Engendering Governance Institutions: State, Market and Civil Society

Engendering Governance Institutions

Engendering Governance Institutions State, Market and Civil Society

Edited by

Smita Mishra Panda

Copyright © Editor and Institute of Rural Management, Anand, 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2008 by SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B1/1-1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044, India www.sagepub.in SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320, USA SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP, United Kingdom SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Published by Vivek Mehra for SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, typeset in 9.5/12 ITC Stone Serif at InoSoft Systems, Noida, and printed at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Engendering governance institutions: state, market and civil society/ editor, Smita Mishra Panda. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Women in development—India. 2. Women—India—Economic conditions. 3. Women— India—Social conditions. I. Panda, Smita Mishra. HQ1240.5.I4E67

305.420954—dc22

ISBN: 978-0-7619-3608-4 (HB)

2008

2008006702

978-81-7829-771-2 (India-HB)

The SAGE T eam: Sugata Ghosh, Maneet Singh and Trinankur Banerjee Team:

Contents List of Tables and Figures

7

Preface

11

S ECTION I E NGENDERING GOVERNANCE: CONCEPTUALISA TION ONCEPTUALISATION 1.

Engendering Governance Institutions: An Introduction Smita Mishra Panda

15

2.

Gender Mainstreaming, Equity and Good Governance Kumud Sharma

40

S ECTION II S TATE, GENDER 3.

4.

AND

GOVERNANCE

Modernity with Democracy?: Gender and Governance in the People’s Planning Campaign, Keralam J. Devika

57

Role of Grassroots Women’s Networks in Engendering Governance: Case of Mahila Samakhya, Karnataka Sangeetha Purushothaman and Suchitra Vedanth

81

5.

Human Rights, Panchayats and Women Bidyut Mohanty

6.

City Consultation as an Approach to Gender Responsive Local Urban Governance: An Experience from UMP-Asia Girija Shrestha

7.

Redefining an Agenda for Governance: Gender and Policy Planning Meera Velayudhan

116

136 159

6

CONTENTS

S ECTION III M ARKET, GENDER

AND

GOVERNANCE

8.

Engendering Market Mechanisms Nirmala Banerjee

179

9.

Linking the Informal Sector with Mainstream Markets: Case of SEWA Self Employed Women’s Association

203

S ECTION IV CIVIL SOCIETY, GENDER

AND

GOVERNANCE

10.

Women’s Movement and Governance: Issues and Challenges Indu Agnihotri

11.

Engendering Governance: A Preliminary Enquiry into Formal and Informal Institutions Ratna M. Sudarshan

249

Engendering Cooperative Governance: Case of Women Dairy Cooperative Societies in Gujarat Smita Mishra Panda

265

12.

S ECTION V A SSESSMENT

OF

GENDER SENSITIVITY

IN

223

GOVERNANCE

13.

Gender Audits as an Input to Engender Governance Vibhuti Patel

14.

Engendering Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions: Insights from Karnataka N. Shantha Mohan

295

324

About the Editor and Contributors

353

Index

357

List of Tables and Figures TABLES 1.1 1.2 4.1

Women’s Representation in Management and Political Positions in South Asia

18

Existing Provision for Women at the Local and Parliamentary Levels in South Asia

32

Indicators of Improved and Engendered Governance

85

8.1

Shifts in the Structure of Agricultural Workforce in India

182

8.2

Distribution by Status of the Usually Employed: Principal + Subsidiary

183

8.3

Workforce Participation Rates Per 100 Persons: Usual Principal Status

183

8.4

Women’s Share in Total Manufacturing Employment

184

8.5

Unemployment Rates by Current Weekly and Current Daily Status: Percentages in Total Labour Force

184

8.6

Average Daily Earnings of Men and Women Casual Labourers

185

8.7

Average Daily Earnings of Regular Salary Earners by Educational Qualifications: Age Group 15–59 for the Year 1999–2000

185

Shares of Marginal and Subsidiary Workers in Total Workforce Census According to the 2001 and NSSO 1999–2000: All India

185

Pattern of Activities of Men and Women

194

11.1

Experience of Gram Panchayat Compared to MMD: Level of Impact

258

12.1

The Shifts from Participation to Governance

271

12.2

WDCS and DCS Selected for the Detailed Primary Survey

272

12.3

Details of Indicators to Ascertain Engendered Governance (Committee Members)

273

8.8 8.9

8

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

12.4

Details of Indicators to Ascertain Engendered Governance (Pouring Members)

275

12.5

Growth of WDCS in the Valsad Milk Union Area

279

12.6

Governance Structure and Other Details of WDCS/DCS Studied in Valsad Milk Union

281

12.7

Governance Indicators for WDCS Committee Members

284

12.8

Governance Indicators for WDC Members

286

12.9

Impact Indicators for Women Committee Members (Excluding Chairman)

