The Hindu Business Line : She needs your help

No wonder the first image that comes to mind when we speak of rural women is the calendar image of a woman bent double, with a heavy load on her back, yet smiling.

Mina Swaminathan

Sixty years after Independence, it is worth reflecting on the thought that women are the backbone of the nation’s economy as a whole, especially in rural India. Studies have shown that women work nearly five hours more than men, averaging 14 hours and nine hours respectively. Time Use studies in six major States show that women overall enjoy only five minutes leisure a day, while for men the figure is two hours a day, and that women sleep two hours less than men.

Besides, agriculture is rapidly becoming “feminised”, with the continuing migration of men to towns and cities or into non-agricultural work, and women are doing 60-70 per cent of the agricultural work.

Yet, their contribution is little recognised. One reason may be that there is a tendency to recognise only paid work as work and, as many of these women in agriculture work on their family land and so do not get a “wage”, but are engaged in what is known as “unpaid family labour”, their work becomes “invisible.” This is true not only with regard to agriculture and horticulture, but with most of the traditional rural occupations, ranging from rearing of animals, to artisanal production and crafts like weaving, reflecting an earlier phase of the economy. As a result, Census data reflects only work which has a visible return, making the Labour Force Participating Rate for women as low as 32 per cent (Census 2001), contradicting both the findings of the Time Use studies and the evidence of one’s senses.

Drudgery trap

In addition, women in the hills and remote areas carry the full burden of so-called “domestic work”— so-called because it includes fulfilling basic needs like bringing water, fuel, and fodder, which are getting more and more time-consuming and difficult day by day, especially in remote areas, in addition to the “traditional” domestic work of food processing and cooking, cleaning, and the care of children, elderly, the sick and disabled and animals. Quite a list! And how different from the common urban middle-class concept of “housework”— cooking, cleaning and child care! And much of this work also involves carrying back-breaking loads. No wonder that the first image that comes to mind when we speak of rural women is the calendar image of a woman bent double, with a heavy load on her back, yet smiling.

Much of this work is monotonous, repetitive and physically tiresome — in other words drudgery Here is a major area where women’s liberation — liberation from drudgery — is needed, not only to give women much needed rest, relief from fatigue and pain, leisure, and freedom from poor health and disease, but also to release their energy and creative and productive potential.

Where are the practical technologies, adapted to Indian conditions, which can reduce this unnecessary drudgery and burdensome labour? It is interesting to note that in the past most productive technologies have addressed the needs of men first, and women have had to adapt themselves. But the great 20th-century improvements in household technology like refrigerators, freezers, gas and electric stoves, grinders and mixers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and many more, which are widely used now by the urban middle and upper classes, have not been adapted into affordable and easily available forms for the rural masses. Further, some of these are environmentally unsafe and non-sustainable, as the West is now discovering.

Calling all innovators…

Here is a challenge to our science and technology institutions — to develop low-cost, appropriate technology to specifically address the issue of reduction of drudgery and burdensome labour in the so-called “domestic” domain, based on local resources, and combining traditional skills with environmental and health concerns. Is this not as inspiring a vision or as exciting a task as developing rockets to go to the stars or instruments to kill other human beings? A few innovative institutions in the country are already developing such technologies — now it needs to be taken up in the mainstream, sponsored by the Government and carried with the help of media to the countryside, especially the most needy and remote areas.

The second area relates to liberating women farmers from their constraints and releasing their productive potential for agriculture, in the light of its feminisation. For, in spite of women’s long hours of back-breaking work, and their traditional knowledge and skills, the productivity of women farmers is low. There may be several reasons for this state of affairs. For one, extension services do not focus on reaching women farmers, though things have improved over the last 30 years. Also, women farmers, with their heavy workload, may have little time to attend meetings and workshops. But undoubtedly, one of the most significant reason is women’s lack of resources to access the necessary inputs even if they have the knowledge and skills. This is because most women do not own assets like land or houses in their own names, to put forward as collateral for loans. In the absence or lack of cooperation of their menfolk, it would become difficult or impossible for women to get credit from banks, which is the key to obtaining resources. Women-headed rural families are the worst affected.

Gender-just land reforms

A major step forward to empower women in this area would be joint pattas for both agricultural land and houses. Many State governments have already passed legislation to make this possible, but the progress in most States is minimal or slow because of general ignorance about laws, unwillingness to move away from traditional practices, burdensome and time-consuming procedures, and corruption. But a Government that is serious about achieving it can break many of these constraints. One way would be to offer incentives to men who convert their agricultural holdings and/or houses to joint ownership. The Delhi State Government, for example, a few years ago started providing tax relief for conversion of urban properties to joint ownership, with still higher relief for conversion wholly in the women’s name. It is reported that the results are very encouraging. Similarly, in the 1980s, the Mahila Aghadi in Maharashtra appealed to male farmers to register their land in the names of their wives, in order to honour the “Lakshmi” in their own homes. The appeal was successful in persuading a large number of men to do so.

Any such scheme would have to be preceded and supported by a massive campaign, with the help of media, as well as women’s group’s, people’s and farmers’ movements, scientific bodies, educational institutions and above all, the political party or coalitions in power, to educate both men and women about the need and benefit from such a step, since it is likely to be opposed by several groups in a conservative society. The expected boost in agricultural and horticultural production should be stressed, since releasing women from their present status as bonded labour on their own farms, and giving them the opportunity to access resources would unlock their energies and lead to revolutionary progress in development.

These are the two pillars on which women’s liberation in the countryside can stand — appropriate technology on the one hand, and gender-just land reforms on the other, both of which will lead to increased agricultural production as well as all-round economic and social development. Which State Government will take the lead, and be the first to achieve such liberation and its benefits to society? Amartya Sen defines development as providing each person with access to “capability, assets and opportunity”. Providing women with opportunity by reducing time and energy spent in drudgery, and offering them dignity through ownership of the land on which they toil may be the path to development for all.

More Stories on : Rural Development | Gender

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