the annual report of the Department. The assessment is to be
reflected to come up with specific schemes targeted towards women. Also it is to clearly bring
out scheme-wise provisions and physical targets for benefiting women in the Annual Plan and
Performance Budget of the Department. And lastly, it is to provide inputs for the detailed
demands for grants for the financial year.
The GBC also acts as a nodal agency for all gender responsive budgeting initiatives. It
guides and undertakes collection of gender disaggregated data for target group of beneficiaries
covered under expenditure, revenue raising/policy and so on. GBC has to guide gender budgeting
initiatives within departments as well as in the field units responsible for implementing
government programmes. Presently 42 Gender Budgeting Cells have been set up in the various
departments and ministries.
With this background, we may proceed to examine Gender Budgeting as a “tool” for
women’s empowerment. The starting point would logically be looking at the constituents of
“Women’s Empowerment”. These are defined in the 10th Plan document quoted below: •
Social Empowerment - to create an enabling environment through various affirmative
developmental policies and programmes for development of women besides providing
them easy and equal access to all the basic minimum services so as to enable them to
realize their full potentials.
Economic Empowerment - to ensure provision of training, employment and income
generation activities with both ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ linkages with the ultimate
objective of making all potential women economically independent and self reliant.
Gender Justice - to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and thus, allow women
to enjoy not only the de-jure but also the de-facto rights and fundamental freedom on par
with men in all spheres, viz. political, economic, social, civil, cultural etc.
3
GENDER BUDGETING TOOLS:-
A) Quantum and trend analysis of gender based resource allocation and expenditure
The term gender budgeting b\ its very definition and nomenclature has underpinnings in financial
resource allocations and thus most of the gender budgeting exercises focus on quantitative
resource allocation for women, under gender specific and pro women categories of public
expenditure. It is no doubt necessary to get a macro position on trend of allocation for women.
1 lowever this approach has several limitations as a means of empowering women. Some of these
are listed below:
a) How do we judge the adequacy of allocation w ithout the availability of a benchmark based on
assessed gap in availability of public facilities? The general concern expressed is - when women
are under 50 % of the pop why should public expenditure on women be less than 5% of the
Budget? There is no apparent rationale behind a WCP of 30% and that too only in the social
sector’s budget? Why not 50% or 75%?
b) The overall size of allocation also obfuscates details like actual utilization of expenditure by
women. Core issues like design of programme and its effectiveness from the gender perspective,
too many small interventions, barriers to access etc, remain opaque in macro level analysis of
quantitative allocation for women.
c) A rising trend in allocation of funds for women does not necessarily translate into
enhanced benefits or wider coverage. The rise in allocation may just cover enhanced cost of
delivery of services with no increase in quantity of services or even quality7.
d) The tendency is to analyze expenditure of each level of Government in isolation. For example
gender analysis of Union budgets is carried out w ithout linking state expenditure. In the federal
setup this gives an incomplete picture. Any comment on say expenditure on health for women is
incomplete if we look at the Government of India Budget or State Budgets in isolation. Both have
to be seen to get the complete picture.
e) Without availability' of gender-disaggregated data it is difficult to comment upon the true
position of incidence of public expenditure from a gender perspective.
B) Gender Audit of sectors like Education, Agriculture, Health, Industry etc.
Many gender budgeting studies have presented gender profiles of sectors like health, education,
agriculture, employment and so on at a national or state level. This is certainly a more effective
mechanism than the first approach based on quantification of resources. However in most of these
studies, the issues raised are deficiencies in design and/or implementation of programmes, based
on field level surveys. Little attempt has been made to benchmark the scale of resources required
to empower women meaningfully, based on adequate availability of resources and reliability of
services. Another limitation is that this approach does not recognize the need for holistic
empowerment of women. Can we address women’s empowerment in isolation on a sectoral
basis? If she has access to a Primary Health Centre but no income to feed herself and is debt
ridden due to lack of adequate sustainable income, would we say she is empowered? Effective
improvement in health for women requires not only access to a medical centre but also transport
(road), employment (food), water and sanitation and so on. A sectoral approach is thus uni
dimensional when rated as an empowerment tool.