290

12.10 Impact Indicators for Women Members

290

13.1

Legal Provisions for Violence against Women

298

13.2

Decadal Female Work Participation Rate

304

13.3

Union Budget 2001–02: Allocations to Programmes for Women

317

13.4

Union Budget 2001–02: Allocations to Programmes with Indirect Benefits for Women

318

District/Category-wise Gram Panchayat Elected Representatives in Karnataka, 2000

328

Number of Elected Representatives during the 2000 Elections in Karnataka

330

14.1 14.2 14.3

Sample Panchayats and Location

330

14.4

Distribution of Respondents by Gender

331

14.5

Criterion for Selection of Panchayats

332

14.6

Elected Women Representatives in PRIs in 1994 and 2000 Elections

336

14.7

Distribution of Seats

341

14.8

Number of Nominations in the Selected Panchayats

342

14.9

Contested and Uncontested Seats in the Sample Panchayats

342

14.10 Gram Panchayat Profile

345

14.11 Taluk Panchayat Profile

345

14.12 Zilla Panchayat Profile

346

14.13 Revised Sitting Fees and Honorarium Amounts

347

14.14 Issues Raised in Panchayats by Women and Men

350

FIGURES 1.1

The Plurality of Domains in Governance and Links with Gender

20

4.1

Organogram of Mahila Samakhya, Karnataka

90

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

9

4.2

Grassroots Development Framework

106

4.3

A Detailed Depiction of the Grassroots Development Framework

107

4.4

Reworking the Grassroots Development Framework

108

6.1

The UMP City Consultation Process

145

Preface This book is an outcome of a workshop on ‘Gender and Governance’ held during 15– 16 December 2004, as part of the Silver Jubilee Symposium of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) Gujarat, on ‘Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies’. The focus in the volume is on engendering governance institutions towards gender equality. The subject of engendering governance institutions has gained currency in the past few years, primarily due to partial and non-achievement of the desired goals of development especially in terms of attaining gender equality and women’s empowerment. Institutional representation and participation of women in structures of governance cannot be considered adequate if the societal outcome of governance is not gender equitable. Besides, in the context of the changing canvas of social, economic and political systems in developing countries including India primarily due to economic reforms, a pluralistic view of governance is imperative to understand the role of multiple stakeholders in governance, namely the state, civil society and the market. Generally, there is an emphasis on engendering state structures of governance both in the development debate and practice. In this volume, however, a modest attempt has been made to broaden the canvas of engendering by including as well the civil society and the market institutions that also have important contributions to make in governance and trigger gender equitable processes which could have long-term impacts on gender equality. In addition to the state, the issue of engendering civil society and market is gaining increasing attention in recent years. In fact, some degree of engendering has started occurring in the realms of civil society and market through the efforts of certain agencies. However, it is less in case of market compared with civil society. There is a need to engender these two domains in a substantive and systematic way besides strengthening the process of engendering the state. The market is not active on its own to engender itself. Hence, the state in collaboration with the supporting civil society organisations can take the lead to engender the market. Thus, there is implied here a holistic approach to engendering all the three major sectors viz the state, market and civil society that would facilitate equitable outcomes in gender terms. The book is divided into five sections. The introduction section contains two chapters which conceptualise what is meant by engendering governance particularly the links within the domains of the state, market and the civil society, mainstreaming gender,

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PREFACE

equity and good governance. This is followed by three sections which deal with the issue of engendering in the domains of the state, market and civil society. Then there is a section on assessment of gender sensitivity in governance which comprises the issues of gender audits of state policies and engendering governance in PRIs (action research). On the whole the book brings out the significant issues, challenges and strategies in engendering governance. I am grateful to IRMA for providing financial support from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Sir Dorabjee Trust for the workshop as part of the Silver Jubilee Symposium. The agencies do not bear any responsibility for the views expressed here. I am thankful to all participants who attended the workshop in addition to the contributors, particularly Ms Nirmala Buch and Ms C.P. Sujaya, both retired bureaucrats who as observers provided insightful comments based on their personal experiences working with the state. I have gained from discussions with my colleague and friend Kameshwar Choudhary, especially to cover all the three domains of governance for engendering in the wake of economic reforms in India. He also encouraged me to complete the manuscript which was getting delayed due to other work-overloads. I am most thankful to Haribandhu for providing me support at home so that I could be free from household responsibilities in spite of his own busy professional schedules. I thank him for his understanding. My children Sidharth and Rohini have been my source of strength and their vibrant presence has always rejuvenated me. I am ever grateful to my parents for their timely help during trying times, both at home and professionally. It would not have been possible to work without being disturbed, had Sarlaben, Vidya and Kailashben not provided the help and care at home in the IRMA campus, to my family especially my daughter who was little then. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the SAGE team—Dr. Sugata Ghosh and Maneet Singh for being patient with me in the finalisation of the volume. Thanks also to Mimi Choudhary who while at SAGE had made the initial contact with me to explore the possibility of publication of the volume. Despite my best efforts, I am solely reponsible for the errors, if any in the book. Smita Mishra Panda

SECTION I

ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE: CONCEPTUALISATION

1 Engendering Governance Institutions: An Introduction Smita Mishra Panda

INTRODUCTION

G

OVERNANCE has become a buzzword in the current development vocabulary. This is because of the deficient development performance in most developing countries, often attributed to ‘poor governance’ or ‘mismanaged governance’. The term ‘governance’ has attained several connotations, ranging from a narrow perspective with a focus on sound management of the economy to a wider one encompassing liberalisation of politics and reduction of social inequality (UNRISD 2005). The World Bank (1992) describes governance as the manner in which the state exercises its authority. Governance in this case broadly represents two components—capacity and accountability. The capacity of the state is the ‘hardware’ comprising the financial resources, the extent and effectiveness of its physical and administrative infrastructure for distributing public goods, the number and skills of its personnel and the conduct of budgeting and policy-making processes. Whereas accountability represents the ‘software’ whereby certain actors have the power to demand answers of others aligned towards transparency of the system. The UNDP (2000) account of governance states: ‘Governance is the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences’. Alongside this, there has been a shift in understanding from government to governance that is pluralistic in nature, where it is not only the state but also the civil society and market that have come to play a significant role in contributing towards the goals of development. Therefore, the newer definitions of governance not only recognise the plurality of actors involved in the process of governance but also its substance (Jayal

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SMITA MISHRA PANDA

2003). Thus, governance is no longer equated with civil service reform or with management of public organisations, rather, there is greater emphasis on plurality of actors, partnerships, participation, decentralisation, accountability, governmental responsiveness, and broader concerns such as social and gender equity/equality, justice and sustainable human development. Currently, politicians, planners and policy makers, both at the national and international levels are obsessed with the concept of ‘good governance’. If normatively understood, good governance constitutes the legitimate acquisition and efficient exercise of power. For some it would imply an agenda of participation, human rights, social and gender justice. The UNDP focuses on developing the capacities for good governance with the objective of attaining sustainable human development, eliminating poverty, creating jobs and sustaining livelihoods, protecting and regenerating the environment, and promoting the advancement of women (1997). It further goes on to elaborate that good governance is, among other things, participatory, transparent and accountable. It is also effective, equitable and promotes the rule of law. Further, it also ensures that political, social and economic priorities are based on broad consensus in society, and that the voices of the poorest and the marginalised sections, including women, are heard in decision making regarding allocation and use of development resources. However, the international financing institutions that have currently gained prominence in many developing countries since the 1990s have adopted a parochial view of good governance concerning the efficiency of the state that has nothing to do with the equity of the economic system or the legitimacy of the power structure. Hence, equality/equity with respect to gender has never been a concern within such a perspective of good governance. Some other issues related to good governance and gender will be dealt with in detail in the ensuing sections. This chapter discusses gender and governance concerns with a developing country focus, with many examples drawn from Indian experiences. After briefly dealing with the concept of governance, it examines the connection between gender and governance. This is followed by a deliberation on gender issues in the three major domains of governance—state, market and the civil society. Then it dwells on addressing the gender gap in governance, followed by a discussion on engendering governance institutions. At the end it provides an overview of the chapters included in this volume.

