women in pp devaki jain

8/10/2019 Women in PP Devaki Jain

1/7

To Be or Not to Be: Problems in Locating Women in Public PolicyAuthor(s): Devaki JainSource: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 8 (Feb. 24 - Mar. 2, 2007), pp. 691-696Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419285.

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2/7

o e

r

o t

t e

Problems n

ocat ing

o m e n

n

P u b l i c

P o l i c y

This

paper

discusses

some

of

the

problems

women

face

in

gendering public

policy.

Thepaper elaborates on how women's collective identitycan be forceful

politically

when

backed

by knowledge

and

gives examples

of

this

from

Karnataka.

New

developments

n

decentralisation

of

governance

have

opened

possibilities

for

women's

agency

at the

local level.

Paradoxically,

developments

at

the

global

level have

the

possibility of undermining

his

process.

The

author

argues

that

we

can

only

thereforeconfront

this not

by

integrating

into the

existing

developmentparadigm

and

attempting

small

changes

at the

local

level but

by evolving

a

different

development

paradigm

that

will

ensure

justice.for

the

majority of

the

poor

and women.

DEVAKI

JAIN

~W~Tomen face three problems in incorporating their con-

cerns in

public policy.

Firstly,

how can we

have

"woman" as

an exclusive

category given

the

hetero-

geneity among

women.

Women

belong

to

all

the

classes, castes,

religions, political

ideologies

and

cultures

in

society.

Thus

to

project

an

identity

of

"woman"

as

defined

by

feminine

experience

to

represent

a collective

point

of view

or

opinion

is a

challenge.

Yet acase

can andhas

been

made for

taking

"woman"as a

specific

category

(as

an

imaginary)

on

the

basis of the fact

that

across

these conventional

divides various forms

of

discrimination

converge.

Indeed

it

was this

recognition, namely,

the

experience

of

discrimination

against

women

across all social

groups,

that

led the

pioneers

on women's

rights,

the

founding

mothers of the

UN's conventions, to craft the Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms

of

Discrimination

Against

Women

(CEDAW).

The

universality

of

discrimination

against

women

gives

them an

identity

across differences. But discrimination

alone

cannot

overcome

the other

problems

of

gendering

mentioned

below

[Morrisson

and

Jutting

2005].

The second

question

arises from

the

flawed nature of

inherited

knowledge.

Women

studies

have

demonstrated

how

knowledge

of

society

and

knowledge

about women are

constructed

by

patriarchal

biases

-

that all

knowledge

is

gendered

[Jain

2004,

1986].

A

very

typical example

relates to women's

work.

What

kind

of

work is called

work,

how work is

valued,

the

measures

used

to determine

the value

of their

work

are all

determined

by

the

perception

of

women's

work

by

society,

official

agencies

and men. As a

result,

women's work is

undercounted,

underes-

timated and

often

is invisible.

There

are dichotomies such as

public

and

private space

[Jain 2000]

and hierarchies

[Jain

2001]

embedded

in

language

and

practice.

For

example,

the

large

space

occupied

by

the

majority

of

women

workers is

called

"informal",

mplying

its

secondary

status

to

the

so called

formal

sector. The

non-monetised

sector is

either accorded

a

lower value

or no value

compared

to the

monetised

[Goldschmidt-Clermont

1981]

-

an

approach

totally

invalid for

a

largely

subsistence

economy

where the

non-monetised sector is substantial. Thus if

a

policy

arises out of

such

inherited

"flawed"

knowledge,

women

advocates would

not

want to

participate

in

it.

They

would not

like toengendert.Theywould ike to deconstructt orchallenge

it or

reject

it.

Integration

as Surrender

Thus

ntegrating

nto an

existing

framework as

problems.

f

the

formulation

f

public

policy

thatarises out of the

accepted

theories

and frameworks nd out of

given

dataand

analysis

s

unacceptable

o,

say,

a

group,

ike

women,

or dalits

Guru

002],

then their

ntegrating

nto

that

set-up, sitting

at committees

or

negotiating

ables

s

surrender.nsofar s

we

start roma

premise

that

s

inaccurate nd

flawed,

it can leadto undesirable esults.

Butthis

stayingaway

also

has ts

negative

ffects,

i

e,

exclusion.

This is one of the dilemmas. n the languageof the feminists

this s

often

posed

as:"Do

we wanta

piece

of

the

poisoned

ake?"

[Jain

1999]

or another

way

of

raising

the

same

question,

"Do

we want

to

swim in the

polluted

stream?".Hence

ideas

like

integrating,gendering, mainstreaming,

used now

in

current

discussions

or inclusionof

women

n

policy-making

fforts,

do

not

achieve desiredresults.

The third

problem

arises out of women's

unhappiness

ver

constructing

boxes",

o contain

phenomena

within trictbound-

aries.

To

women,

such

boundaries re

invalid

especially

where

boundariesare fluid.

They

do

not

easily

accept

attempts

at

imputing

a false

identity

and

deriving

udgments

on thatbasis.

Ifone defines he

boundary

f

identity

as

women's

ways

of

doing

things

t is

rejected

s "essentialism".f one

suggests

hat

wage

work or women

empowers

hem, t is called"instrumentalism".

