Gender-Perspectives-on-Development-English-Version-munotes

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1 1 HISTORICAL JOURNEY OF THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT Unit Structure 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Understanding Development 1.3 Context of Development 1.4 Theories discussing Development 1.5 Development as viewed from Indian cultural perspective 1.6 Social reformers’ contribution towards development 1.7 Case study of Bhutan – Gross National Happiness Index 1.8 Historical Journey of Development 1.8.1 Millennium Development Goals 1.8.2 Sustainable Development Goals 1.9 Gender and Development 1.10 Gender and Development with reference to Work 1.11 Summary 1.12 Questions 1.13 References 1.0 OBJECTIVES 1. To understand the meaning of development 2. To learn about the historical evolution with reference to development from the past to the present. 1. 1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we will learn about the meaning of development, the geopolitics associated with it and the influence of Western countries. We will also look into development from that of Indian culture perspective and religious viewpoints and social reformers take on it. Further, we will look into the case study of Bhutan, which has created it's own method to understand development, i.e., using that of Gross Happiness Index. We will also look into the Gender and Development relationship. This chapter would act as a base for this paper which you are studying. It would also help you to develop a perspective from both National and International ways. munotes.in

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2 Gender Perspectives on Development
2 Development is an often used word, especially with reference to categorizing different countries. For example – We categorize or classify countries on the scale of Developed, Developing and Underdeveloped countries. 1.2 UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENT The Cambridge dictionary meaning of Development is the process in which someone or something grows or changes and becomes more advanced. The term development can be related to the national economic growth which began in the United States of America in the early 1940s. It also had an impact on the foreign policy over newly emerging countries, some of which had recently got independence. Development is a process. Development can be generally linked to governance, relationship, government and market relations.According to the United Nations Development Program- Development is one of the important focus of the United Nations. It is basically multidimensional undertaking to achieve a higher quality of life for all people. Countries have to achieve development in every field like Economic development, social development and environmental protection, sustainable development. .Development in a country is also measured through Human Development Index. Human Development Index The HDI was established to underline that people and their capabilities, not just economic progress, should be used to evaluate a country's development. The HDI may also be used to examine national policy choices, such as how two nations with the same GNI per capita can achieve such disparities in human development. These disparities have the potential to spark discussion regarding government policy goals. The HDI is a summary measure of average accomplishment in major characteristics of human development, such as living a long and healthy life, being informed, and having a reasonable quality of living. For each of the three dimensions, the HDI is the geometric mean of normalised indices. The health component is determined by life expectancy at birth, whereas the education dimension is determined by the average number of years of schooling for individuals aged 25 and above, as well as the predicted number of years of schooling for children beginning school. Gross national income per capita is used to determine the level of life. The logarithm of income is used in the HDI to show the decreasing relevance of income as GNI rises. The three HDI dimension indices' scores are then combined using geometric mean to create a composite index. Only a portion of what human growth includes is captured by the HDI. Inequalities, poverty, human security, empowerment, and other issues are not addressedi. munotes.in

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Historical Journey of the
Concept of Development The sum of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) and net income (positive or negative) from outside the home country is known as gross national income (GNI). It shows the value created by a country's economy in a particular year, regardless of whether the value is generated domestically or through foreign revenuesii. 1.3 CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES United States has a key role in popularizing development ideology. It cannot be denied that it sponsored several social scientists and asked them to build theories and knowledge on development which resulted in both positive and negative effects. One of the side effects of these theories was that the capitalist economic development idea was promoted to all other countries too. Several theories have emerged after the World War II which has been discussing about development. Development is almost as old as civilization itself. However, its widespread use as a general concept can be associated with humanity's well-being in western societies, from Greco-Roman civilizations. Later the term development prevailed on concepts such as modernization or liberation. The World Commission for Environment and Development published a report entitled Our Common Future in 1987, also known as the Bruntland Report, which was an instrument used to spread the concept of sustainable development. Between birth and adulthood, human development is the process of growth and change. Human development is effected by a number of factors like nutrition, environmental conditions, lack of diseases, lack of natural calamities. The ruling state too plays a major role in the human development let it be through policies, measures, decisions, Wars etc. 1.4 THEORIES DISCUSSING DEVELOPMENT The concept development can be viewed from multiple variables like economic, social, political, gender, cultural, religious and environment based. Several social scientists have built theories that connect development with economic growth and industrialization. According to Karl Marx, Industrial society and the growth of capitalism brought about unequal development, giving power to the hands of few who tend to control a large section of population i.e., have’s (Capitalists) controlling the have not’s (Workers). For Karl Marx, an equal society is when workers do not feel alienated from the product they produce for him that is what is development, just society Some of the important theories are – 1. Modernization theory - W. Rostow gave this theory in his book, The Stages of Economic Growth – A Non-Communist Manifesto, published in the year 1960. munotes.in

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4 Rostow discussed about five stages of growth -Stage 1- Traditional Society Stage 2- Transitional Society Stage 3- Take off stage Stage 4- Drive to Maturity Stage 5 High Mass Communication The idea is that societies need to or will be developing in a linear way. 2. Dependency – Scholars who spoke about dependency theory are Andre Gunder Frank, Paul A. Baran and others. These theorists argued that the former colonial nations were many a times still living in under developed conditions because of Western Industrialized nations. 3. World systems theory - The World Systems Theory is associated with that of Immanuel Wallerstein. Here he discussed three tier structure. i.e. Core, periphery, semi periphery. He discusses that the development has been taking place but it many a times benefits the semiperipheral states and not for the peripheral states that provide, labor, raw materials etciii. If you remember, we have already studied these theories in detail in semester II-Theorizing Development and Globalization 1.5 DEVELOPMENT AS VIEWED FROM INDIAN CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Development unlike west is not just connected with accumulation of material objects but also sharing the earned wealth through donations, good deeds and this is believed to be passed on from one generation to another. We also cannot ignore certain practices of our culture like the Caste system which creates unequal development, practices like untouchability which is unjust. Even today, one can read a newspaper and find crimes on the basis of caste. These practices are also a part of our society that we cannot ignore. These practices lead to an unequal and lopsided society. 1.6 SOCIAL REFORMER’S ON EMPOWERING WEAKER SECTIONS Several Social Reformer’s have discussed about development directly and indirectly. Some worked to improve the situation of Women, Ban Child Marriage, improve the status of Women, Ban Sati System etc. Father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhiji said that when a woman is able to walk freely in a road even at the middle of night without fearing, that is the day when we could say that we have modernized, developed. These lines show the concept of holistic development upon which Gandhiji believed in. It also shows that improving the status of women is also very important to munotes.in

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Concept of Development consider oneself as a developed country. Reformers have also discussed on improving the village economy, cottage based industries, handicraft-based industries, etc. In other words, growth is not just economics but a way of life which is equal, healthy and just. Special emphasis was laid on the educational development of the masses as major population was away from educational facilitation and was deliberately kept away from the facilities which would contribute to their success. Mahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, Rajshrei Shahu Maharaj, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and many others, tirelessly fought for the rights of the depressed classes for the overall development of the nation. 1.7 CASE STUDY OF BHUTAN – GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS INDEX The uniqueness of Bhutan is that they do not rate the growth or development through that of GDP. They have their own data which is derived locally and which suits their own culture and tradition. It is based upon the value system on which Bhutanese people believe in, i.e., leading a happy, healthy and peaceful life. The term ‘gross national happiness index was first given by the fourth King of Bhutan, King Jigme in the year 1972. He pointed out that the Gross National Index was more important than that of Gross Domestic Product. GHP tried to have an approach where there is balance in economics, human well-being and growth. This was useful for different sectors like government policies, NGOs and even business. The GNH tool is measured through nine major areas like- 1. The Psychological Wellbeing in a given population. 2. Health especially among women, children, old age etc. 3. Education is seen as very important factor. 4. Time 5. Retaining the Cultural diversity and resilience in the population 6. Having good governance 7. Developing a community which has a vital role 8. Retaining the ecological diversity 9. Improving the standard of living. There are in total, 33 indicators within these nine domains. It also draws people into four groups like unhappy, narrowly happy, extensively happy and deeply happy. The policies here also tries to understand as to how they could develop self-sufficiency. In other words, through GHP collective happiness of Bhutan is measured and then the policies are formulated accordingly. Check Your Progress 1. Explain the Gross National Happiness Index ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ munotes.in

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6 2. Discuss the meaning of Development as discussed by UNDP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.8 HISTORICAL JOURNEY OF DEVELOPMENT During the early 1950s and 1960s development was largely viewed with reference to the quantitative instead of qualitative change in the country. The theories were also designed with this aspect taken into consideration. It cannot be denied that these theories are aimed at creating a pattern in which a direction or benchmark is given to the developing countries to imitate the West (Developed countries) model. Industrialization was seen as the focus than developing the existing primary sector-based agriculture. Some scholars like Rabie (2016) points out that development cannot be effective if the cultural roots or context is not taken into consideration. One has to look into factors like people's way of life etc. before bringing any form of changes in the programs or implementing any . Hence the concept of Development has evolved with time. There are now different types of development discussed apart from the traditional economic development. There is gender development, sustainable development, human development taken as important pointers for making policies. Let us look into some of them. 1.8.1 Millennium Development Goals The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals that UN Member States had agreed to achieve by the year 2015. Different world leaders had signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration on September 2000. It is a set of goals that are aimed at improving the conditions in terms of combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. Each Millennium Development Goal has set targets for 2015 and there are also indicators used which have been monitoring progress from 1990 levels. The Millennium Development Goals has been now superseded by that of Sustainable Development Goals. Let us now look into the MDG goals - Goal 1 : Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2 : Achieve universal primary education Goal 3 : Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4 : Reduce child mortality Goal 5 : Improve maternal health Goal 6 : Combating HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases Goal 7 : Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8 : Develop a global partnership for development munotes.in

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Concept of Development Some of targets listed above have also been partially achieved now and some are still in progress. Let us look into the next developmental goal i.e. sustainable development goal. 1.8.2 Sustainable Development Goals Members of United Nation-States in the year 2015 have adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goals are believed to help both the present and the future generations. It is an action plan which is common for all countries like developed, developing or underdeveloped. The goals view that a balanced development needs to be there like – We have to focus on improving health, education, infrastructure at the same time we need not compromise with important measures which focus on reducing inequality, developing standard of living of people, improving the climatic conditions and preserving forests etc. There are seventeen goals in total. Let us look into some of them – GOAL 1: No Poverty GOAL 2: Zero Hunger GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being GOAL 4: Quality Education GOAL 5: Gender Equality GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production GOAL 13: Climate Action GOAL 14: Life below Water GOAL 15: Life on Land GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions GOAL 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goal Check Your Progress 1. List out the Millennium Developmental Goals ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ munotes.in

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8 2. List out the Sustainable Developmental Goals ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.9 GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT According to the World Development Report (WDR) 2012, gender can be viewed as socially constructed norms and ideologies that determine the behaviour and actions of men and women. Understanding the gender relations and the power dynamics behind them is a precondition for understanding individuals’ access and distribution of resources. It is also the ability to make decisions. The gender relations not only effect the adults but also both boys and girls in terms of social development. It needs to be also observed that compared with men, women control fewer political and economic resources, including land, employment, capital and traditional positions of authority. Acknowledging and incorporating these gender inequalities into programmes and analyses is therefore extremely important, both from a human rights perspective and to maximise impact in terms of socio-economic development. The WDR 2012 also highlights the importance of directly targeting the different obstacles faced in terms of women’s equality (especially in different fields like economic empowerment, educational gaps, household/societal voice, and violence against women) to enhance productivity, to improve longer-term development outcomes. Gender equality is also seen important for sustainable peace, and there is a growing body of empirical evidence which suggests that the level of gender inequality can be associated with higher risks of internal conflict Scholars view point The theory of development can be strongly related to gender due to the fact that even today there exists exclusion of women from the process of development. In the book, 'African Women and Development: A History, Margaret Synder and Mary Tadesse viewed Women and development' as an inclusive term to signify concept and a movement whose long term goal is the well being of society - the community of men, women and children ". Amartya Sen argument is interesting where he points out that societies need to see women as less passive recipient of help, and more as a dynamic promoter of social transformation. This would help in bringing about a change in the viewpoint in terms of education, employment and ownership rights of women. This would also have a powerful influence on women’s ability to control their environment at a large scale and which could lead to economic development . Overall gender development means reducing the inequality, gap and improving the status of women. Gender Development can also be seen as providing training for income-generating skillsets, legal rights, reducing violence faced by them and improving the standard of living of women. munotes.in

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Concept of Development In a country like India where women have to face discrimination at multiple levels like via Caste, Class and because of being a women they are denied certain rights and privileges which men have. They are further denied of rights for quality health care specially during maternity or even basic medical services if women reside in remote, deep villages. To understand the roots of inequality, we have to look into multiple factors for answers. According to Kabeer gender inequality exists with capitalistic societies too. She points out that human societies are existing on the gender lines. Hence, the goal of development should be that of sustainable which includes every inhabitant. As the development theory give a marginal status to women’s need. According to kabeer the household is first site for construction of power relationsiv. 1.10 GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT WITH REFERENCE TO WORK The International Labor Organization talks about Gender and Development in the context of work there needs to be equality in terms of women and work. Some of the elements related to this are – 1. Having equal treatment in terms of opportunity and with respect to employment. 2. Having equal remuneration for equal value of work 3. Maintaining equal access and having safe and healthy working conditions, environment and social security. 4. Having collective bargaining measures. 5. Creating an environment where there is equality in terms of obtaining meaningful career choices. 6. Creation of an environment where there is a balance between work and home life which is needed for both men and women. 7. Having equal participation in decision making at all levels of the society . Even today, there are females who working at home and their labour is not treated as income. In a way, it is not acknowledged as work by the government and it is not reflected anywhere in the Gross national income of the country. Including this kind of work would help to know important data about the nature of work, education, age of working, etc and accordingly, measures could be taken. This is necessary as females constitute half of the population of the world. Check Your Progress 1. What is Gender according to the World Development Report? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ munotes.in

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10 2. Do you think household work carried out females at home should be paid? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.11 SUMMARY This chapter we began with understanding the meaning of development which is as old as civilization itself. However, its widespread use as a general concept that identifies the most various characteristics associated to humanity's well-being in western societies can be seen from Greco-Roman civilizations until the late 19th century. We also saw how the concept of development began to spread from the year 1940s through the United States. Several theories also have been developed with development as a base topic like Rostow Stages of Growth, Dependency theory, World System Theory. We also saw how traditionally India has been discussing holistic growth and not just economic development. We also saw that Bhutan is the only country which has been understanding their society on the basis of that of Gross Happiness Index rather than the Western parameter of Gross Domestic Index. The chapter also further looks into the historical growth with concept of Development like Millennium goals which are eight goals like - Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting of gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improvement in maternal health, Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, Developing a global partnership for development. Further, the Sustainable developmental goals were also made, discussing nearly 17 Goals. This chapter also has a discussion on Gender and Development as this chapter is a subpart of the Gender subject. Thus, Gender and Development stands an important topic for study even today because there still exists inequality in our society on the basis of Gender. Several references in the chapter are used like that of International Labor Organisation which views Gender and Development from the perspective of that of Work. Thus, this chapter provides the historical journey of development. 1.12 QUESTIONS 1. Explain the meaning of Development and list out the Millennium Developmental Goals munotes.in

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Concept of Development 2. Explain the history of Development concept and discuss the Sustainable Developmental Goals. 3. Write in brief the discussion related to Development in the Indian tradition. 4. Explain in brief the Gender and Development with reference to Work. 1.13 REFERENCES i. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/development ii. https://ophi.org.uk/policy/gross-national-happiness-index/ iii. Rabie M. (2016) Meaning of Development. In: A Theory of Sustainable Sociocultural and Economic Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-57952-2_2 iv. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/millennium-development-goals-(MDGs) v. https://sdgs.un.org/goals Halperin, S. (2018, December 17). development theory. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/development-theory https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S0732-1317(06)15009-5/full/HTML vi. https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/gender/gender-and-human-development/ vii. http://gbpssi.in/admin/coursepack/MBR620ASLect04.pdf viii. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/childhood-youth/childhood-and-youth-studies/childhood/cognition-and-gender-development ix. https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-gender-constancy-4688620 x. http://ilo.org/global/topics/economic-and-social-development/gender-and-development/lang--en/index.htm1 xi. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Gross_national_income_(GNI) i. https://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi ii. Bondarenko, P. (2020, February 4). gross national income. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/gross-national-income iii. https://Britannica.com/biography/Immanuel-M-Wallerstein. iv. Naila Kabeer & Caroline Sweetman (2015) Introduction: Gender and Inequalities, Gender & Development, 23:2, 185-188, DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2015.1067965 v. Kabeer, N. (1994). Reversed realities: Gender hierarchies in development thought. Verso. munotes.in

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12 2
FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS IN
DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Feminist Intervention
2.3 Politics of vocabulary
2.4 Empowerment and International Organizations
2.5 Contested Co -optation
2.6 Politics of Empowerment
2.7 Conclusio n
2.8 Summary
2.9 Questions
2.10 References
OBJECTIVES
x To understand the feminist interventions approach in development
x To examine its applications from the point of view of politics and
co-optation
2.1 INTRODUCTION
One of the vital components of the Mille nnium Development Goals
(MDGs) is related to the drawing of attention to the cross -cutting nature of
women’s empowerment and gender equality. There is a direct correlation
between women’s rights and human rights and therefore the need to
strengthen this l inkage. Several conferences and review meeting later
there is recognition and increasing awareness everywhere that women and
girls today face gender -based discrimination. While the MDG -3 relates
directly to the empowerment of women, all MDGs are dependen t upon
women having a greater role in their own development. Nowhere else is
the mutual dependence between development and human rights and
women’s rights stronger than in the issue of gender. In this context, we
will examine the concept of gender equali ty and its evolution to gender
empowerment, feminist intervention approach and the politics of
empowerment.

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13 Feminist Interventions in Development 2.2 FEMINIST INTERVENTION
The feminist intervention approach is based on the principles that assume
that gender is the central common site of op pression and coalition for all
women. The primary goal of feminist intervention approach is to show
how the personal and political aspects of social interaction are interlinked.
It shows a preference for a group intervention or collective method.
Secondly , it tries to contextualize women's so -called "pathological"
behaviours. Instead of treating this as unfounded hysteria , feminist
intervention tries to understand a survivor’s rage in the historical context.
Women usually have difficulty putting word s on what they live through
and externalizing their real -life experiences. The feminist intervention
helps these women to know each other better, to feel guilt -free, to assert
themselves, to regain their self -confidence and self -esteem and to defend
their rights.
Thirdly, the feminist intervention builds on similarities. It relies on the
strength of the group to enable women to support each other, to find
solutions collectively, to develop mutual aid and solidarity, which aims to
share their experiences. It brings together women who have had similar
experiences and difficulties and gives relief to them and eases their
isolation.
The fourth objective of the feminist intervention is focus on
encouragement of women’s participation. On the one hand, it prov ides
assistance to women in understanding the connections between their own
personal experiences and bigger political implications. On the other hand,
while acknowledging the gravity of the situation, it paints a positive
picture of advances that have occu rred in the fight against sexual assault,
as well as future changes that may be possible.
The feminist approach helps to deconstruct the sexist messages that refer
to gendered attitudes and behaviours. Sometimes experiences of women
from a certain group a re politicized and claimed to be representative of all
women. There is a general understanding that the challenges of dominant
groups of women - those who have access to societal privilege based on
race, class, sexual orientation, or health status, for exa mple - are
representative of the collective struggles of all women, but in actuality it
may not be so.
2.3 POLITICS OF VOCABULARY
The feminist interventions approach in development is characterized by
the adoption of the concept of ‘empowerment’. The term empowerment
had entered the mainstream of international development discourse by the
end of the twentieth century. However, its roots in this sphere can be
traced back to feminists working in nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) across the global South in the 1970s and 1980s. Notable research
has been conducted to show how the term “empowerment” has become a
part of mainstream culture and evolved over a period of time. On the other munotes.in

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14 hand, the term has been depleted in its ‘power’ element due to popular
usage to such an extent that the word has become meaningless in its true
context. It has been “depoliticized” - a term used by Wendy Brown in her
work “Neoliberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy”.
Since the nineteenth century, the word empowerment has bee n used to
mean two things: First, power that has been handed or given, invested or
authorized by a superior authority, such as a state or a religious institution.
Second, a more modern meaning refers to the process by which a person
develops the ability to act and gain power. It can also symbolize a strong
resistance to the control of large -scale, hierarchical, and bureaucratic
organizations. Recently there has been a shift towards emancipatory
undertakings based on a self -actualization and/or self -determination
perspective. As a result, empowerment as the form of a "grassroots" or
"bottom -up" vision of social change emerged at a time when issues of
agency, subjectivity, and identity emerged into the social and political
scene.
The idea of 'empowerment' of women in India is the product of the post
1975 women's movement , according to Narayan Banerjee. The Indian
government had adopted "grassroot organizational empowerment" as part
of its rural development planning objective by the mid -1980s. During the
same time, because of the efforts of one of the first transnational feminist
networks, the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era
(DAWN) initiative, a distinct feminist "empowerment approach" to
development evolved on the worldwide arena. Feminis ts tried to break
women's "shackles of the mind" in response to the government's top -down
welfare approach to women in development. In India, feminists aimed to
redefine empowerment as a ‘strong woman, woman needing "self -hood
and self -strength" or "to be strengthened to be herself," rather than
projecting her as a "beneficiary" who is the recipient of social welfare and
assistance from the government.
Feminist understandings of empowerment in South Asia have focused on
the importance of recognizing and de veloping a woman's sense of identity
and agency through a practice of "conscientization," or rising
consciousness. This feminist activism influenced the Indian government to
adopt "an induced organizational approach" to rural women's
development. This fur ther led to the shift in the government’s
understanding of empowerment towards a grassroots orientation. It
focused on "grassroot empowerment" for poor, primarily rural women
through collective introspection, participation, and group self -
organization.
By the mid-1980s the term ‘empowerment’ had gained international and
political and economic recognition. The alternate development approach
was reflected in "Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third
World Women's Perspectives," a pathbreaking boo k by Caren Grown and
Gita Sen (1985). The book attacked standard development programmes
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15 Feminist Interventions in Development x It dealt with grassroot level work to macroeconomic analysis.
x It showed that neoliberal development techniques had w orsened
women's situations around the world, resulting in a food crisis in
Africa, a debt crisis in Latin America, a poverty crisis in South Asia,
and militarism in the Pacific Islands.
x It offered a left feminist alternative model of "autonomous and
equit able development" which focused on meeting people's basic
needs. As a result, it challenged the liberal "Women in
Development" perspective's "integrationist" approach, which
implied that "women's major concern in the Third World is that
there is limited in volvement in an otherwise beneficent process of
growth and development." It emphasized that development should
be viewed from the perspective of poor Third World women. Then
only would it be possible to gain adequate knowledge, and provide
effective alte rnatives.
x It also called for structural and systemic reform to ensure that
inequality based on class, gender, and race is eliminated from every
country, as well as from international arenas.
x It argued that women's empowerment and self -organization are
essential for achieving such alternative development.
Feminist empowerment, as a result, involves work at the individual,
organizational, and social levels. It involves the development of at least
three dimensions: (1) an internal, psychological, or subjective level of
empowerment, in which an individual's "power within" and individual -
level "power to" are advanced; (2) an interpersonal and group level, in
which a "power with" and "power over" are fostered; and (3) a political or
social level, which involve sys temic and/or structural strategies
implemented through collective action.
‘Empowerment’ had become a term by the mid -1990s, which had been
adopted or normalized along liberal economic and political trends in many
ways. The concept of empowerment is current ly at the center of the
rhetoric of the "participation of the poor" in development. It is commonly
used in combination with other trendy concepts such as "community,"
"civil society," and "agency."
2.4 EMPOWERMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
The empow erment method established by feminists in the Global South
was considered to be too radical, and therefore received little assistance
from governmental, non -governmental and international development
agencies. However, a number of feminist NGOs lobbied fo r the term’s
use and by the mid - 1990s, ‘empowerment’ came to be an inseparable part
of debates on women and development.
One of the earliest UN conferences, the International Conference on
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16 concept on the international scene and gave it global recognition. Though
the conference was not aimed at women, the Cairo Action Plan recognized
women’s empowerment, along with gender and sexual rights as important
issues related to population. The four th United Nations Conference on
Women was held in Beijing the following year. This conference was
another landmark in the inclusion of the term "empowerment" in UN
discussions about women and development.
The Platform for Action report (United Nations, 199 5) mentions that
“women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of
equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision -
making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement
of equality, development and peace”. By the late 1990s, women's
empowerment had become a "politically correct" concept that "all
international organizations, at least in public communications, cannot
afford to do without," as Bissiliat put s it. The mention of the term is seen
again during the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by
the United Nations at its Millennium Summit in 2000 where they declared
to "promote gender equality and empower women."
The importance of empowerment in Post -Washington Consensus poverty
reduction discourse was reflected in programmes and policies enacted in
the Global South. More than 1,800 World Bank -financed projects cited
"empowerment" in their documentation in 2005. Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSPs), which are major elements of contemporary
international development programmes, included a section on empowering
the poor.
Scholars, particularly feminists observe that the phrase "empowerment"
has been "taken hostage" by development agencies – whether
international, bilateral, or private – and deprived of its original focus on
the notion of power. While the term's adoption in mainstream
development discourse was followed by a more individualizing view of
power, the early vision of empowerment concerned a complex and
multifaceted pr ocess that focused on the individual and collective
elements of power. Thus, individual capacity, realization, and status have
all become synonymous with empowerment.
2.5 CONTESTED CO -OPTATION
The lack of definition is most noticeable in the term "women's
empowe rment," which has replaced "gender equality" and "women's
status" in many program and policy documents. When the word is defined,
the definitions differ significantly from one agency to the next. Within the
same organization, different definitions o f the term can exist. Between
2001 and 2006, the World Bank gave three different meanings of the term
in three significant documents addressing empowerment. As a result,
international development organizations have struggled to define the
phrase, and it ha s been closely correlated with or even integrated with
other techniques such as democracy, decentralization, and political
involvement. Empowerment has become a hazy aspiration, a buzzword, a munotes.in