GENDER AND GOVERNANCE: THE CONNECTIONS In recent years there is a growing recognition that the ability of nations to achieve their human development goals depends largely on the quality of governance. Good governance and gender equality have been at the cutting edge of development debates over the past decade (Lowe Morna 2002). Both are central to sustainable human development. Alongwith this, several efforts have been made to create an enabling environment to ensure that governments take note of existing gender inequalities and proactively work towards addressing them. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) adopted by 198 member states of the United Nations is a global agenda for women’s human rights, gender equality and empowerment of women. The Beijing

ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS

17

Platform for Action (BPFA) provides the most comprehensive mandate for governments to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are actively addressed as core development concerns. Complementing the BPFA is the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that has been ratified by 180 countries around the world. It is one of the most important international human rights instruments having a legal binding. These two mandates have informed the most recently proposed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that resolve to promote, among others, gender equality and women’s empowerment to combat poverty, hunger disease, and to stimulate development that is sustainable (UN DAW 2005). However, there is substantial evidence to support that governance efforts so far have not led to the desired gender-equitable outcomes or gender justice. A review of recent reports (from 150 countries representing every region of the world) examining the BPFA by the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO 2005) reflects that the commitment towards women are yet to be achieved as the approach by the governments worldwide have been piecemeal and incremental in nature. Analysis indicates that a combination of factors that have created an environment hostile to the advancement of women’s rights are—growing militarisation since September 2001 and an increase in regional, ethnic and communal violence that has increased the numbers of refugee and displaced people, and undermined women’s access to basic services and protections. Second there is a dominance of neo-liberal economic frameworks and market-driven policies that have led to changes in trade and finance rules, and deregulation and privatisation that have accelerated poverty conditions and deepened inequalities between nations and within them, especially for women. Third, rising fundamentalist movements in many countries that seek to roll back women’s gains and to limit their freedoms and opportunities in all spheres of life. In the year 2005 an important report by the UNRISD (Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World) brought out that the most pressing and contested issues of recent times—such as economic liberalisation, democratisation and governance reforms, identity and conflict—are not being systematically informed by knowledge that is generated through gender research and scholarship. With respect to governance specifically, the report very explicitly says that the good governance agenda, which in reality centres around ‘sound’ management of the economy along neo-liberal lines and on expanding private property rights in order to support economic activity, have typically excluded gender justice and equality. Some of the reforms recommended have adverse implications for women. For example, the case of land tenure reform, which is of utmost importance both to the investment environment and to the livelihoods of the rural people has eroded women’s customarily sanctioned claims to land with the introduction of formal land titling and individual ownership rights in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (UNRISD 2005). There is a long way to go in terms of narrowing down the gender gap in governance. For example, the gender gap in governance for South Asia, according to UNDP’s Human Development Report (2000), in parliament is 7 per cent, cabinet 9 per cent, local government 20 per cent, civil services 9 per cent and judiciary 6 per cent. Table 1.1 gives an idea about women’s representation in management and political positions, depicting a low presence of South Asian women in decision making and legislative positions.

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Table 1.1: W omen’ Women’ omen’ss Representation in Management and Political Positions in South Asia Countries

Female legislators, senior officials and managers (% of total)

Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan Maldives Sri Lanka

8 9.3 17.47 – – 15 4

Seats in the parliament held by women, 2004 (% of total) Lower House 9.7 9.3 8.8 5.9 21.6 6.0 4.4

Upper House – – 10.3 15 17.0 – –

Source: UNDP (2004).

A look at the ground reality reveals the factors that have led to non-participation of women in decision making and governance in the public domain. The most important cause of gender inequality in governance is the common understanding that prevails regarding private–public divide associated with women and men. Women’s place is in the private domain associated with household, reproductive work and femininity. Whereas, the public domain is associated with political authority, decision making, productive work and masculinity. Such assumptions have always obstructed women to negotiate in the public domain, and often they find themselves either being criticised for their inadequacies or patronised by men. A related question that arises here is what kind of autonomy women and men have in the different domains. Although the private domain is associated with women, the family/household is a most complex site where it is believed that there is a male altruistic head responsible for the welfare and safety of all members. Women’s bargaining power at the household is restricted typically due to lack of access and control over resources, no autonomy in decision making, low self-esteem, low skills and education, restricted physical mobility, and eventually holding less power as compared with men. Patriarchal structures comprising inegalitarian gender relations and stereotypic attitudes, beliefs and ideologies prevailing in both the private and public domain, therefore, contribute to women’s subordinate status and their inability to participate in governance. Gender inequality in governance is further complicated by other intersecting hierarchies such as class, caste, ethnicity, religion and rural/urban locations. The private domain is the site where patriarchal dominance is most complex, and unequal gender relations find manifestation in other public institutions and governance such as the community, market and state. Although it is important to understand the complexities of power relations and governance at the household level, the focus in this chapter, however, is only on public institutions. Historically, women were accorded a secondary status with respect to governance (community or public forums). It is only recently that with the formulation of certain affirmative actions, primarily by the Indian state in the form of reservations and quotas for women in governance structures, a small beginning has been visible in the past one decade. Participation of women (both in number and actual contribution) in the