4
C) Gender audit based on position reflected by gender related Macro indicators.
Status and trends of certain gender related macro indices-MMR, Women’s access to health,
literacy rates, participation in PRI, employment statistics etc.- are quoted as proxy indicators for
level of women’s empowerment. Adverse gender indices are cited as justification for
enhancement in quantum of allocation. However, this approach again is constrained in that there
is no benchmarking of the quantum of allocation required to achieve the targeted improvement in
these indices. Thus the effectiveness of this approach is questionable. Further, these are but
averages. They require a reality check in terms of regional imbalances, class based differentials,
gross inequalities and so on. These indices also do not address issues of availability and access.
For example, if say, coverage of water & sanitation facilities is said to be universal for all
habitations. Is this true of all areas in desired quantum and quality? Coverage has to be seen
against an acceptable yardstick for availability and reliability of service. These indices are also
found wanting on the scale of holistic empowerment. Planning for improvement in MMR cannot
be done by merely addressing provision of health facilities. This has to go in tandem with
education, adequate water sanitation, nutrition and roads for emergency situations. If a health
infrastructure is created, manning it effectively may require basic infrastructure like water,
sanitation, roads and electricity. A single macro indicator may thus not serve the purpose.
D) Women’s participation in gender budgeting through Fiscal Decentralization and local
level institutions.
This could prima facie be an ideal solution that would take into account field level requirements
of women and with participation of women in planning and implementation, outcome
achievement is more likely. However, desirable as it is, we have to recognize the constraints in
the current context.
a) The biggest constraint is limited financial devolution.
The structure of public finances and expenditure in India is a multi tiered one and resources flow
to the field through several layers of administrations and through a variety of modes- Centrally
Sponsored, Central Sector, State sector. Additional Central Assistance and so on. The net result is
that very little devolution of financial powers rests with the local level administrations. Further
schematic designs and conditionalities leave them with virtually no flexibility. Accountability too
is diffused. These problems are faced even in some of the states that are upheld as best models. In
a study commissioned by World Bank “India- Fiscal Decentralization to Rural Governments”,
some key findings based upon studies in Kerala and Karnataka, indicate:I)
Inter-governmental relations are mostly hierarchical. The design and implementation
of the decentralization program are a state government responsibility. However,
implementation of key aspects of the programme is lagging. Districts and blocks have
no taxing powers and little expenditure autonomy. Both in Karnataka and Kerala,
they more or less function as spending agents of higher-level governments.
II)
Both States have weak, outdated and poorly functioning financial management
systems that debilitate the policy making and planning process, as well as the
management and accountability of the decentralized system. In the absence of
reliable information on the revenues and expenditures of local bodies, neither the
States nor the Centre can lead a reasonable fiscal decentralization programme.
III)
An important lesson learned in these case studies is that one necessary condition for a
well functioning system of fiscal decentralization is a healthy State financial position.
Because the Constitutional Amendment defined decentralization to be a State subject,
until State Governments can improve their deficit position, local governments can
5
expect continued under-funding of their present grant entitlements, resistance to new
program development, and hesitation to assign more own source revenues to local
governments.
b) Another constraint is the limited effective participation of women in field level planning
and implementation.
Women’s participation in local administration is constitutionally provided. However the effective
impact would require immense capacity building and overcoming socio-economic barriers. Field
level studies conducted in Karnataka indicate a few problems like Elected women representatives
(EWR s) in PR1 s are not well endowed or trained in technicalities of budgeting even though they
may be aw'are of their needs at the local level like water, sanitation, security etc. I hey are not
always given an equal opportunity to express themselves or impose the perceived requirements of
women.
E) Identification and promotion of Gender Audit based best practices There are abundant instances of best practices in the realm of gender empowerment. Projects
have been taken up to successfully demonstrate the strength women draw in collectivity- self-help
group schemes and cooperatives etc. There are also projects reflecting the potential for women in
skill upgradation, micro credit based entrepreneurship etc. 1 lowever, most of these efforts are not
taken to scale in a universal manner. The best practices tend to be project and culture specific.
National level applicability often poses problems.