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17 Feminist Interventions in Development staunchly hopeful, yet a "just" concept that can only bring abou t
agreement but is impossible to apply in the field due to the lack of clarity.
International institutions have coined a catchy but ill -defined term that has
grown to be regarded as "hegemonic" and unchallengeable.
Individual potential, realization, and pr estige have all become synonymous
with empowerment. The concept's co -optation, according to Sardenberg,
consisted of a shift from "liberating empowerment" to "liberal
empowerment”. Liberal empowerment is based on the optimization of
individual interests. Halfon, for example, shows how the vision of
women's empowerment, especially in discussions about contraception, has
focused on issues of individual choice, access, and opportunity. There has
been no discussion of women's collective political struggles to obtain
power in his analysis of population policies and programmes implemented
after the Cairo conference. He claims that empowerment indicators are
primarily focused on variables like women's accessibility to service, jobs,
and education, with little at tention paid to political mobilization or
participation.
Postcolonial feminists also reject the essentialism that defines institutional
approaches to women's empowerment. These approaches seek to see
women from poor nations as a single homogenous, monolit hic entity, and
ignore the fact that there exists multiplicity of power relations that occur
within this group. Institutionalized empowerment programmes often
ignore the "intersectional" power dynamics, particularly the manner in
which racism, social clas s, and p atriarchy all work to express, reinforce,
and create disparities within groups of women.
In reality empowerment is frequently limited to its economic component,
while the psychological and social elements of power are overlooked in its
individual and dep oliticized form. There has been a rapid increase of
microcredit projects and "self -help groups" (SHGs). International
development agencies promote SHGs as the ultimate empowering tool for
women and the disadvantaged. However, in reality SHG goal s are
dominated by loan repayment and saving, leaving little opportunity for
education or women's "conscientization." Despite more access to finance,
males continue to have more influence over funding, while the obligation
to repay debts becomes the respo nsibility of women.
2.6 POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT
The conceptualisation of empowerment is strictly individual in the
framework of neoliberalism. In a competitive market economy, agency is
defined “as the capacity to make rational utility -maximizing decision s in
order to benefit from possibilities to improve one's well -being”. At the
macrolevel, empowerment initiatives are evaluated in terms of their
contribution to economic efficiency and economic growth, just as people
are driven by the promise of instrume ntal, extrinsic incentives of greater
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18 Gender Perspectives on Development

18 Neoliberalism "converts" political and social problems to "individual
problems with market solutions" by translating them into "market terms."
As a result, it contributes to the "depoliticiza tion" of social life, as well as
the expansion of citizenship and participation standards based on personal
responsibility. Although the reality of the neoliberal world order is that
most people earn money by working for wages, the ideology of the
empowere d entrep reneurial citizen/subject produces an understanding of
economic practices and processes that holds out the promise of anyone
being able to profit from market opportunities. As a result, it nurtures a
mindset and develops human ability that serve to reprodu ce rather than
reform capitalism.
However, there are at least three significant differences between the
social -liberal and neoliberal perspectives.
First, agency, or the capacity to imagine and purposefully pick
possibilities, is not thought to be a natur al human trait; rather, it must be
built and cultivated in many circumstances, which requires some
consciousness raising.
Second, the social -liberal approach takes a larger and more in -depth look
at the circumstances in which individuals make deci sions. It acknowledges
both official and informal institutions' roles in setting "game rules" and
developing opportunity frameworks. It also takes into account
empowerment domains other than the market, such as the state and
society.
Third, usually neolib eral app roaches to empowerment are characterized by
an overarching preoccupation with efficient resource allocation. On the
other hand, social -liberal viewpoints are connected with an egalitarian
orientation that seeks to solve societal disparities emergi ng from an
uneven playing field.
2.7 CONCLUSION
The feminist empowerment approach is characterized by extreme
openness, as well as a commitment to cultivate a "critical awareness" that
is oriented toward just and equitable social connections. This will help
generate a conducive environment for gender equality. The feminist
empowerment approach looks for methods in which women's self -
organization permits alternative development, as is emphasized in the
DAWN's 1987 manifesto. There is a need to introduce a femini st politics
that socializes and rethinks economic connections. This can be achieved
by fostering and generating non -capitalist economic subjectivities,
practices, and social interactions.
2.8 SUMMARY
Experiences of women from a certa in group are po liticized and claimed to
be representative of all women, even when non -dominant groups of munotes.in

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19 Feminist Interventions in Development women's experiences are politicized, it results in an acknowledgment of
"diversity," but not a challenge to women's power dynamics.
Feminists strove to break women's "shackles of the mind" in response to
the government's top -down welfare approach to women in development.
Feminist understandings of empowerment in South Asia highlighted the
significance of recognising and developing a woman's sense of iden tity
and agency through a practice of "conscientization," or rising
consciousness.
The phrase "empowerment" has been "taken hostage" by development
agencies.
International institutions have coined a catchy but ill -defined term that has
grown to be regarded as "hegemonic" and unchallengeable.
Neoliberalism "converts" political and social problems to "individual
problems with market solutions" by translating them into "market terms."
As a result, it contributes to the "depoliticization" of social life, as we ll as
the expan sion of citizenship and participation standards based on personal
responsibility.
2.9 QUESTIONS
x Discuss feminist interventions in relation to the issue of
empowerment.
x Analyse the issue of contested co -optation and the politics of
empowerment
2.10 REFER ENCE S
Biewener, C., & Bacque, M. H. (n.d.). Feminism and the politics of
empowerment ... - air university. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ_French/journals_E/Volu
me-06_Issue -2/biewenerbac que_e.pdf
Calves, A. E. (n.d.). Empowerment: The history of a key concept ... -
cairn -int.info. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.cairn -
int.info/article -E_RTM_200_0735 --empowermentthe -history -of-a-key-
concept.htm
Wehbi, S. (n.d.). Feminist inter vention: A critical re flection - JSTOR.
Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41669686
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20 Gender Perspectives on Development

20 3
LANDMARK PLANS, POLICIES AND
PROGRAMMES IN INDIA
Unit Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Development through Five Year Plans
3.3 Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Development Process
3.4 Challenges of Globalization
3.5 Social Empowerment of Women
3.6 Legislative Provisions
3.7 International Conventions and the MDGs
3.8 Conclusion
3.9 Summary
3.10 Questions
3.11 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES
x To understand special initiatives undertaken for the empowerment of
women
x To gain insight into the poli cy measures for the benefit of women
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The principle of gender equality is enacted in the Indian Constitution in its
Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive
Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to wome n, but also
empowers the women to adopt measures against discrimination. Within
democracy, our laws, development policies, Plans and programmes have
aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. The importance of
women as an important human resource w as recognized by the
Constitution of India which not only accorded equality to women but also
empowered the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in their
favor. A number of Articles of the Constitution specially reiterated the
commitment of t he constitution towards the socio -economic development
of women and upholding their political right and participation in decision
making. In the following section we will deal with a few important
landmark plans, policy programmes relating to women initia ted by the
governmental and non -governmental bodies. munotes.in

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21 Landmark Plans, Policies and Programmes in India 3.2 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH FIVE YEAR PLANS
India is among the few developing countries where gender equality and
improvement in the status of women are specifically stated to be central
goals of developme nt and social policy. The Fifth Five Year Plan (1974 -
78) has marked a major shift in the approach to women’s issues from
welfare to development. In recent years, the empowerment of women has
been recognized as the central issue in determining the status o f women.
During the Third, Fourth and Fifth Plans - The importance of giving some
priority to women’s education was recognized after the Report of the
National Committee on Women’s Education (1958 -59). Planners, however
still failed to address the major pr oblems of poverty, illiteracy, non -
enrollment, and drop out etc. that continued to affect the women position
& status in the society and kept them away from the mainstream.
The Sixth Plan adopted a multi -disciplinary approach with a special thrust
on the t hree core sectors of health, education and employment. The
Government of India hosted the Second NAM Conference on Women and
Development to offer inputs to the UN Conference at Nairobi in 1984.
These background events encouraged the Department of Rural
Development and Women and Child Development and Ministry of Labor
and Employment to adopt some bold measures. The Department of Rural
Development midway through the 6th Plan introduced a 30% quota for
women in all antipoverty programs for the rural areas.
In the Seventh Plan (1985 -90), the developmental programs continued
with the major objective of raising their economic and social status and
bringing them into the mainstream of national development. A significant
step in this direction was to identify/promot e the ‘Beneficiary -Oriented
Schemes’ (BOS) in various developmental sectors which extended direct
benefits to women.
The strategy in the Eighth Plan was to ensure that the benefits of
development from different sectors do not bypass women and special
progr ams are implemented to complement the general programs.
Education and nutrition, legal literacy and "changes in social attitudes and
perceptions in regard to the role of women" were mentioned as essential
for empowerment". However, women were mentioned onl y in the context
of women specific programs.
Special Initiatives for The Empowerment Of Women During The
Ninth Plan (1997 -2002)
Adoption of Women’s Component Plan (WCP) to ensure that benefits
from other developmental sectors do not by -pass women and not less than
30 per cent of funds/benefits flow to them from all the women -related
sectors.
Launching of ‘Swa -Shakti’ to create an enabling environment for
empowerment of women through setting up of self -reliant Self -Help
Groups (SHGs) for income generation a ctivities. munotes.in

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22 Gender Perspectives on Development

22 ‘Stree Shakti Puraskars’ instituted for the first time in the history of
women’s development to honor 5 distinguished women annually for their
outstanding contribution to the upliftment and empowerment of women;
(1999)
The National Population P olicy adopted in 2000 seeks to address the
issues related to population stabilization and to ensure universal access to
quality contraceptive services as a step towards attaining the two -child
norm.
Tenth Plan suggests a sector -specific threefold strategy for empowering
women through - i) Social Empowerment, ii) Economic Empowerment,
and iii) Gender Justice.
i) Social Empowerment:
Providing easy and equal access to ensure basic minimum services
of primary health care and family welfare with a special focus on the
under -served and under -privileged segments of population through
universalizing Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) services,
arresting Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate
(MMR) to a minimum is the need of the hour. Supplementing h ealth
care and nutrition services through the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya
Yojana (PMGY) to fill the critical gaps in the existing primary
health care infrastructure and nutrition services
ii) Economic Empowerment:
Organizing women into Self -Help Groups under vari ous poverty
alleviation programs is important. Ensuring that women in the
Informal Sector who account for more than 90 per cent are given
special attention with regard to improving their working conditions
as the same continued to be very precarious witho ut even minimum
or equal wages, leave aside other legislative safeguards.
iii) Gender Justice:
x The National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001) set its
major objective to eliminate gender discrimination on priority basis
and to create a positive environment for empowering women.
x Complete eradication of female feticide and female infanticide
through effective enforcement of both the Indian Penal Code, 1860
and the Pre -Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and Prevention
of Misuse) Act, 1994 with most stringe nt measures of punishment so
that a very harsh path is set for the illegal practitioners.
x Adopting measures that take into account the reproductive rights of
women to enable them to exercise their reproductive choices.
x Arresting the ever -increasing violen ce against women and the Girl
Child including the Adolescent girls on top priority with the strength
and support of a well -planned Program of Action prepared in
consultation with all the concerned, especially the enforcement
authorities; implementing effec tively with the strength of the Law-munotes.in

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23 Landmark Plans, Policies and Programmes in India and-Order Authorities both at the center and state levels and
assessing the situation
x Initiating/accelerating the process of societal reorientation towards
creating a Gender -Just Society
Working Women’s Host els
Launched i n 1972 -73, the program of Hostels for Working Women
(HWW) aims to promote greater mobility for women in the employment
market by providing safe and cheap accommodation to working women
belonging to the lower income strata living away from hom e. The program
of Short Stay Homes (SSH) for Women and Girls was launched in 1969 to
protect and rehabilitate those women and girls who are in social and moral
danger due to break -up of families, mental strain/stress, social ostracism,
exploitation etc.
3.3 MAINSTREAMIN G A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure
mainstreaming of women’s perspectives in all developmental processes.
Wherever there are gaps in policies and programmes, women s pecific
interv entions would be undertaken to bridge these. Women’s issues and
concerns will specially be addressed in all concerned laws, sectoral
policies, plans and programmes of action.
Poverty Eradication
Since women comprise the majority of the popula tion below the poverty
line and are very often in situations of extreme poverty, macro -economic
policies and poverty eradication programmes will specifically address the
needs and problems of such women. There will be improved
implementation of programmes which are wome n oriented with special
targets for women. Steps will be taken for mobilization of poor women
and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and
social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their
capabil ities.
Micro C redit
In order to enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and
production, the establishment of new and strengthening of existing micro -
credit mechanisms and micro -finance institution will be undertaken so that
the outreach of credit is enhanced. O ther supportive measures would be
taken to ensure adequate flow of credit through extant financial
institutions and banks, so that all women below poverty line have easy
access to credit.
Women and Economy
Women’s perspectives will be include d in designing and implementing
macro -economic and social policies by institutionalizing their
participation in such processes. Their contribution to socio -economic munotes.in

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24 Gender Perspectives on Development

24 development as producers and workers will be recognized in the formal
and informal sectors (including hom e based workers) and appropriate
policies relating to employment and to her working conditions will be
drawn up. Such measures could include: Reinterpretation and redefinition
of conventional concepts of work wherever necessary e.g. in the C ensus
records, to reflect women’s contribution as producers and workers.
3.4 CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal
of women’s equality, the gender impact of which has not been
systematically evaluated full y. However, from the micro -level studies that
were commissioned by the Department of Women & Child Development,
it is evident that there is a need for re -framing policies for access to
employment and quality of employment.
Benefits of the gro wing global ec onomy have been unevenly distributed
leading to wider economic disparities, the feminization of poverty,
increased gender inequality through often deteriorating working
conditions and unsafe working environment especially in the informal
econ omy and rural areas. Strategies will be designed to enhance the
capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative social and
economic impacts, which may flow from the globalization process.
Women and Agriculture
In view of the critical role of women in the agricul ture and allied sectors,
as producers, efforts will be made to ensure that benefits of training,
extension and various programmes. The programmes for training women
in soil conservation, social forestry, dairy development and other
occupation s allied to ag riculture like horticulture, livestock including
small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries etc. will be expanded to benefit
women workers in the agriculture sector.
Women and Industry
The role played by women in electronics, information tech nology and
food processing and agro industry and textiles has been crucial to the
development of these sectors. They would be given comprehensive
support in terms of labour legislation, social security and other support
services to participate in various i ndustrial sect ors. Women at present
cannot work in night shift in factories even if they wish to. Suitable
measures will be taken to enable women to work on the night shift with
services like security, transportation etc.
3.5 SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
Education
Equal access to education for women and girls and special measures will
be taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate
illiteracy, creates a gender -sensitive educational system. Reducing the munotes.in

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25 Landmark Plans, Policies and Programmes in India gender gap in secondary and hig her education would be a focus area with
a special focus on girls and women, belonging to weaker sections
including the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward
Classes/Minorities.
Health
A holistic approach to women’s health which includes both n utrition and
health services will be adopted and special attention will be given to the
needs of women and the girl at all stages of the life cycle. The reduction of
infant mortality and maternal mortality and reproductive rights is a priority
concern. The social, devel opmental and health consequences of
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases will be tackled from a
gender perspective. National Population Policy (2000) - this Policy
recognizes the critical need of men and women to have access to s afe,
effective and affordable methods of family planning of their choice and
the need to suitably address the issues of early marriages and spacing of
children. Women’s traditional knowledge about health care and nutrition
will be recognized and the use of Indian and al ternative systems of
medicine will be enhanced within the framework of overall health
infrastructure available for women.
Drinking Water and Sanitation
Special attention will be given to the needs of women in the provision of
safe drinking wa ter, sewage di sposal, toilet facilities and sanitation within
accessible reach of households, especially in rural areas and urban slums.
Women’s participation will be ensured in the planning, delivery and
maintenance of such services.
Housing and Shelter
Women’s perspec tives will be included in housing policies, planning of
housing colonies and provision of shelter both in rural and urban areas.
Special attention will be given for providing adequate and safe housing
and accommodation for women including sin gle women, hea ds of
households, working women, students, apprentices and trainees.
Environment
Women will be involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies
and programmes for environment, conservation and restoration.
Considering the impact of e nvironmental f actors on their livelihoods,
women’s participation will be ensured in the conservation of the
environment and control of environmental degradation.
Science and Technology
Programmes will be strengthened to bring about a greater involvement o f
women in sci ence and technology. These will include measures to
motivate girls to take up science and technology for higher education and
also ensure that development projects with scientific and technical inputs
involve women fully. Efforts to develop a scientific te mper and awareness
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26 Gender Perspectives on Development

26 Women in Difficult Circumstances
In recognition of the diversity of women’s situations and in
acknowledgement of the needs of specially disadvantaged groups,
measures and programmes will be undertak en to provide them with special
assistance. These groups include women in extreme poverty, destitute
women, women in conflict situations, women affected by natural
calamities, women in less developed regions, the disabled widows, elderly
women, single wome n in difficult circumstances, women heading
households, those displaced from employment, migrants, women who are
victims of marital violence, deserted women and prostitutes etc.
Rights of the Girl Child
All forms of discrimination against the girl child an d violation of her
rights shall be eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive
and punitive within and outside the family. These would relate specifically
to strict enforcement of laws against prenatal sex selection and the
practices of femal e foeticide, f emale infanticide, child marriage, child
abuse and child prostitution etc. There will be special emphasis on the
needs of the girl child and earmarking of substantial investments in the
areas relating to food and nutrition, health and educati on, and in
vocational education. In implementing programmes for eliminating child
labour, there will be a special focus on girl children.
Gender Sensitization
Training of personnel of executive, legislative and judicial wings of the
State, with a special f ocus on policy and programme framers,
implementation and development agencies, law enforcement machinery
and the judiciary, as well as non -governmental organizations will be
undertaken. Other measures will include:
(a) Promoting societal awareness to gende r issues and w omen’s human
rights.
(b) Review of curriculum and educational materials to include gender
education and human rights issues
(c) Removal of all references derogatory to the dignity of women from
all public documents and legal instruments.
(d) Use of differe nt forms of mass media to communicate social
messages relating to women’s equality and empowerment.
Panchayati Raj Institutions
The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Indian Constitution have
served as a breakthrough towards ensuring equa l access and i ncreased
participation in political power structure for women. The PRIs will play a
central role in the process of enhancing women’s participation in public
life. The PRIs and the local self -governments will be actively involved in
the implem entation and e xecution of the National Policy for Women at the
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27 Landmark Plans, Policies and Programmes in India 3.6 LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS
The State enacted several women -specific and women -related legislations
to protect women against social discrimination, violence and atrocities and
also to preven t social evils like child marriages, dowry, rape, practice of
Sati etc. Equal Remuneration Act (1976), Hindu Marriage Act of 1955
amended in 1976, the Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2001, The Immoral
Traffic (Prevention) Act of 1956 and an amendme nt brought in 1984 to the
Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 made women’s subjection to cruelty a
cognizable offence.
Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1976, Indecent Representation of Women
(Prohibition) Act of 1986 and the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act,
1987 have bee n enacted to protect the dignity of women and prevent
violence against them as well as their exploitation. The Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides for more effective
protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the Constitut ion who
are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family.
In addition, following other specific measures will be taken to implement
the legislation effectively.
(a) Strict enforcement of all relevant legal provisions and speedy
redressal of grievances will be ensured, with a special focus on
violence and gender related atrocities.
(b) Measures to prevent and punish sexual harassment at the place of
work, protection for women workers in the organized/ unorganized
sector and stric t enforcement of relevant laws such as Equal
Remuneration Act and Minimum Wages Act will be undertaken,
(c) Crimes against women, their incidence, prevention, investigation,
detection and prosecution will be regularly reviewed at all Crime
Review Forum and Conferences a t the Central, State and District
levels. Recognized, local, voluntary organizations will be
authorized to lodge Complaints and facilitate registration,
investigations and legal proceedings related to violence and
atrocities against girls an d women.
(d) Women’s Cells in Police Stations, Encourage Women Police
Stations Family Courts, Mahila Courts, Counselling Centers, Legal
Aid Centers and Nyaya Panchayats will be strengthened and
expanded to eliminate violence and atrocities against women.
(e) Widespread dissemination of information on all aspects of legal
rights, human rights and other entitlements of women, through
specially designed legal literacy programmes and rights information
programmes will be done.
3.7 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND THE MDGs
India has ratified various international conventions and human rights
instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them
is the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of munotes.in

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28 Gender Perspectives on Development

28 Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993. India has ratified the
convention with two declaratory statements and one reservation. The GOI
did not agree to Article 29(1) of the Convention, which establishes
compulsory arbitration or adjudication by the International Court of
Justice of dis putes concerni ng interpretation. The Mexico Plan of Action
(1975), the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (1985), the Beijing
Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome
Document adopted by the UNGA Session on Gender Equality and
Development & Peace for the 21st century, titled "Further actions and
initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for
Action" have been unreservedly endorsed by India for appropriate follow
up. The Beijing Platform for Action lays dow n critical are as of concern for
the women, which are listed below. The commitments made in the
international conventions are as far as possible reflected in the Plan
documents and the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women.
Eight Millennium Developme nt Goals (MDGs ) have been established in
the Millennium Declaration at the General Assembly of the United
Nations in the year 2000. These include promoting gender equality and
empowerment of women and improving maternal health. Though only
these two are ex plicitly gende r specific, gender equality is at the core of
achievement of MDGs – from improving health and fighting disease, to
reducing poverty and mitigating hunger, to expanding education and
lowering child mortality, to increasing access to safe water , and to
ensur ing environmental sustainability.
3.8 CONCLUSION
Gender gap exists in various forms the most obvious is the trend of
continuously declining female ratio in the population in the last few
decades. The causes of gender inequality are related to social and
economic structure, which is based on informal and formal norms, and
practices. The access of women belonging to weaker sections (Scheduled
Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Other backward Classes and minorities) majorly
are in the rural areas and engag ed in informal , unorganized sector and for
them access to education, health and productive resources is inadequate.
Therefore, they remain largely marginalized, poor and socially excluded.
Policy initiative at the government and non -governmental level are the
need of t he hour as they can alleviate and help in women’s empowerment.
3.9 SUMMARY
India is among the few developing countries where gender equality and
improvement in the status of women are specifically stated to be central
goals of development a nd social poli cy.
Policies, programmes and systems will be established to ensure
mainstreaming of women’s perspectives in all developmental processes.
Globalization has presented new challenges for the realization of the goal
of women’s equality, the gende r impact of wh ich has not been
systematically evaluated fully. munotes.in

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29 Landmark Plans, Policies and Programmes in India Social empowerment of women is a key focus in perspectives on gender in
development.
The State enacted several women -specific and women -related legislations
to protect women against social dis crimination.
India has ratified various international conventions and human rights
instruments committing to secure equal rights of women.
Policy initiative at the government and non -governmental level are the
need of the hour as they can alleviate and hel p in women’s e mpowerment.
3.10 QUESTIONS
x Examine the policy initiatives introduced by the Government of
India towards empowerment of women.
x Discuss the nature of gender perspectives in development policies
with specific reference to India.
3.11 REFERENCE S
National Pol icy for the Empowerment of Women (2001): Ministry of
Women and Child Development, available at
https://wcd.nic.in/womendevelopment/national -policy -women -
empowerment
https: //wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/Executive%20Summary_HLC_0.pdf
Madaineni, Geetha (2013): Policies and Programmes for the
Advancement of Women, available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333105001_Policies_and_Progra
mmes_for_the_A dvancement_of_ Women/citation/download
7777777
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30 Gender Perspectives on Development

30 4
GENDER AND NEOLIBERALISM
CONTESTATIONS
Unit Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Understanding Co -optation
4.3 Neoliberal Feminism: Transnational Business Initiatives
4.4 Conclusion
4.5 Summary
4.6 Questions
4.7 References
4.0 OBJECTIVES
x To int roduce the gender dimensions of neoliberal policies
x To understand the significance of corporate initiatives towards
women’s empowerment
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The term ‘neoliberalism’ has become a catch -phrase for a multitude of
things. Despite the debate arou nd the definition of the term, there is a
general agreement that we are now experiencing a different phase of
neoliberalism compared to that of the 1970s and 1980s where the
emphasis was on ‘market fundamentalism’. Since the 1990s, there has
been revision of some policies which resulted in the emergence of
commonly new format of the term labelled as ‘neoliberalism with a human
face’. Newer dimensions focussing on inclusive growth, environmental
sustainability, human rights and gender issues came to be inc orporated
into the new definition of neoliberalism. In this section, we seek to gain
insight into the gender dimensions of the neoliberal contestations and how
these impact women.
The early 1990s was marked by literature that reflected the gender
blindnes s of neoclassical economics. It portrayed the obviously negative
effects of neoliberal policies on women. However, new research emerging
in recent times have focused on the normative dimensions of development
programmes, and, in particular on the impli cit or explicit
heteronormativity that lies at the heart of the development industry. A
number of studies have highlighted the anti -poverty programmes which
were introduced in order to mitigate the effects of neoliberal economic
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31 Gender and Neoliberalism
Contestations reproduce and reinforce deeply conservative notions of womanhood and
of women’s role within the family. Others studies have explored the
extent and scale of the influence exerted by neo -conservative elements
within foreign and national institutions that play an important role in
shaping policy responses in many countries.
It is noted that the mainstream development institutions who champion
neoliberal economic policies have not been able to grasp the concept of
gender. For a long time, it was the feminists who highlighted the
systematic institutional bias against women in economic policy. Today
we see institutions like the World Bank and the Department for
International Development (DFID) talking abo ut the impor tance of giving
women a central role in economic development. Thus, in the language of
DFID’s glossary, Gender Equality at the Heart of Development (2007),
women become a ‘weapon’ in the fight against poverty. Taking this point
forward, the World Bank believes that investing in women entrepreneurs
is ‘Smart Economics’.
Today the position of women is far away from what the feminists desired.
Hawkesworth (2006) talks about the way in which women have come to
be represented in the new narrat ives: ‘Women are simultaneously hailed as
resourceful providers, reliable micro -entrepreneurs, cosmopolitan citizens,
and positioned as ‘disposable domestics’, the exploited global workforce,
and as displaced, devalued and disenfranchised diasporic citizen s.’
A paral lel feature of neoliberal policies is the process of ‘feminisation’ of
labour. This term has emerged in literature relating to labour only
recently, and is characterized by a deterioration of working conditions –
casualisation, flexibilisation , violation of international labour standards
and low wages. The effects of globalisation go hand in hand with the
implementation of neoliberal policies and are very complex. It is
necessary to distinguish different elements of the picture when we try to
separate neo liberalism from globalisation.
The challenges for feminist analysis lie in this area. It is observed that the
neoliberal policies have not been uniformly bad for women – and for some
women, policies such as market liberalisation may have act ually
contri buted to their empowerment. Markets do not always operate against
the interests of women. Also , it is important to recognize that the new
forms of work that are available to women have empowering dimensions -
including mobilisation in strugg les for labou r rights in the new globalised
industries. But scholars point out that it is important to look at the bigger
picture and at other neoliberal reforms which have triggered the
informalisation of work, the privatisation of care work.
The linkag e between gen der equality and international development is
recognized today. Women and girls have become the public faces of
global development. The policy literature and policy documents across a
range of institutions make effective use of women’s issue s. There ar e a
number of development initiatives like the Millennium Development
Goals, financial policy agendas like the World Bank’s ‘Gender Equality as munotes.in