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19

structures and processes of governance particularly at the local level has been analysed and documented by several authors. ‘Activists, researchers and policy makers sensitive to the operations of various matrices of power, especially regarding gender, continue to point out that several issues pertaining to women and to the trajectories of gendered notions of power are still addressed nominally in processes of governance’ (Tambiah 2003: 59). Most scholars recommend that unless women constitute a ‘critical mass’ of at least one-third of those in decision making, their presence makes little difference to the outcomes of governance. Furthermore, a pro-gender or gender-sensitive agenda should encompass equal distribution of power and resources, more accountability to gender equitable outcomes, and increased participation of women in decision making, affecting their lives, households and the communities to which they belong. Although changes are visible and the struggle is on to achieve certain desired goals, mainstreaming gender as an institutional and cultural transformation process has to continue to eliminate gender biases in development and governance frameworks and paradigms. Governance has to be considered as a project of social construction, which includes issues of inclusion, equity and equality in order to be meaningful to ordinary women and men (Mukhopadhyay 2003). Gender-equitable governance implies that there is a need to promote women’s interests and institutionalise gender concerns. Although gender inequalities undermine the effectiveness of development policies in fundamental ways, yet this is an issue that occupies a peripheral position in policy dialogue and decision making, both at the national and international levels. Part of the neglect comes from the reluctance of policy makers to deal with issues related to societal norms, religion or cultural traditions. Also contributing to this is the belief that gender gaps should be addressed by advocacy and not policy, combined with ignorance about its impact on the prospects for development. ‘Gender analysis rarely informs social policy and tends to remain a “silent term” marginalised from policy debates’ (UNRISD 2005:10). The significance of the plurality of domains in governance is aptly described by UNDP (1997) where it says that governance includes the state, but transcends it by taking in the private sector and civil society. All three are critical for sustaining human development. The role of the state is to create a conducive political and legal environment for all citizens. Whereas the private sector generates jobs and income, civil society facilitates political and social interactions through mobilisation of groups to participate in economic, social and political activities. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and, therefore, there is a need to promote constructive interaction among the three. But is this really happening? Further, it might be useful to probe how gender interacts or gets represented in all the three domains in the context of governance. The plurality of domains in governance also suggests that the definition of governance is process based and not structure based, and the players include a range of organisations as well as the complex relationships among them (Jayal 2003). The players represent a range of institutions—government (at different levels), civil society (social movements, NGOs, cooperatives, trade unions, networks, federations of various groups, religious institutions and civic associations), and private corporations and various market institutions. With this in view, a gendered perspective of governance would, therefore, encompass

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all the three domains and also the levels of differentiation among them. Figure 1.1 gives an idea about how gender as a concern relates to the different domains of governance. Figure 1.1: The Plurality of Domains in Governance and Links with Gender

Market Market/Private institutions

Household (private domain)

Gender

State (legislature, judiciary, administrative agencies)

Civil society (NGOs, CBOs, movements)

Many governments, including India, are currently promoting the new paradigm referred to as good governance. International agencies are routinely using good governance as a condition to provide aid to developing countries, the underlying cause being that the state is considered to be inefficient and, hence, redundant, incapable of providing for the ever-growing demands of the population in terms of services and goods. It lacks investment capacity and is thus not in a position to govern efficiently. National plans, too, reflect the urgent need for good governance. For example the 10th Five Year Plan (2002–7) of the Government of India has a chapter on ‘Governance and Implementation’. It states that good governance is one of the most crucial factors for development. The definition provided by the Plan is as follows: Governance relates to the management of all such processes that, in any society, define the environment which permits and enables individuals to raise their capability levels, provide opportunities to realize their potential and enlarge the set of available choices. These processes, covering the political, social and economic aspects of life impact every level of human enterprise, be it the individual, the household, the village, the region or the national level….It covers the state, civil society and the market, each of which is critical for sustaining human development. (GOI 2002)

The Government of India’s perception of the changing face of governance is a reduction in the role of the state and expansion of the market and the civil society. In essence, it would imply the rolling back of the state and the dominance of other actors, especially the market. This is based on the political ideology of neo-liberalism and Thatcherism, where market principles emphasise deregulation and privatisation as

ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS

21

the main instruments in achieving both economic growth and efficiency. The emphasis is on the private sector rather than the state and it is considered as being more effective as an agent of development (Mayntz 1998, Peters and Pierre 1998). The question, however, remains, whether this model is sensitive to gender concerns in governance and whether the gender gap in governance has reduced or worsened since the 1990s. These issues are discussed further in the ensuing section on market, gender and governance.

GENDER ISSUES IN THE MAJOR DOMAINS OF GOVERNANCE State, Gender and Governance In the domain of the state, gender constructs and relations are not considered predictable because of the different layers of its stratification. The state ‘is not a unitary structure but a differentiated set of institutions and agencies, the product of a particular historical and political conjucture … gender relations are also partly constituted through the state’ (Waylen 1996, cited in Tambiah 2003: 60). Like gender, caste, class and ethnic differences are entrenched within the state and variations across countries are observed with reference to the nature of the state (democratic, dictatorial, monarchy, etc.). Effective governance would imply that citizens, both female and male, of a particular state interact with agents of the state, institutions associated with the state, or participate in such institutions, all of which are located in the public domain (Tambiah 2003). The state domain being public is not associated with femininity and, therefore, women’s engagement with the state is curtailed where, typically, questions of female chastity and modesty are raised if there is any deviation from the norm. Women are seen as passive recipients of services and resources, and dependents of men and the state. In recent decade there have been attempts by several countries to engage more and more women in formal political processes and institutions. One of the critical questions raised by feminist scholars is whether it is the number of women that matter or those who are capable of bringing in transformatory visions and practices into the arena of formal politics (Mukhopadhyay 2003). More important is how to ensure that they remain in politics and stay committed to a feminist agenda of equality and justice. Is there a need for a new mode of political engagement? Sen (2003) puts forth the issue of citizenship in the context of feminist politics, defining citizenship as not only the ‘right to vote’, but to mean entitlements, rights, responsibilities and agency. Further, she goes on to describe the meaning of citizenship in feminist politics that operates at four levels: (a) political level, (b) economic level, (c) cultural level, and (d) personal level. For citizenship to be effective it must be present and visible in all four dimensions (ibid.: 24). Gendered systems are those that work against women and deny them citizenship at any or all the four levels. Feminist politics must be able to move towards a project of social construction that includes the ethos of equity, equality and inclusion. Additionally, it should be able to address certain critical issues linked with constriction of space for women due to market and political fundamentalisms.