F) Reliance on women specific schemes
Women-specific schemes are devised for nutrition, education, vocational training and so on.
These are no doubt critical in the empowerment process. However, these tend to be uni
dimensional in focus and do not serve as a tool for holistic empowerment.
G) Reliance on Convergence of interventions.Given the multitude of schemes and programmes for women, spread across various Departments
and Ministries of the Government, one approach towards empowerment of women is seeking to
converge these interventions, mostly through self help groups (SHG s) or women cooperatives.
This could prove an effective empowerment approach and also finds support in the 10th Plan
documents.
ROLE OF SELF HELP GROUPS (SHG’S):-
The SHG is an association of people belonging to similar socio-economic characteristics,
residing in same locality. The SHG’s are voluntary associations of people formed to attain some
common goals. These are groups which have similar social identity, heritage, caste or traditional
occupations and come together for a common cause and manage resources for the benefit of the
group members. The SHG is a group of rural poor who have volunteers to organize themselves
into a group for eradication of poverty of its members. They agree to save regularly and convert
their savings into a common fund and such other funds that may receive as a group through a
common management. SHG’s are presently promoted by governments, development banks and
voluntary agencies, with focus on social and economic issues, mainly thrift and credit
programmes.
The SHG have given a new lease of life to the women in villages for their social and
~ain focus ot
of activity ot
of me
the SHG
generate oav...^
savings for
economic empowerment. The mam
dno ’s is to
io gcnciaiv
income generating projects in the village. The seed capital is provided by UNDP. This has
pioneered a unique participatory method for the identification of ventures as well as beneficiaries
6
at the grassroots level in the spirit of planning from below. Although the enln- point of the project
is mainly credits and savings, the SHG’s benefit the people in every aspect of life in a village
community. Enabling women to help themselves through entrepreneurship, it raises their sense of
self worth, making them even more eager to be productive members of society. These benefits
indicate the worthiness and viability of assisting entrepreneurial women in the developing world,
though multiple challenges still exist.
CRITICISMS:However, the point being made here is that this gender budgeting exercise is based on
numerous assumptions relating to the proportion of allocations under a scheme that directly
benefits women. Several of these assumptions seem unrealistic and such unacceptable
assumptions weaken the relevance of this particular gender budgeting exercise. One can take
many examples to prove the unrealistic pattern of this concept. Like the Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) scheme is targeted at all children up to six years of age and also
includes pregnant women and nursing mothers, as beneficiaries. Hence, inclusion of 100 per cent
allocations under ICDS as women specific is not justifiable, although a lesser proportion would
have been. Likewise, many of the schemes for children are meant both for boys and girls;
including 100 per cent allocations under these child specific schemes as women-specific is
problematic.
The entire allocations for Indira Awas Yojana (1AY) have also been included as womenspecific, apparently because the houses built are registered in the name of women members.
1 lowever, the houses built benefit men and women equally and hence should not be seen as solely
for the benefit of women. Moreover, the guidelines provided in the Indira Awas Yojana also have
a provision for allotting houses in the name of both husband and wife, and in cases where there is
no eligible female member in the family available/alive, IAY houses can also be allotted to male
members. Thus, including 100 percent allocations under Indira Awas Yojana as women-specific
is questionable. According to the gender budget statement, almost 65 per cent of total budget
provisions under the department of health and family welfare are meant substantially for the
benefit of women. This seems unrealistic and needs to be looked at carefully.
It is quite disturbing to note that in the 2006-07 BE, the entire (i.e., 100 per cent)
allocations for Safdarjung Hospital, Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and AIIMS (all three
are in New Delhi), under the department of health and family welfare, have been included as the
women-specific allocations in the gender budget. It must be noted here that it might have been the
intention of the government to include in the gender budget statement only the allocations for
gynecology and obstetrics out of the total allocations for these institutions, but if that is the case
the total allocations for these institutions are unrealistic figures which must be rectified by the
government.
Entire (100 per cent) allocations for Nehru Yuva Kendra and Promotion of national
Integration under ministry of youth affairs and sports have been included as women-specific,
which could imply an assumption that welfare of children is the sole responsibility of women.