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32 Smart Economics’ policy plan, to corporate social responsibility
campaigns like Nike’s ‘Girl Effec t’. Here it is assumed that giving
women and girls prominence in development narratives will provide a
‘solution’ to global poverty.
With gender equality and social justice gaining central position in the
development narrative must be considered as si gnificant acc omplishments
for the feminist. The policy makers have understood that gender matters
for development and overall human wellbeing. The women are
considered as agents; who have agency and control over their lives and not
merely victims of cir cumstances. On the other hand, it is necessary to
scrutinize the gender equality policy discourse and its close relation to the
advancement of a neoliberal economic policy agenda. The neoliberal
economic policy is characterized by market fundamentalism, deregulation
and corporate -led development. This has given rise to fears that this
‘global’ feminism is ‘essentially doing violence itself’.
Neoliberalism tends to apply a ‘one -size-fits-all’ diagnosis for a variety of
politico -economic issues. Therefo re, it is impo rtant to look closely at the
conceptual tools which have been used to map its features. Neoliberalism
is multifaceted and comprises of several dimensions: 1) as a set of
economic policies, it reflects a shift from state to market where welfa rist
policies are withdrawn and public serviced privatized. Some scholars
refer to it as ‘roll -back neoliberalism’, as it involves the roll -back of state
welfare provision and the destruction of social institutions. 2) as an
ideology, neoliberalism refe rs to the expa nsion of market logic into all
areas of political and social life, where in everything acts according to
market norms. This is referred to as ‘roll -out neoliberalism’; and is
characterized by the creation of new forms of governance, including
socially inte rventionist policies. Here, authority is delegated to non -
governmental agencies.
4.2 UNDERSTANDING CO -OPTATION
There is a growing trend towards “Business Case’ for gender equality,
which is characterized by governments, institutions, corp orations which
emphasize the importance of women’s economic power for growth. The
‘Business Case’ for gender equality is also sometimes referred to as
‘Gender Equality as Smart Economics’. It is a notion that gender equality
should become a policy goal b ecause gender inequality leads to negative
effects, such as economic inefficiency and inhibitor of growth.
Government institutions and corporates are eager to embrace ‘Business
Case’ language which could lead to a dilemma. While increased visibility
for gender equalit y issues is an important achievement, the exact nature
and terms of this ‘visibility’ matters significantly. Feminist language has
been taken by organizations (appropriated) for private profiteering, and
this has provoked serious questions a mong feminist activists and theorists.
This issue has been understood in terms of ‘Co -optation’, which is the
adoption of feminist language or concepts within mainstream institutions
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33 Gender and Neoliberalism
Contestations ‘gender mainstream ing’ limits the space for transformative feminist
change.
The feminist political economy literature has identified many forms of
‘neoliberal’, ‘transnational business’, ‘managerial’, ‘elite’, or ‘governance’
feminisms. The literary critiqu es try to capt ure different dimensions of the
phenomenon of neoliberal feminism: its corporate origins, its orientation
to biopolitical power, and its relationship with the institutions of
governance. They also study the continuities and discontinuities b etween
feminis m before co -optation and its neoliberal, marketized avatar. In
essence, co -optation narratives portray feminism as giving ideological
cover to economic forces that widen inequalities and worsen working
conditions in the majority world.
Here it is importa nt to discuss the paradoxical neoliberal concern with
gender inequality in terms of the reflections of corporatized Gender and
Development not in terms of co -opted feminism, but in terms of the
expansion of neoliberalism as a new form of capi talistic accum ulation. In
this context it would be pertinent to consider a few questions: 1) How does
neoliberalism understand gender inequality? 2) How does neoliberalism
understand the role of women and girls in development? 3) How does
neoliberalism’s interest in ge nder inequality relate more generally to
changes in global development? 4) Who has more power in the global
development context?
It is now understood by feminists that neoliberalism is not a monolith and
must be critiqued carefully. The que stions outline d above need further
deliberations with the use of concrete examples to understand the
underlying power dynamics.
4.3 NEOLIBERAL FEMINISM: Transnational Business Initiatives
Regarding co -optation, feminists have observed the way in which fe minist
claims and ideas have been appropriated and de -politicized, especially
when they are incorporated into powerful global governance discourses
and institutions.
A number of public institutions have adopted gender policies which focus
on gender equali ty. These hig hlight the ‘business case for equality and the
potential economic impact of women’s empowerment. This is reflected
through the number of partnerships between public institutions and
corporations to promote gender equality as a part of '‘corp orate
citizens hip’ initiatives. The Nike Foundation’s partnership with the
World Bank (the Adolescent Girl Initiative), the UN Women partnership
with Coca Cola (the 5 by 20 Strategic Partnership), the United Nations
Foundation’s partnership with Exxon Mo bile (the Road map for Women’s
Empowerment) and a variety of partnerships between corporations and
non-profits for empowerment are few examples.
Goldman Sachs has developed a gender -focused investment theme called
‘Womenomics’ from the late 1990s. Within t he ‘Womenomics ’ theme, in munotes.in

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34 2008 Goldman Sachs has developed a Corporate Social Responsibility
initiative called ‘10,000 Women’. It focuses on the empowerment of
small -scale female entrepreneurs in the developing world and aims to give
them American MBA -style training in order to grow their businesses.
The Goldman project has emphasized the need to equip women with the
skills necessary to participate as fully empowered economic agents.
Women’s entrepreneurship and the understanding that women have
‘natura l’ entrepreneu rial potential is currently unrecognized and under -
invested is a prominent focus of gender and development discourses
today. Initiatives like 10,000 Women involve a range of training
programmes to help women in the developing world to enhance their
‘skill’ in order to grow their businesses. This could be seen as one effort
to put gender ‘on the corporate agenda’.
At the World Economic Forum meeting held in 2008, the Nike Foundation
launched the ‘Girl Effect’ initiative. This works in coopera tion with othe r
corporate and non -profit and governmental organizations. The Girl Effect
campaign aims to ‘make the case for girls’ and raise awareness among the
public that investment in girls can ‘stop poverty before it starts’. This
campaign includes a website, vid eo campaign, and donation portal. The
highlight of the campaign is the creative use of animation to depict
emotional narratives about the empowerment of women and girls. Such
campaigns try to create a synergy between social and economic ret urn on
investm ent. It emphasized on the power of consumer to support and
empower girls all across the world. The ‘Girl Effect’ has also come to
represent a powerful and politically correct discourse about investing in
the girls. This investment will hel p the girls of the global South to become
development ‘solutions’ for the future.
Scholars observe that the initiatives like ‘10,000 Women’ and the ‘Girl
Effect’ reflect the offloading of governmental power to the private sector.
This implies that the c orporations wil l play a legitimate role in the
development governance. Both initiatives must be seen as a trend towards
‘girl powering’ of global development, and the potential profitability of
women’s empowerment. While both campaigns are run with high p rofile
female f igures and powerful institutional affiliations and are therefore able
to amass enormous funds for girls and women, but the question is, to what
end? There is ample scope for critique of these initiatives. It is necessary
to take a critical look at the ex tent of corporate power in development
governance.
4.4 CONCLUSION
Feminist development and political economy literature finds itself in a
difficult position today. On the one hand there is an increased visibility
of gender equality iss ues in global g overnance, but at the same time there
is recognition that there exists a problematic relation between liberal
feminism and neoliberal economic policies. If we strive to challenge and
transform existing relations of power it will involve not only
empowerme nt but also resistance, as the two are inseparable. Taken in this munotes.in

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Contestations form, resistance runs directly opposite to the neoliberal model. This
requires the redistribution of resources, challenging the operation of
markets, or organising against st ate repression. When women engage in
struggles for transformation, they take part in a process of challenging and
changing the very norms of behaviour that are reinforced by neoliberal
development. Women will have to reclaim feminist concepts like
‘agency ’ and ‘empowerm ent’. It is only through the forms of collective
action that social transformation will be possible.
4.5 SUMMARY
Since the 1990s, there has been revision of some policies which resulted in
the emergence of commonly new format of the term labeled as
‘neoliberalism with a human face’.
The mainstream development institutions who champion neoliberal
economic policies have not been able to grasp the concept of gender.
A parallel feature of neoliberal policies is the process of ‘feminisation’ o f
labour. This term has emerged in literature relating to labour only
recently, and is characterized by a deterioration of working conditions –
casualisation, flexibilisation, violation of international labour standards
and low wages.
Gender equality shou ld become a pol icy goal because gender inequality
leads to negative effects, such as economic inefficiency and inhibitor of
growth.
‘Co-optation’ is the adoption of feminist language or concepts within
mainstream institutions and neoliberal ideologies.
A number of publ ic institutions have adopted gender policies which focus
on gender equality.
There are a number of development initiatives like the Millennium
Development Goals, financial policy agendas like the World Bank’s
‘Gender Equality as Smart Eco nomics’ policy plan, to corporate social
responsibility campaigns like Nike’s ‘Girl Effect’ .
When women engage in struggles for transformation, they take part in a
process of challenging and changing the very norms of behaviour that are
reinforced by neoli beral developmen t.
4.6 QUESTIONS
x Discuss the significance of gender equality in the context of
liberalism.
x Examine the efforts made by transnational corporations towards
women’s empowerment.
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36
4.7 REFERENCES
Andrea Cornwall, J. G. (December 2008). Intro duction: Reclaim ing
Feminism: Gender and Neoliberalism. IDS Bulletin Volume 39 Number 6.
Calkin, S. (4 (2015) ). Feminism, interrupted? Gender and development in
the era of ‘Smart Economics’. Progress in Development Studies 15, pp.
295–307.
Cornwall, A. (2 018). Beyond “Em powerment Lite”: Women’s
Empowerment, Neoliberal Development and Global Justice.
7777777
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37 5 WORK AND PRODUCTION Unit Structure 5.0 Objectives 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Traditional discourse: Women and Work 5.3 Contextual Analysis 5.4 Critical analysis from major feminist schools of thought 5.5 Productive and reproductive work 5.6 Conclusion 5.7 Summary 5.8 Questions 5.9 References 5.0 OBJECTIVES  To gain insights into the concept of production and reproduction  To examine the interlinkages between production and reproduction with specific reference to India 5.1 INTRODUCTION The study of women’s role has been and continues to be of crucial importance to feminists. This is because they are concerned with the identification of those processes and structures that generate gender inequalities and gender segregation. They are also keen to devise appropriate strategies that would help to equalize the position of women and men in the productive and reproductive spheres. Research in this area would give us a better understanding how gender divisions intersect with class and caste inequalities. However, women’s oppression cannot be understood without taking into account the connections between the division of labour at work and in the home. Family structure, related domestic responsibilities need to be also considered when we discuss the position of women as wage labourers. The traditional sociological definition of work is restricted to economically productive activity. In this section we see how women who consider themselves as housewives are generally involved in unorganized work, like in the field of agricultural and small-scale market production, in addition to their domestic responsibility and childcare. They are invisible in terms of their economic contribution in the private as well as public sphere. munotes.in

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38 5.2 TRADITIONAL DISCOURSE: WOMEN AND WORK Traditional economic theories are based on the assumption that family is the basic economic unit. Individuals are free agents and they have rational choices. There can be two spheres of work: economic realm and household realm. The economic realm focused on buyers, sellers, market whereas the household realm consists of a range of unpaid work that is necessary for the functioning of economic realm. This implies that items that are sold in the market are only counted as production. In economic realm, labour market work is strictly work performed for a wage. These terms are then tied to the term production. Work is productive, if and only if, profits are produced, although work can be performed without wages, salaries, or income. The capitalist system has always regarded women merely as a convenient source of cheap labour and part of the ‘reserve army of labour’. During both World Wars, women were drafted into factories to replace men as per their needs. Women were again encouraged to enter the workplaces during the period of capitalist boom of 1950s and 1960s, and proved to be a reservoir of cheap labour. 5.3 A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS: Because production and reproduction both create value, they are considered to be potentially ‘income generating’. ‘Domestic’ tasks such as housework and childcare, carried out by women, are unwaged in all societies and therefore, they do not fit into the category of ‘work’. All domestic activities, in fact, contribute income to the household unit in the form of saving, budgeting or the provision of unpaid services. The overall status of those engaged in wage earning, self-employment, cash cropping and so on is generally considered to be higher than those confined to the domestic sector. In conventional economics, the term production is used to refer to remunerated (paid) work in the market. ‘Non-productive’ and domestic works not only makes a contribution to, but are a very necessary part of any nation’s economy. The production of both, use value products and exchange value products by women is essential for the accumulation process, which is so much a part of capitalism. It is generally interpreted that housework is reproduction or consumption and not production. Feminist economic theory has developed the concept of ‘care economy’ to refer to the space where the labour force is reproduced and maintained. A large part of the activities in the care economy are performed within the sphere of the family. The role played by the state as care provider will determine the load of care assigned to family, volunteer labour, and/or the market. munotes.in

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Work and Production 5.4 CRITICAL ANALYSIS FROM MAJOR FEMINIST SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS: From a liberal feminist perspective, value of individual autonomy and value of individual self-fulfilment have been given importance and they can pursue their own self- interest that they define it. The Marxist feminist perspective emphasizes that changes in the organization of production are essential for equality between the sexes. Gender division of labour is related in different degrees. Thus, materialism explains social progress as emerging from the social relations and activities through the process of production and reproduction. Production and reproduction are the central features of human society. In Engels’ opinion, emergence of private property is the root cause of women’s subordination. Dimensions of sexuality, structure and nature of household and the specificity of oppression have to be analyzed historically. From a Marxist feminist perspective, class and gender are central to women’s oppression. According to the views of the radical feminists, patriarchy exists in society, in which men enjoy both economic and political power. Thus, patriarchal structure is manifested through male force and control which preserves itself through marriage and family. According to this school of thought, patriarchy is sexual system of power, rooted in biology, that is, women’s reproductive role, rather than in economics or history. 5.5 PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE WORK: 5.5.1 PRODUCTIVE WORK OF WOMEN: Women in Development (WID) perspective challenged the assumptions of the ‘welfare approach’ and highlighted women’s importance to the agricultural economy. Boserup observes that there is a positive correlation between the role women played in agricultural production and their status in relation to men. Women in Development advocates have challenged the narrow view of women’s roles as mothers and wives, which formed a part of much of earlier development policy in relation to women. Instead of portraying women as needy beneficiaries, WID arguments represent women as productive members of society with agency. 5.5.2 REPRODUCTIVE WORK: It is imperative to understand the nature of gender discrimination at work, women’s wages, their participation in the development process, and implications for political action. For this, analysts must re-examine the two areas of production and reproduction as well as the inter linkage between them. Internal Labour Market Model focuses on the internal organization of the capitalist firm. It explains the phenomenon of sex segregation and wage differentials. Sex is one factor by which workers can be separated. In this model, occupational segregation, wage munotes.in

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40 differentials, and other types of discrimination by sex are viewed as resulting from the hierarchical and self-regulatory structure of production. Two policy implications can be drawn from this model: 1. Radical policy would involve elimination of the hierarchical structure of production, it would tend to eliminate or reduce differences by sex. 2. A less radical policy would involve equal opportunity and affirmative action plans that would make each job equally accessible to men and women. Both of these policies have a major flaw. They focus only on the structure of production and do not take into consideration women’s role in the area of reproduction. 5.5.3 THE INTER-LINKAGE BETWEEN PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION There is no physical, metaphysical or economic difference between the two kinds of work, that is, productive and reproductive work. It is generally interpreted that the productive work adds new use values by creating new things. On the other hand, reproductive work merely maintains the use value of already existing things. This type of classification leads to a biased assumption that assigns much of women’s work to a secondary role of ‘reproductive’ activities. Marxist economists thus define labour as the ultimate resource, and labour is seen to create either use value or exchange value. For them, production refers to labour used to create exchange value in the market and reproduction refers to labour used to create use value in the home. Here, the term reproduction refers to biological reproduction as well as the reproduction of maintenance of the labour force and includes household ‘production’ of use value, that is, goods and services for immediate consumption in the home. So, home is considered as both a unit of consumption and reproduction. Neo-classical economists have tried to resolve the controversies pertaining to production and reproduction. They have introduced two important dimensions into this debate: First, that the ultimate resource is time. Second, the household investments of time, money and other resources on nutrition, sanitation, health care, education, etc., of its members are investment in human capital and therefore these should not be characterized as consumption (women are not merely consumers they are producers). Relationship between the Market and the Family: The gradual penetration of the market into economic life creates a shift of production from the domestic to market sphere. In the industrialized societies, where subsistence depends predominantly on the wage, the function of domestic work is to transform family income into consumable munotes.in

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Work and Production goods and services, only a small part of which is produced within the household. Domestic labour, especially in agricultural societies, contains a higher degree of production. All stages of food transformation are often carried out in the household. In fact, agricultural and household-related tasks are highly integrated; also, productive and reproductive activities are highly interlinked, time and again. There is a general tendency to dismiss the unpaid household labour of women and to devalue their role as household managers and producers and to ascribe greater worth to exchange values compared to use values. A woman, who specializes in the creation of use values through household production, rather than exchange values through paid employment, is counted as ‘not working’ or ‘unemployed’ even though her household work includes production of subsistence crops. Her activities provide the basic foundation for labour needed in the so-called ‘productive’ sectors of the economy. The most obvious outcome of the invisibility of household production is that neither the value of labour input nor the value of output is taken into account in the national accounting system. Relationship between Patriarchy and Capitalism: Marxist theorists are more concerned with analyzing production. They have been unable to explain the specific situation of women within capitalist structure of labour process. Industrial capitalist societies consist of not one structure, that is, capitalism, but of two: patriarchy and capitalism. Patriarchal structure was established much before the development of capitalism. It spilled over into capitalist forms of labour process because men wanted to secure a privileged position for themselves. As a result, sexual hierarchy was established within the wage labour system. We cannot blame just the capitalists as responsible for women’s positioning in the labour market but also men. Capitalism and patriarchy interact with each other, creating a subordinate position. Relationship between ‘Production of Things’ and ‘Production of People’: Production of people can be understood as biological reproduction which includes both physical and social processes. These are the social and cultural mechanisms by which gender relations, women’s sexuality and procreation are structured and controlled. Although the only compelling connection between female sex and reproductive activity is in the sphere of biological reproduction, it is a fact that women are also quite uniformly allocated to many other tasks. These are directly connected to the maintenance and reproduction of the labour force, such as cooking, cleaning, childcare and care of the sick and the aged. Especially in the case of rural women, the distinction between productive and reproductive work often seems to be somewhat artificial. The process of reproduction includes a large number of productive tasks geared to the household’s own consumption, such as animal care, agricultural work, weaving and petty trade, along with food preparation, carrying water, collecting firewood and so on. munotes.in

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42 Women in agrarian societies are primarily valued for their procreative ability and that fertility is central component of female status. It is also true that those who control their reproductive capacity are generally able to have command over their labour. It is now widely recognized that women’s position within family’s needs to be explained in terms of wider social processes and structures. There is direct and intimate link between the mechanisms through which female sexuality is controlled and the system of production. Women’s child-bearing capacity and labour are manipulated and used through social structures which are patriarchal by nature. Women have very little role to play in the social and private control over fertility. The number and spacing of children is also determined by the husband or male head of the family, as a consequence men have control over children for purposes of inheritance of labour and property. Ideologies are strengthened in such a way which devalues the status of women who do not have children or sons. Absence of son in a family is considered inauspicious as certain rituals, religious functions cannot be performed. Women’s mobility from the family is also conditioned by various factors as there is fear that sexuality may be affected. This has an adverse consequence, which hinders women’s ability to participate in the paid employment or industrial sector. Thus, the process of subordination takes place through the social structures, specifically family/kinship structures, and this interconnects with the system of production. Indian Scenario:  The subordination of women through lack of control over land, property and sexuality has been strengthened through various mechanisms in Indian society, such as caste endogamy, dowry and so on.  Though sociologists and social anthropologists have tried to highlight the system of dowry and bride price, they have not contributed to an analysis of the status of women. The feminist perspective in this context contributes on critical analysis of women’s subordination.  Apart from caste and dowry, the sexual division of labour in the Indian situation does not imply mere complementarities, but perpetuates occupational segregation, labour market segmentation and unequal wage structure. In agriculture, for instance, women engage in water regulation, transplanting, weeding and harvesting, but not ploughing. Studies indicate that the sex-wise allocation of tasks also exist in the industrial set-up and in the informal sector. More than half of the Indian women’s activities are unrecorded in census data, as they do not have independent land to cultivate, even though they actively assist in family production units. Women’s work participation rates fluctuate with changes in the census definition of work and worker. munotes.in

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Work and Production  Task-specific work of women is, therefore, one of the important indicators of her lower status. Apart from that, she has unequal agricultural wages, which is taken away by men. In subsistence farming with high female participation, women work on a complementary basis with men, but their control over resources is not necessarily assured. In the unorganized non-agricultural sector, the position of women is equally miserable. Their entering into traditional unorganized units, which are not covered by the factory laws, and their entry into new type of occupations in organized sectors where role specification takes place hinders the choice of work. This happens because of the special problems that women face, such as lack of education, low technical skill, lack of choice because of family pressure and so on. 5.6 CONCLUSION: Sexual division of labour is connected to power hierarchy and domestic labour. Theories of social reproduction can be based on two major classifications. In the first instance, in terms of control over the women’s labour and fertility, that is, in materialist terms; and in second instance, as ideological relations, which are centrally involved in the transformation of sex into gender. In each case, of course, priority is given to the social relations of reproduction in defining women’s oppression. 5.7 SUMMARY The study of women’s role has been and continues to be of crucial importance to feminists. This is because they are concerned with the identification of those processes and structures that generate gender inequalities and gender segregation. In economic realm, labour market work is strictly work performed for a wage. These terms are then tied to the term production. Because production and reproduction both create value, they are considered to be potentially ‘income generating’ Boserup observes that there is a positive correlation between the role women played in agricultural production and their status in relation to men. It is imperative to understand the nature of gender discrimination at work, women’s wages, their participation in the development process, and implications for political action. Marxist economists thus define labour as the ultimate resource, and labour is seen to create either use value or exchange value. Sexual division of labour is connected to power hierarchy and domestic labour. munotes.in

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44 5.8 QUESTIONS  Examine the concepts of production and reproduction  Discuss the key tenets of the major theories related to work and reproduction.  Discuss the interrelatedness between production and reproduction in the Indian context 5.9 REFERENCES Paltasingh, Tattwamasi and Lakshmi Lingam (2014): ‘Production’ and ‘Reproduction’ in Feminism: Ideas, Perspectives and concepts. ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270671479_%27Production%27_and_%27Reproduction%27_in_Feminism_Ideas_Perspectives_and_Concepts Rania Antonopoulos (2009): The unpaid care work-paid work connection – Working Paper No. 86, Policy Integration and Statistics Department, International Labour Office, Geneva Tam O’ Neil, Fleury, A. and Foresti M. (2016): Women on the Move: Migration, Gender equality and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Overseas Development Institute. www.odi.org munotes.in

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45 6
WORK IN GLOBAL ECONOMY –
MIGRATION AND MARGINALIZATION
Unit Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Meaning of global economy
6.3 Factors effecting global economy
6.4 Benefits of Global Economy
6.5 Impact on Health with work in the Global Econo my
6.6 Global Economy Women and Work
6.7 Migration and Marginalization
6.8 Statistics related to Migration
6.9 Lack of documents and Marginalization
6.10 Global Migration and Work
6.11 Gender Migration, Marginalization
6.12 Case study of Sugar Cane in dustry Maharashtra
6.13 Possible Solutions
6.14 Summary
6.15 Questions
6.16 References
6.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the concept of Global Economy
2. To understand the nature of work in the global economy
3. To learn about how migration brings marg inalization and its other
interrelated issues.
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The dictionary meaning of work is 'any activity which involves mental or
physical effort carried out for achieving certain purpose or result can be
viewed as work'. As human beings our bodie s have evolved through that
of physical work – like in ancient times, human beings used climb trees, to
walk for miles in search of food, or even move every day from one place
to another in search of food. This led to various behavioural traits like
alertness, fear so that one doesn’t become prey to any wild animals. One
had to defend or protect oneself from wild animals for that people resided
in that was possible only by staying in groups or learning skill of survival
and by building various tools. Those who could manage these conditions
survived and those who couldn’t , died out early. After this came the munotes.in

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46 settled agriculture. With time there came science, innovations, discovery,
machines and industrialization.
However, with industrialization, scientific i nvention, usage of pesticides,
fertilizers and new techniques began to increase the production of food.
Thereafter, Modernization began and can be also associated with
development in the industrialization. In all these stages of human life one
thing remain ed common, which is human beings kept of working in all
stages of societies. Let it be tribal or the most civilized ones. The
beginning of human kind work was by using stone, wooden tools and now
it is replaced with computers. However, the industrializatio n had deep
impact on all over world. The development of Industrialization inspired by
the West led to massive revolution. Post industrialization, Globalization
emerged which led to further change in the economy. Some of the
countries which rapidly benefitt ed out of the globalization is that of Latin
America, Brazil and India. Several multinational companies came to India.
This was due to the cheap white collar skilled individuals available in the
country. Given this background let us now look into details o f the present
chapter.
There are two topics discussed in this chapter i. e. Work in Global
Economy and Migration and Marginalization. Both these topics relate in
some way as both are discussing on the field economics and human lives.
Before understanding Work in Global economy we need to look into the
background framework i.e. understanding the meaning of Global
Economy.
6.2 MEANING OF GLOBAL EC ONOMY
The term "global economy" refers to the interrelated global economic
activity that take place across diffe rent countries. In other words, it is
spread of capitalism with restrictions applied by that of different
governments. These economic activities influence the countries involved,
both positively and negatively. Some of the criticism includes global
econo my has led to decline of jobs in the wealthy nations.
There are several components within the global economy like –
1. Globalization – In simple terms, Globalization is the exchange of
goods and services, culture and information among different
countries. Globalization has brought about a global culture change
and the whole world becoming a global village. Due to globalization
local economies have been both positively and negatively affected.
Positively in terms of wider market availability, newer opportun ities
etc. in terms of negativ ely there is an increase in the competition and
local companies have been effected.
2. International trade – International trade is a important aspect of
that of global economies. Crisis or War in one country can a ffect
another. For example – The recent war between Russia, Ukraine
creates problems for all the nations which are dependent on oil
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47 Work in Global Economy – Migration
and Marginalization 3. Global investment – With globalization companies can invest in
other countries apart from their own home countries. In fact, foreign
direct investment is considered very seriously as it helps local
businesses/ companies to scale up. It also helps in providing better
markets and opportunities for companies specially with mergers.
6.3 FACTORS AFFECTING GL OBAL ECONOMY
Some of the factors which affect the global economy is that of quantity
and quality of natural resources availability, age group of the population,
labour strength, work culture of people, technological advancement and
politics of a country. Constant wars, Pandemics government decisions, not
only affect the one country, but it’s effects can be seen on the global
economic market.
6.4 BENEFITS OF GLOBAL E CONOMY
One of the important benefit s of that of global economy is that it has led to
the fre e flow of capital, human labo ur and that of increase in investment in
other countries. It has also helped at both at macro level and micro level.
New technologies, job opportunities have emerged in the country with
global economy. Customers have also benef ited immensely; they now
have a range of products to choose from. When developed countries enter
into developing market the home country receives benefits like wider
market and for the host country exposure. It also creates aspirations,
businesses locally through competition. The foreign companies also
become role models for local companies to start businesses. Global
economies also function through exchanges between countries like the
developed country utilize the raw materials, labour and produce the fina l
product and sell it to other countries. Often , they even employ the
labourers of developing and underdeveloped countries as labour rate is
cheaper in these countries. Global economy also helps in wider circulation
of capital there by helping in investing in emerging economies of the
world. Through this both productivity and efficiency of countries increase.
6.5 IMPACT OF WORK ON HEALTH IN THE GLO BAL
ECONOMY
The changing nature of work where youngsters are employed with
Multinational Companies has brough t lot of behavio ural changes and
physical changes in the individuals. With companies going on remote
working model, there is rapid lifestyle changes occurring . Large number
of people are working with the time framework of that of non - Indian
timing i. e. at night as a result to there are often health related problems
like acidity, stress, lack of enough sleep. The increase in screen time has
been proven to be connected with ill health and growth of multiple health
related problems. Furthermore, a larger sha re of the workforce is now
working in low -activity jobs like office work. The increase of work with
laptop and sitting constantly at one place has led to increase in the obesity munotes.in