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The Indian experiment of deepening local democracy through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments in 1992 with 33 per cent reservation for women has shown mixed results. This experience has been most researched by scholars to understand equity and empowerment issues in view of women’s nature and participation in local governance. Although 1 million women could participate in the political decision making at the local level as a result of reservation, their experience over the years has been chequered. What was observed is that a new system existed along with the old traditional (often feudal) system that provided no space to women. There were multiple obstacles not only from proxy politics, but also other social divisions such as class, caste and religion. Such divisions in reality reflect the public–private dichotomy or gendered division of space associated with certain norms of morality to be followed by women. The challenges faced by women contesting elections through formal political processes exhibit the nature of political culture in the region and bring out the links between ‘private and public patriarchy’ (Kandiyoti 1997, cited in Tambiah 2003). In spite of such problems, some changes did attain prominance like expansion of self-help groups (SHGs) and micro-credit programmes for women, and visibility of women in the village panchayats. However, such preponderance of women at the lower levels of state and other institutions does not translate into greater voice for them in decision making or into gender-equitable policy outcomes (Jayal 2003), depicting a narrow view of governance. Such changes at the micro level may seem significant particularly in contrast with the situation at the macro level, but in reality, there is no connection between the micro and macro and with the current economic reforms, the hiatus has further widened in the state domain. In situations where women independently start making claims in governance systems, even at the local level, men often resort to violence and coercion to prevent women from engaging in various types of public and social intercourse (Anandhi 2002; Mayaram 2002). Some observations in Kerala reveal that in spite of the fact that the state has high social indicators (women’s health and education), elected women representatives are sexually harassed to ‘put them in place’, thereby obstructing their participation in the political governance process (Devika and Kodoth 2001; Radha and Choudhary 2002). Women elected to local bodies come under the ‘moralistic gaze’ and become targets of character assassination (Tambiah 2003). ‘And who will make the chappatis (Indian bread)?’ was a question asked by a man when his wife wanted to attend a training camp on panchayats in Maharashtra. ‘Now the gram panchayat will become a kitchen and a cowshed’ was another (Datta 2000). Such male attitudes continue in spite of an increasing number of women in the local governments. Women feel hesitant to actively engage in governance or in challenging the existing patriarchal system that discriminates them. Attempts are systematically made to push them out of the public domain, thereby making them feel inferior, weak and inefficient in a male world of politics and power. Under these circumstances, can women address issues relating to social injustice or of poverty when there is no change in their own condition and position? Although empowering the panchayats and providing reservation to women and other marginalised sections of the society was part of the decentralisation strategy of

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the Indian government, it would be dangerous to assume that it will work in a genderneutral framework for realisation of gender equity without any changes in both process and structure of governance. The state of Kerala in India pioneered a model of democratic decentralisation by devolving power and resources to self-government bodies since 1996. The purpose was to create a culture of participation and democracy at the grassroots level. ‘The immediate outcome of decentralisation may not be the removal of social inequalities’, lamented Thomas Isaac the architect of the model. Over the years it was realised that decentralisation of planning in Kerala will not solve gender problems, but it can contribute towards redressing inequalities and enhance women’s participation in decision making. Therefore, decentralisation is not the answer to a gender-equitable governance system unless the process of engendering is systematically addressed in those structures that are supposedly gender neutral. Vyasulu and Vyasulu (2000) pose some critical questions in view of empowering panchayats and reservation for women in the local governments. They ask: Does a quota for women bring about social change? What is the relation between caste and class? Do quotas bring to prominence people who otherwise would never have attained governance positions? Would men have fared differently? Can higher officials legally intervene in the functioning of local governments so as to impose on village groups the authority of a person they have rejected? If so, what is the meaning of decentralisation and democracy? Where does ‘top down’ cease and ‘bottom up’ begin? What are the trade-offs among efficiency, equity and equality? (p. 45)

These questions are relevant and require serious attention while attempting to engender local governance and the extent to which it is possible. The panchayati raj experiences from different parts of India show that there is hope as women are asserting themselves and have shown keen interest in issues closer to their lives, such as drinking water, borewells, sanitation, loans from government credit institutions and so on (Narayanan 2002). There have been efforts in India by the government in collaboration with NGOs or independently to build women’s capacities to participate in the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs). Such efforts have facilitated women’s negotiation in the public domain and has given them confidence, although the examples are not all that dramatic. The most important question, however, is sustaining women’s capacities so that they contribute meaningfully to local-level governance. Baden (2000) has raised three areas of concern with respect to women’s representation in formal political structures. They relate to sustaining gains, ensuring that formal representation actually translates into meaningful participation. Moreover, participation needs to be translated into substantive change in policies or decisions for resource allocation, so that gender interests become institutionalised. State bureaucracies are a very important site where gender inequality is rampant, particularly in decision making positions or frontline portfolios within the government. Women typically are concentrated in the lower rungs of the system, and if at all they are represented in decision making at higher levels, they are given softer areas in administration such as health, education, family welfare and so on. Jayal (2003) documents the under-representation of women in higher offices of politics and the

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government—48 out of 187 countries had no women in ministerial positions. ‘So far as representation of women in national legislatures is concerned only eight countries (all developed) have achieved the so-called “critical mass” of 30 per cent’ (Jayal 2003: 110). Under-representation of women in politics and legislatures is also seen in the international and national bureaucracies. Judiciary and military services are the other two areas where there is a glaring under-representation of women in most countries. The private–public domain argument applies here as well. According to Jayal (ibid.), upholding law and interpreting law is a male domain (only 5–10 per cent of the judiciary combining positions at the higher and subordinate levels). Similarly, military is concerned with protecting territories and populations, and, hence, women can never be accepted as aggressive life takers but as peace-loving life givers. Women in the military services are represented in the para-military jobs mostly in base stations as doctors, nurses and administrative staff at lower positions. The nature of statistics discussed in case of bureaucracy depicts how gender stereotyping is further reinforced rather than challenged.