The government must explain on what basis they have included almost the entire allocations
under the department of women and child development as women-specific.
The gender budget exercise thus presents problems at several levels. First and foremost,
the total magnitude of gender budget of 5.1% is low in itself. Budget 2006-07 revealed that
women are low in priority in the allocation of resources by the government in many crucial
sectors, like rural development, secondary and higher education and police, etc, which need to be
7
stepped up significantly. Moreover, the assumptions that have been made in arriving even al this
meager figure are highly problematic and need to be challenged. On one hand, some of these
assumptions are clearly wrong, for instance, putting 100 per cent allocations for Nehru Yuva
Kendra and promotion of national integration under ministry of y outh affairs and sports in the
gender budget. On the other hand, other assumptions are deeply patriarchal, for instance, the
assumption that anything that has to do with children, anything that has to do with contraception
and family planning is for the exclusive benefit of women. The eternal clubbing of women and
children as one category by the policy-makers in India should end. and the specific needs of these
two sections of the population must be addressed distinctly. And. unless the misleading
assumptions are rectified, the relevance of gender budgeting attempted by the government will be
diluted.
CONCLUS1ON:However, it cannot be denied that Gender Budgeting Initiatives is an attempt to give
women “agency: i.e., the power, the place in the structure of governance that enables them to
direct the local and the macro economy to serve their choices. This will enable women to direct
the economy in a space where they can do so. Thus we should appreciate the fact that at least an
effort has been made for which the credit goes to women’s activism and NGO’s like National
Commission for Women who submitted an III page draft of demands relating to Gender
Budgeting to the government. The need today is to empower the women and not coniine her to
the traditional roles assigned to her since the time immemorial. Today, the need is not to create a
revolution but to make people understand the concept of “Gender Equality” which in the context
of present day India seems to be a myth!!
********
References
®
•
•
•
•
•
Seventh Five Year Plan Document (1985-1989). Planning Commission, Government of
India
Eighth Five Year Plan Document (1992-1997), Planning Commission, Government of
India
Ninth Five Year Plan Document (1997-2002), Planning Commission, Government of
India
Tenth Five Year Plan Document (2002-2007), Planning Commission, Government of
India
Approach Paper to Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012), Planning Commission,
Government of India.
Union budget 2006-07, (www.indiabudget.nic.in)
Union Budget 2007-08 (vvww.indiabudget.nic.in)
Nirmala Banerjee and Maithreyi Krishnaraj: “Sieving Budgets for Gender”, Economic
and political Weekly, October 30, 2004.
Subrat Das and Yamini Mishra: “Women’s Component Plan and Gender Budgeting in
India: Still a Long Way to Go!, Yojana, Vol. 50, October 2006.
Nirmala Banerjee, Polumi Roy: “What does the State do for Indian Women?” EPW,
October 30, 2004.
8
Women’s Health - urban India
Women in Emerging Indian
Economy-Silence to Voice: Problems
and Possibilities
26th November,2007
Community Health Cell
Bangalore
Framework of discussion
• Health - is a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease. WHO, 1948
• Health is a human right - “Primary Health
care approach” Alma Ata Declaration, 1978
• Globalization led Structural Adjustment Decreasing state responsibility in health
Private sector-curative health care
Dismantling of public health services_____
1.
Women’s ill health
• Maternal mortality - risk of death of
women is highest during the child bearing
years due to pregnancy and delivery
related causes.
Biological Causes - toxemia , hemorrhage,
infection , obstructed labour
What are the reasons leading to or
precipitating maternal mortality ?
Maternal mortality
• Unable to access to affordable and quality
obstetric and medical care
- Health services- Absent / Not equipped
- Lack of power in choosing to become
pregnant or seek abortion or space pregnancies
- Forced to prioritize others’ needs over her
needs
Maternal mortality
• Poor nutritional status
- Chronic undernourishment
- Anemia at the time of marriage and child
bearing
• Discrimination of girl at the household and
in the society ( access to food in a poor
household !)
• Overwork - household work and engaged
in other work - Inadequate food intake
Maternal Mortality
• No maternity benefits in the workplace
• Frequent childbirth,early age at childbirth poor health status of women
• Poor Educational status of women
• Lack of sensitive health services and health
programmes - Women’s health has always
been Reproductive and Child Health !!