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48 among individual. There are range of heart related diseases occur ring at a
young age like heart attack, type two diabetes, thyroid, osteoporosis,
depression and anxiety. Hence, exercise and regular movement needs to be
practiced daily. With pandemic people spend lot of time at home and
screen time has also increased among people of all groups including
children. Thus, the nature of work has its own effects human body.
Check Your Progress
1. Discuss the factors effecting global economy
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2. Discuss the benefits of global economy in few lines
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6.6 GLOBAL ECONOMY - WOMEN AND WORK
Economic development is directly connected wit h improvement of women
status. As a female earns, she gets certain degree of financial
independence and it helps in getting control over her own life decisions.
Globalization has created several new jobs in the market, majorly in the
formal sector, i. e. the formal sector has received maximum benefit.
Though the women employed in the white -collar jobs has increased
immensely post liberalization yet, there is still need of massive
improvement. As informal sector also serves the formal sector there is
need fo r further improvement in the system. Hence, fair policies should be
made both in terms of formal and informal sector.
In terms of wages, salaries there are several professions, occupations
where females are majorly involved yet they are paid less. Like tea ching,
nursing etc. Let us take the example of Childcare, it is a challenging work
which is commonly devalued or unpaid, and it is generally carried out by
women. Furthermore, even if women do not perform the majority of these
kind of work, yet certain car eer pathways are forced upon them directly or
indirectly. Women are allocated with low -paying, less -prestigious
occupations such as "mother tracks" whether they prefer it or not. Mother
track means the female has to prioritise being mother first and not he r
career. There also exists the globalised labour imbalances for example –
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49 Work in Global Economy – Migration
and Marginalization women who work as full -time nannies, who are frequently immigrant
women from that of other countries.
Gende r aspects of globalisation and global restructuring criticizes the male
bias in existing literature and even the theories which are based on
masculine orientation. Globalization is gendered and based on gender
ideology, as global restructuring, impacts and is based on gender systems.
There ha s been greater emphasis on economic globalisation as well as
changes in global labour organisation. The important point to observe is
that Global manufacturing relies on low -wage female labour in
multinational corpora tions/' plants in the global south. The trend of
making employment more flexible and that of informal can also be closely
connected to that of feminization of labour. One cannot ignore that the
biggest fashion industries like London, New York, Milan, Paris developed
countries thrive on the cheap laborers of India, Bangladesh, Sir lanka for
stitching their garments.
Hence, Empowering women to participate equally in the global economy
has a greater potential to increase GDP by $28 trillion by 2025. According
to the World Bank, women have played a significant role in the reduction
of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, with female labour market
income contributing to nearly 30%. This has even helped in reduction of
severe poverty during a 10 -year period . The majority of female
entrepreneur’s own micro, small, and medium -sized enterprises (MSMEs)
and even women own more than 30% of MSMEs. Despite this, just one
out of every five exporters is a woman -owned business. In certain
instances, helping female ent repreneurs may be beneficial to the economy.
Hence, before making any trade policy decisions, the growth of women
should be taken into account In other words, encouraging women for
work would help in creating new businesses and even add to the economic
growth. For collection growth of the society there is a need for that of
women’s employment. Let us now look into the second topic of the
chapter, i. e. migration and marginalization.
6.7 MIGRATION AND MARGIN ALIZATION
Migration refers to movement of people from one location to another this
could be for permanent or temporary reasons. Migration is one of the
most important component s which can bring about a change in the
strength and quality of the migration, others being morbidity, fertility,
mortality. Ho wever, the migrants reside in the slums when they enter the
city and contribute to the city’s growth, infrastructure, and contribute in
building different institutions. Migrants , as they arrive to the city , bring
newer skill sets which they must have lear nt back in their villages. Both
migration and marginalization are at times is a reflection of a failure of
priorities by a nation. It is a sign that nations have to gone wrong in
multiple ways, like safeguarding their own population and even the poor
peop le of the country. It has failed in protecting the powerless groups who
do not have any voice specially those who migrate due to forced
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50 6.8 STATISTICS RELATED T O MIGRATION –
Migration is caused by a rise in underemployment and poverty in rur al
areas. Poverty also contributes to rural -urban migration. Inter -state
migration in India accounted for over 9 million persons per year between
2011 and 2016, according to the Economic Survey of India 2017.
According to the Economic Survey of India 2017, inter-state migration in
India was close to 9 million per year between 2011 and 2016. The urban
population of India is anticipated to increase from 410 million in 2014 to
814 million by 2050. However, according to the National Sample Survey
Organization ( 2018), vocational skills knowing migrants are around 2.4
percent of India's workforce.
The most migratory states are Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where daily
salaries and access to basic healthcare remain extremely poor even today.
Seasonal workers suffer doub le problem since they are forced to work in
low-paying, dangerous professions, and even in the informal sector, where
employment security, perks like medical insurance, and occupational
safety are non -existent. According to the 2019 the number of migrants
from International to India has decreased from 5.24 million in 2015 to
5.15 million in 2019. Migrants face several problems like lack of enough
documents.
6.9 LACK OF DOCUMENTS AND MARGINALIZATION
Many migrants or even locals fail to apply for needed docu mentation in
their new destination, permanent residency due to illiteracy and lengthy
procedure. As a result, they lose the advantages provided by the host
state. Even when people do not have ancestral documents or other self -
records, they are unable to v erify their citizenship and suffer difficulties.
Marginalisation can also be associated with a lack of documents which
will further lead to denial of Public Distribution System (PDS), Aadhaar
card, and voting card. In other words, without certain documents one
could even be not seen as a citizen and one could be victim of violence at
any given point of time. These individuals continue to live in constant fear
of being caught by police. There are instances, where the male member
face violence and even los e their lives. This resulted in the los t of earning
member in the family.
Several initiatives to prove one’s citizenship affects large section of the
society . Being marked ‘D’ Doubt in their documents le ads to loss of
several lives, imprisonment and loss of earning members. These doubtful
people are later put in to the detention centres. Fearing the loss of
citizenship and detention after exclusion from the list, several people have
even killed themselves. The Registration records permits only individuals
who have proof of record of themselves or one’s ancestor of residing in
the country. There is also instance where an government servant has spent
eleven days in detention camps. In some cases , individuals have been
living in the village and were reported abs conding and have been declared munotes.in

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51 Work in Global Economy – Migration
and Marginalization foreigner and the villagers did not know about this. The challenges faced
by illiterate, poor, ignorant tribes is that of ten - fold. Like one fine day, if
the individual has been declared as foreigner the property, work all e arned
by him becomes a question and he, she could lose it .
Check Your Progress
1. Discuss some statistics related to migration
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2. According to you how migrants conditions can be improved?
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6.10 GLOBAL MIGRATION AND WORK
Globally, when people migrate during crisis , they end up leaving
everythi ng behind like proper ty, land, capital, degree certificates,
businesses. People end up staying in camps for years together and then
have to overcome their emotional trauma and start finding jobs again and
start from scratch their careers. Raising capital t o start business also
becomes a problem. Migrating during war like crisis is one of the difficult
thing s individuals do. People cross oceans on a simple boat, they have to
take risks, falling from the boat could lead to death of individuals.
6.11 GENDER A ND MIGRATION
Girls and women have been vulnerable to sexual exploitation, and even
youngsters are not immune to starvation. When a migrant is a woman,
handicapped, or belongs to the lower socioeconomic strata of society,
exploitation and marginalization is much more.
There are instances where just to reduce one of the food eaters in the home
a woman was married to anyone who is ready to marry her. This situation
often takes place when families are poor and migrated and survival is
difficult.
The feminiza tion of transnational migrant labour is a well -established
aspect of the modern global economy. Like several South Asians work as
home maids in economies which are developed, like in the gulf regions. munotes.in

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52 Hence there is need for studies based on experiences an d understandings
of labour in a variety of gendered sectors of global and regional labour
markets. This could be comparative fieldwork and ethnography,
monography, life stories of migrant women, their families. This would
help in building policies, generat ing awareness on such issues. The
migrants also face multiple problems like language difficulty, are even at
times fooled by the agents, harmed by the house owners etc. Given the
fact that there are sizeable number of females who work as domestic
work ers in developed countries.
6.12 CASE STUDY OF SUGAR CANE INDUSTRY
MAHARASHTRA
The sugar we all love and consume has a cost which is not visible directly.
The cost is that of migrant women ’s health. The sugar cane industry hire
migrants and they provide them ar ound 1 to 1.5 lakh per year for the work
these women contribute. These migrant women are supposed to work for
12 hours a day. To work for such long hours the physical strength required
is greater and hence, the solution is seen as undergoing hysterectomy. In
the Beed district of Maharashtra, nearly 13000 sugar cane migrant women
have gone through hysterectomy (removal of the womb) - utereus. The age
group ranges from that of 35 -40 while some females were in the age of 25
too. There are plenty of reasons for this decision some of them include –
early marriage, poverty, lack of pre and post operative counseling, lack of
enough water, absence of menstrual hygiene, toilets have been some of the
causes for such decisions.
6.13 POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Global economy w ould grow when there is concept of common future
whereby there is encouragement of businesses which are sustainable, eco -
friendly in nature. This improvement would help the world together and
bring nations interdependent in a positive way. There are other measures
like inclusion and measures of migrants.
The economic and social aspects of migration and social change process is
difficult to quantify as new migrants keep on adding often. Yet, the
indicators need to include extent of engagement of migrants an d ethnic
minorities in public debate and civil society. As well as general public and
minority group should have sense of equality and diversity.
There are other measures like progress of villages and improving the
agricultural base, working on climatic ch anges are some of the answer to
multiple problems. As improvement in the agriculture sector will help
large section of villagers to remain in village. Encouraging local village
business instead of corporates would also help villagers to earn more.
Thereby the pressure on urban cities would reduce immensely.
Increasing vocational courses for school drop outs, women and girls
residing in the slums, villages would help them earn a livelihood. They
could also become financially independent. With financial indep endence
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53 Work in Global Economy – Migration
and Marginalization Check Your Progress
1. Explain the case study of sugar cane workers
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2. Write in brief about migration and marginalization (Introduce it).
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6.14 SUMMARY
The term "global economy" refers to the interrelated global economic
activity that takes place across different countries. In other words, it is
spread of capitalism with restrictions applied by that of different
government. These economic activities influen ce the countries involved,
both positively or negatively. Some of the criticism includes global
economy has led to decline of jobs in wealthy nation. Some of the
components of Global economy is that it is led by globalization,
international trade and globa l investment.
The benefits of Global Economy include provi sion of multiple job
opportunities and new technologies being introduced into countries and
free flow of capital. The se also impact the different jobs emerged due to
global economy like that of Information technology on the health of the
individuals like due to sitting f or long time at one place and even having a
sedentary lifestyle. There are several diseases which are emerging due to
this like osteoporosis, type two diabetes, thyroid, cardio va scular diseases
etc. As this chapter falls under the subject of gender we also looked into
how global economies are affected through workforce from developing
and under developed countries. Employees are hired from developing,
underdeveloped countries to l ook after one’s children -as nannies in
developed countries.
Yet, the greater number of women into workforce greater would be the
improvement in the economy. This is seen across countries like Latin
America, Caribbean islands. The second section of this ch apter is focused
upon migration and marginalization. The migrants suffer due to lack of
documents. They even lose citizenship, property and end up in retention
centres. There are instances of suicides also reported when migrants fear
of losing citizenship rights. Globally too people have migrated during
wars. Gender and migration are very important area which needs to be
studied as women and children are heavily impacted during wars. Girls
become more vulnerable through sexual exploitation in forced migrat ion.
There are instances where women migrating in new places when there is
poverty in the family and when they can’t afford food are even married to
another old man. The case study of Sugar cane industry of Maharashtra is
discussed where women have been ge tting operated and removing their munotes.in

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54 Gender Perspectives on Development

54 uterus so that they could work for 12 hours a day, in the sugar cane
industry which offers them 1 to 1.5 lakh a year. Report shows that nearly
13 thousand women have removed their uterus in such a way. This also
shows the conditions of migrant women which need immediate attention.
Some of the possible solutions could be improving conditions of villages,
agriculture sector, and working on the economic and social aspects of
migration and social change.
6.15 QUESTIONS
1. Explain Gender and Migration with the help of case study of Sugar
cane industry in Maharashtra.
2. Discuss the lack of documents how it could affect migrants
3. Discuss the impact on health due to the changing nature of work.
4. Discuss the benefits of Glob al Economy
6.16 REFERENCE S
i. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/economic -growth/
ii. Parry, S., Straker, L. The contribution of office work to sedentary
behaviour associated risk. BMC Public Health 13, 296 (2013).
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471 -2458 -13-296
iii. https://medlineplus.gov/healthrisksofaninactivelifestyle.html
iv. https://openbooks.library.umass.edu/introwgss/chapter/introduction/
v. .2LÈě2VÈ, M. (00). Gender and Globalisation: Labour
Changes in the Global Economy. 6RFLRORJLFNê ýDVRSLV  &]HFK
Sociologic al Review , 42(6), 1241 –1257.
vi. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/this -is-why-women -must -play-a-
greater -role-in-the-global -economy/
vii. https://www.thestatesma n.com/opinion/migration -and-
marginalization -1502836439.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEhA6tYAJgo
viii. https://www.bbc.com/news/world -asia-india -49520593
ix. Amrith, M., & Sahraoui, N. (Eds.). (2018). Gender, work
DQG PLJUDWLRQ $JHQF\ LQ JHQGHUHG ODERXU VHW WLQJV.
Routledge.
x. Amrith, M., & Sahraoui, N. (Eds.). (2018). Gender, work and
PLJUDWLRQ$JHQF\LQJHQGHUHGODERXUVHWWLQJV . Routledge.
xi. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/aug/29/over -13000 -female -
sugarcane -labourers -in-beed-have-undergone -uterus -removal -surgery -says-probe -
pan-2026166.html
xii. 1 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978 -3-030-92084 -5
xiii. https://www.oecd.org/migration/mig/15516956.pdf
The economic and social aspects of migrat ion, Conference jointly
organized by the European Commission and the OECD, Brussels,
21-22 January 2003, paper titled Social Integration of Migrants and
Ethnic Minorities Policies to Combat Discrimination by Anja
Rudiger and Sarah Spencer.
7777777munotes.in

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55 7 ENVIRONMENT AND LIVELIHOODS IN RURAL AREAS Unit Structure 7.0 Objectives 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Environment and culture 7.3 Eco-tourism and livelihood 7.4 Farmer’s suicide 7.5 Government scheme for women farmers 7.6 Industry and Environment 7.7 Modern Technology and cultivation 7.8 Cities Covid and Farming 7.9 Tribes and displacement 7.10 Contract farming 7.11 Summary 7.12 Questions 7.13 References 7.0 OBJECTIVES  To learn about the relationship between environment and livelihoods as seen in India.  To understand the problems associated with this relationship.  To learn about the impact on the environment through technology, policies. 7.1 INTRODUCTION Environmental resources assist in a large portion of household income and it also acts as a source to reduce the income inequality in families. In a country like India, nearly 70 percent of the population is still dependent on agriculture for its livelihood. Along with farming, people also practice handicrafts to supplement their income in some parts of India. For example, in Assam, farmers make different objects out of locally available bamboo apart from farming in their free time. In other words, all of us are dependent upon the environment directly or indirectly. We depend on it for our survival and existence. Let us look into the relationship between environment and livelihood in detail. munotes.in

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56 7.2 ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE In villages, nature is still worshipped and it is seen as a cultural symbol. For example, in Southern parts of India, the Neem tree is seen as sacred. Tulsi is kept outside homes in the veranda and worshiped by women even today all over India. On important occasions like marriages, the banana branch stem is placed in the front of the house. It symbolizes that just like the banana branch, a woman, when she goes into another family, would bring prosperity and growth. The festivals in India also depend on the environmental cycle, like after the first harvest after the crops are sown in the field. Even today, there are village deities (Gram devatas) that reside in secluded parts of the villages. Normally, people visit these areas only once or twice a year or during important occasions like childbirth and marriage. As a result, these areas are preserved for a long period. Studies show that people do not encroach in these places due to fear of the deities. These areas remain untouched from humans from the settlement. Hence, the natural habitat of these places remains as it is. Many medicinal plants, species remain present due to this. An important fact is that no culture teaches to harm the environment or any element of it. Every culture teaches to respect the elements of the environment. It is due to the hunger of development that we have destroyed and made irrepairable damages to the environment. 7.3 ECO-TOURISM AND LIVELIHOOD The tourism industry in different parts of India has developed with time. Many activities are dependent on environmental resources. In the North part of India, in the Kashmir valley, people visit the gardens, Dal Lake, for the ride and the market and sunset in Shikara. The snow falling regions of like Sonmarg, Gulmarg. In the Union territory of Leh, Ladakh people visit to witness the Snow Stupa, Pangong lake. Apart from the historical monuments in Maharashtra, there is nature-related tourism like Velas Turtle festival, where the turtles that lay their eggs on the shore are collected by villagers and hatched in the sand. They are then released upon maturation into the sea. People come to visit the villages to see these baby turtles. The locals provide their own home to stay for the tourists and earn their livelihood through the money generated by rent and food. This festival creates an ecological awareness among people too. New events are held periodically like kayaking on the water, water sports, visiting villages, participating in the field, learning to farm for cities dwellers, swimming in the river, and leading a village lifestyle for a day or two. This helps the locals to earn some revenue. 7.4 FARMER’S SUICIDE Farmer's suicide is an important issue that is disturbing in nature. It is a sign of unequal development. As well as the helplessness that farmers face munotes.in

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Environment and
Livelihoods in
Rural Areas in their lives. It is a grave issue that has to be resolved. Farmers are directly dependent on nature for their survival. They lose money, investment, and resources and have huge debt when the rains fail. Farmers are most affected due to the changing nature because of global warming. In 2020, nearly 5,098 agricultural laborers died by suicide, it has increased from 18%, i.e., 4,324 who died last year. Maharashtra still leads with the highest suicide rate in the country, i.e., 4,006 suicides in the farm sector, a 15% increase in farmworker suicides from last year. The other States with a poor record include Karnataka (2016), Andhra Pradesh (889) and Madhya Pradesh (735). However, Karnataka has shown a dull figure, i.e., 43% increase in the number of farmworker suicides in 2020. The consequence of an individual farmer suicide has to be seen from the larger picture. The suicide of the earning member not only affects himself but two generations to three generations. The present family and the elders in the family. The child grows and lives as fatherless, feeling a range of emotions like resentment, anger, and lack of enough support, which affects his/ her growth as an individual. It also makes the eldest child to quit studying and get some work to be the next earning member. The burden on the farmer's widow is huge like she has to earn through household work, look after her husband in-laws- the teenage children, get married to her daughter, etc. The point is that a single suicide can bring a lot of structural change in the family's working. 7.5 GOVERNMENT SCHEMES FOR WOMEN FARMERS The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP), launched in 2010-11, focuses on women, especially farmers. As women also carry out more than 80 percent of farming activities. The women farmers' problems becomes more severe as at times, they are deserted, are single parents, widows, lack enough exposure, etc. Hence promoting facilitating and scaling-up successful small-scale projects that enhance women's participation and productivity in agriculture and allied activities is need of hour. Large community participation is encouraged and sustainable; organic agriculture is promoted. The NTFP, non-timber forest produce, is developed, collected, and processed marketed through these schemes. It focuses on training with modern harvesting techniques to help them earn a better income and higher returns from their yield. The Kudumbshree Self Help Group from Kerala website shows that nearly 3,49,875 Kerala women farmers have benefited from the MKSP program . Check Your Progress 1. Explain the relationship between culture and environment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ munotes.in

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58 2. Discuss the scheme for female farmers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.6 INDUSTRY AND ENVIRONMENT Generally, industries are known to deplete environmental resources. They are known for sand mining for building residential complexes, infrastructure base by encroaching forest. Or extract minerals and resources from different belts. However, some co-operative movements create a win–win situation like Amul, where the livelihood and nature are seen as balanced. Case study of Amul The word “Amul" is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Amulya' which means 'priceless' or precious. The history of Amul developed after some social movement against policies of the then government i.e. Britishers. This was guided for some time by Sardar Vallabai Patel, who directed to demand an individual cooperative in Kaira, Gujarat. Later through effective leadership, it was realized that the excess milk which the animals produced during the yielding season the farmers had to sell at low price. Hence, the remedy was made to process it into butter and milk powder. Dr. Kurein set up the world's first buffalo powder milk plant in 1955. The Anand model of Gujarat has been replicated throughout the world. Amul even today stands as a historical symbol of farmer’s movement and livelihood . Even during the pandemic, this cooperative unit stood apart. As they had invested on computerizing their nature of work through IBM. By mapping out the system, they learned that when the shops were shut, they cut down the production of ice-creams and increased paneer production. 7.7 MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND CULTIVATION With the lack of enough rain and access to new technology, new ways of growing vegetables and flowers have emerged in different cities of India and the world. There are practices like Aeroponics in which the water is sprinkled over the roots and the vegetables are grown instead of the traditional method of growing over the earth. The required nutrients which the plant receives are added to the water. This method reduces the requirement of water, space . There is another method like Aquaponics in which in limited water fishes are grown and the same water is recycled to grow plants and vegetables. As a result, the farmer earns both from the fish's sale in the market and the vegetables. One such unit is available at Kolhapur . Hydroponics is a method in which the vegetables are grown directly on the water with necessary nutrients added. In cities of late in the departmental stores, malls one can observe the hydroponics way grown munotes.in

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Environment and
Livelihoods in
Rural Areas vegetables, salads. Even eCommerce platforms like Swiggy have a section where they sell out hydroponics vegetables. With the introduction of 5G, the technology would further advance and crops, fields could be scanned too. There are other technologies with the help of artificial intelligence robots; drones are being introduced to assist in the farm. This has both positive and negative implications like faster techniques of plucking, fruits, crops, spraying pesticides, etc. At the same time, creating job losses and increases unemployment as agriculture still has a large dependency on the labor force. One of the implications of advancement of society and increasing demand for food all season is the heavy use of pesticide. This not only effects the local farmers but the consumers too. Farmers face several health issues as they are in constant contact with the pesticide while spraying. Hence, of late some of the rich farmers are using drones however, it is only few who can buy and learn to use it. The poor one’s still struggle. Enough research and encouragement is needed to use local methods, traditional seeds and develop products which would healthy for consumers and farmers. As currently India stands at fourth largest pesticide producer in the world, it shows the pesticide market thriving across the country and the conditions of farmers who they are forced to use it to save their livelihood. Check Your Progress 1. Explain with a few examples the eco-tourism and livelihood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Discuss the modern technology associated with growing vegetables. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.8 CITIES, COVID AND FARMING In Mumbai, one could often see leafy vegetables and cauliflower grown near the railway tracks. Due to the lack of availability of enough spaces, such practices exist. The markets are also informal. When the hawkers sell their vegetables and fruits, they have to watch the municipal vans that could take them down constantly. With lockdown and free time during the pandemic, several people joined the terrace farming movement. This was practiced on the terrace of one's building. Mainly this farming was not to sell products in the market, however, to support oneself in healthy living. munotes.in

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60 There are bankers, librarians, teachers, homemakers who have started gardening over the roof. 7.9 TRIBES AND DISPLACEMENT Traditionally the tribes are the people who are the closest to nature. Even today, scientists use their knowledge to make herbal medicines as they are the ones who practice them. Except for a few tribal areas like the Andaman Islands, all others are exposed to non-tribals, villagers, or industrialists. However, these indigenous groups are also the largest ones who are displaced. Tribes are displaced due to various factors like – in the name of the building of dams and reservoirs, development of urban infrastructure, creation of national parks and reserves, deforestation, development of communication networks, mining/ extraction of mineral resources, irrigation projects, industry . Several public sector companies like coal India have also displaced people in the name of mining. As in India, mines are coincidentally available in green areas and have a river basin. After displacing, they are also applying for world bank loans further for rehabilitation loans. These mines lead to again the debate of development vs. resources vs. people rights. . In the name of large-good, many people are displaced from their own homes. At times this is done strategically through the policies. On February 13, the Supreme court had instructed nineteen states within India, like Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Northeast, to take steps to remove occupants of forest land whose claims had been rejected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, also called the Forest Rights Act (FRA). According to official data, nearly 20 lakh claims for records of rights in the categories of individual and community rights have been rejected by state government agencies in the past ten years. Below given are some statistics on displacement throughout India . List of the population whose individual and community claims on forest land have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act State Claims made Titles
distributed Rejected Chhattisgarh 8.86 lakh 4. 09 lakh 4.59 lakh Odisha 6.22 lakh 4.21 lakh 1.5 lakh Madhya Pradesh 6.16 lakh 2.48 lakh 3.65 lakh Mahar ashtra 3.64 lakh 1.12 lakh 2. 31 lakh Karnataka 2.81 lakh 0.1 lakh 1.8 lakh Gujarat 1.90 lakh 0.87 lakh 0.65 lakh Bengal 1.42 lakh 0.45 lakh 0.96 lakh India 42 lakh 18.59 lakh 19.34 lakh munotes.in

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Environment and
Livelihoods in
Rural Areas The people who reside in the area are expected to sacrifice their land, culture for displacement, which is problematic. 7.10 CONTRACT FARMING Contract farming began during the colonization period where the colonies developed crops like cotton, sugarcane, coffee. Contract farming can be seen as an agreement between the farmer and the buyer (marketing agency/ supply agency/disturber/ corporate giants. Whenever a contract is made, the farmer is not aware of the hidden details of the agreement. At times, it was learnt that after the harvest when the farmer sells the produce to the buyer, his products are rejected based on quality grounds. As a result, the farmer is further pushed to loss instead of a fair price. Being illiterate, he is unaware of the rights and benefits before signing the agreement. Pepsico – Lays The FL-2027 variety of potatoes (FL stands for Frito Lays, the name of Pepsico’s food arm, and owner of the famous ‘Lays’ brand of potato chips) which was introduced by Pepsi in the year 2009 in Gujarat through a contract farming arrangement; with some 12,000 farmers, to whom the company supplied the seeds and bought back the produce. Some five years ago, the FL-2027 variety was registered under India's PPV&FR Act. However, in 2019, Pepsico sued nine farmers for breach of its rights under the Act, and claimed ₹4.2 Crore in damages from them, which were small farmers . Later, the company’s registration has been revoked by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority (PPV&FRA) . However, this shows the loopholes in the system in which farmers have to go through to create their produce. It also shows how the policies are still framed from the capitalist point of view than for small farmers. Seeds are farmers' rights, yet they do not have complete control over them. There is still a need for strict intellectual property and patenting of techniques in India and awareness among farmers. Tomato puree - The tomato puree that we get in one- or two-rupee sachet has a sad story behind its making. We tend to ignore its problems due to the marketing strategy, which makes the finished product look cooler than the raw product. After the Wheat revolution in Punjab, diversification was the new slogan. Several multinationals convinced the government to promote contract farming across the country. Hence, a joint group was developed by Pepsico, Voltas and Agro Industries Corporation. This project was received with support from Bharatiya Kisan Union and Akalai Dal (1988). In the early 1990s, Pepsi foods set up production units for tomatoes and chilies. They entered into a contract with hundreds of farmers till 1997. Later they sold the tomato processing unit to Hindustan Lever (HLL) and they began with potato contracting in the late 1990s. After the tomato units, Pepsi munotes.in