Gender, Civil Society and Governance Although there is much hype regarding the role of civil society in addressing development-related problems and their ability to engage with local populations, it is not gender neutral. Jayal (2003) argues that there are many civil society organisations— such as religious fundamentalist groups—that are neither civil nor democratic nor empowering, and frequently conservative in the way they define women’s role. However, among the alternatives explored for better democratic governance, the role of civil society in recent years has proved to be significant. They have come to occupy an important space in the development and governance arenas in the past one decade. A study of women in political governance in South Asian countries indicate that NGOs have been instrumental in providing space for women to develop political awareness, participate effectively in politics, challenge the state, as well as other systems of discrimination from party-dominated spaces (Tambiah 2003). Civil society has the advantage of addressing gender inequality in a multi-pronged manner (through programmes) in areas like poverty, caste, ethnicity and religion. The concerns of governance typically include gender sensitising the judiciary, and providing support and training for women candidates to elected women representatives in local government, for example, in India by organisations like SAKHI, Nirantar, Asmita, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan and SEWA. Post-colonial South Asia has seen some very active women’s movements engaged in political and institutional mobilisations to promote women’s education, change repressive social practices and laws, and advance women’s rights in all spheres. These movements seek women’s empowerment, including grassroots movements that are working for the poor or lower castes as well as for women, and urban feminist movements focus primarily on issues of gender inequality (Basu 2003). The Indian women’s movement is rich and articulate in its content and action. However, it is not homogeneous or monolithic; it is multi-level and multi-class, and comprises a large

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number of organisations, national and local, with divergent objectives and ideologies (Majumdar and Agnihotri 1995). The main objective of the movement is to create new opportunities and space for interaction between women and men from different groups and backgrounds to promote and fight for equitable gender relations. Grassroots women’s movements have been very active in India, many not having been reported, but have made great impacts on local women to fight for their rights. The example of representation of women in the PRIs in India is a good example in this respect. After introduction of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments in 1992, ‘the extent to which women benefited from the reforms depended upon their prior history of activism’ (Basu 2003: 40). It was not enough to get elected to the local bodies, but to be able to realise their potential to fight for social justice and engage in development works that would directly help women and the marginalised groups. The activities invariably are construction of wells, playgrounds, roads, public toilets, primary schools, installation of pipes and pumps for drinking water, or challenging the police and law for inefficiency, which had never received the attention of male political leadership. It was observed that many of the successful women in local bodies had an activist background and panchayats provided them with an institutional space and resources to enable them to defend themselves and extend their struggles (ibid.). The example of SAKHI, an NGO working in Kerala, gives an idea about how NGOs are engaged in governance, particularly at the local level. SAKHI started its work in 1996 and has been providing information services, gender training and support to networks to enable advocacy and campaigns. Its substantive contribution in governance was to intervene in the decentralised planning process in Kerala so as to make gender concerns central to decision making on the allocation of resources, and to secure women’s practical and strategic gender interests through planning. The People’s Planning Campaign (PPC) lacked a systematic gender analysis, and priority setting was the major handicap in engendering the planning process. A large number of women did participate in the gram sabha, but they did not have any role in decision making and were considered to be only beneficiaries. The Women’s Component Plan of the decentralisation plan projects focused only on women’s practical gender needs. Women on their own could not articulate their strategic gender interests/needs in the panchayats despite the existence of regulations favouring women’s participation in the planning process and budgetary allocations to meet their priorities. SAKHI attempted to address some of these issues, through gender sensitisation workshops facilitated by men through a nonthreatening and non-evasive approach. Training of elected women representatives by SAKHI is institutionalised and undertaken on a regular basis by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration. What they have been able to achieve is to sensitise women as an organised constituency (aware of their entitlements) and active agents in prioritising and making decisions on their own development needs in some parts of Kerala (Mukhopadhyay 2003). There is no doubt that a new beginning has emerged for women in Kerala but there is a long way to go before equality in politics and power in reality is attainable. There are several examples of women’s activism in the form of struggles and movements that have proved to be effective political forces, although not represented

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in any formal governance/political structures. Devaki Jain (2001) suggests that women’s approach to both politics and power is different from that of men. The anti-arrack struggle in Andhra Pradesh is one such example of women’s collective struggles. This struggle has been one of the most significant women’s agitations in the last decade in India. What is historic in this case was that agrarian women confronted the state and emerged victorious in forcing the political party (Telegu Desam) in government to make a definite policy change by declaring prohibition. Women protested against domestic violence and how household resources are being threatened due to consumption of liquor by their men. The struggle brought all categories of women together fighting for a common cause. One of the positive outcomes of this struggle was the formation of effective thrift (SHG) programmes managed by women. This experience informed the discourse of many political parties and the ban on arrack became one of the most popular slogans during the elections (ibid.). It also shows how women’s choices turn the struggle into a platform of women’s issues, which becomes a women’s lobby, and a political platform for them. NGOs and trade unions have also played a significant role in mobilising women for a common cause to fight against oppressive forces that have led to unequal distribution of resources, exploitation by dominant sections of the society, ecological degradation and increasing violence. The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) movement is an appropriate example of how women organised themselves with the support of an agency. It is a movement of poor self-employed women who represent factory and home workers, agricultural workers, street vendors and others. Ela Bhatt, founder of SEWA, describes them as workers, entrepreneurs and producers in their own right, although they remain invisible, deprived and, therefore, having less access to resources and opportunities. They are struggling for a place in the economy and also for a decision making role at the household and macro-level structures through their representative bodies. The progress of SEWA’s activities is seen in the form of structures/organisations and movements that have complemented each other at all levels of their public interactions, such as banking, ecology, social security, legislations and management (Bhatt 1999). Today SEWA has around 9,59,698 members all over the country, out of which 4,83,012 are in Gujarat (SEWA 2006). Two-thirds of the members belong to rural areas. Started in 1972, it has emerged as a successful movement contributing to policy initiatives and women’s empowerment. One such successful initiative was the setting up of the National Commission of Self-Employed Women by the Government of India in 1987 at the instance of SEWA. The Commission prepared a report on women in the informal sector, recommending improvement in working conditions. The report Shram Shakti was submitted in 1988 and was accepted by the government in 1989, which is a milestone in the women’s movement in India. This initiative made working women in the unorganised sector visible. In 1990 the Planning Commission of India took up some of the major recommendations and set up the ‘Rashtriya Mahila Kosh’, an exclusive national-level credit fund for women. It also set up another statutory body of the National Commission of Women. The report has been translated in 13 languages and is very useful to NGOs working with grassroots women in both urban and rural areas of the country. SEWA has also influenced policies in the water sector through

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their Women, Water and Work Campaign, particularly in Gujarat where they have been able to strike a collaboration with the government and have mobilised women in the semi-arid districts of the state to manage their own water resources. SEWA has also been successful in strengthening women’s agency in influencing governance at different levels. The space created by the state for civil society groups to function independently and at times in collaboration has yet to prove itself in the direction of engendering governance. The issue is how to link local (micro) activities with the macro for governance to be effective, and bring about policy shifts and changes at the structural level. The state often dismisses local-level activities as initiatives with no consequence for long-term changes, missing out on the strengths of civil society that could be harnessed for gender-responsive governance.