There

s a

tendency

amongst

he women

advocates hemselves

to

question

every

notion

or

concept

which

attempts

an

arrival

at a

boundary

or

identity fixing.

I

call

this

the

nethi nethi

syndrome,

borrowing

rom

the

Upanishads.

t is definition

by

negation.

But

such

an overcritical

iewing

of

identity

hat

negates

any

bounding mpedes

the

participation

f

women

in

policy

as

a

politicalpresence

drawn

rom a collective

identity.

An

identity

tag

(based

on

some

markings, odily

or

through

he

experience

of

subordination nd

exclusion),

s

crucial

for

claimingrights

and

special

attention

Jain

002].

Sucha clear

dentity

ag,

which

Economic

and

Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007

691

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3/7

is

more

easily

available

o,

say,

dalits,

or to

blacks

n

Africa

or

in white

nations,

s

difficult

to

forge

for the woman

identity

due to her

presence

n all these other

categories

with all

their

separate

olitics.

Gendering ublic

policy

is

intimately

elated

to

our answers

o

these

questions.

In

Women,

Development,

and

the

UN

-

A

Sixty-Year

Quest

for

Equality

and

Justice,

[Jain 2005b]

I

have reviewed

the

historical

truggle

f women o be

understood nd ncludedand

given pace

andcitizenhood n an

equal

basis n

the

nternational

arena

f

justice.

found

hat

whenever

womendid achieve

some

"success"

y breaking

hrough

he

male bastionsof

knowledge

and

power,

t was

through trategising

n collective

identity

as

woman,

s well

as

by

inclusionof even

one woman

n

a

drafting

committee. call this

strategising

pace

a

"place

of one's

own"

[Woolf1977]

or "the

women's

tent".l

While

the

place

of

one's

own is

needed

to

develop

self-confidence,

o

face the

bigger

world,

t

also

made

he"outside"eethe"tent" s

a

separatentity.

This

perception erpetuates

he

women for

women

by

women

to women

yndrome, syndrome

which s

excluding

womennot

only

rom

ecasting

nd

reordering

evelopment,

utalso

denying

the

course

of

development

o

reflect the lived

experience

of

women.

Policy

ssuesare

not

only

about

women's ssues.Women

needasayin all issues aspartnersnthedevelopmentf society.

Thus he

place

of one's own can be a

powerhouse

r a

ghetto,

or

both.

An

Organised

Voice

The

60-year

eview

referredo above

does

point

o some

useful

directions

or

women's

participation

n

social

change.

First,

here

is

value and

usefulness in

bonding

across

differenceson the

identity

of

woman,

and

strategising

n

meaningfulways

for

inclusion n

public

affairs.Hencean

organised

oice

represented

by

the

women's tent is a

crucialbrick in

this

effort.

Such an

inclusion

s

necessary,

or

nstance,

f

we

have ostem

militarisation.

Thenwomen'stentcan also be a peacetent.

Secondly

we

need

knowledge

hat

delineates oncealed

details

regarding

ifferences

within

householdsand

families,

between

the

sexes,

and

n the

various

processes

of

reproduction,

roduc-

tion,

xchange.

We

may

call this

mapping

hesocial

and

conomic

location

of women n

the

above

landscapes.Knowing

can be

a

first

step.

Thirdlypower

can

be

claimed

through

ome

semblance

of

a

collective

dentity,

USP

or

flag.

Therehas

been

much

discussion

on

this

issue

[Longino

1993]

of

building

a

maintainable

nity,

a united

stand. This

continues to

be a

quest.

However,

t

is

suggested

here that

t is

increasingly

being argued

hat

partici-

pation

n

leadership,

n

formal

politics,2

an

provide

he

turning

point.Bonding

across

differenceon the

identity

of

woman,

and

strategising

or

inclusion as a

collective voice can

redressall

aspects

of

gender

derived

discrimination,

whether

t

is

the de-

meaning

gaze,

the

mindset;

the

stereotypicalperceptions

of

women's olesand

capabilities,

r

the

embedded

iscriminatory

practices

all these

are inkedelements

of

gender

elations.

The

recent

conference

n

New York

called

Beijing

+103

revealed

again

he

continuing

isjunction

etween he

reality

n

the

ground

and hesenseof

progress

reated

by

the

"visibility"

Jain

2005a]

level

achieved

by

gendered

analysis.

This

disjunction

anbe seen n two

opposite

rajectories

elating

to women

nd

development.

hefirst

rajectory

s

the

emergence

of a

strongpolitical

presence

n the

nationaland

international

scene

of the

women's movement.

There is

now

a

widespread

consciousness of the

necessity

of

engaging

in

gendered

analysis

that

recognises

both difference and

inequality

and their

impli-

cations for

development

design.

The other

trajectory

reveals

that

the

situation on the

ground

for

many

women,

especially

those

living

in

poverty

and

in

conflict-ridden

situations,

seems

to

have

worsened,

despite

the

fact

that

it

has been

addressed

specifically

by

both

the state and

development

thought.