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62 now worked with only about a few dozen farmers in chilly and potatoes each. The purchasing share of potatoes from contract growers was limited to only 10% of its total procurement. There were several issues that the farmers faced while working with Pepsi, like the seeds supplied by the company were inadequate in quantity. They also reported that the pesticides recommended by the company were both costly and poor in quality. The problem with HLL was worse as the contract farmers complained that the company sold its seedlings to non-contract farmers despite the contract farmers producing in surplus. Eventually, in case of over-contracted acreage or good yields, the companies reportedly refused to procure from the farmers several times. After these experiences, the contract farmers in Punjab refused to work with large agribusiness like Pepsi and, in a way, developed hatred towards contract farming altogether. The above two cases are not just Punjab or Gujarat but all over India where contract farming has emerged. It has been more in favor of the Multinationals than for the people. Check Your Progress 1. List the problems connected with contract farming in a few lines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Discuss the case of Lays and Tomato puree in a few lines? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.11 SUMMARY At the beginning of the chapter, we looked into the relationship between environment and tradition, culture specially with reference to India. Further, we looked into the changes taking place with modern technology like hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, robots. We also looked into the relationship between tribes and the environment and their displacement issues. We also tried to look into the problems with contract farming, like farmers being the victim and under fear of corporates like that of the case of PepsiCo. This chapter aimed to make you learn the different facets of the relationship between environment livelihood and rural areas. munotes.in

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Environment and
Livelihoods in
Rural Areas 7.13 QUESTIONS 1. Explain the relationship between tribes and the environment and the impact of displacement. 2. Discuss about farmers' suicide and the problems associated with contract farming. 3. Explain a few case studies like Amul, Pepsico and Lays. 4. Discuss the farmer’s bill 2020. 5. Discuss environment tourism and livelihood. 7.14 REFERENCES https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/suicides-among-farm-workers-rose-last-year/article37235086.ece i. https://aajeevika.gov.in/en/content/livelihoods-promotion ii. https://www.kudumbashree.org/ iii. http://www.amuldairy.com/index.php/about-us/history iv. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyQkCi_uDxY&ab_channel=DiscoverAgriculture v. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8jiVotakgE&ab_channel=IndianFarmer https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/science-and-future/world-agriculture-land-pesticide-pollution-indian-farmers-problem-537375.html#:~:text=Mohanti%20for%20Indiatimes-, Currently%2C%20India%20is%20the%204th%20largest%20producer%20of%20pesticides%20in,per%20cent%20during%202019%2D2024. vi. http://iced.cag.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2016-17/NTP%2007/NRM.pdf vii. Tony Herbert, & Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt. (2004). Coal Sector Loans and Displacement of Indigenous Populations: Lessons from Jharkhand. Economic and Political Weekly, 39(23), 2403–2409. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415125 viii. Ratnakar Bhengara. (1996). Coal Mining Displacement. Economic and Political Weekly, 31(11), 647–649. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4403906 ix. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/tribal-backlash-on-bjp-brews/cid/1685576# munotes.in

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64 x. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/r-srinivasan/farmers-rights-and-pepsicos-hot-potato/article37901972.ece xi. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pepsico-loses-rights-to-special-lays-variety-potato-in-india/article37831634.ece xii. https://www.newsclick.in/why-farmers-are-against-contract-farming xiii. https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/what-is-the-farm-bill-and-why-are-farmers-protesting-against-it/689215 xiv. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/its-a-no-green-signal-from-the-farm-world/article32655181.ece?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_syndication munotes.in

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65 8
GENDER AND CAPABILITIES
APPROACH
Unit Structure
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Capabilities approach: Amartya Sen
8.3 Nussbaum and Capabilities
8.4 Social Development Approaches
8.5 Social Development Practice
8.6 Conclusion
8.7 Summary
8.8 Questions
8.9 Referenc es
OBJECTIVES
To gain insight into the capabilities approach
To examine the contribution of Nussbaum to gender and capabilities
approach
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Two names that have been in the forefront of the capabilities approach are
of Amartya Sen and Martha N ussbaum. While Amartya Sen has
propounded the theory of ‘Development as Freedom’, Martha Nussbaum
has focussed on the capabilities approach to understand gender and
development. In this section we will take a general understanding of the
capabilities app roach and focus on Martha Nussbaum’s take on gender and
the capabilities approach.
Simply understood, capabilities are conditions required for a person to do
or be (or feel) something. They are his or her “substantial freedoms”, or
his or her real (imme diate, or practical) possibilities . A functioning is
what a person (in fact) is or does. The important difference between a
capability and a functioning is that in the first case the individual has a
(real) possibility to do or be (or feel) something, and that in the other,
he/she has realized the capability and is or does (or feels) this something.
Some capabilities have to be turned into functioning , or it will be difficult
for the person to live a human life. Some functioning may exist by
excluding others. The moment a person makes a choice to actualize a
functioning in a certain way, other functioning become impossible. For
example, when we choose to pursue one (full time) education (in general),
it excludes choosing to pursue another ( at the same time); or if a person
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66 8.2 CAPABILITIES APPROACH: AMARTYA SEN
The 1998 Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen discusses the
concept of capabilities and argues that the way in wh ich an indi vidual
makes use of the primary resources available depends crucially on a
number of factors, both personal and social. Sen refers to these
circumstances as ‘diversities and heterogeneities’ which includes personal
heterogeneities, environmenta l diversiti es, variations in social climate,
differences in relational perspectives, and distribution within the family.
An individual’s ability to activate these resources will vary and depend on
a number of factors. What the person can do with the prim ary resourc es at
one’s command is the basis of the philosophy of the capabilities approach.
For Sen, the basic capabilities are: the ability to be well nourished, to
avoid morbidity or mortality, to read and write and communicate, to take
part in the life of the com munity, to appear in public without shame.”
Nussbaum has broad ened Sen’s capabilities and has incorporated feminist
concerns. She has proposed ten central human capabilities: life; bodily
health; bodily integrity; senses, imagination, and tho ught; emoti ons;
practical reason; affiliation; other spe cies; play; and control over one’s
environment. Obviously, these perspectives are different from the
conventional perspectives of economic development compared with the
traditional goals of achievin g a certain income or owning property. If one
has to understand the concept of capabilities, it is important to understand
the essence of the concept of freedom.
Freedom as the Means and End
The capabilities approach comprises of some important tenets: f reedom,
liberties, agency and choice. There are two dimensions of freedom: 1) the
processes that allow freedom of actions and decisions; and 2) the
opportunities that people have, given their particular personal and social
situations. Freedom is both the primary en d and a means of development.
Sen refers to this dual function as the ‘constitutive role and the
instrumental role’, respectively.
Sen strongly advocates for five basic instrumental free doms: 1) political
freedoms (i.e., civil rights and o ther aspect s of democratic processes); 2)
economic facilities (i.e., access to credit and other distributional
considerations); 3) social opportuni ties (i.e., access to education and health
care); 4) transparency guarantees (i.e., societal preven tions o f corruptio n
and financial irresponsibil ity); and 5) protective security (i.e., a social
safety net providing income supplements and unem ployment benefits). All
of these instrumental freedoms are closely connected in terms of their
ability to help facili tate the en ds of development.
The concept of capability
A capability consists of all those internal and external factors that are
necessary for a specific case of doing or being (or feeling) something.
Lacking a capability means that an individual will not be able to actualize
the functioning in question. First, we will understand the internal factors: munotes.in

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67 Gender and Capabilities Approach 1] Basic abilities: that is, abilities that are developed without special
education or training. These abilities are either “intentional”, such as
the abilit y to stand up, lie down, walk, grab, reason, chew, and talk,
or “innate” (or automatic), that is, not (in general) under the
conscious control of the individual, such as (being able) to see, hear,
smell, taste, and keep one’s balance.
2] Basic dispositiona l traits: for example, capacity to manage stress,
self-esteem and self -confidence, impulse control, and being able to
experience emotions.
3] Competences: these are advanced abilities that usually require
education or special training, such as work relate d ones, for
example, being able to use advanced computer software, , and non -
work related ones, for example, being able to cook, or ride a bicycle.
Competences can be divided into knowledge and skills
4] General psychological motivation , for example, want ing to get up
in the morning and starting off the day. Here, motivation is a
general prerequisite for being able to use one’s acquired abilities and
competences.
Second, we look at the external factors
1] The physical environment: consists of a supportiv e natural
environment, conducive weather and climate conditions,
infrastructure, energy, and technology, a home, domestic appliances,
tools, and utensils, etc.
2] The social environment: consists of negative and positive
freedoms, a tolerant (or liberal) political, economic, and legal
framework for action or being, norms supportive of the action (or
non-action) or being (or feeling) in question, personal security, work
opportunity, money, and other social assets.
3] Psychological factors: which include s upport from partner, family,
friends, and colleagues.
Some of the factors may overlap with Sen’s lists of five instrumental
factors. Moreover, all those factors (internal or external) are not equally
supportive of all capabilities. It would depend of the person’s as pirations
and situation.
8.3 NUSSBAUM AND CAPABILITIES
Let us now turn to Nussbaum’s list of capabilities. The capabilities are:
“being able to”
(1) live a normal life span,
(2) have good bodily health, including reproductive health,
(3) experience bod ily integrity, freely move around, and make
reproductive choices,
(4) use one’s senses and imagination,
(5) experience emotions and have emotional attachments, munotes.in

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68 (6) make use of one’s practical reasoning in order to form a conception
of the good, and critica lly reflect about one’s life choices,
(7) create affiliations, that is, live with others and have a social basis for
self-respect,
(8) live with, and express concern for, other species,
(9) enjoy recreational activities, and
(10) participate eff ectively in political choices, and control one’s social
and physical environment, including to hold property and seek
employment.
Here, Nussbaum also presents the idea of “internal capabilities”. They
consist of a variety of “fluid and dynamic” states, suc h as person ality
traits, skills, knowledge, capacities, and health She also refers to “basic
capabilities”, which are those innate physiological, anatomical, and (deep)
psychological factors that “make later training and development [of the
internal capab ilities] po ssible” . On the other hand the internal capabilities
have to be trained, as when a skill is exercised, the basic capabilities need
to be “nurtured”.
Capabilities and Women
The work on capabilities conducted by Nussbaum has expanded Sen’s
origin al ideas. It repre sents an important voice for advocating for the
capabilities of women. Several of these ideas originated from empirical
evidence that exists inter nationally, particularly in developing countries.
We take a look at some of the ideas:
Missing Wome n and Household Inequality –
Sen has identified the high mor tality rates of women across the world, and
is a reflec tion of a ‘capability deprivation’ for women. While women in
Europe and North America tend to outnumber men, this is not the ca se in
many developing countries. The explanation for this can be given by
looking into the experi ences of females in developing countries, espe cially
female children. While female infanticide does exist, the larger problem
appears to be the neglect of fe male health and nutrition. Sen observes that
there is direct evidence that female children are neglected in terms of
health care, hospitalization and even feeding. Sen estimates that 100
million women worldwide are missing in this sense.
Closely linked t o the pheno menon of missing women, that is, women who
have died prema turely in developing countries as a result of inad equate
health care and education, Sen attributes this crisis to household
inequality. Household inequality is the idea that there are d omestic pow er
imbal ances that need to be accounted for in assessing economic well -
being. Because of such domestic hierarchies , women do not have full
access and opportunity to achieve capabilities. In fact, Iversen remarks
that domestic hierarchies can de form individ ual preferences. Domestic
hierarchies force women to adapt their preferences and make choices
which they would not have made if they had true equality of opportunity.
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69 Gender and Capabilities Approach Caring Labo ur –
Research into the nature of women’s care work, which is, t he often unpa id
or underpaid caretaking of children, older adults, and families, has
revealed some of the complexities of this phe nomenon. Some researchers
have argued about the inequities that exist for women doing care work and
how philosophers such as Rawls have i gnored this aspect of women’s
realities. More recently, UNDP has incorpo rated the concept of “caring
labor” (Care Work) as a critical element of social development (UNDP,
1999).
Because women worldwide spend two -thirds of their working hour s on
unpaid w ork and men spend one -quarter (most unpaid work is spent on
caring work), women certainly have a lot to gain from an increased
attention given to this reality. Especially women who are in abusive
relation ships, commitments to care work may c ause them mor e harm.
Duties to care for children and husbands can influence the choices women
make. It will also impact women’s decision to report the violence they
experience as well as to stay in or leave abusive relationships.
Bodily Integrity –
While Sen understan ds women’s vulnerable position in order to enhance
their capabilities, he has not proactively addressed the issue of violence
against women. Nussbaum, however, does take a proactive stance in her
work on capabilities and one of the critical t hemes reflect ive of this is her
recognition of violence against women as a capability deprivation. She
calls this capability “bodily integrity”. Nussbaum defines the ‘capability
of bodily integ rity’ as being able to move freely from place to place;
having one’s bod ily boundaries treated as sovereign, that is, being able to
protect herself against assault, including sexual assault, child sexual abuse,
and domestic violence; having opportuni ties for sexual satisfaction and for
choice in mat ters of repro duction.
It is important to recognize the community’s responsibility to provide the
social conditions (laws, interven tions, etc.) that enable this capability in
the case of women who experience lack of bodily integ rity as a capability
deprivation. This i s very crucia l, because bodily integrity is an important
freedom in its own right as well as a means to further freedoms and
economic opportunities. According to the capabilities approach, the
government, via its social policies, is ultimately responsible for deliveri ng
“the social basis of these capabilities”.
8.4 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES
Social development approaches, welfare policies, and antipoverty
strategies have always been based on the idea that an increase in income
or the material wealth of households is the best way to end poverty and
thus fulfil the primary goal of social development. Neoliberal growth -
oriented strategies of capital accumulation, privatization, and investment
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70 on sat isfying the materialist needs and often ignoring human well -being
and human rights.
Many approaches to social development have ignored the idea of how
people live their lives and the kinds of services and institutions they have
access to. Se n argues that the poor and low -income individuals are at risk
and have low func tioning not just because they have no money, but
because they may lack certain freedoms or capabilities. Poor and
impoverished women who are victims of violence and abuse are especially
vulnerable in the sense that they have less freedom and access to
institutions. Unfortunately, social development approaches have not
sufficiently incorporated the realities of poor women into their blueprints,
particularly the special concerns of women who are victims of violence.
The Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations focuses on
gender equality and the empowerment of women, however, their
indicators do not focus specifically on tackling violence against women.
This is the case d espite the ev idence that violence against women and girls
clearly has an adverse impact on women’s eco nomic and overall well -
being.
The capabilities perspective offers an alter native to development theories
and policies traditionally grounded in such m aterialism. T he capabilities
approach, as articulated by Sen (1999), Nussbaum (2000), and the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP; 1999), is based on the notion
that human free dom and access to opportunities are central to social
development. Given that women r epresent the largest number of
individuals living in pov erty and that they are vulnerable to violence and
other inequalities that make them even more vulnerable, the capabilities
approach offers a social development framework that can incorpo rate
these re alities.
8.5 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
One of the important questions related to the development approach is
how the approach can be actualized in practice. Promoting instrumental
freedoms is an essential component of the development of wome n who are
vulnerable to violence. Thus, this may include addressing political
freedoms, social opportunities, and the protective security of women and
their families. Historically, some of these activities have fallen under the
purview of social workers an d other socia l development practitioners. For
example, social workers have advo cated for a minimum safety net of
welfare and/or unemployment benefits to women. Also, increasing the
social networks of individuals and promoting access to services are
impor tant ways in which instrumental freedoms and be protected.
However, these traditional social work skills have to be supported by the
skills of organizing and policy advocacy. Some social workers may
possess such skills, but social develop ment specialists and communit y
organizers can offer their knowledge in the areas of organizing and
advocacy. Sometimes it would be necessary to partner with union
organiz ers, feminist organizers, and other activists. I t is not necessary to munotes.in

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71 Gender and Capabilities Approach reinvent the wheel of communi ty organizing and mobilization. There are
already established, success ful methods that are well documented in the
areas of planning, organizing, and advocacy. Supporting activities may
include the promotion of social capital, civic engagement, and democ ratic
partici pation of women. Women’s support groups, grass roots political
coalitions, and the promotion of women candidates are examples of
democratizing activities that can enhance political freedoms and social
opportunities.
Access to job development, micro -loans, and higher education are
essential strategies for developing the economic facilities for women who
are surviving violence. Providing supportive services for women work ing
in both the formal and informal sectors will enhance the capabilities of
women, esp ecially those who are victims of violence. These supports may
include child care, support groups, legal advo cacy, and other supplements
to allow them to be successful in their work.
A crucial component of social development involves providing safety net
assurances for the most vulnerable populations. Promoting the right to
protective security measures such as a welfare safety net can be achieved
through policy advocacy. Additionally, practitioners can advocate for
unemployment and disability b enefits for women who are forced to leave
their jobs due to domestic or sexual violence. Thus, social workers and
other social development practitioners need to advocate for such policies
which emphasizes a capabilities DISCOURSE.
8.6 CONCLUSION
Nussbaum ’s account is motivated by a concept of human dignity, while
Sen focuses on freedom. Her list of ten fundamental capabilities follows
from the requirement of human dignity. She argues that the list, its
components should be democratically debated and inc orporated int o
national constitutional guarantees, international human rights legislation
and internation development policy. Mere providing a list of capabilities
is not sufficient, theoretically or politically, since there are capabilities that
are so f undamental th at they have to be actualized, that is, be functionings,
for us to be able to say that a life goes well. A list of functionings thus has
to be added as a complement to the list of capabilities, which in turn
should be revised in order to make it feasible.
8.7 SUMMARY
Capabilities are conditions required for a person to do or be (or feel)
something. A functioning is what a person (in fact) is or does.
Amartya Sen states the way in which an individual makes use of the
primary resources availa ble depends c rucially on a number of factors, both
personal and social.
The work on capabilities conducted by Nussbaum has expanded Sen’s
original ideas. It repre sents an important voice for advocating for the
capabilities of women. munotes.in

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72 Social development ap proaches, wel fare policies, and antipoverty
strategies have always been based on the idea that an increase in income
or the material wealth of households is the best way to end poverty and
thus fulfil the primary goal of social development.
One of the impo rtant questio ns related to the development approach is
how the approach can be actualized in practice. Promoting instrumental
freedoms is an essential component of the development of women who are
vulnerable to violence.
Mere providing a list of capabiliti es is not suf ficient, theoretically or
politically, since there are capabilities that are so fundamental that they
have to be actualized, that is, be functioning.
8.8 QUESTIONS
Discuss the key features of the capabilities approach.
Examine Nussbaum’s contr ibution to th e understanding of gender and
capabilities approach.
8.9 REFERENCES
x Nussbaum, M (1999). Women and equality: The capabilities
approach, International Labour Review, vol 138, No. 3
x https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/17160674.pdf
x Loretta Pyles (2008). The Capabilities Approach and Violence
against Women -Implications for Social Development. International
Social Work, 51, 25 -36.
x Per-Anders Tengland (2019). Healt h and capabilities: a conceptual
clarification
x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11019 -019-09902 -w
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73 9
HEALTH AND EDUCATION -
ISSUES OF ACCESS AND CONTENT
Unit Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 WHO on health
9.3 The three A of health
9.4 Malnourished children
9.5 Maternal health
9.6 Occupational Hazards
9.7 Education - Issues of Access and co ntent
9.8 Health and education
9.9 The interrelation between health and education
9.10 Media vs. Health and Education
9.11 Technology and Health
9.12 Summary
9.13 Questions
9.14 References
9.0 OBJECTIVES
1.1 Understanding Health and education as an indepe ndent category
1.2 Learning about how these factors impact us in our day -to-day lives.
1.3 To learn about education and health access and content shapes and
effects Indian society at large.
9.1 INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we will learn about health an d education as independent
entities. We will also look into how both these concepts are interrelated to
each. We will also look into the multiple factors through which our
economics, culture, social systems functioning at large, and how it affects
us.
Health and education are one of the two important factors which affect
every individual irrespective of any part of the world. In fact, it is a
symbol of growth, continuity and development at large in a any society.
Today, both of these areas are more import ant than ever due to the
pandemic of Covid 19. We are being resocialized with new things like the
importance of wearing masks, maintaining social distance, the importance
of taking vaccines. These ideas are taught in every language in schools, in
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74 Industry, Labour and Globalisation
74 fact that a part of our earnings is spent on some of the other areas related
to Health. For example, we generally spend a portion of our money on
medicines, yoga classes, gym classes, treatmen t, and even medical
insurance.
9.2 WHO ON HEALTH
The WHOi views health as an important part of individual lives. The
WHOii views health as an important part of individual lives. Health is
something that cannot be just restricted to physical aspect of an
individual's life. It also includes mental and social well -being. It can be
seen as a state where there is no disease in the body of human beings.
WHO also notes that Health needs to be seen as one of the most basic
rights which every human being deserves i rrespective of whichever part of
the world one resides.
People's Health is also connected with the government in a given country.
It is the government that directly or indirectly regulates the people's way
of working. The children’s are one of the most imp ortant assets of a
country as their existence determines the country’s population. Holistic
development has to be encouraged, like maternal health. People have to be
familiarized with any new threats related to Health that emerge from time
to time. At the same time, the government has to provide the necessary
arrangements for the safety of people both physically and psychologically.
They have to be made a part of the system and both have to coexist while
making decisions i.e. people and government .
9.3 THE THREE “A” OF HEALTH
Health care has three important aspects in it, namely accessibility,
affordability and assurance . The assurance part discusses the quality of
health services which is provided. Enough controls are made periodically
to check the qualit y and standards. Even today, with large number of
government hospitals, people still continue to go to private hospitals
because one of the important reasons is quick procedures; and the services
at times are better. The communication process is easier. In some
government hospitals, the time period is long. For a CT SCAN,
Sonography the waiting period could be around a month. By this time, the
conditions could become worse for the patient. Hence even though
treatment is expensive, people tend to go to Priva te hospitals instead of
waiting for the dates. At the same time, private hospitals have their own
set of problems where at times, they charge high. They tend to take
advantage of the patient s vulnerability . Here, we do not generalize this
problem completel y, yet this issue exists.
The second A is that of Accessibility . If the hospitals are located far
away, people find it difficult to reach even during an emergency. By the
time, the patient reaches the hospital, the condition could be worsened.
This has hap pened a lot in the case of Covid 19 patients where due to the
lack of oxygen cylinders, enough beds, people were moving from one
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75 Health and Education - Issues of Access
and Content the condition was so worse that patient shared the same beds. Some were
sitting on the floor waiting to get healed; few died at the entrance of the
hospital because doctors realized the condition was worst and the patient
could not recover. Accessibility has to be on the priority list in the field of
healt hcare. As it one of the core duties of the government and the nature of
the state would also be dependent on the people. If people in a given
country are prone to illness , sick it will affect the composition of the
population. In a way, massive resources w ould go waste .
The third A is that of Affordability – Healthcare should be cheap
affordable for all. Even today, people avoid going to the doctor; and one
of the important reasons is the expenses involved with the treatment. In a
country like India governm ent still plays a major role in providing
affordable health care. However, health care still stands as an expensive
thing in several first -world countries. Even today, in some developed
countries people have to wait for days to get a simple Covid test done .
They have to fill forms, wait and then when their turn comes, they can get
it done. There also exists hierarchy within this domain. Every year large
number of tourists com e to India just for surgery. Technically this is called
medical tourism. As the for eigners realize that , India has better
infrastructure and the same Indian doctors would be operating on them
when they are in their countries back home .
Within India, the nature of health systems varies from one state to another.
Several existing studies r eveal that the Southern parts of India have better
health care and infrastructure. The topmost states with better healthcare
are Kerala, Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, there are hospitals for women and
children, where the fees for Doctor Consultation, medicines is Rs. 2. At
present, in Tamil Nadu, once an individual goes and fills the form, the
government -employed doctor pays a visit directly to one's home and gives
required medicines. States like Maharashtra have better infrastructure
having metropolitan cities li ke Mumbai. Yet within our country, the
BIMARU states have still scope for improvement. BIMARU stands for
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
This term BIMARU was coined by Ashish Bose, Urban Sociologist in
1980s.
Check You r Progress
1. Explain WHO view on Health
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2. Discuss the BIMARU states of India.
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76 9.4 MALNOURISHED CHILDREN
Malnourishment is still a problem that exists even today; when there were
famines, droughts, diseases like plague, it was a common problem.
However, in the most advanced times with hi-tech technology, the
problem still continues. This can be seen as a symbol of uneven
development. With pandemic like Covid 19, the conditions have further
worsened. According to the Mini stry of Women and Child development of
India, around 17.76 Lakh / 1.7 million of the given population in India can
be seen as those who are malnourished at present in our country. Out of
these, nearly 15.46 Lakh/ 1.5 million of the population is falls unde r the
malnourished category, as reported on October 14th, 2021. Even today ,
there are issues like lack of access to better shelter, healthcare, education,
guidance and support for different members of society. For example - The
street children are denied o f healthy food, nutrition, guidance and
education; hence they are more vulnerable.
9.5 MATERNAL HEALTH
Maternal Health stands an important aspect of society as it determines the
effects of the composition of the population directly. It influences the
fertility, mortality index in a given population. Hence the government has
set up primary health care centers in different villages. Midwives are being
trained in villages where there is no proper hospital setup. Fieldworkers
periodically survey the status of women in villages. Both NGOs and
Government contribute their share of assisting in the well -being of
pregnant women. India has around 27 million infants birth in a given year,
and there is nearly 20 percent of the total maternal death in the world.iii In
order to improve the situation, the Government of India has launched
programs like Sumaiv – Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan program which
aims at providing quality maternal care. The vision of this program is to
have zero death during pregnancyiv. Maternal Health gets affected due to a
number of factors like socio -economic conditions namely, poverty, child
marriage, etc. Even today, minor girls get pregnant early, which in turn
puts at risk both mother and the child ren's lives.
9.6 OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS
Health co nditions get affected due to a number of factors. One such reason
is the kind of occupation one practices. It affects irrespective of the sector ,
informal or formal. In terms of the informal sector, the populations most
affected are the ones who do menial jobs like scavengers and manual
laborers. They at times, lose their jobs when they are working. They don't
get any compensation as these people often are hired as contract labourers .
Many a times Scavengers lose their lives due to the risk involved in thei r
nature of work. The coal miners also work under very risky conditions.
Hence such occupations still has greater scope for improvement and
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and Content 9.7 EDUCATION – ISSUES OF ACCESS AND CONTE NT
Education in today’s time is evolving continuously. New cu rriculums new
methodologies are being added. There are several online apps and
animated videos through which concepts are explained to students. There
is interactive learning and students are today empowered through feedback
mechanisms . Some institutions a llow students to choose the course they
are interested in or even switch over from one course to another. However,
still there exists a gap in the educational system between those who can
afford it and those who can't. For example – Rich parents can afford to
give their children high -quality education right from the nursery to his/her
career. They are capable to provide exposure , and even afford
International school s fees. At the same time, a child learning in a remote
village where there is n't a proper cla ssroom or toilet facility, the dropout
rates are bound to be higher, specially for young girls. As a result, when
the child pass out after completing his/her studies, the way he/she thinks,
builds career, approaches life would differ. In a way, a stratifie d system
exists within the education institution too.
9.8 HEALTH AND EDUCATI ON
The importance of Health has to be communicated repeatedly right from
the childhood. Several countries have adopted Indian traditions healing
practices like yoga, meditation i nto their daily school routine. Research on
these lines has also revealed the positive effects on children's lives because
of these practices. It has been observed that childrens who are hyperactive,
have anger management issues has been benefited immensel y. We cannot
forget that the curriculum of students at times is predominantly focused
upon building a career or preparing them for that job market. The syllabus
and courses are designed to fill the demand for the job. However, there is
still scope for impr ovement. As one can have enough money but with bad
health, they could suffer physically and emotionally, affecting the
dependents. Let us further look into Health from different aspects with
reference to the India setting. Yoga competitions, sports competi tions,
sports quotas, encouraging women, and sports have to begin at the school
level. This would help encourag ed. A balanced learning environment for
children has to be created.
To protect the health of the poor children government ha s made several
schem es. For example - The mid -day meals are supplied by the schools
which the government runs. These meals help them to get enough
nutrients for their survival. The real problem comes when any of schools
shut down. They do it due to the lack of student strengt h. This is because
of the high demand for English medium schools. Hence, even if there are
few students system has to function effectively. This is especially the case
of ashramshalas, schools too which is lo cated in remote parts of India.