1
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CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
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4,343,902.51
TOTALS
155,000.00
880.00
2,280.00
158,160.00
14,493.40
245,571.03
895,157.30
1,620,120.00
2,775,341.73
4,343,902.51
EXAMINED AND FOUND CORRECT
for M. MARULASIDDIAH & CO.,
(M. MARULASIDDIAH)
PROPRIETOR
Women’s health
• We have to address the socio
economic,political,gender dimensions that
determine health status
• Medical needs other than reproductive role
have to be catered - Nutrition
Urban India
• Contributes to economic growth - 2/3rd of
GDP and 90% of government revenues
• Rapid expansion -unplanned
(slums constitute 1 /4th of urban housing)
• We need to create enabling conditions for
women to realize their Reproductive rights
• Inadequate infrastructure (eg. sanitation)
and crucial deficiencies in services (eg.
water)
• We need to free women from the systemic
Gender based Violence in their lives
• Deteriorating environment
Context of Urban Poverty
Women in Urban India
• Urban Poor- reflection of rural poverty
• Identity crisis - Unrecognized
settlements,lack documents of citizenship,
• Unaccounted people - Ignored in resource
allocation
• Socialization is stressful - urban perils of
corruption.no land rights.no social
security,isolation
• Hazardous,unorganized occupations
• Urbanization - slum eviction and demolition
Determinants of their health status
1. Poverty
2. Malnutrition
3. Overcrowding
4. Lack of basic sanitation
5. Lack of potable water and water for other
uses
6. Inadequate housing
7. Gender roles and norms - double burden of
work
Women in urban India
Social status of women
7. Domestic violence
8. Desertion - women headed families
9. Harassment at workplace
10. No financial or social security
11. Psychologically stressed
12. Lack of power in the larger societal structures
13. Lack of affordable and quality health care
• Violence against women: Ever married
women who have experienced spousal
violence urban- 30.4%, rural -40.2%
• Currently married women who usually
participate in household decisions :
urban-61.4% rural- 48.5 %
(National Family Health Survey - 3
2005-06)
2
Indicators of Women’s health
status - NFHS- 3 (2005-06)
Demographic Indicators
Maternal Health -NFHS 3
Urban Rural
%
%
1.Women married by age 18
28
52.5
2. Total fertility rate (children per
woman)
2.07
2.98
3. Median age at first birth for
women 25-49
20.9
19.3
Nutritional status of women
NFHS-3 (2005-06)
Urban Rura
I
%
%
1. Women with Body Mass Index
below normal___________ ______
2. Women who are overweight or
obese ____________ __________
3. Ever married 15-49 women anemic_______________________
4. Pregnant women 15-49 - anemic
19.8
38.8
Urban Rural
%__
%__
1 .Mother who had 3 antenatal
visits in the last birth
73.8
42.8
2. Mothers who consumed IFA
for 90 days or more when they
were pregnant with their last
child______
3. Births assisted by a skilled
birth attendant
34.5
18.1
75.2
39.1
4. Institutional births
69.4
31.1
Urban Health Services
• Family welfare bureaus
• Urban Family Welfare Centres
• Urban Health posts
28.9
8.6
51.5
58.2
54.6
59
Status of Health Care services
• One urban health centre for every 230,000
persons, where as there should be one for
every 50,000 (recommendation of Krishnan
• Maternity Homes
• Tertiary referral centres
Lacking in Preventive and Primary
Health care services
Status of Health Care services
State
committee report ,1982)
• The Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) covers only a sixth of the urban poor.
(Rajalakshmi TK. Urban Crisis. Frontline 24(9):May 518,2007)
No. treated in
Govt. Hospital
(per 1000)
Rural Urban
Per capita
Public
expenditure
on health (Rs.)