The

question

that arises then

is, why

does

this

disjunction

exist

after

decades of

what

appears

to

be a

vibrant and

ostensibly

effective

partnership

between

policy-makers

and the

women's

movement? How much of

the

oppositional trajectories

can

be

attributed o the external

atmospherics

of

global power politics

and

its

attendant conomics? How much can be

attributed

o

other

factors,

such as the

style

of

functioning

and

priorities

of the

women's

movement

or

its

experience

of the

gendered

institutional

architecture of

governance?

Interventions

in

Policy

Two

examples

from

Karnataka of

gendering policy

will be

discussed to

illustrate hese

problems

-

the

problem

of differences

between women need not be a hindrance; one can address the

common

experience

of

discrimination and

inequality

by

women

as a

group.

We can build

adequate

knowledge

of the

social

embeddedness of

gender

roles,

then intervene in

policy

by study-

ing

the

impact

of

gender

insensitive

formulations and

identifying

areas

where interventions

are

possible.

The first

is

drawn from an

attempt

made in

Karnataka to

integrate

women's interest into

a state

five-year

plan

(1983).4

Before

we

discuss the actual

study

it is

pertinent

to recall the

tremendous advances made in

understanding

women's work.

Without this

background

knowledge

one

would

not

have been

able

to evaluate

any

policy

or

programme.

The

field

of

women's work

became one

of

the

major

research

domains both nationally and internationally. It was one of the

most

creative

pursuits, influencing

international

organisations

like

the ILO. This

focus

helped

to underline

the

ground

realities

in the

developing

countries.

The women's

movement then

began

to

address the

core issue of

survival

security

for

the

principal

defender

of the

family,

namely

the

woman. This

generated

discussion

on issues such as

measurement

and

nclusion

of

invisible

unpaid

work,

rural women's

work,

discrimination in

wages, job

security

and

revaluing

what was called

the "informal"

sector.

This

new

research about

women

as

workers

entered the

development

discourse.

They

looked at

practices

of

national data

collecting agencies

that

list

women

engaged

in

domestic

work

as

unemployed,

concern

and

analysis

about

unequal wages,

discrimination

against

women in

the

workplace,

women's double

burden of work for

wages

and

work

at

home,

the role that the

tasks

women

perform

to

make

possible

other

members' involve-

ment in

marketable

production

or

service,

and the absence of

social

security

for women

who

perform

unpaid

labour at home.

From

a more

narrow and

focused

approach

on

women's status

vis-a-vis

men,

this

research

broadened the

scope

of

investigation

to look

at the broader

implications

of

global

and national

eco-

nomic,

political,

andsocial

changes

and

their

impact

on women's

lives in

their

entirety.

The

study

was initiated in

the

1980s

by

the

Institute

of

Social

Studies

Trust

(ISST)

partly

because of the

impetus

of the

overall

"ideology"

hatwas

developed

n

international

ora,

of

bringing

692

Economicand

Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007



4/7

women nto

development;

nd

partly

due o our

nterest

n

finding

ways

to enable women to move out of

poverty.

It shouldbe

recalled hat t

was

around

he

1970s

and 1980sthat women's

studiesand

women's

advocacy

were

emerging

as

major

players

in

the

struggle

orwomen's

quality.

Therewas

now

a

recognition

thatthe

"household"

eeded

o

be broken

open

-

as it was not

as

believed,

a

"benign"

helter or

all its inhabitants.5

Disparate Impacts

Individuals

withinhouseholds

had

highly disparate

ocations

in

power,

apart

rom

inequalities

n

occupations,

healthand

education.

This

disparity mongst

ndividuals eemed

to be the

more

enlarged

he lower one

went down

in

the asset/income

scale.

Inspiredby

the

international

fforts at

documenting

he

disparate

mpact

of

development

etween

men and

women,

he

study

focused on

examining

the reach

of

the

anti-poverty

programmes

n women.

What

emerged

was that he household

was

not

benign

and

definitely

nota level

playing

ield

for men

and

women.

n

he

poor

households

womenhada different ource

of

income rom

men.The

study

ame

up

with

he

dea hatwomen

within

poverty

households hould be

independently

dentified

andreached utto with

anti-poverty rogrammes

uchas IRDP.

We

found

setting

a

target

or women

within such

programmes

was flawed on

many

counts,

not least

by

inappropriate

evel-

opment

offers and false

reportingby

functionaries.

This

was further orroborated

uring

he

process

of

preparing

a

report

or the

Karnataka

tate

Planning

Board

called

District

Level

Planning

for

Social

Development.6

For the

report

district

level studieswerecommissioned

one from

a

backward

istrict,

Gulbarga,

nd one

advanced,

DakshinaKannada.

Achieving

a

target

f

covering

ouples

of

reproductive ge

with

contraceptive

services was irrelevant

n

Dakshina

Kannada

a

district

on

Kamataka's est

coast,

known

for advancement

n

social

indi-

cators)

wherethe

fertility

rate had

already

reached

wo births

per woman in the reproductive ge group (the replacement

level

fertility),

nd

n some

villages

less than

wo,

but the fund

allocated o the district

ontinued o be allocated

only

for that

purpose,

ndwhen ts irrelevance

was

brought

ut

nothing

ould

be doneto shiftthe funds

rom

contraception

o moreadvanced

healthcare.7

Planned

evelopment

ppeared,

s it does

even

now,

as blind

rubber

tamping

f

schemes.