MARKET, GENDER AND GOVERNANCE The market is part of the public domain that is male dominated, where the private or the corporate sector is the most influential stakeholder. In private or business organisations, women tend to be even more marginalised than they are in representative political bodies (Jayal 2003). Women are largely excluded from decision making positions in the private sector. The few women who occupy managerial positions are mostly concentrated in health and health care, social services, hotels and restaurant, and education (Blochet-Bardet et al. 1988, cited in Jayal 2003). Studies conducted by Development Alternatives with Women in the New Era (DAWN) from the mid-1990s on alternative development frameworks and the global political economy indicate that global economic institutions, informed by neo-liberal policies, have unleashed multiple forces and processes in the social, economic and political spheres that have far-reaching implications for women. It is manifested in the form of unabated violence against women, increased militarisation of states, persistent poverty and growing inequalities, leading to marginalisation and exclusion of women (Taylor 2000). Expansion of market has led to ‘feminisation’ of the labour force, particularly with the rise in employment opportunities in the informal sector in many parts of the developing world. Alongside this, there has been an informalisation or casualisation of formal sector employment that has enabled employers to lower labour costs. The informal sector has grown faster as compared with the formal. In India for instance, 96 per cent of economically active women work in this sector, Nepal 75.3 per cent, Pakistan 64.9 per cent and Bangladesh 75 per cent (Haq 2000). Such a scenario however, does not improve women’s position or meet their strategic needs. Working conditions in the Free Trade Zones in many developing countries are often precarious and are typically characterised by women working for low wages, on a piece rate basis, in substandard working conditions, with a high degree of job insecurity (Taylor 2000). Both the state and the corporations collaborate in exploitating the female labour force. Most social scientists believe that the increased number of women in the informal sector no doubt gives them visibility, but it has nothing to do with the policies and plans that can bring about a perceptible change in their situation or towards gender-equitable

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policy outcomes. However, there is a point of view that strongly argues that globalisation has helped women in gaining employment opportunities and from the standpoint of women workers, especially those in the third world, the anti-globalisation agenda makes no sense (Hensman 2004). The argument is that a much more sensible objective would be concerted action to shape the global order in accordance with women’s agenda for justice and equity as well as caring and nurturing. This would, in the first instance, mean working for an extension of the reach of international law, and then for democratic institutions of global governance. In the past decade or so, globalisation with its strong arms of privatisation and liberalisation has changed the dynamics of the market system in most developing countries. It has come to play an important role in either directly working within existing governance structures or through new ones. Role of markets in governance has assumed significance with the growing liberalisation and privatisation of services in various sectors. Market-directed governance is less concerned with equity, equality and inclusion, the tenets of engendered or gender-sensitive governance, as profits and efficiency become the main motives. What is the connection between markets and women in the context of governance or good governance? ‘Good governance’, as discussed earlier in this chapter, is possible with a vibrant market economy as it is able to provide for transparency and accountability. It is seen as the essential condition enabling economic reforms to unfold effectively. Although reform packages tend to address issues of government legitimacy and public participation of socially marginalised groups, a closer view reveals that governance reforms are used to expand market activity and its supporting institutions, especially private property rights. The global political economy backed by neo-liberal macro-economic policies and the rise of fundamentalism and other forms of patriarchal backlash is detrimental to women’s rights (Taylor 2000). Global governance and efficient management have become the bible of international agencies and institutions. The entire debate on governance is reduced to how it can best serve the global market. The emphasis is on efficiency and engagement with market forces in a competitive environment. Women’s rights within this framework do not seem to figure anywhere and are completely excluded. Globalisation has affected the agriculture sector with the state’s reduction/withdrawal of subsidies, thereby affecting livelihoods and food security in developing countries. In the process, MNCs have been encouraged in this sector for direct investment, causing a large-scale change in the use of land for food crops to cash crops. Women who form a major part of the agricultural labour force are directly affected due to such policies. Similarly the adoption of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) by governments have also led to severe cutbacks or rolling back of food subsidies in many countries, which has an adverse effect on women and the girl child due to differential allocation of food for them at the household level, thus exacerbating existing levels of malnutrition. Other well-documented impacts of reforms on women are job insecurity, greater unemployment, deteriorating working conditions, increase in wage differentials, decline in girls’ education, decrease in health services and increasing number of women-headed households. Declining livelihood opportunities for women have resulted in the intensification of gendered and androcentric divisions

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of labour (Taylor 2000). In many developing countries, such divisions are manifested in the rise in prostitution, increased trafficking of women, migrant women workers and informalisation of women’s labour. Therefore, women’s role in bringing about genderequitable changes and justice by participating in activities in the public domain, whether in the formal or the informal sector, continues to remain greatly curtailed. Women continue to remain marginalised in the market domain and their condition has further deteriorated in recent years even though reforms have contributed to growth in the economy of some developing countries.