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78 Check Your P rogress
1. Give some of your own examples of how Health and occupation is
interrelated.
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2. According to you can quality education can help in people
improving their own Health.
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9.9 THE INTERRELATIONS HIP BETWEEN HEALTH
AND EDUCATION
Let us look into how Health and education are interrelated.
Case study One –
Once in a remote tribal area, it was observed that babies were born
however, they were dying within a few days of birth. As tribals at times
have little interaction w ith outside community this continued for some
time. The tribal’s thought that the local gods were angry and hence they
were facing the wrath/ anger of the gods. It was kind of a punishment for
them. Hence, the tribes started performing animal sacrifices, r ituals, fasts.
Still the problem was not solved. Somehow the news reached to the
village and later to the hospitals nearby. After that, a team of doctors
visited these places, and they performed a few tests and realized that the
pregnant women were anemic. They supplied the required vitamins,
changed their diet pattern and observed the changes. After all this, babies
born were born healthy and they survived too. This story explains how the
interrelation between Health, knowledge and exposure exists. Educati on is
not about letters, words, degrees, or careers but about spreading the right
knowledge and information to the larger good for the people and assisting
the marginalized ones too.
Let us look into another true incident that took place in Interior Tribal
areas of Maharashtra -
Case Study Two
Dr. Abhay Bang, Founder of Search NGO narrated their story in the
Indian Science Congress, held at the University of Mumbai. The search
NGO works in rural and remote areas of Maharashtra. Once, in a remote
tribal are a/ village, Dr. Abhay and his wife both doctors saw that the
health facilities were minimal and any form of health care facilities barely
existed. Hence the doctors built a hospital. To their surprise, the local
villagers did not visit the hospital. When s ick they w ould approach the munotes.in

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and Content local shamans, they performed rituals, made sacrifices to the local deities
but no one came to the hospital. The hospital staff did not understand
what the actual problem was. Slowly, they started to speak to some
villagers. On e of them then replied, 'It is not a hospital; it is a place where
people will die . 'The doctors did not understand the problem; upon deep
reflection, they realized that everything in the hospital was in white color,
the doctor's lab coats, ward boys, nurs es, the bed sheets. Hence people
viewed the place not as a hospital but a place where one could die. As only
in burial grounds people often wear white clothes. After learning this, the
hospital staff changed their uniform. After that, people started visiti ng the
same hospital. They also named the hospital after a local goddess name.
The point here to draw from the above story is that education has to
adapts to the local needs. Healthcare and education both have to take
culture into account while building policies. Otherwise, policies,
machines, and infrastructure would exist; however, people won't be using
it. Even ethics, sensitivity, culture all these factors have to be taken into
consideration whenever policies are being made for people.
9.10 MEDIA VS . HEALTH AND EDUCATI ON
The emerging threats in the field of health have been communicated
repeatedly by the government. Celebrities are used to spread the message
as that would reach a wide audience easily. As public figures are known to
people, the messa ge is conveyed easily through them.
For example – Aishwarya Rai (Ms. World) in a n advertisement talks about
the importance of eye donation. She points out how she will donating her
eye and encourages others to donate.
Mr. Amitabh Bachan speaks about the importance of giving polio doses to
children. He stands as a public figure whose words people listen to.
Female actress Vidya Balan talks about the family planning measures with
the help of Mala D. Hence, Celebrities are been used for multiple
campaigns to spread Health related issues.
Check Your Progress
1. Explain how lack of access to Health could marginalize people in a
few lines.
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2. Give some suggestions on how education and health, importance
could be improved at grassroots level.
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80 Industry, Labour and Globalisation
80 9.11 TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH
Basic literacy has become very important as we mov ing further into to
digitization. In today's time take a vaccine, one has to have at least a
mobile or smart phone. There are processes like OTP, registration,
notif ication of the next vaccine within it. Even today people tend to use
cell phones for multiple purposes, like whenever one is sick; people use
Google to learn their health problems. People ask queries to doctors online
by writing questions beneath YouTube v ideos, posts. This can be seen as a
kind of virtual exchange of knowledge in an online community. However,
sometimes it may be accurate and sometimes it may not. This t rend has
become more prominent with pandemic. Telemedicine is emerging areas,
where doct ors perform online consultations and prescribe medicines.
There are apps like Practo where one could look into reviews of a doctor,
cost and then decide whether to visit or not. With digitalization affecting
every sector, both education and health care ser vices would be further
affected and even be divided.
With modernization and advanced technology our consumption pattern
has also changed in our day to day lives. The medium of advertising is
being used to sell harmful foods, frozen foods which have high c ontent of
preservatives. They are being marketed in such a way that it is cool, quick,
easy and trendy. The worst part is childrens are used in the advertisement
instead of raw food we now are programmed to consume packet foods. Let
us take this with an ex ample of a fruit juice - a prominent actress or actor
becomes the brand ambassador of the product and then it gets a
recognition and finally it reaches the fridge of our home. The malls where
cheap discounts are available people tend to often buy it because it is easy
to carry and cheap. Let us look into the simple example of aluminum foil
whenever we wrap paratta or any hot food certain portion of aluminum
fragments too we intake it. Aluminum is cheap hence its found in every
household as pressure cookers, utensils – with time we intake higher
proportion of aluminum into our body and it creates innumerable health
issuesvvi. Same is the case with one more household product which is
marketed highly i.e. nonstick. Non stick pansvii, utensils contain a coat of
polytetrafluorehylene which is known as Teflon. This Teflon in also used
to make cables. So when you consume through non stick pan we invite
more health issues than eating health choice of food. So, there is more
awareness, regulation and discussion and disci pline is needed among each
of us to improve our and families health as an individual attempt too.
9.12 SUMMARY
This chapter began with initially understanding the WHO description on
Health, i.e., The WHOviii views health as an important part of individual
lives. Health is something that cannot be just restricted to physical aspect
of an individual's life. It also includes mental and social well -being. It can
be seen as a state where there is no disease in the body of human beings.
We also learned about the t hree 'A’ Awareness (reach), Accessibility and
Assurance (quality) which plays a crucial role in the health sector. The munotes.in

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81 Health and Education - Issues of Access
and Content role of government also plays an important role in spreading awareness to
the people. Often Celebrities are used to spread awareness . Media also
plays an important role in connecting people with both information and
reducing the time gap in providing services. We also looked into how
education, content is divided because of the curriculum and affordability
among parents and students. In the latter part of the chapter, we looked
into the interrelationship between health and education through two case
studies.
9.13 QUESTIONS
1. Write a note on WHO on Health.
2. Describe the interrelationship between health and education and
describe two case stud ies.
3. Explain the health conditions in India with reference to maternal
Health and malnourishment of children.
9.14 REFERENCES

i https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution
ii https://www.who.int/about/governance/con stitution
iii Mavalankar D, Vora K, Prakasamma M. Achieving millennium
development goal 5: is India serious? Bull World Health Organ.
2008;86(4):243 –4.
iv https://nhm.gov.in/index1. php?lang=1&level=2&sublinkid=822&lid =
218
v https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp22 -c1-b.pdf
vi https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31823940/
vii https://www.thebetterindia.com/206827/non -stick -pans-health -risks -
dangerous -traditional -iron-skillet -clay-pot-soapstone -cookware -lifestyle/
viii https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution
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82 10
GENDER AND CITIZENSHIP
Unit Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Citizenship -Definition and Origin
10.3 Citizenship – Global context
10.4 Critique of Citizenship – Gendered Lens
10.5 Reframing Citizenship – Gender Equality in Development
10.6 Conclusion
10.7 Summary
10.8 Questions
10.9 References
10.0 OBJECTIVES
To understand the definition and origin of citizenship from a global
context
To examine the notion of gender equality in development and its
implications
10.1 INTRODUCTION
Citizenshi p involves membership in a group or community, and the rights
and obligations conferred by that member. Thus , citizenship can be a
relation to a state and/or a group, society or community. Citizenship is
both, a status or identity, a practice or process th at is connected to the
social world through the exercise of rights/protections and the fulfilment
of duties. Citizenship can be a dynamic concept involving negotiations
over membership, exclusion, roles, values, power and equality. The
concept of membershi p, by definition, means that some are included and
others are excluded; and for people around the world, citizenship was
about exclusion. Such exclusion has served as a basis for civic struggles —
whether it is the earlier anti -colonial struggles to include the colonized as
full and equal citizens, and more recently the civic struggles to include
poor people's right to basic resources. In this section, we will examine the
concept of citizenship and attempt to understand citizenship through a
gendered lens.
Exclusion and marginalization from full citizenship can impact groups
such as women, ethnic minorities, and the poor can fall outside full
citizenship. Thus, experiences of citizenship also depend on attitude and
societal roles - roles dictated by unequal po wer social relations shaped by
race, ethnicity, caste, class, and gender. Roles and relationships within
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83 Gender and Citizenship valued. They lead to different types and levels of exclusion from
membership benefits.
Gender roles and relations are such a power relationship. Gender refers to
both the meaning and practices of being male and female. Relationships
between and within groups of women and men differ across cultures, have
changed over time and are co nstantly shifting. However, women
worldwide are at a disadvantage in accessing resources and power
compared to men of the same race, class or ethnic group. Women can also
often be doubly excluded. For example, women living in ethnic minority
communities ma y face discrimination based on their race and gender.
Initial attempts to involve ‘women in development policy and practice’
can be described as the Women in Development or WID approach. It tries
to address the problem of women’s invisibility in developme nt activities.
In the 1990s, Gender and Development (GAD) approach was introduced.
Its main agenda was “gender mainstreaming” was subsequently adopted to
promote gender equality in all project areas; and even those areas that are
considered “gender neutra l” such as infrastructure and economy.
10.2 CITIZENSHIP - DEFINITIONS AND ORIGIN
Citizenship is about belonging to a group or community and the rights and
responsibilities that come with such membership. Citizenship is not only a
status that confers right s and duties, but also a practice through which
people can participate in shaping their society. It implies not only rights
and duties, but also interaction and influence within the community. The
concept comes from Western political thinking on liberalis m and
democracy. It is based on the idea of the individual as a member of a
democratic nation state, with participation and decision making
responsibility. "Citizens" are those individuals who are e "true" and "full"
members of the community or group, a nd who are valued and recognized.
Citizenship in Western thought has traditionally been considered as a civil
and political right that allows people to engage in political debate and
decision -making in public. Citizenship gave such rights legal status, thu s
giving individuals the means to claim them and seek relief in the event of
their infringement.
10.3 CITIZENSHIP - GLOBAL CONTEXT
Traditional notions of citizenship are also constantly changing especially
in the context of the three important global polit ical shifts:
1. National agendas, the “traditional” location of citizenship, are
increasingly framed by the policies of international institutions such
as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). Here the national citizens have no wa y of controlling or
holding to account.
2. The acceptance of neoliberal economics puts limitation on the role
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84 Gender Perspectives on Development

84 When citizens are restricted and cannot claim entitlements from this
power ful policy -making arena, it may lead to increased poverty and
inequality.
3. There has been an increase in international migrations. This has
resulted in tensions around ethnic and cultural differences within
countries. This has further led to fractured r elationships among
citizens as well as between citizens and states.
10.4 CRITIQUE OF CITIZENSHIP - GENDER LENS”
Development interventions that are framed in the language and practice of
gendered citizenship can point to new areas of intervention, good prac tice
and ways of working and can highlight end goals. Citizenship helps us to
address both the questions, “why?” – Why gender equality should be
addressed ? and “how?” – through engaged and active citizenship.
1] Universal ideas imply we are all the same an d hide inequalities
The idea of universal rights implies that we are all equal, that we all
have the same needs and interests and start from the same positions
of power and resources. Feminist scholarship and activism
emphasize that while democracy implie s equality, in practice it is
not so. If equality means equal treatment to all, it is meaningless to
women from marginalised groups who differ from the standard that
defines citizenship. In reality, different groups have different needs.
For example, both men and women have the right to work. But
women may need more family and other support in order to exercise
this right. The types of employment opportunities are different for
men and women. For example, in employment, women often focus
on care work or education, while men predominate in areas such as
finance or transportation.
2] Inclusion also means exclusion
The boundaries that define membership in relation to states,
communities, or social groups also define non -membership. Some
are included within countries, communities or groups while others
are excluded, which do not fit the traditional idea of who is a citizen.
Immigrants and stateless people are few examples.
Most societies in the world, past and present, exclude women from
their civil rights a nd duties. Soon after American independence,
married women did not legally exist as separate individuals because
they were considered to be protected by their husbands. Women
cannot own property, enter into contracts or have custody of
children. Men who d o not fit into the gender roles of citizens also
face political and/or social exclusion. As we have seen, in various
constructions of citizenship, the roles of men are defined as warriors,
breadwinners, and politicians. Those excluded from such definitions
include: pacifists or men who refuse to do military service, migrant
males, men trafficked for economic exploitation, male sex workers
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85 Gender and Citizenship Another concept of "layered citizenship" explains the differen t
(layered) positions within groups and their impact on rights. A
person can be both inside and outside the group - excluded on the
basis of caste, for example, but included on the basis of class or
gender.
3] Public/private divides and gender roles
Gende r exclusion can be best understood in the context of the
'public/private divide'. This divide sees women's gender roles and
responsibilities in the family, caring and raising children, and men's
gender roles in decision -making, formal politics, business an d the
workplace. This division of roles and labour is important for
understanding citizenship. It has traditionally regarded men as
holders of citizenship rights because of their position in the public
sphere. Men were seen as political agents and women a s under their
protection. Women and their concerns were outside the realm of
citizenship. Their role, was important, but was not considered
worthy of membership in decision -making and public activities.
This understanding of the division between public a nd private has
far-reaching implications:
x Women's issues are viewed as family matters rather than social or
social/national. Therefore , domestic violence and marital rape, for
example, are often not considered crimes.
x Both rights and what comprises a comm unity or nation’s “common
good” (good for the whole community) are framed in the interests of
men of the powerful groups in a society. Rights and responsibilities
in the domestic arena are de -valued or not seen as contributing to the
good of society in the same way.
x Women are generally not considered political actors. The struggle
for women's rights and community activism may not be seen as
political activity, but as a limited domestic focus. Furthermore,
forms of politics in which women often participate —such as
informal community -based associations —are often not considered
“political” or valued.
Feminist scholars have pointed out that male participation in politics
was itself possible due to women's work in the private domestic
sphere. Women in many conte xts have fought against restrictions to
enter formal politics. Despite the political rights enshrined in law,
deep -rooted ideas about the role of women in society continue to
promote the exclusion of women from public office.
4] Inequalities in power and resources mean unequal abilities to
claim rights
While rights determine access to resources and authority, to assert
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86 Gender Perspectives on Development

86 knowledge. For example, a woman's right not to be raped means
little if she does not view forced sex as a violation of her rights and
cannot demand control over her body. Property and livelihood rights
mean little if poor people do not have the resources and power to
fight multinational corporations. In other words, the status of
citizenship is not sufficient without creating the conditions for that
citizenship to be experienced or exercised. Formal – i.e. legal –
equality is not enough to ensure women’s access to rights.
5] Citizenship is based on the individual rather than the
commu nity
Some observers suggest that for many people community bonds and
relationships are the best way to express their position in the world
than individual identity. Many people, especially women, feel that
their individual rights are secondary to their ob ligations to their
children or the rights of their families as a whole. Moreover, the
basis of citizenship on an individual's ability to express their
concerns in the public arena may not reflect women's roles in
decision -making within the family or the re lationships between
women in society. For example, in parts of Africa, India, and other
non-western nations, women in traditional societies exercise power
"behind the scenes", by arranging marriages and negotiating disputes
between men. Thus, their influen ce does not involve seeking a
public position as an individual, but working within community
relations.
6] Looking at the context
The idea that rights are universal and fixed hides the historical
process by which rights are formed and large numbers of peo ple are
excluded. They also obscure the reality that historical processes in
different contexts have produced different forms of citizenship.
As the meaning of citizenship has changed over time, so has the
understanding of the gendered nature of citizensh ip. In many
countries, especially in Europe, women were able to fight for
universal suffrage when the early definition of "citizen as warrior"
gave way to "citizen voter". The understanding of gender roles in
citizenship is inevitably one -sided. In reali ty women and men do
play different roles in society and exercise power in different ways.
Women are politicians, soldiers and working -class men, just as men
can be peace activists and paramedics. This diversity must be
recognized and understood if citizens hip is to be a useful way of
understanding rights and participating actively in society.
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87 Gender and Citizenship 10.5 REFRAMING CITIZENSHIP - GENDER EQUALITY
IN DEVELOPMENT
1] ,QLWLDOVWHSVíFKDOOHQJLQJWKHSXEOLFSULYDWHGLYLGH
Challenging civil rights disparities is a structural and broad -based
approach to the “personal” repression that occurs in sexuality,
reproduction and family life, in private or domestic territory, in t he
language of civil rights. It means identifying it as a problem. In this
way, it "incorporates" a set of activities and identities excluded from
citizenship, expanding the ability to shape both intimate and broad
decisions that affect an individual's lif e. It also includes campaigns
related to and raising awareness of traditional cultural practices such
as female genital mutilation (FGM), early marriage, and other
private, family, or family issues.
Moreover, challenging the nature of “private” can help address the
inequalities that result from government unwillingness to intervene
in private or domestic affairs. Assumptions about families and
households that may influence the way policy is developed need to
be questioned Economic inequality based on con trol over household
resources can be identified and turned into a political issue.
Empowerment thus means the inclusion of economic and social
rights, as well as civil and political rights, in definitions of
citizenship. Economic and social rights are ess ential to realizing the
potential of citizen status in practice, as they provide the material
conditions necessary for decision -making and participation. This has
been recognized in international rights instruments such as CEDAW.
Political participation i s often seen only as something that happens
in state/government arenas and, to a lesser extent, in civil society
groups. Many feminists point out that politics is the ability to
contribute to decisions at all levels by mobilizing the support of
others. Th is applies to the formal as well as informal structures. It
also expands the space where citizenship can occur. Participation in
citizenship ranges from the narrow view of voting or running for
elections to the broad view of allowing informal action at th e
community level. This broad perspective can strengthen the political
potential of women's organizations and encourage institutions to
view them as a valuable source of information and input to policy.
2] Challenging exclusion from citizenship rights on t he basis of
gender
As a central issue of citizenship is exclusion due to power and social
roles, much thought has been given to how to include the excluded.
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88 rights and participation can help to integrate women and their
concerns more closely into development thoughts and practices.
Recognizing differences refers to moving away from common,
homogeneous notions of women and women's interests and bringing
in women's real experiences. The needs o f the less powerful in a
society are often not articulated, and ways need to be found to make
their usually silent voices heard. This means engaging marginalized
groups in identifying their needs and ensuring that development
agencies make the necessary ch anges in their cultures, procedures
and practices to respond to marginalized groups, including women.
One way to account for differences is to develop entitlements to
correct adverse factors. This could, for example, take the form of
affirmative action po licies and policies recognizing the cultural
rights of indigenous peoples. The lack of women's participation in
formal politics began to be challenged in the 1990s as development
agencies' attention shifted from project -level participation to
participation in local and national political structures. Because
women's "natural status" is not seen as existing in formal politics,
special measures such as quotas are taken to increase their numbers
in many formal political settings. Evidence suggests that at least
30% of women in political office are required to have a noticeable
impact on policy.
One of the ways in which exclusion at the institutional level is
challenged is through gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming
involves integrating a gender perspecti ve into all areas of policy
making and planning, and thus contributes to the expansion of
women's rights and empowerment. Gender mainstreaming in
national governments is often driven by national women’s
machineries that have been set up by governments in v arious
country contexts.
However, it is important to recognize that gender mainstreaming
should not preclude targeted strategies to promote the rights and
empowerment of women. We still need gender sensitization for
officials, financial assistance, such a s micro -credit schemes. Gender
mainstreaming is an example of how institutional commitment to
equality arose from public pressure. The mobilization of women and
other excluded groups in civil society, and the ability of women to
put pressure on states and policy makers, are crucial to active
citizenship.

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89 Gender and Citizenship 3] Mobilising for change – promoting active gendered citizenship
The right to have a right, to politicize needs, to influence broader
decision -making processes affecting one's life, and the right to act
are fundamental to the project of equality in development. Much
thought has been given to enabling oppressed groups to assert their
civil participation rights as a prerequisite for other rights. Building
more inclusive forms of citizenship requires process es of change that
go beyond policy analysis and include social movements and the
politics of everyday life as seen in community -level struggles.
Bringing these ideas to development provides an opportunity to
engage the poor and marginalized, including wome n, into
institutional accountability.
The Beijing Platform for Action was formulated at the Fourth World
Conference on Women in 1995 and subsequently adopted by 189
countries. It is the foundation of NGOs and women's movements in
many parts of the world. It ushered in a new era of transnational
feminist networks, one of the key factors in fostering institutional
change and gender mainstreaming in development and other policy
areas. This international mobilization is linked to national and
community -level struggles that use international instruments to push
governments to be more responsive to women's interests.
4] Making change
Ideas play a very important role in how we see the world. They
influence what we see as much as possible, and our behaviour. It i s
important to challenge the practices that oppress women, not just the
practice itself. Citizenship struggles are about testing the boundaries
and challenging the rules that determine who gets to have a say in
society and how resources are allocated. The issue isn't simply that
women and marginalized people are entering an unequal system that
isn't changing.
10.6 CONCLUSION
Citizenship and its rights and the language of participation are important
from the development perspectives. There are several ways of looking at
citizenship, including membership, affiliation, rights, and various forms of
participation, also pose problems in terms of gender, race, class, and
ethnic inequality. Citizenship is not a panacea for positive change.
However, re -framing of ci tizenship from a gender perspective will enable
a variety of different actors to address key development concerns such as
poverty and inequality and usher empowerment and inclusion.