An even

more

significant

esson

was that the

methodology eing

used

did not

reach

poor

men

either.The

process

was

completely

lawed

for men and women

amongst

he

poor

or

deprived.

It

transpires

hat the

method

adopted

or

stimulating

evelopment

was

critical,

even

super-

seded he ask f

gendering

r

ntegrating

omen

nto

development.

The second s a

project

undertakenn

Karnataka

y

the World

Bank8 o

improve

he

quality

of the

cocoons

in

the sericulture

industry.

The

project

did

not

use the available

knowledge

about

women's work.

Sericulturewas one of

the

dominant

and-based ctivities

n

Karnataka

nd

the

perception

f

the

policy

designers

was that

womenwere not

an

issue in this

project.

t was

perceived

hat

womenwere

basically

using

thrown

away

cocoons which had

holes in

them

o make

garlands.They

were

seen

as not

engaged

in the

basic

chain

of

production

nd hesaleof cocoons.

An

actual

investigation

hat

sought

to

breakdown tasksin the chain of

production

evealed that while

mulberry

was

grown

by

the

farmers,

he

men,

t

was

womenwho not

only picked

he leaves

but looked after he

trays

n

which the silkworms

werenursed

or

nurtured.

The

silkworms are

usually kept

in

trays

called

"chandrikes"

n

shelves inside the home and have to be fed

mulberry

eaves

every

threehours

ust

like

a

child,

and

he offal

has to be removed s

frequently

o

that

hey

do not

get

diseased.

Women n

the

strong

ericulture reas

complained

hatnot

only

were theirhouses

completely

cramped

with

silkworms,

eaving

hardly

nyplace

or he

kitchen

rtheir

hildren,

ut he

silkworm

wasmore

demanding

han

hechildas

t

hada

compulsive

emand

for leaves

every

threehours.

Thus

they

were

awake

most of the

night

andmostof themhad hronic llnessesdue o the

suffocating

atmosphere

n the hut and the

unremitting

abourof cocoon

rearing.

Despite

heir

being

hemain

rearers

f

worms,

he

women

were

not at

all

brought

nto the

project.

They

were not

given

training

on better

rearing,

on what were the

special

characteristics f

feeding

andhealth or the new

worms hat

were

ntroduced,

hey

did not

receive nformation bout he

new

fodder;

hey

were

not

shown how to

upgrade

he

quality

of the

yar they spent

time

on.

Thus

women'scontributiono the

process

of silk

manufacture

was

unrecognised,

ith

consequences

or

policy.

It

appears

hat

the

old

Ester

Boserup9 tory

of the

1970s where she bemoans

thenon-recognitionf womenas farmersontinuesJain 003a].

Classical

Invisibility

As a resultof

lobbying

both n

Washington

nd

n

Karnataka

with the

government,

task

force on

sericulturewas

set

up

by

the

government

f Karnataka ith the

principal ecretary, gri-

culture,

as

its chair.All the

relevant

agencies

were

around he

tableand he

meeting

was

to

show that

hereneedsto

be

greater

inclusion

of

women

as

workers

n

the sericulture

evelopment

programmes.

twas

ound

hat his

classical

nvisibility

f

women

workers,

specially

when he

productive

work s within

he

home,

had

deprived

hemof

beingengaged

n the

training

or

mproved

rearingpracticesas well as marketing.

Therewas no hostel accommodation

or women at the Seri-

cultureTraining

nstitute,

state

overnment

nstitution.

proposal

was made

by

the

task

force

to build

a

women's

hostel

using

another

overnment

cheme alled"Hostels or

working

women".

However,

he task force

neither ustained tself nor

did

it

make

for

any

transformationn the lives

and

concerns

of

women

n

the

sericulture

roject.

A

similar

experience

s recorded

of the

matching tudy

that

ISST took

up

with the 'tasar'10

ndustry

n

Maharashtra.

gain

women

were

major

workers,

ut

unrecognised,

nd

nothing

was

done.The

report

unded

by

the Swiss

development

orporation

triedto

change

his

perception

ut t had

no

impact.

The

studies

undertaken

y

ISST n various

parts

of Indiaand n

Karnataka

presented

nformation n women's

productive

oles,

and

argued

that he

projects

were

losing

out on success

by

not

recognising

this.

While this resulted n

gendered

analysis,

t

did not

change

the

project.

Some

new

opportunities

re

emerging

in

India,

and more

strongly

n

Karnataka.

hese

mayhelp

us

incorporate

he

essons

learntrom

history,

mentioned arlier

n

this

essay.

To

reiterate:

we

had

talkedof

(i)

the

usefulnessand value

of

bonding

cross

difference

n

the

dentity

f

woman,

nd

trategising

or

nclusion,

(ii)

theneed for

knowledge

about

women's

various

productive

andotherroles

and

heir

ocationwithin

he

household,

amilies

and

community,

iii)

power

laimed

hrough

collective

dentity.

Economic

and Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007

693



5/7

An

aspect

of

the

Kamataka

landscape

of

governance

and

development,

which offers some

niches,

some conduits for

affirming

these

views

is the

long-standing

and

politically

well

supported

decentralised

management

of

development,

especially

the

economic

and social

justice agendas.