Karnataka
458
298
54
India
453
431
70
3
Women,Work and Health
70------
60-----41.9
50------
• Globalization,Liberalization - Change in
workforce composition -more women
40-----30------
24 8
• Major share - manufacturing and services
20----10-----
i
0 —
Complete ANC
(3ANC+IFA+TT)
Institutional
deliveries
| Rural Average
[ ^''2'] Urban Average
[HU
Urban Poor
Re-analysis of NFHS 2 (1998-99) by Standard of Living Index, EHP: 2003
Presentation By Dr.Siddharth, Urban Health Resource Centre
Providing healthcare to the urban poor of India: Challenges.Opportunities and programrr
Experiences: http://www.uhrc.in/name-CmodsDownload-index-req-viewsingledownload-l
Pattern of women’s employment
• Increase in self-employed (increase in
domestic services,home based activities to
cater to the manufacturing industry)
• Poor wages,poor work conditions
• Assembly line production, hazardous industry
• Much of women’s work -remains unpaid
Unpaid activities was more for females (51%)
as compared to men (33%) [Time use survey CSO 2000]
Health effects -Women workers
• Constant smell-Nausea and Loss of appetite
• Acidity-stomach upset and Giddiness- Come to
work skipping breakfast
• Psychological stress - Target oriented work
- Work allocation
- Harassment by male supervisors- subtle
- Burden of household work
• Probably -women get recognition and
remuneration.improvement in the relative
bargaining power within households
• Double burden of both inside and outside work
Health effects -Women workers
• Bottle washer- Severe pain in hands,unable to
lift hands ; Risk of injuries when bottle breaks
• Pharma- capsule filling - Injuries in hands while
handling tablet strips
• Leather - Constant itching in hands and legs
• Salt - skin itching,blurring of vision, dysentery
and stomach ache
• Garment - Sneezing,Cough;Headache;Hip &
Back pain
The costs of work:Social transformation and perceptions of health in a region
of transition: A study of Chengalpattu.TamilNadu. Jeyarajan J.Swaminathan P 2000.
Health effects -Women workers
• Lack of protective gear - absent /misfit
• Strict supervision and no rest allowed
• Absenteeism during menstrual cycles
• No maternal health care- casual/contract
workers
• No appropriate health care to solve the
occupation induced problems
4
Health effects -Macro Concerns
• Repetitive movements - musculoskeletal
problems- aches and pains
• Small forces exerted repeatedly - No
ergonomic standards set
• Postural constraints in both heavy work and
light work - no ergonomic standards
• Injuries
• Psychological and physical Stress is never
accounted in health interventions
Initiatives
• In 2004- Guidelines for health projects in slums
by the Centre
• Urban Health Task Force (UHTF) of the
National Rural Health Mission has submitted its
report on improving Urban Health Care
• JNNURM promised opportunities for health
infrastructure and basic services to the poor USAID,World Bank funded project with public-private
partnership, privatization of services (Delhi-water), Construction
- change in laws,simplifying conversion of agricultural land for
non-agricultural purposes.
Recommendations-UHTF
• Reorganization of the health centres
Urban health Centre for 50000 population
First referral unit for 250000 population
• Create Link workers
• Primary UH infrastructure be maintained by the
urban local body
Women’s health issuesNeglected
• Women are never recognized as “Workers”
• Perception that women’s complaints are
psychological
• Use of inappropriate scientific methods to
measure illness
• Lack of organization of workers
Recommendations-UHTF
• Urban Health should receive priority and
dedicated attention by all levels of the
government
• Need a long term view and perspective
planning to address the issues in a
comprehensive, systematic and time-bound
manner
• Specifically target the urban vulnerable
population
Civil society reflections and
Initiatives
• People’s Health Movement - Women’s Health
Charter
• National Health Assembly - March 2007
• Women's health - NGOs and other civil society
organizations
Vimochana, Garment workers’ union Bangalore
Dilassa .Mumbai
SAMA.Delhi MASUM.Pune SAHAJ,Baroda
5
PHM’s demands for Urban Health
• Rural development
• Habitation - housing.water.sanitation
• Recognize existence of slums
• Urban health infrastructure
• Intersectoral committee for public health
• Integration of vertical programmes (such as
Tb.HIV/AIDS) with the primary health care
system
• Strengthen primary health care in urban areas
6
- Media
RF_WH_.11_12_SUDHA.pdf
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