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90 10.7 SUMMARY
Citizenship is both, a status or identity, a practice or p rocess that is
connected to the social world through the exercise of rights/protections
and the fulfilment of duties.
Traditional notions of citizenship are also constantly changing especially
in the context of the three important global political shifts.
Citizenship helps us to address both the questions, “why?” – Why gender
equality should be addressed; and the “how?” – through engaged and
active citizenship.
Re-framing of citizenship from a gender perspective will enable a variety
of different actors to address key development concerns such as poverty
and inequality and usher empowerment and inclusion.
10.8 QUESTIONS
x Examine the definitions and origin of the concept of citizenship and
evaluate it in the context of globalization.
x Critically evaluate the co nventional understanding of citizenship.
Discuss the ways in which gender equality in development can be
realized.
10.9 REFERENCES
x Walby, S. (1994): Is Citizenship Gendered?
x https://www.jstor.org/stable/42857698
x S. Meer, C. Sever (2004): Gender and Citiz enship - Overview
ReportInstitute of Development studies, BRIDGE development -
Gender
x https://gsdrc.org/document -library/gender -and-citizenship/
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91 11
VIOLENCE OF DEVELOPMENT
Unit Structure
11.0 Objectives
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Varied dimensions of development related violence
11.3 Putting violence into perspective
11.4 Best practice paradigm in reducing violence
11.5 Conclusion
11.6 Summary
11.7 Questions
11.8 References
11.0 OBJECTIVES
To examine the issues related to violence related to development
To assess the measures to reduce development related violence
11.1 INTRODUCTION
So far, literature on development has focused on the affirmative side of
development projects. It has hardly dealt on the nature and magnitude of
violence, its causes and effects, and how it can be prevented and
controlled. The human and environmental costs of development related
violence is put into the backdrop or addresse d as an afterthought. While
exploring the connection between development and violence, it is
important to ask whose perspective is most relevant. Is it possible to give
primacy to the perspective of those who have been excluded and
victimized by developme nt? How do different groups of people, living in
different places, understand development given the violence they
experience on a daily basis? This section addresses issues related to
violence that is accompanied or is an aftermath to several development
endeavours and the scars it leaves of the environment and its people.
It is difficult to generalize the complex levels of violence in the
development process, but it is becoming evident that the victims of this
violence are not just those who exist below w hat economists label ‘the
poverty line’. We can clearly identify the various forms of violence that
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92 11.2 VARIED DIMENSIONS OF DEVELOPMENT
RELATED VIOLENCE
Violence related to Industrialization : Violence is built into the on -going
processes of industrialization and urbanization. These processes destroy
livelihoods and neglect rural areas in favour of centralized urban industrial
development. Furthermore, proposed development continues to displ ace
people at an escalating pace. Statistics suggest that in India, half a million
people are displaced from their livelihoods and earnings each year. The
severe physiological and psychological effects suffered by displaced
people are well documented, but little has been done to combat the
massive social and cultural violence inflicted on millions of people every
year in the name of development.
These processes are aggravated by a process which is considered as an
extreme form of capitalism, i .e., Globali zation. Economic globalization is
based on global resource extraction and cheap labour, on global trading
blocs and on new zones of privileges. Scholars observe that globalization
is a continuation of the historical trends of colonial exploitation, albei t in a
new form. Its aim is to strengthen or create new political, economic and
cultural hierarchies, leading to new areas of alienation.
Violence related to Globalization: Globalization may have benefited a
few, by opening up opportunities for some, bu t for most it has led to
increased inequality and disparity in economic well -being. Violence is
deeply rooted in the subsequent increase in social and economic
insecurity. Entire communities and regions, even countries, have become
irrelevant to the inte rests of the dominant economic and political power. In
other words, global and national patterns of consumption and production
have threatened livelihoods and welfare, and have caused discontent and
conflict on a very large scale.
Violence and the Commons: The dominant actors who are the ‘thinkers’
and ‘doers’ in the development arena rarely admit to the extent of
destruction of the natural sources of life; the land, forests, air and water
systems we depend on in our vulnerable planet. We have polluted the
planet at a very terrifying rate through mining, deforestation, pesticide -
intensive agriculture, toxic waste, mass dumping of dams, and
unsustainable intensive extraction from seas, rivers, forests and lands.
Take, for example, the well -known Green Revol ution of the late 1960s
and 1970s in Punjab and Haryana, India. New evidence suggests the
expansion of dying soil (desertification), a significant reduction in
groundwater, and its contamination by leaching of pesticides and
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93 Violence of Development We have arrived at a situation where life itself is seen as more available or
is reshaped to take control of a few at the expense of the many. For
example, the genetic modification of organisms is nothing but a
manipulation of life for private profits. There is little or no regard for
ecological diversity and security or social justice. At the moment, man is
engaged in taking control of nature and trying to dominate it to privatize
and transform the resources to fulfil its capitalist agenda.
Multiple levels of violence that is perpetrated on nature create long term
impact. The global vision of ‘profitability at any cost’ leads to
exploitation, manipulation, and engineering which can wreaks havoc.
This challenges the common and collective wisd om of the societies who
lived with nature and who developed complex knowledge systems. It is
important that the pluralities of knowledge systems that have evolved with
nature be brought to the centre of political, social and economic action.
We need urgent ly to incorporate a bio -centric perspective in our lives that
recognizes that we are an integral part of nature and must act accordingly.
Man has been using natural resources far beyond nature’s regenerative
capacity. By doing so, we commit violence to n ature and to those whose
livelihoods are dependent on nature and are threatened or destroyed by
development. We are literally undermining the future of our own species.
By diverting the collective domain and privatizing it, we deny the basic
right to life of men and women. Privatizing water and food security in the
name of development is a waste of resources and a gross violation of a
human right.
Indigenous groups and development related violence: In the same
way that nature is grossly disrespected and v iolated, so too is culture. The
world’s cultural pluralism is being steadily, often violently, eroded with an
alarming loss of ethnicities, knowledge systems, languages and traditional
cultural forms of expression. There is a deep -seated violence that is
severely threatening and ultimately destroying the identity and rights of
ethnic and indigenous groups. There is a profound need to protect creative
and grounded cultural, social and political pluralism and diversity through
a deepening of the democratic pr ocess. The respect for plurality is a basic
requirement to resist the subjugation of marginal groups. The need of the
hour is to challenge forces that tend to homogenize cultures, in the name
of development and scientific process.
Increasing Inequality as a form of violence: The destabilization of
natural systems and the threat to cultures and traditions and resultant
violence is not a problem that is related to poverty. In fact poverty is a by -
product of the process of wealth creation. The thinking that m aterialism is
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94 poverty, threatens and destroys livelihoods, creates mass insecurities,
breaks down homes and communities, forces men and women, who are
often displaced from their familiar envi ronment, into a life of criminality.
Gender violence and development: Criminalization of poverty has led to
some of the worst forms of gender violence. This is so because
insecurities give rise to violence within the family as men are forced to
redefine their identities, both culturally and individually. The violence
inherent in development is manifested through rising levels of domestic
violence, discrimination against girls, an increase in the number of women
entering the workforce in a debilitated and unhealthy state, and the
trafficking of women; and children, increased suicide and the spread of
HIV / AIDS.
Geopolitical context of violence: As we move from the societal level to
the geopolitical level, it is necessary to look at the overall context of
violence. Policy makers have given little attention to the voices of the
marginalized and the growing collective resistance to economic
globalization. Today's national and global policy -making and geopolitics
especially in the aftermath of 9/11, the inva sion of Iraq and increasing US
hegemony has set the stage on which much violence has gone unnoticed;
all in the name of freedom, democracy and development.
Violence related to policy decisions: Centralized administrative and
political processes also contr ibute to developmental violence. They often
do not take into account the multiple cultural, social and economic
contexts and impose standardized, homogenizing solutions. At the
political level there is a fragmented response to the complex integrated
realities in which most people live. For example, agriculture, water,
energy and forests are different political arenas with little or no
coordination in community life. These systems are not only interconnected
but also integrated systems. However, policy mak ers provide
compartmentalized policy responses which do not take into account
diverse elements that affect the lives and livelihoods of communities. It is
not feasible then to speak of health when there is no access to clean water,
of reproductive rights in the absence of bathrooms, of democracy when
livelihoods are not guaranteed, of participation when there is no education
for women and of accountability when massive military and economic
power is used to subjugate nations and its people.
Fundamentally, there exist huge disparities between the economic poor
and the elites in our societies, which pose a serious challenge to
democratic governance. The groups with economic and political power
tend to control and dominate every sphere. They use the processe s of
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95 Violence of Development perpetuate dominance on economic, political, cultural, educational
structures. This is done at the cost of cultural pluralities, ecologies and
diversities. Also at stake are the unr epresented and marginalized
communities who are invisible to the national and global governance
systems.
Thus, violence and its various manifestations cannot be separated from the
current models of development. No amount of safety nets and superficial
solutions, or microcredit schemes, or capacity building workshops, will be
able to deal with the effects of development related violence. The
development projects may be well designed, but they are not capable of
eliminating the causes of violence, the dest ruction of nature and culture.
Around the world, communities, urban and rural groups, and social
movements are taking roots in thousands of places and are responding to
the diverse violence they experience. From Chiapas in southern Mexico to
the valley of the Narmada River in India, from the World Social Forum to
the United Nations Indigenous Forums, their representatives emphasize
this violence and exclusion, homogenization, standardization and violence
in everyday life.
These are lessons in learning. We need to recognize the strength of these
movements and it is important not to exploit them. They indicate many
possibilities and also help us realize that in the face of dominant economic
and political power, these efforts remain fragile and vulnerable.
Therefore , it is necessary to create alliances and networks that take into
account the many needs and ways of organizing livelihoods, production
systems and social structures to create a healthy and culturally rich life.
The pursuit of material wealth has dominated the most basic value
systems. The challenge here is not to regulate and reform development,
but to transform them to enable a living based on harmony and justice.
11.3 PUTTING VIOLENCE INTO PERSPECTIVE
What can we as a society do to reduce vio lence and enable development?
For any agency looking to intervene in conflict zones, there is a set of
guidance on how to handle tensions. The issue of violence has been
addressed since the 2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security
and Developmen t. The report highlights that violence impacts not only
poor countries but also many countries in transition, including South
Africa, Nigeria and Pakistan. It also affected wealthy countries like the
US, Brazil and Israel. The report further states that t he existence of
legitimate institutions will help contain violence. An emerging field of
policy analysis has put forth basic elements of an approach to violence
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96 x build legal institutions, often through efforts to devel op political
solutions;
x Enhance access to justice;
x Expand economic opportunity and employment, especially for
young people;
x Foster social resilience through institutions.
These are reflected in Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals,
which aim to …promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable
development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective,
accountable and inclusive institutional levels.
11.4 BEST PRACTICE PARADIGM IN REDUCING
VIOLENCE
The rapid emergence of the best practice paradigm is significant at so
many levels. It:
x sets priorities for donors to look for answers on issues related to
insecurity and conflict.
x pours research funding to look for viable solutions.
x directs lobbying at international and national leve ls.
x provides a wider public with an explanation of complex dynamics,
trends and continuities that make violence seem normal, for eg.
Darfur, Somalia and Afghanistan.
x provides an avenue for violence -affected areas to look for
international support and fun ding.
Limitations of the best practice paradigm: One of the limits of the best
practice paradigm is that it states the obvious: In order to contain
violence, societies and states should provide peaceful and stable
conditions. The answers to violence red uction are well known, because
they have emerged as a result of long processes of change, conflict and
adjustment. Mere increase in funding, capacity building and policy
attention cannot solve the crises of violence.
The best practice paradigm does not re fer to solutions to address short -
term and medium -term violence. Development financiers and planners
trying to reduce violence face a fundamental problem. Violence exists
because it often serves to develop new political relationships.
Previous -generation s tudies have shown that conflict and violence go
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97 Violence of Development peaceful results. In many places, opportunities created by globalization
have led to illegal cross -border economic activities involving violence .
Scholars observe that in many cases violence is a policy. Violence is the
very foundation of development in places that are now entangles in almost
unsolvable situations. Consider, for example, South Sudan, Somalia and
Syria. Best practices prevent dev elopment actors from moving forward.
It is necessary to understand how violence works and how it is logical in
specific contexts. Such analysis will provide useful information towards
resolution of conflicts. This is much better than merely measuring
institutional weaknesses and social volatility based on contrasts with more
peaceful and stable situations.
No one -size-fits-all approach: The World Development Report has stated
that each society is different in terms of its needs and has warned against
imposing certain institutional mechanisms on one society to another.
Recent studies on combating and mitigating violence have shown that
there is no single formula which can be applied to all societies. Rather, it
depends on the political conditions and t rends, as well as their formation
where violence is deemed as a way of life. Moreover, what is legitimate
and what is not depends on political and social conditions and at different
levels.
11.5 CONCLUSION
Despite some critical neglect, the processes of ch ange are challenging and
altering cultural traditions, class, caste and gender divides. And what is
clear is the scale of the violence faced by hundreds of millions of people
who have been victims of development. Most people accept that the goals
of sustai nable development can be met only through reducing violence.
Reducing violence is the latest requirement of development. Adopting best
practices will help. However, this journey requires more attention to the
roadmap of violence in specific places that ar e not stand -alone but are
fundamental components of development.
11.6 SUMMARY
The literature on development has focused on the affirmative side of
development projects. The human and environmental costs of
development related violence is put into the back drop or addressed as an
afterthought.
Violence is built into the on -going processes of industrialization and
urbanization, globalization munotes.in

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98 The world’s cultural pluralism is being steadily, often violently, eroded
with an alarming loss of ethnicities, knowled ge systems, languages and
traditional cultural forms of expression.
Criminalization of poverty has led to some of the worst forms of gender
violence. Centralized administrative and political processes also
contribute to developmental violence.
Thus, viole nce in its various manifestations is inseparable from the current
models of development.
Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to …promote
peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all, an d build effective, accountable and inclusive
institutional levels.
11.7 QUESTIONS
x Examine the dimensions of development related violence.
x Write a note on ‘Violence of Development’.
x Discuss the measures undertaken by institutions to reduce violence
and enab le development
11.8 REFERENCES
Kothari, S. and Wendy Harcourt (2004): Introduction: The violence of
development, Development, 47(1), pp. 3 -7, Society for International
Development.
Buvinic, Mayra and Morrison, Andrew (1999): Violence as an Obstacle
to De velopment, available at:
https://publications.iadb.org/en/publication/11628/violence -obstacle -
development
What can we do to reduce violence and enable development? Available at:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/what -can-we-do-to-reduce -
violence -and-enable -development/
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99 12 WOMEN ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE Unit Structure 12.0 Objectives 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Meaning of Social Change 12.3 Discussion on Women and Social Change 12.4 Influence of Media on Women and Social Change 12.5 Effect of Climate Change on Women 12.6 Case Studies of Women who organized and brought social changes 12.6.1 Temple flowers create employment 12.6.2 Manipur market led by females 12.6.3 Women protesting for their rights 12.6.4 Female Auto Drivers of Mumbai 12.6.5 Lijjat Papad Symbol of Woman’s strength 12.6.6 Change through NGO – Santacruz (Mumbai) 12.7 Some possible steps to accelerate change 12.7.1 Education 12.7.2 Protection through objects 12.7.3 Self Defence Movements 12.8 Summary 12.9 Questions 12.10 References 12.0 OBJECTIVES 1.0 To understand the meaning of Social Change and the changing status of women in terms of different Acts and measures taken by government of India. 2.0 To understand how women have brought about change in the lives in different parts of the world and India in different sectors. 12.1 INTRODUCTION Women constitute more than half of the world's population, yet there needs to be an improvement in the standard of living, health, landholding pattern, income, and multiple other sectors. The contribution made by females both within the families (private sphere) and work (public space) cannot be ignored. Women in a country like India work outside, do the munotes.in

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100 household work, take care of children, even work at farms, and contribute their labour in agriculture too. In other words, both in the formal and informal sector and within the home, the contribution of women cannot be ignored. In this chapter, we will look into some women's case studies, life stories of women from all over the world who have brought about change in society. We will look into the lives of women from different walks of life, sectors and industries. This chapter will be very relatable and it will also help you to learn new and interesting stories which would inspire you. The aim is to bring awareness, develop sensitivity, and even to create a setting through which there develops a space for discussion and debate. Through case studies, we will look into the lives of women who have organized themselves for bringing about change in the society. 12.2 MEANING OF SOCIAL CHANGE Before understanding social change let us look into the meaning of change. Change refers to deviation from the normal pattern or accepted way of life. Social changes are variations from the accepted modes of life: it could be due to alterations in geographical conditions, cultural equipment, population composition or ideologies or through diffusion, invention within the group according to Gillin and Gillin . On the other hand, Davis describes Social change as something which can bring about alterations in social organization, structure and functions of society. Both these above definitions talk about the change which takes place in institutions. Given this background let us now look into details of women and social change. 12.3 DISCUSSION ON WOMEN AND SOCIAL CHANGE Women's position in our society has improved significantly from the earlier times due to multiple factors like increased education accessibility for women, schemes, and monetary benefits for educating girls. There are several schemes like Mid-day meal scheme, Bhagya Laxmi Scheme for girls, free books, etc. Through political empowerment measures like reservation in education, and reservation in jobs has helped in improving the women's quality of life (i). Yet there is still enough scope for improvement. Change and power can also be seen as connected. In other words, those who are leaders, policymakers they have authority and it viewed as they can bring about a lot of changes in the existing system and also implement it. There are several government reforms for women like - The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Indian constitution (1993) provide 33 percent reservation for women in rural and urban local bodies, i.e., panchayats and municipalities. This has helped many women; it is munotes.in

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101
Women Organizing
for Change calculated that there are 1.2 million elected women representatives in the institutions of local governance in rural India. Yet, any attempts to pass similar bills by providing reservations for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative is not much encouraged, and there are a lot of oppositions. This can be seen from the Women's Reservation Bill of 1996 delay. which is still pending. There are various acts for improving the status of women in our society to list out few ones - The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961) (Amended in 1986) The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION and REDRESSAL) Act, 2013 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 In this chapter we are looking into the variations that have taken place in our society and worldwide. As through patriarchy, even today, women are subjected to discrimination. At times this is also culturally rooted and socialized even to the children so that the pattern continues. Here it is the change-makers who bring about a change by taking the untraveled path, experimenting, taking risks by standing up not only for themselves but for others too. A woman who successfully creates her brand (value) becomes an entrepreneur, becomes more financially independent and would also help create additional jobs and improve the community altogether. Patra & Mahapatra (2017) note that women-run business has developed to a large scale, especially among metropolitan cities. This is a result of urbanization, encouragement from both the Government and NGOs. They also point out that with government-led concessions, schemes to encourage women to develop business, a large number of women are taking this opportunity and making use of it. Women-led businesses have brought about a massive change in both the women who lead the business as well as women who are working as employees. These women were also found to be less dependent on husband or family members financially. It was observed that they develop high self-esteem during their entrepreneurial journey. Let us now look into one of the important agents of socialization media. munotes.in

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102 12.4 INFLUENCE OF MEDIA ON WOMEN AND SOCIAL CHANGE The significance of Media is that it has a massive influence on individuals. Especially the influence of television is very strong. As a result, it can inspire people and bring about rapid change. Let us look at this from the program called Shark Tank India. Shark Tank India is a show where individuals come and pitch their product and seek investors/ capital for their business. In the recent episodes, several businesses were run by mother and son, mother and other family members. Some women had experience working in the local markets, factories and handling a large number of workers. There were some businesses shown in the episodes in which they had mother and daughter in law creating their own business. In one episode, a female is shown where she is trying to build a business individually instead of getting into the family business. Let us now look into one of the core issue which is effecting large number of women i.e. global warming, climate. 12.5 EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WOMEN Women have also been coming together through social movements worldwide to work upon core issues like improving the agriculture sector and natural resources. There are scientists, researchers, scholars and individuals from every field and sector working on climate change. Climate change needs more attention as the most affected by the changes in the climate or lack of availability of resources are the women. As the majority of the women do household work, in a country like India – in remote villages still, there are houses where women cook over wooden fuel. It requires heavy labour as collecting wood, handling the smoke while cooking. Due to lack of water availability too women get affected very much like they have to walk far away and carry water for cooking, cleaning, etc. All this adds burden to the women's health and it affects the children who are dependent on her in the long run. Hence, organizing to change the situation becomes very important. Studies point out that globally, women are more likely to experience poverty when they are affected by a disaster. They lose their jobs, housing and during disasters they are become more marginalized. The United Nations data reveal that nearly 80 percent of people displaced by climate change are women. Hence, there is a greater need for representation of women in science, as policymakers to bring new techniques and methods to voice out other women's concerns. Let us now look into some case studies of women/ Institutions from different walks of life who have come together to bring change in their own lives and that of thousands of women. munotes.in

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for Change Check Your Progress 1. Explain Women and Climate change ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. List out five acts made for the protection of Women in our society. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.6 CASE STUDIES OF WOMEN WHO ORGANIZED AND BROUGHT SOCIAL CHANGES 12.6.1 Temple flowers Several writers talk about the concept of Eco Feminism, one of the important scholar who talks about this is Vandana Shiva. They point out that females play a major role in preserving the environment. There is also discussion on Nature vs Nurture discussed by different scholars. As global warming is a very serious problem which is going to affect all the countries. Hence proper steps need to be taken to preserve the environment. One such initiative is that of creating jobs which would help in both employment and environment. Zero waste creation should be the aim. Therefore, several initiatives are created by Government and NGOs; civil societies and the idea is being spread through that of advertisements too. Like the distribution of the dry and wet waste. One such practice to reduce zero waste is through reusing the temple flowers. Temple flowers are being used to recycle and make agarbatti (incense sticks) and even colors that can be used for festivals like Holi. Through this, many women are employed and can earn their livelihood and even save the planet. There are several organizations that are working on this concept one such is 'The Society for Child Development and Nari Niketan in Noida . 12.6.2 Manipur market led by females Ima Keithel, which means mother’s market also known as Ima Market or Nupi Keithel meaning Women’s market is a market in Imphal, Manipur. This market is very old and it begun during the 16th century. The story munotes.in

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104 goes back to men back in those days were expected to work as forced labor or join the army; hence, in their absence, the women had to run the family. As a result, the market developed and even became organized with time. There are more than 5000 vendors in this market today. It stands as one of the largest markets which is run solely by females. The impact these women together bring is immense once when they were expected to work as forced laborers during the colonization, they stood together and refused it. They also raised their voice collectively when there was a rape of a 16-year-old girl. In the article of Telegraph, the writer also documents that the market has also given an opportunity for people who are generally seen as outcasts in the society. This market stands as an example of strength, togetherness, change, and dignity. 12.6.3 Women protesting for their rights Now we will look into the life of women in Afganistan. Talibans have brought restrictions over women's mobility, clothing and education. All this has led to a decline in women's roles in the public and private spheres, which turns out to be strategic discrimination against them. Hence, some women have joined security forces to stand up for their rights and to fight for themselves and for other women. There are also rallies of protest begin held in Central and Northern Afghanistan carried by women holding guns to raise their voice, shouting slogans and demanding justice . After the United States Military left Afghanistan, the situation must have again worsened for women with the change of the government and rule. 12.6.4 Female Auto drivers of Mumbai A metropolitan city sets a benchmark for other small cities in the country. The changes first generally takes place in metropolitan cities. One such change is that of female auto drivers in Mumbai. Let us look into some life stories of female drivers.  Susheela is a female driver, her husband had covid and there was no income generation in the family. Hence she learnt to drive auto and took the responsibility for her children’s and mother-in-law. She narrates her experience that some auto stands have a monopoly and they ask for membership fees to get into an auto stand. She adds that she had to hear abuses, harassment by men just because she couldn't pay the membership fees and picked passengers from the road in the auto.  Sharmila points out that some people when looking at a female riding refuse to get into the vehicle. There are instances where she has been taunted and teased by other male drivers and passengers.  Sadhana and her husband drive the same auto. She rides the vehicle at day and her husband at night. She travels to Mulund just to drive and resides in Titwala which far from Mumbai. There are problems at times with the cops in terms of parking, too she points out munotes.in

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for Change We can observe that with more number of women getting into this field, the higher rights and benefits and normalcy would be achieved. With more number of females as Auto drivers would also bring about safety for women travelers and even for newcomers females into the city. There is also a need to increase the infrastructure for women, like toilets and resting places for these female drivers. Check Your Progress 1. Discuss the problems faced by Women auto drivers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Discuss the women who are protesting in Afghanistan for their rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.6.5 Lijat Papad – Symbol of Woman’s strength The word Lijjat in Gujarati means tasty. All of us must have tried lijjat papad at least once. The story of origin and operation of Lijjat papad is inspiring and powerful. Once Seven female friends were sitting in the verandah of the house in Girgaum – Mumbai and they were chatting. During the conversation, the idea of starting the work of papad began as cooking was the skill they were good at. They took a loan of eighty rupees from Mr. Chhaganlal Karamsi Parekh, a social worker, to start the business. Today the seven women business has turned as Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijat PApad. It produces several items like Papad, Masala, Wheat flour, Chapati, SASA Detergent Powder, etc. There are 81 branches and 27 divisions. Today there are 43,000 women employed. The turnover of the company is that of USD 224 Million. It even exports its products to different countries and even has a magazine. With time it emerged as a cooperative and the organization registered itself as Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, which helped a large number of women. The logo of Lijjat Papad has the words symbol of Woman’s strength, which it stands for even today. They started with four packets of papad and sold them to a merchant at the Bhuleshwar. Today the business is changemaker and inspired lakhs of women to start household food business. There are munotes.in

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106 literacy classes held and even scholarships provided by the organisation. There are also courses on developing different skill sets like typing, cooking, sewing, toy making etc held for women encouraging women to develop new skill sets. Lijjat has also sponsored collaborated with few conferences with UNICEF. Let us now look into how NGos bring about change in the slums. 12.6.6 Change through NGO - Santacruz (Mumbai) A NGO in Santacruz has been working with girls and women in Mumbai for improving their skills and making them empowered citizens. The NGo used to run basic tailoring, beautician courses for women. It was observed that one of the students later became a teacher in that slum. Through courses, these women could generate some income by stitching clothes for others or providing services to others. Many of them were dropout girls too some who were not interested in studies or some who were forced to quit their studies. One respondent narrated her story. She said, I am learning this and making my daughter learn the tailoring. By learning tailoring, I am able to stich blouses for myself or for my neighbours and get some Rupees. As a result, I need not ask for money from my husband or mother-in-law. It feels good. I couldn't study, but my life has improved immensely through this skill set. The above case study shows that at the ground level, bigger decisions , training , support, and guidance can bring about a lot of change in women's lives. Check Your Progress 1. Explain in few lines the operation of Lijjat Papad and explain its impact on women ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Discuss the Manipur Market operated by Women ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ munotes.in

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for Change 12.7 SOME POSSIBLE STEPS TO ACCELERATE CHANGE Several questions can be asked, like What is change? What is real change? How can we bring about it in our society for women. Let us look into some alternatives – There needs to be a change in the socialization practices and approach of the community altogether. Gender sensitivity subjects needs to be incorporated right at the school level. Periodic awareness programs inclusion of folk-art forms to express the issues like Dowry, Child Marriage, Domestic Violence should be made. Though there are several measures taken by the government by making act. Strict implementation of these acts would help to solve the problem to some extent 12.7.1 Education Dr. Jayanthisri Balakrishan a Teacher said in one of her speeches some beautiful lines. According to her the real meaning of education is that when you learn and help another individual to learn that is real education. Than just getting degrees, employed, one's education has to be diffused and help another. At that moment society will grow as together. 12.7.2 Protection through objects Several measures are tried like developing apps, sprays, objects such item is that of gun. Though one has to think and reflect on this whether having a gun is a need or not. Here the description to make aware of the different models which are upcoming for protection of women. A gun has been made which is said to be India’s first gun specially designed for women. There is a need for a license to buy this gun and it weighs around 500gm. It is named as Nirbheek as a synonym of Nirbhaya from Delhi which means fearless in Hindi. The aim of this gun is to protect women by themselves when they are in danger. 12.7.3 Self Defence Movements Self-defence can be a practical method which women and girls can learn to protect themselves. In Thane and Andheri and in different states of India. There are weekend classes for women and girls where self defence is being taught for free. Akshay Kumar cinema actor and others have initiated this program. These batches are held on weekends. The class is named as ‘Women self defense center’. Upon completion of one-to-three-month courses, participants can also do the advance course for free and even have exams and post-completion they receive a certificate. The munotes.in

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108 curriculum is designed to include best methods from that of different martial art forms. The classes are designed in such a women that firstly they counsel on improving the self-image, body language of women and then learn fighting skills. 12.8 SUMMARY This chapter we began with looking into the meaning of social change. According to Davis, Social change brings alterations as occur in social organization, that is, structure and functions of society. Women's position in our country has changed for the better due to a number of factors like improvement in access to education, health care, infrastructural facilities, schemes, financial concession for girl child. There is also improvement in the politics through reservation, 73rd and 74th Amendment. There are several Acts which are made to safeguard the women and girl child like Prevention of Child Marriage, Dowry Prohibition Act, Protection of Domestic Violence. Yet there exists scope for improvement. We further looked into how even media plays an important role in creating a new culture like entrepreneurship (Shark Tank). We also saw about climate change where women have played a major role as scientists, researchers. We also cannot ignore the fact that women and children are directly affected by the climate. This is through lack of access to water, fuel. Further, we looked into the case studies of women across different sectors who brought massive changes in their field and also gave employment to women across class, caste, and cities. Like Lijjat Papad, Loan Recovery Company Vasuli, Manipur market which is run completely by females of more than 5000 vendors. We also looked especially the case studies from Mumbai with reference to Auto drivers and NGO. 12.9 QUESTIONS 1. Explain the meaning of Social Change and include five case studies of Women organizing for Change. 2. List out the different Acts for the protection of Women and discuss the case study based on Women – Auto drivers and NGO role. 3. Discuss climate change and women and possible methods to develop women's status. 4. Discuss the role played by Media in organizing and creating awareness for improving status of Women munotes.in

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for Change 12.10 REFERENCES i. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/change ii. http://www.isca.in/IJSS/Archive/v4/i12/8.ISCA-IRJSS-2015-037.pdf iii. grin.com/document/354756 iv. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/womens-equality-tool-for-powerful-social-change-52094 v. http://ncw.nic.in/important-links/List-of-Laws-Related-to-Women vi. Patra, S. K., & Mahapatra, D. M. (2017). Case Study on Changing Face of Women Empowerment in India. SEDME (Small Enterprises Development, Management & Extension Journal), 44(4), 73-85. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941240/ vii. https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/stories/a-sustainable-future-comes-with-women-changemakers.html viii. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43294221 ix. https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/floral-waste-from-temples-getting-recycled-into-organic-colours-agarbatti-and-compost-in-noida-119070200662_1.html x. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/travel/india-womens-market-imphal.html xi. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/07/armed-afghan-women-take-to-streets-in-show-of-defiance-against-taliban xii. https://www.firstpost.com/business/living-business/not-a-gundaraj-introducing-an-all-women-loan-recovery-firm-manju-bhatias-vasuli-1961445.html xiii. https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/pain-of-pink-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-woman-auto-driver-in-mumbai-23197330 xiv. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25727080 xv. http://www.womenssdc.com/ munotes.in