For

example,

as far back as in

1994,

Karnataka' State

Planning

Board

(earlier

called Economic

Planning

Council

(EPC))

set

up

two

subgroups,

one

for district

level

planning

for

employment,

and the other for district level

planning

for

social

development.

The main

task

of the

subgroups

was

to

provide

effective social

and

economic

security

to the

poor

and

improve

the

quality

of

administering

these

services,

all at the

district

and

subdistrict

level

of

accountability. Interestingly,

in

2005,

the

Planning

Commission has set

up

an

expert

group

to

draw

up guidelines

for the

states on what

they

call

grassroot

planning

for

develop-

ment,

and

the thrust s to reduce if not

eliminate the state dictated

schemes,

the

pre-packageddevelopment

bundles that are handed

out,

and

leave

planning

to local

communities to

design

the use

of

untied

funds.

Consolidating

Multiple

Schemes

The subgroup working with secretaries to government of each

sector

and

some

CEOs,

or chief secretaries

of

districts as

they

were

called

at

the

time,

was able to

rationalise the 75 schemes

into 15

bundles,

and

suggested

that instead

of

having

15

schemes

coming

out of

15

departments

even these

could be bundled into

a social

development

service as one

sector,

and the

fund could

be used

for

"provisioning

of social

development

services

to

the

poor",

with the

functionaries

attached o the

service

coming

under

one

nomenclature called social

development

services

providers.

Thus

the

departmental

boundaries

would

be

liquidated,

and the

multiple

schemes wouldbe consolidated

without

osing

the overall

intention.

One of the

suggestions

made

by

the

subgroup,

that there

should

be social mapping of the state, to show variations in human

development

indices

between districts in order to

identify

gaps

in

performance

and to

spot

inter-district

variations,

was not

implemented.

However,

this

compliance

came

later.

During

1995-97

Karataka

developed

a human

development report

that

put together

district

evel

indicators and indices12 a first

in

state

level

human

development reports

in India.

In

neither of the

illustrations

from

Karnataka

given

above did

this

opportunity

for intervention

yield

a

clear

"tool"

to tell

us

what

to do and how to intervene.

However

there is

now,

as I

write

this

article,

an

opportunity

to

engage

with

political power

due

to the

clearer,

more firm

legally

and

politically

ordained

devolution

of economic

planning power

and

funds to

the

locally

elected

bodies

in

Karnataka.

Significant

changes

have been

brought

about in the

state in

the

fiscal

year

2005-06

(embodied

in

the

state

budget).

State

sector

schemes

pertaining

to

the

29

subjects

in

Schedule XI of

the

73rd amendment

have been

merged

in

the district sector

schemes

to be

implemented

by

the

panchayat

institutions. From

April

1,

2005

about Rs

3,500

crore have

been thus devolved to

panchayat

institutions

at

grama,

taluka and zilla levels. The

departments

have

been asked

to

amend and

issue afresh all

government

orders,

notifications, circulars,

etc,

in

accordance

with

these

charges.

Most

importantly

some of

the

negative

features

in

adminis-

tration

have also

beenremoved.

Departments

redirectednot

to establish

parallel

bodies

which were

scuttling

devolution

intended

by

the

73rd amendment.

Existingparallel

bodies

are

tobe now

reconstitutednder he

chairmanship

f

the

adhyaksha'

of

the zilla

parishad.

Besides,

World Bank or

externalaided

projects

are to be

implemented hrough

PRIs

only.

Right

from the

beginning,

when the

Ramakrishna

Hegde

government

n

Karataka,

in

collaborationwith

AbdulNazeer

Saab,

he

minister or rural

development, rought

n

legislation

to set

up

elected local

councils,

the

legislation

also

included

reservation

or women.

Women

elepted

o

councils

have been

invited o

meetings

held

by

women's

organisations

nd

attempts

are

made

o

give

thema

collective

dentity

nd

give

thema

sense

of

knowledge

ased onfidence.As the

panchayati

aj

movement

grew

and

broadenedwith the introduction

f the

73rd and 74th

amendments

by

the then

prime

minister

Rajiv

Gandhi,

the

Singamma

reenivasan

SS)

Foundation,

or

example,

got

even

more

deeply

engaged

n

strengthening

hose

women

who had

been

elected to

serve on

these councils.

Uniting

across

Party

Lines

One of

the

first initiatives

hat

they

took was

to

bring

them

under neorganisation,amely"anassociation felectedwomen

representatives".

hile this

may

look

baffling

since

the

repre-

sentatives

ome fromdifferent

arties,

n

Kamatakat was found

that

women

were

willing

to

join

an

associationof

themselves

across

party

ines.

They

seemed o need that

collective

strength

in order o

generate

he self-confidence

o

bring

heir

voice

into

the

meetings.

The

women's collectives and

collectivities

also

have an

additional

eature,

namely, hey

are

united

across

class,

where

poor

and

non-poor

women

engage

n issues

which

mpact

women

ike

domestic

violence,

or

water,

or

reproductive

ealth,

especially

n

urbanslums

and rural

areas.

Using

hecollectives

specially

t

he

evel

of

grama

anchayats,

the oundation

hen

built hreeother

programmes

n

these

groups.