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110 13 RURAL POLITICAL ACTION, TRIBAL STRUGGLES Unit Structure 13.0 Objectives 13.1 Introduction 13.1.1 Facts and figures on gender inequalities in access to land 13.1.2 Facts and figures on gender inequalities in access to land De facto equality, diversity and participation 13.1.3 The current status of land rights: laws, policies and regulations 13.1.4 Reasons for women’s lack of land rights 13.1.5 Consequences suffered by women due to violation of their rights 13.1.6 Promoting and protecting rural women’s land right: good practices 13.1.7 Conclusion 13.2 Tribal Struggle 13.2.1 Introduction 13.2.2 Struggle of Tribal Women 13.2.3 Problems faced by Tribal Women 13.2.4 Measures taken by the government 13.0 OBJECTIVES:  To understand the pattern of distribution of land and Rural Political Action  To evaluate the numerous inequalities faced by women related to access to land resources  To analyse the consequences of it on women’s status in society  To identify certain good practices adopted by the countries of Asia  To comprehend the problems faced by Tribal women 13.1 INTRODUCTION Rural women are among the most vulnerable groups in the developing world. Gender-based discrimination is widespread in laws, customs, and strategies, resulting in severe inequalities in their ability to access and control land and other natural resources, as well as restricting their participation in land governance decision-making, from the domestic to native and nationwide organizations. munotes.in

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Tribal Struggles Gender justice in land governance and women's land rights are critical pillars in the promotion and protection of women's human rights in rural communities. They are not only human rights in and of themselves, but they are also inextricably tied to women's standing, legal competence, inheritance and property rights, place in family law and marriage, and involvement in public life. In environments where women supply a major proportion of agricultural labour, they also give access to the most essential physical asset in agrarian communities, land. Land rights for women are a crucial factor of women's empowerment in rural regions, and they have far-reaching consequences for women's capacity to exercise civil and political rights, as well as social and economic rights, and to overcome poverty and social marginalization. The importance of women's land rights and gender equity in land governance for fulfilling the goals of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women need to be highlighted. 13.1.1. Facts and figures on gender inequalities in access to land i. According to the report the data on gender discrepancies in land access is "strong,” "Women (...) are continuously less likely to own or manage property; they are less likely to have access to rented land, and the land they do have is generally of lower quality and in smaller plots." (FAO, 2011, p. 23.) . Women who own property may not always have control over what they produce or the resources they require to cultivate – (Deere et al 2011: 47)(10). “The majority of women access land to cultivate it, yet they do not control production, access to property and inheritance rights over this land.”(Peru, Flora Tristàn: 2). Women also endure pervasive discrimination in inheritance rights, and when they get access to property through markets and redistributive reforms, they are less likely than males to do so due to discrimination in land markets, disparities in income and credit, and societal prejudice (World Bank, 2012: 155). This contrasts with the growing importance of women in the agricultural labour force, which is believed to have increased from 43 percent (Ibid) to 60-80 percent (UNIFEM, undated; Foresight, 2011). 13.1.2 Facts and figures on gender inequalities in access to land De facto equality, diversity and participation a. Laws are a vital starting step, but they are insufficient. Social scientists and researchers have express worry over legal discrimination and, more importantly, the lack of implementation of progressive statutory laws that currently exist, particularly in rural and isolated places, as well as among minority and indigenous populations. To address these issues, States Parties should go beyond amending legislative frameworks and take proactive steps to promote social change through positive discrimination, such as allocating resources and developing policies that promote and munotes.in

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112 protect women's land rights and gender equity in land governance. De jure and de facto equality must be pursued by States Parties. b. Rural women's diverse uses of land and natural resources should be reflected in laws and policies. Women are also distinct, based on caste, class, population, inequalities in class, age, and marital status, and geography, as well as custom. Land has a varied function in the livelihood security of these distinct women's groups. In land reform projects, special attention should be paid to Dalit and disadvantaged Janajati women, physically and intellectually challenged women, women from minority groups, and women who engage in socially stigmatizing occupations. (CSRC: 2, Nepal). This is in addition to the various ways in which rural women get access to, control, own, use, and conceptualize their connection with land and natural resources. Women pastoralists, indigenous and fisher women, holders of overlapping and periodic rights, and consumers of common pool resources are also concerned about land rights. Some rural women are also human rights advocates, peacefully advocating for land and environmental rights in their communities. All women in rural areas should be empowered. c. States Parties must promote rural women’s participation in land governance as full citizens. Aside from property rights, possessing a land title usually entails having a physical address, which allows access to birth certificates, identity cards, and voting credentials, all of which are required to exercise civil and political rights (Niasse, 2012). The issue of women's land rights is one of citizenship. Women in rural areas should be given the opportunity to participate meaningfully in land governance and territorial development choices (CEDAW Art. 7, 8 and 14; c.f. ILC, 2011). "Women in Bangladesh and Pakistan are typically encouraged to avoid places where men congregate, particularly the bazaar. Women's participation in activities outside the home is influenced by territorial gendering of space." (Asia, ALRD: 4) At all levels, from households and communities to land administration organisations and ministries, decisions about how land is utilised, managed, or owned should include women as equal participants in decision-making with males. 13.1.3 The current status of land rights: laws, policies and regulations a. In many countries, statutory law, rules, and regulations, particularly those relating to women's position, legal ability, inheritance and property rights, family life, and equality within marriage, remain gender-blind and sometimes discriminatory. Rural women's human rights, particularly their ability to access, own, acquire, control, administrate, or otherwise use land, are harmed by laws governing marriage, divorce, widowhood, inheritance, and family ties. State Parties with reservations on Art. 2, 15, and 16 of CEDAW, as well as those who do not recognise women's rights to make decisions for themselves, inherit, own, and manage property, and access justice, have raised serious concerns. "Within the family, women's lack of legal capacity renders them dependant on males and subject to male munotes.in

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Tribal Struggles authority, with little bargaining power and no resource outside the family," according to the report (Freeman, 2009: 9; c.f. CEDAW, 1994). b. While customary institutions play an important role in land governance, discriminatory customs have been raised, particularly in circumstances of legal pluralism where customary or religious law is legally recognised by the state but CEDAW compliance is not guaranteed. It is critical to harmonise statutory, customary, and religious legislation – particularly in relation to family law and property rights – with the requirements of the Convention, confirming CEDAW's priority and eradicating practises that are founded on the belief that women are inferior (Art. 5). 13.1.4 Reasons for women’s lack of land rights a. A persistent patriarchy, represented in stereotypes, attitudes, perceptions, and conventions, which causes legal, political, and economic barriers to women's growth, is the primary cause of discrimination against women in access to land and other natural resources. "Women's land rights are still on the periphery of the mainstream development agenda in Asian societies due to socio-cultural constructs in the patriarchal mind-set." As a result, policies and legislation are not gender-sensitive and fail to account for the differing impacts on men and women." (Asia, ALRD: 2) Patriarchy and deeply ingrained gender stereotypes exist at all levels, from the family to the local community, from administration to broader governance, and from state institutions to civil society and rural organisations. b. Rural women are frequently constrained to traditional gender roles of food production and child rearing, and they accept discriminatory norms and attitudes as a result of their education and social constraints. The amount to which women can exercise their land rights is influenced by how they are treated in the home, family, and community. "In the Indian culture, marriage is extremely important for women's socioeconomic status. Pre-marriage and post-marriage status are virtually usually separated in a woman's life. When a lady becomes a widow, a problem occurs.Re-marriage or ownership of the husband's property are out of the question. When she returns home, she is treated as a burden rather than a co-owner of the land." (India, SWADHINA: 1) In addition to statutory and customary discrimination, local leaders in rural and isolated areas frequently govern access to land in reality, reproducing and reinforcing gender inequality. States should be proactive in enacting laws and regulations to end gender discrimination and strive to change or abolish discriminatory "customs and practises" (CEDAW Art. 2). c. Women in rural areas are unable to assert and protect their land rights. They, like the rest of the community, are typically unaware of their rights. Because women have less access to school, they typically have low functional literacy, and they lack the skills, munotes.in

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114 documentation, and chances to engage in land governance, all of which repeat and maintain gender inequities in land access. d. There is no conducive climate and limited political will to advance women's land rights, gender-responsive land institutions, and the development of practical, low-cost, and culturally acceptable technologies. States Parties shall promote gender justice within institutions and improve women's representation and involvement at all levels, in addition to amending discriminatory laws and practises. Positive discrimination and gender quotas may aid in the development of rural women's leadership. States Parties should guarantee that several ministries, notably those dealing with women/gender, family, land, rural development, and finance, promote a women's land rights agenda. To strengthen political will, state parties should integrate gender-budgeting across all operations and give gender sensitization to authorities as well as inside communities. Long, expensive, and complicated procedures for gaining access to property and justice should be streamlined, and practical solutions, such as giving enough space on land registration forms for two names, should be discovered. 13.1.5 Consequences suffered by women due to violation of their rights Women who do not have or do not have secured property rights have less bargaining power at home, fewer access to other resources, less control over their life and destiny, and less ability to participate in decision-making. In fact woman in India is mostly treated as property itself. In many civilizations, landlessness is linked to a lower social status. Land rights deprive women of their autonomy and voice, as well as their self-esteem and well-being. Women who do not have or do not have solid land rights are less equipped to participate in public life and land governance, which prevents them from enjoying their civil and political rights completely. a. Apart from structural and cultural violence, women who lack or have insecure land rights are more likely to experience gender-based violence, such as social humiliation and isolation, rape, and murder. Widows are expelled by their in-laws in certain nations. Gender-based violence is particularly common in situations of displacement and among internally displaced persons (IDPs) (ILC, 2011; 2012) b. Women with no or insecure land rights are more subjected to poverty, illness, food shortages, and limited chances to expand their livelihoods, putting their social and economic rights, notably health, food, and housing rights, at danger. This is especially true for widows, divorced and separated women, handicapped women, and HIV/AIDS patients, as well as in cases of property grabbing by in-laws and communities, or on a broader scale, such as large-scale land purchases that disproportionately affect women. 13.1.6 Promoting and protecting rural women’s land right: good practices a. Ensuring rights: in countries where discriminatory and gender-blind laws and policies, including customary laws, exist, revisions munotes.in

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Tribal Struggles are needed to ensure women's land rights and full conformity with CEDAW. If there is no enabling environment, even if favourable legislative rules and regulations exist, execution may be erratic. There are, however, instances of successful state-led legislation, policies, and development initiatives, as well as projects from civil society organisations that may be copied or scaled up. Land laws promoting women's rights, in particular, should not be compromised by other laws, such as family and inheritance laws. In addition, institutional back-up measures that make it easier for rural women to assert their land claims and rights should be considered – while there is a social risk in doing so, the right economic incentives to ensure that the entire family benefits can increase the legitimacy of women's land rights in their communities. Examples of good practice Country Good practices Reference Nepal Government policy gives a tax
rebate for women who register a
land title, as well as a lower fee for
registering joint ownership for
women who register a land title,
leading to a surge in women and
couples registering land.
Community sharing of resources
under ownership of women’s
groups Abhiyan
Nepal,
CSRC Bangladesh Laws and policies that guarantee
joint ownership, like the Khas
Land Distribution Policy in
Bangladesh.
Local NGOs/CSOs initiatives
where women’s savings and loans
are mobilised to lease out lands in
their name for agricultural
production.
13 000 women have been elected
at the local government lowest
level, where one third seats are kept
for women. These women played a
critical role in local arbitration
processes and land dispute
resolutions, as well as in helping
women get title deeds under the
government distribution program . ALRD
Bangladesh
and India Registration of marriage and
divorce can be a very important
tool in securing women’s land
rights. Organisations like ALRD,
SWADHI
NA munotes.in

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116 SWADHINA promote marriage
registration camps at the village
level, to guarantee women’s equal
rights to husba nd’s land and
property. Compulsory registration
of marriages authorizes women to
claim for the property and
investments of their husbands on
widowhood. India A set quota of 30% seats reserved
for women at all levels of local
government has helped to increase
women’s representation in
decision -making. While not without
its challenges, such quotas have
contributed to positive change by
strengthening women’s leadership
and giving them the possibility to
influence agendas and decisions
locally. ILC (2012)
SWADHI
NA
Mongolia A recent proposed Article to the
‘Draft Land Law’: “allocation of
seasonal pasture to herders’
communities and herders groups
shall be realised by co -
management contracts and it must
be agreed with the women group or
women’s representatives, as co -
signatory on the contract”. This is
related to
provision 15.2 of CEDAW *…+ JASIL
Colombia
and
Nicaragua Land banks to support women to
purchase and/or pay land
registration fees, as in Colombia
(Ley 731 of 2002) and Nicaragua
(Ley 7 17), can mitigate widening
gender inequalities in access to
land (but need adequate resources
to be meaningful). ILC (2012) Tanzania The 1999 Village Land Act
protects “the right of every woman
to acquire, hold, use, and deal with
land, to the same extent and
subject to the same
restrictions as the right of any
man”. LANDES
A Kenya The 2010 Constitution directly
addresses women’s land rights and LANDES
A, KLA munotes.in

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Tribal Struggles establishes that “gender
discrimination in law, customs and
practices related to land and
property in land” must be
eliminated.
The Land Registration Act 2012
endorses joint titling to protect
matrimonial property during and in
termination of marriage. Rwanda The 1999 Inheritance Law grants
equal inheritance rights to sons and
daughters, and protects t he
property rights of legally married
women, through a clause requiring
spousal consent for any land sales,
leading to improved tenure security
for married women and less gender
bias in inheritance. In addition, the
2003 Constitution ensure that at
least 3 0% of seats in decision -
making organs are for women and
the 2005 Land Law requires
women/girls to be consulted and to
give their written consent or
refusal to any transaction of
matrimonial or family property.
Both men and
women are obliged to collect thei r
land certificate together. Daley et al
(2010)
Group of
CSOs
b. Understanding rights: It is critical to raise women's awareness of their rights to inherit land, own land, and participate in land governance – through awareness campaigns, media work, and land rights education programmes or modules – as well as to target traditional authorities and men in general. Campaigns should be conducted in all relevant languages, including local dialects, and in formats that are accessible to all people, including illiterate grassroots women. Remote areas and nomadic indigenous peoples require mobile services for these efforts. States Parties shall disclose gender-disaggregated data on land access, land governance, and the effect of land-related processes. c. Claiming rights: Rural women and their organisations require assistance, primarily in the form of capacity building and resources, to document their practises and challenges, gain access to justice systems, and monitor compliance with CEDAW and national laws, but most importantly, to mobilise women to advocate for change at all levels. To achieve improved participation of women, rural women's organisations require space on national civil society forums addressing land issues. munotes.in

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118 Examples of good practice Country Good practices Reference Albania The National Federation of
Communal Forests and Pasture took
the initiative of creating a special
women’s section within it and *...+
transmitted the objective of 30% of
women in decision -making in the
Federations to support sustainable
management of communal forests NACFPA
Burundi IFAD provided support to rural
women claiming their land rights,
through legal clinics, active at the
provincial level, raising awareness
on women’s land rights and
establishing family development
committees which also run literacy
classes. To help spread awareness,
competitions were held in villages
where locals could
win prizes by showing their legal
prowess. ILC (2012),
Kenya GROOTS supported community -
based watchdog groups to protect
women’s land rights, providing
alternative dispute resolution, legal
aid, access to justice systems; and
mediating and following up on
inheritance rights cases.
The strongest resistance to women’s
land rights is often found at
community level, but focusing on
that level can help bring about real
change. For example, a project
advocated for women’s property
rights through respected tribal elders
in Kenya, helping widows living
with HIV/AIDS who had been
evicted to regain
control over land and family
property ILC (2012)
LANDESA
Nepal CSRC campaigned and successfully
mobilised grassroots women to
advocate for policy change at state
level, and helped facilitate 500
women to receive joint
land certificates. CSRC munotes.in

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119
Rural Political Action,
Tribal Struggles Mongolia JASIL facilitated the organization of
54 herders’ communities in 4
different
ecosystems, most of them with self-
organized women’s groups. JASIL India SWADHINA promoted functional
education and taught rural women to
sign their names. It also promoted
grass -root level women's groups at
each of the villages. Members of the
women's groups were provided
socio -legal leadership trainings to
capacitate them. These groups are
also being encouraged to apply for
joint- ownership of commons land to
promote group income -generation.
In India, the Ekal Nari Shakti
Sangath an, a network of single
women (never married, abandoned,
divorced, separated, and widowed)
demanded separate official
registration, separate ration cards,
and two acres of surplus government
land on a 30 year lease from the
state. In Himachal Pradesh, the first
two
demands were accepted in 2009,
enabling the women to access
pensions. SWADHINA
ILC (2012)
Bangladesh Women’s organizations and legal
aid non -government organizations
(NGOs) have proposed a Uniform
Family Code demanding equal
inheritance rights for
women (Pereira, 2000; Halim, 2003) ALRD 13.8 CONCLUSION At a time when increasing global and local competition for land and natural resources has exacerbated land conflicts in many countries, and rural women are disproportionately affected by such conflicts, it is critical to prioritise women and women's land rights in national development agendas, keeping in mind the following three key points from our consultation:  the significance of achieving de facto equality,  the variety of rural women and their tenure rights, and  the relevance of women's engagement in land governance for gender justice. munotes.in

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120 As previously stated, the evidence on gender inequalities in land rights is clear, both in terms of numbers presented by international organisations such as the FAO and the World Bank and in terms of cases presented by participants in the ILC's consultation, which highlight the reality on the ground. It is evident that assessing the gendered effect of policies, plans, and programmes well in advance and taking the results into account is a critical first step toward improving women's land rights. References and list of contributors  Amnesty International (2011) Eviction and resistance in Cambodia: Five women tell their stories. London: Amnesty International. Available at: http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Eviction%20and%20Resistance%20in%20C ambodia%20-%20Five%20women%20tell%20their%20stories%20FULL%20REPORT.pdf  AUC-ECA-AfDB (2010) Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa: Land Policy in Africa: A Framework to Strengthen Land Rights, Enhance Productivity and Secure Livelihoods. Available at: http://rea.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Framework%20and%20Guidelines%20on%20Land%20Policy%20in% 20Africa.pdf  Daley et al 2010: E. Daley, R. Dore-Weeks and C. Umuhoza, 2010, ‘Ahead of the Game: Land Tenure Reform in Rwanda and the Process of Securing Women’s Land Rights’, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 4: 1, 131-152.  Deere, C., Lastarria-Cornhiel, S. and Ranaboldo, C. (2011) Tierra de Mujeres. Reflexiones sobre el acceso de las mujeres a la tierra en American Latina. La Paz: Fundacion Tierra and ILC.  Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) (2011) Men and women in agriculture: closing the gap. Rome: FAO.  Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) (2012) Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. Rome: FAO. Available online at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2801e/i2801e.pdf  Foresight (2011) A Future for small-scale farming: Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures. London: UK Government Office for Science.  Freeman, M. (2009) Reservations to CEDAW: An Analysis for UNICEF. Policy and Practice 2009. New York: UNICEF.  International Land Coalition (ILC) (2010). Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries. Update 2010. Progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Rome: ILC. munotes.in

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Rural Political Action,
Tribal Struggles Available online at: http://www.landcoalition.org/publications/update-2010-rural-women-land-and-cedaw  International Land Coalition (ILC) (2011) Innovations for securing women’s access to land in Eastern Africa. Rome: ILC.  International Land Coalition (ILC) (2012) How can women’s land rights be secured? CSW Synthesis of the online discussion. Rome: ILC. Available online at: http://www.landcoalition.org/publications/csw-synthesis- online-discussion  Jacobs, Susie (2010) Gender and Agrarian Reforms. NYC and London: Routledge, International Studies of Women and Place  Mera Declaration (2010) Mera Declaration of the Global Gathering of Women Pastoralists. Available online at: http://www.landcoalition.org/news/mera-declaration-global-gathering-women-pastoralists  Niasse, M. (2012) Future of Agriculture Online Discussion. Day 6: Gender Equality: It’s smart and it’s right. Oxford: Oxfam. Available online at: http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/12-12-17-day-6-gender-equality-smart- and-right  United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (no date). Securing the Rights and Livelihoods of Rural Women in Africa in the Context of the Food Crisis and Climate Change. New York: UNIFEM.  World Bank (2012) World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Washington DC: World Bank.  Agarwal, Bina. (1992). “The Gender and Environment Debate: Lessons from India”, Feminist Studies, Vol. 18, No. 1 Spring, pp. 119-158  Da Costa, D. (2010). Development Dramas: Reimagining Rural Political Action in Eastern India. New Delhi: Routledge 13.2 TRIBAL STRUGGLE 13.2.1 Introduction India is home to the world's highest bedrum of tribal peoples. Nonetheless, they are a the most vulnerable and disadvantaged group. Furthermore, tribal women in India confront a double social disadvantage: one as a woman in a patriarchal society, and the other as a member of a marginalized part of Indian society. They are discriminated against in practically every aspect of life, from the womb to the graves. Tribal history is full of instances of the bold and daring indigenous women who have not only fought for their rights and entitlements, but also led their communities and are credited with helping to form the Republic of India. munotes.in

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122 Indigenous tribal women have been playing a significant role in protecting and sustaining the natural resources. They have long witnessed the loss of livelihood and displacement due to large infrastructure projects across the country affecting their day-to-day survival. Odisha's Rayagada District includes the Kashipur block. Protests against the mining industry's establishment in the Kashipur block aim to conserve Jal, Jamin, and Jangal (water, land, and woods). All of these natural resources are their only means of subsistence; in the meantime, it examines the extent to which people are losing basic rights to traditional livelihood resources as a result of industrialization and development. 13.2.2 Struggle of Tribal Women: From the beginning of its history, India has been recognised to be patriarchal. Women have always been the underdogs, regardless of region or religion. Even when they do not have decision-making ability, women have been burdened with significant duties. Our patriarchal society's power centres have traditionally denied women equitable access to education, health, and nourishment. Nonetheless, women have traditionally carried the greater load in the family, from financial management to resource procurement for the entire family, and from relationship management to 'honour-keeping.' The continued occurrence of honour killings, the issuing of deplorable patriarchal diktats by khap panchayats that place a lot of Victorian-era restrictions on women, and other incidents show that our society is slanted towards placing unjust and unjustifiable demands on women, even when stripping them of the bare minimum rights, show that our society is slanted towards placing unjust and unjustifiable demands on women. This is a major power imbalance that has to be handled immediately, but policymakers tend to overlook it. When it comes to the power equations that exist in our culture, tribals have fared no better. The tribals are marginalised group in society. They are subjected to a wide range of exclusionary and discriminatory practises. An examination of independent India's history reveals that tribal people make up the lion's share of the population displaced as a result of different so-called large-scale development efforts. Traditional concepts of development lacked the essential element of sustainability, and hence harmed the interests of the politically and economically weakest portion of society, the tribals. As a result, tribal women in India suffer from both of these disadvantages. From the standpoint of the welfare state, it is unavoidable that every single person participate in the nation's progress rather than simply be a passive recipient of various trickle-down methods. Any attempt to comprehend and improve the situation of tribal women must begin with an examination of the current institutions that aid tribal women's situation. Existing literature on the subject can always serve as a springboard for such initiatives. munotes.in

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Rural Political Action,
Tribal Struggles 13.2.3 Problems faced by Tribal Women: Even after 70 years of independence the tribals in India especially women face various problems in different aspects of their lives. Tribal women face different set of problems ranging from education, health to civil and social rights. A. Social: 1. Most of the tribal communities are patrilinear society, where women are subjugated to men. Therefore, they face different problems related to descent, inheritance, succession, marriage, divorce etc. 2. Their role in decision making is either absent or very limited due to which they are exploited. Different social taboos make their life vulnerable. 3. Low literacy and poor health: Our society's social fabric is not conducive to the long-term growth of society's weaker members, such as tribals in this case. Discrimination against women begins as early as childhood. Girls do not have access to adequate educational opportunities. The term education has the most frequency, which is significant. Lack of basic education, healthcare facilities, and awareness about their rights and govt. programs to assist them Low literacy and poor health and keep them backward. Lack of education leads to their social and physical exploitation. For eg: Mass Tubectomy in Chhattisgarh state led to death of several tribal women. Health standards of tribal women are below the national average. Maternal mortality is high among them because of lack of institutional delivery and unawareness of government schemes. 4. Displacement due to developmental activities harms women more than men. More than 70% displacement for development activity involves tribal. Poor Rehabilitation policy makes them distressed and vulnerable. 5. Witch branding and lynching- this is the most serious crime perpetrated against tribal women, who are frequently branded witches by community members (out of superstition, religious belief and patriarchal mindset) and hacked to violence and death. 6. Polygamy – though women in mainstream society have been largely protected from this menace, many of their tribal counterpart continue to face this problem out of cultural and religious sanctions. 7. Tribal women have virtually no role to play in social and political spheres- they are poorly represented in political and civil spheres. 8. Land rights are not recognized much- they enjoy little rights over immovable property, with some exceptions in matrilineal societies. 9. Racial Discrimination by others at various places. For Eg: NE peoples were being racially discriminated. munotes.in

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124 B. Economic: 1. while in tribal societies women generally participate equally with men in labour like agriculture, collection of forest produce etc .They suffer from, unequal wages, exploitation at work place, lesser economic choices and freedom. Unlike other women groups like rural farmer women and other they do not have avenues to set SHGs. 2. Even land alienation and deforestation affect tribal women more. 3. The job environment is also hostile to tribal women's efforts to have their rights recognized and given by society. Gainful employment that leads to societal advancement can only be attained through an inclusive education system based on culturally sensitive policies. Forcing the tribals to attend a colonial-style education system may backfire. C. Political: 1. Participation of women in their day-to-day political affairs is very low as most of the communities are headed by males. They are unawareness about their social and political rights due to which they are unable to understand the legal/social system of mainland India. At the state and national level too the participation of tribal women is not substantial. 13.2.4 Measures taken by the government: 1. Many states have passed anti witch legislations and proposed stringent punishment, but witch hunting continues unabated. 2. Government has reserved 33% seats for women in civic bodies. This applies even to tribal women. But as we have seen in case of NAGA women, that these rights are seldom recognized. Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana helps tribal women in undertaking any income generation activity. 3. The constitution provides various safeguards to the tribals like special provisions for the administration of Tribal areas, formation of tribal advisory council. 4. As per the Article 46 (promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs, and STs, Art 330,332,335 for various reservations in education, politics and jobs government has enacted various laws to implement them. 5. Central govt. along with state govt. provide particular services for the upliftment of tribal women under various programs for free education, health care facilities, Ashram schools, scholarship, hostels etc. 6. The different schemes run by govt. includes: MSPs for minor forest produce, vocational training institutes, Scheme of Strengthening education among ST Girls in a low literacy Districts etc. munotes.in

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Rural Political Action,
Tribal Struggles Although the government's initiatives have aided indigenous women's empowerment, much more has to be done. For starters, more emphasis should be placed on their basic education, awareness of their rights, and more political participation. REFERENCES https://www.insightsonindia.com/2017/08/10/4-discuss-problems-faced-tribal-women-india-measures-taken-government-address-problems/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267640266_Problems_Encountered_by_Tribal_Women_A_Text_Mining_Analysis https://feminisminindia.com/2021/03/05/tribal-womens-movement-modern-india/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0974354520120202?journalCode=vodb (PDF) Problems Encountered by Tribal Women: A Text Mining Analysis. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267640266_Problems_Encountered_by_Tribal_Women_A_Text_Mining_Analysis https://www.insightsonindia.com/2017/08/10/4-discuss-problems-faced-tribal-women-india-measures-taken-government-address-problems/ munotes.in