The foundation hen initiated similarprojects n threeother

southern

tates, Kerala,

AndhraPradesh

and

Tamil

Nadu,

and

is

now

coordinating

network

of

agencies

n

these

four

states,

all

of

whichare

engaged

n

creating

ollectivitiesof

theseelected

womenand

enabling

hem o

strengthen

heir

echnical kills as

well as their

politicalpresence

in

the local

self-government

institutions.

Rather

han

"train"hem

they

have beenformed

nto

groups

and these

groupsengage

with

themselves

to

create their own

space,

debate

among

hemselves nddevise

programmes

nstead

of

being

in

mixed

councils. Women's

capability

or

collective

actionand

heir

apability

o form

collectivities

are

ransforming

manyprogrammes,

rocesses

and

outcomes.

Currently,many

women's

organisations

re

partnering

with

state

governments

o

strengthen

he

capability

f

women

elected

to

these ocal

self-government

nstitutions

o

participate

n if not

lead

development

n

theirareas.For

example,

he SS

Foundation

has madea

novel

endeavour o

enable

elected

women

represen-

tatives

(EWRs)

o construct

budgets,

such that

the

interest

of

women and

other

subordinated

roups

s

safeguarded.

t is

not

just

a

programme

o raise

awareness bout

budgets

mongst

ocal

women

politicians

but

to

enable

women to direct

he

economy

from

a

space

available

o

them.

This

helps

them

to

understand,

participate

nd

transformocal

budgets.

The

design

of the

effective

participation

as

been

enabled

by

collaboration

ith

Janaagraha,

n urban

NGOwhich

uses three

694

Economicand

Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007



6/7

cornered takeholders'

meetings,namely

he civil servant

who

is the

commissioner

f the

municipality,

he

ward ommittee nd

the elected

corporators,

o have a

transparent

rocess

of

under-

standing

and

influencing

revenuecollection and

expenditures

and

monitoring

utcomes.This methodhas been

tried

in

two

municipalities

Mysore

and

Tumkur.

The

municipalities

ave

changed

heir

budget

llocations

s a resultof

collective

obbying

by

the elected

women

corporators

cross

party

ines. Similar

experience

has

been

found n two other

pockets

of

Karnataka

-

Bijapur

and

Bellary.

Another

project

hat

they

were

exposed

to was to use their

kitchen

gardens

or

growing

medicinal

plants.

This has now

caught

he

magination

f

the

grama anchayats

ndat least

our

districts

will

be

engaged

n a movement or

environment

ecurity,

health

security

and livelihood

security hrough

he

growing

of

medicinal

plants.

The

outcomeof these exercises

is

that

in

the

Mysore City

Corporation,

omen's ssues were not

only

included,

but allo-

cations

o certainwomen's chemeswere

ncreased

n the

budget

for

2005-06.

Dramatic

Shifts

Today,

the

situationand character

f

the

various actors in

governance

have shifted

quite dramatically

nd in

significant

ways.

The state s

receding

rom ts earlier

ole

as

being respon-

sible

to the

citizens or their

well-being,

specially

provisioning

of

basic

securities.Civil

society

including

he

women's move-

ment s

becoming tronger

n

the

one

hand

but

also

paradoxically

more

fragmented.

he international

onfiguration

f

power

is

changing,

with

the UN's influence

eceding

and he otherworld

organisations

ike theWorldBankand other

multilateralsike

the

WTO

occupying

entre

tage.

Themarket

conomy, ignified

by

the

corporates,

s

playing

a

larger

ole in

nationaland

inter-

national

overnance

han

before,

ncluding

he

provisioning

f

publicgoods.There s also areturnoconservative olitics,and

various

orms of

fundamentalism,

cross the

globe.

Simultaneously

here

are

the

usual

paradoxes

n

women's

domain.There is an

increase

n

the

political

participation

f

women n

governance,

specially

at the

local level.

There

s an

increase

n the

capabilities

nd

power

of the

women's

movement,

in

knowledge

nd

organisational

apacities

n

the

nformal

conomy

as

workers

nd traders

nd to contest

violence

against

women.

There

is a

shift in the nature of

employment

opportunities.

There s

increasing

absorption

of

female

labour

nto the

new

opportunities

or

earning

ncome

like

in

export

processing

and

simultaneously

decline

n

the

opportunities

ormen.Thisarises

because

of

the

nature

f

the

growth

poles

and the

nature f the

organisation

f

production

nd

trade.Women

are on the

move,

selling

either heirbodies

or

their

ime to

earn ncome

for

their

families.

The

UN

report

n

womenand

development

or

the

year

200413

hows how

the

largest

group

or

proportion

f

workers

uncovered

y any protection

rewomen and

women

migrants.

The

demand

or

women

as workers n the

flesh tradehas made

the

flow

of

womenacrossborders

ump by

leaps

and bounds.

The

valueof the flesh

trade

s now

greater

han he value of the

trade n

narcotics.

At the

very

beginning,

women's

quest

was for

equality

or

for

overpowering,

f not

eradicating,

nequality.

The

strategy

of

levelling

the

playing

ield

by bringing

n

laws,

introducing

he

power

of

rights,

and

findingways

to move

womenout

of

what

looked

ike

disadvantaged ositions

seemed

all

right

or several

decades.But it was

clearly

not

enough.

There

was

deep,

wide-

spread, nimaginable,

nd

nvisiblediscrimination. he

women's

movement

esponded

o

this

by

making nequality

visible. But

that

did

not

take care of the

ignorance

and

non-recognition

f

women's value

as

citizens,

workersand

providers.

Their con-

tribution

o

society

is

equal

to if

not even richer

n value

than

men's.

So the

movement

enerated

ew

knowledge

o show the

role

of women n

development again

withthe

expectation

hat

revealing

ruth

would lead

to

women's

equality

with men. But

that

strategy

till

disabled

hem

because

they

had no

voice in

the

determination

f

their ives

and

their

road

maps.

Thus,

the

notionof

equal

participation,

f

equalpower,

of

leadership

was

worked

nto

the notions of

ways

to redress

nequality.

Old Method

Continues

Whatwe

have seen is that

while

knowledge

has

increased nd

been

funnelled

nto the

policy

spaces,

the

advice of

womenhas

not been

taken,

their

eadership

n

directingpublic

policy

has

not

happened,

o

a

corresponding

xtent.

The

old

method of

"integrating"

hrough

women

only packages,

mainly

social

development ackageschemes for women,continues.

The

revelatory

spect

of this

story

can

be

summarisedn the

importance

f

space

not

only

in

funds

but

at

the

level of the

intellect,

or

the

excluded

o

claim their

rights.

Decentralisation

with

a

quota

of

one-third eats for

women has

opened

a

new

gateway

n

India nd

especially

n

Karnataka.

ut t

is

not

enough.

The first

need is to

reconsider he

paradigm

f

development

itself,

he

dentificationf the

engines

of

growth.

nstead

f

seeing

the

poor

as a

target

group

who need

special

ladderswithin a

framework f

economic

development, nabling

hem o

become

economicand

political

agents

could tself

become

he

engine

of

growth.

Thus,

roma"trickle own" rsocial

safety

net

approach,

it

would be

useful to

look

at

what can be

called

the

"bubbling

up" heoryof growth.Thisalternativeheoryargues hatputting

incomes and

political

power

in

the hands of

the

poor

could

generate

he

demand nd

hevoicethat

woulddirect

development.

The

purchasing

ower

and the

choices

of

the

poor

could

direct

the

economy

to a

pro-poor

r

poverty

reducing

economy.

The

review

of

the

past

seems to

suggest

some

dramatic

eversal

of

the current

heoriesof where

the

engine

of

growth

ies if

the

interest

s in

poverty

eradication

Jain2003b].

Mahatma

Gandhi n

fact had

designed

such

a

theory

and a

proposal

or its

practice.

To

some extent it could

evenbe

said

that such a

theory

s

close

to,

though

not

the same

as,

Keynes'

theory

of

stimulating

n

economy by

generating

ffective de-

mand.Herethe further

detailing

s:

whose

effective demand?

Whose

purchasing ower?

Gandhi's

alisman,

is

test

or

action,

was this:

"Whenever

ou

are

n

doubt,

or whenthe

self

becomes

too muchwith

you,

apply

the

following

test:

recallthe

face of

the

poorest

and the

weakestman/woman

whom

you

may

have

seen and ask

yourself

f the

step

you contemplate

s

going

to

be of

any

use

to

him"

[Jain

1996].

A

major

ault ine that

runs

hrough

narrations f

history

and

their

knowledge

base,

whether

t is

political,

economicor

social

history,

s

the

failure o take

note

of,

to understand

nd

respect

and

absorb,

women's

ideational and

intellectual

skills

and

outputs

n

the

area f

theoretical nd

analytical

nowledge.

While

some of the

values

emerging

rom

he

understanding

f

poverty,

inequality,

discrimination,

conflict

resolution,

deepening

Economicand

Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007695



7/7

participation,

method,

politics

that

this

interaction

or

partnership

generated

has

been

applied

or followed

up

on

be-

latedly,

recognition

of the

intellectual and

leadership

powers

of

women

has remained

in the

ghettos.

The

minds of

men

have

not

changed.

And for that

to

happen,

it

seems

that

it

is

necessary

to

recast

the

development

framework,

to come

out with a

treatise,

a

theoretically

stand-alone

development

model

which satisfies the

external

world

changes

and

yet

women's

quest.

The movement

did some

of this

twenty

years

ago,

at

Nairobi, through DAWN,

the

thirdworld network.14

But

another

such framework

s

needed

now

and

it

can be done

if women

put

their minds

together.

Women's

brilliant

struggles

need

to

be treated

as a

body

of

knowledge,

chiselled

into

theory,

into an intellectual

challenge

to what

"is",

i

e,

the

currently

dominant

ideas for

national and

international advancement.

The

importance

of an intellectual

theoretical construct

out of the

ground experience,

which can

claim

space

in

the

world of theoretical

discourse,

must

not

be

minimised.

A

new Das

Kapital

or

Wealth

of

Nations is the

only

bomb that

can

explode

the

patriarchal

mindset and exclusion

of

the real

agency

of

women in

public policy.

[13

Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 In

many

international onferences

women

organised

a

separate

"tent"

where

many

activities were carriedout with

an

autonomy

not available

in

the

general

conference schedules.

2 UN Economic and Social

Council

(2000):

'Assessment

of

the

Implementation

of the

System-wide

Medium-Term Plan for the

Advancementof Women

1996-2001';

Report

of the

Secretary-General,

Commissionon the Statusof

Women,

Forty-fourth

ession,

February

8-

March

2,

2000;

Report

of

the

Fourth

World Conference

on

Women,

held

inBeijingfromSeptember

4

to

15,1995;

including

heAgenda, heBeijing

Declaration nd the Platform

or

Action

(Extract)

n

The United

Nations

and

the Advancement

of

Women,

pp

649-735.

3 Commissionon the Statusof Women,Forty-NinthSession, New York,

February

28-March

11,

2005.

4

Integrating

Women's

Interests

into State Five-Year

Plan,

submitted

o

the

ministry

of social

welfare,

government

of India in

September

1984,

used in

an

article

by

K

S

Krishnaswamy

nd Shashi

Rajagopal,

Women

in

Employment:

Micro

Study

n

Karnataka',

ased

on

the

ISST

Bangalore

Report,

Jain and

Banerjee

(1985).

5 'The Household

Trap: Report

on

a Field

Survey

of

Female

Activity

Patterns',

pp

215-46,

Jain and

Banerjee

(1985);

Folbre

(1994).

6

DistrictLevel

Planning

or

Social

Development,

Devaki

Jain,

Chairperson

of

Subcommittee,

Karnataka tate

Planning

Board

(1994),

government

of

Karataka.

7

Report

from

Dakshina Kannada

by

Shalini

Rajaneesh,

IAS.

8 Assessment

of

Women's

Roles: The

KarnatakaSericulture

Development

Project,

SST, 1982,

Task Force

on

Sericulture,

or a WorldBank funded

project,government

of Karnataka.

9 Boserup 1999; oral communication:Maithreyi Krishnaraj's tudy of

Women n

Agriculture

a Millennium

Study

forthe

government

f

India,

which

she

hadtitled

Women

Farmers

ofIndia

on

publication

was

retitled

Women

n

Agriculture

by

the

publisher

n 2004

10

Interstate

Tasar

Project,

report

on a field

survey

in

Chandrapur

istrict

of

Maharashtra, SST,

1982.

11

Impact

of

SericulturePilot

Project

in

Karnataka:

An

Evaluation,

ISST,

1989.

12

Human

Development

n

Karnataka

999,

Planning

Department, overnment

of

Karnataka,

1999.

13

Department

f Economic

and

Social

Affairs,

DAW

(2004):

World

Survey

on the Role

of

Women in

Development

-

Women

and International

Migration,

UN,

New

York,

2005.

14

The

Bangalore

Report:

A

ProcessforNairobi

at

Development

Alternatives

with Women for

a

New

Era, ISST,

New

Delhi,

1984.

References

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Ester

(1999):

My

Professional

Life

and Publications

1929-1998,

Copenhagen

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Nancy

(1994):

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Pays

for

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of

Constraint,

Routledge,

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Egalitarian

Are the

Social

Sciences

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India?'

Economic and Political

Weekly,

Vol

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No

51,

December 14.

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in

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of

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of

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at Seoul International

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of

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the

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Empower,

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October

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(2000):

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Is

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The Case of the

EWRS',

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Delhi,

April

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Session

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f

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ultural

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nd Universal

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June 1.

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Gender,

Democracy

and

Development:

Is

Decentralisationa

Tool For

Local

Ownership

of

an Effective Political

Voice?',

Ferrara

University

and Modena

University, Italy,

May

20-22.

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(2003a):

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Knowledge

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as

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in

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Sustainability,

New

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UNFPA,

pp

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(2004):

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n

the

History

of

Ideas: The

Importance

of

Reconstructing

Knowledge',

National

Institute

or Advanced

Studies,

Indian Institute of

Science,

Bangalore,

February

6.

-

(2005a):

'Spaces

and

Hopes',

The

Hindu,

April

3.

-

(2005b):

Women,

Development,

nd the UN:

A

Sixty-YearQuestfor

Equality

and Justice, Indiana University Press, New York (website:

www.unhistory.org

or book can be ordered from IUP

by

email:

[email protected]).

Jain,

Devakiand Nirmala

Banerjee

(eds) (1985):

Tyrannyof

theHousehold

-

InvestigativeEssays

on Women's

Work,

or

the

Workshop

Women

n

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Shakti

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New Delhi.

Longino,

Helen E

(1993):

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Theory

and

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Morrisson,

C

and

J

P

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A New

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Better

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1065-81.

Woolf,

Virginia

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A

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of

One's

Own,

Granada,

riginallypublished

in

1929.

Back Volumes

Back

Volumes of Economic and Political

Weekly

from

1976

to

2006

are

available

in

unbound form.

Write to:

Circulation

Department,

Economic

and Political

Weekly

Hitkari

House,

284

Shahid

Bhagat

Singh

Road,

Mumbai

400 001.

Circulation

@

epw.org.in

696

Economicand Political

Weekly

February

4,

2007

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