ADDRESSING THE GENDER GAP IN GOVERNANCE Welfare-oriented approaches in enhancing women’s development (WID or ‘women in development’) has come under severe criticism because it is confined to meeting practical needs (change in condition of women) and has little potential to address strategic needs (that have the potential to change the position of women) and bring about a substantial change in gender/power relations. The shift in gender and development (GAD) approach in the mid-1980s is more inclusive in understanding the nature of women’s subordination in the context of gender relations. However, the state and many development organisations still find it convenient to use the WID framework in their policies and programmes. This is precisely the reason why many development programmes for women have failed to achieve desired goals, particularly in changing gender relations. To get around the shortcomings of the welfarist approach to development, Amartya Sen’s argument of strengthening female agency is useful. He defines female agency as the ‘role of the individual as a member of the public and as a participant in economic, social and political actions’ (Sen 1999: 19), and this should be considered as a separate worthwhile goal alongside improving female well-being. Addressing the gender gap in governance would, therefore, imply not only increasing the visibility of women in governance structures, but also creating an enabling environment for women to participate and contribute effectively to governance in terms of both material and social environments that would have the potential to influence their ability to translate ideas into action, thus affecting the substance of governance. Alongside, there is also a need to improve certain crucial capabilities of women in terms of internal preparedness, such as education, health care and supportive social relationships (kin and family support). Equally critical for women is to seek employment in the public domain, ability to hold property independently, secure credit, freedom from violence both inside and outside the home, and form affiliations with other women’s groups and movements (Nussbaum 2003). Prior to discussing how to address the gender gap in governance, it is important to understand what is gender-sensitive governance. According to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000), it includes: (a) participation—equal participation in governance institutions and processes, freedom of association and space for an active women’s movement; (b) transparency—transparency and gender equity in the allocation of resources; (c) legitimacy—legislation of gender equality, and the promotion and

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protection of women’s rights, and (d) effectiveness—gender sensitive policies and institutional structures. The Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), New Delhi, developed some practical indicators to measure gender sensitivity in governance, mostly understood in terms of outcomes. The rationale for developing such indicators was felt by feminist scholars because of continued marginalisation of women’s concerns, despite claims that women had been given greater participatory opportunities in governance. Further, it would also facilitate the state in formulating measures (policies and plans) to effectively address the gender gap. The seven basic indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance (CWDS 2002) are: 1. Survival of women women: Mortality rate, crude death rate, under-5 mortality rate, infant mortality rate, stillbirth rate, maternal mortality rate and sex ratio at birth. 2. Quality of survival survival: Life expectancy at birth, whether the child (especially the girl child) has been given the complete course of immunisation, her nutritional status, age at marriage and her first pregnancy. 3. Skill acquisition acquisition: Literacy, enrolment, dropout rate at the primary level, completion of primary education, dropout rate at the secondary level, and completion of secondary and higher education. ce participation 4. Workfor orkforce participation: Rates and patterns of workforce participation, wage disparity, paid and unpaid work, workplace conditions, patterns of migration and women-supported households. 5. Control over resources resources: Control over means of production (capital or land), land ownership and property rights. 6. Participation in the public sphere sphere: Different positions of decision making in different spheres, namely, political, administrative, SHGs, trade unions, judiciary, etc. 7. Security Security: Incidence of rape and molestation, abduction, dowry, marriage-related violence and murder, and unnatural death above the age of 20. The fact that the gender gap in governance continues to persist clearly indicates that whatever is created in terms of institutional mechanisms is ad hoc in nature besides having inadequately articulated mandates, resources, autonomy and lack of political will to translate policies into action. An absence of a critical mass of women in governance and decision making transgresses the constitutional right to equality (D’Cunha 2006). The CWDS indicators show that women are clearly at a disadvantageous position as compared with men. Furthermore, several paradoxes are observed. For example, although the state can claim that women have been given reservations for representation in local bodies through panchayati raj institutions, yet there is a decline in sex ratio and increase in the incidence of dowry murders and domestic violence against women. The indicators have been developed in the context of a state-centric model of governance. Although the market and civil society do not clearly feature in this framework, they have the potential to play a role in addressing the gender gap in governance.

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ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS Engendering governance would imply bringing in gender or mainstreaming gender (which was not there earlier) in the governance of different structures and institutions of society. It would require a multi-pronged approach involving a variety of stakeholders who can contribute to creating enabling policy, and institutional and social environments. This would include raising awareness challenging discriminatory stereotypes that place women in the private domain and men in the public domain in important positions; ensuring and encouraging communities to support and demand women as leaders and managers; developing a culture of sharing household responsibilities between women and men; capacity building for women to conduct themselves effectively in the public domain (for example, to contest elections) and also providing adequate funds to enhance women’s capacities in governing structures. However, what is important to consider is to what extent it is possible to incorporate these issues, and in what type of structure and institutions. So far much of the academic research and discourse has focused on the engendering of state and administration. Within the state, political structures have received considerable attention by policy makers and planners, particularly local governance in India, where 33 per cent reservation was introduced in 1992. Actions of political parties have an influence on the participation of women in politics and decision making. Quotas and reservations are considered to be very effective in increasing women’s participation. Thus, the emphasis has been on engendering political governance, which depicts a partial view. Other stakeholders such as the market and the civil society also need to be engendered. Table 1.2 gives an idea of the existing provisions for women both at the local as well as the parliamentary level in South Asia. In case of Pakistan it is interesting to note that from 2 per cent in 1990 the figure has gone upto 20.8 per cent in case of seats in Parliament occupied by women. It is because Pakistan has reserved 60 out of 342 seats for women in the National Assembly and 17 out of 100 seats in the Senate. However, it remains to be seen what impact women are able to make in national political governance. It is well known that political representation of women through reservation provides them recognition, but does not ensure redistribution of resources thereby limiting its transformative potential (Rai 1999). Political parties in India are reluctant to come to a consensus on a legislation regarding the reservation for women (81st Constitutional Amendment Bill) at the parliamentary level. There could be several reasons why this amendment is under dispute—enhanced representation of women in Parliament would mean challenging the gendered status quo within the political system. Moreover, the pattern of quota systems in India has shown that elite-based strategies of empowerment are less helpful to groups seeking greater recognition than those based on grassroots institutions (ibid.). Any sort of attempt at engendering governance institutions, should have a transformative agenda without which there will be no impact in terms of sustaining the changes introduced and improvement in the status of women. The goals of such an

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Table 1.2: Existing Provisions for W omen at the Local and Parliamentar y Levels in South Asia Women Parliamentary Countries

Quotas for women candidates at the national level

Bangladesh (2004: 14th Constitutional Amendment introduced) Bhutan

Reserves 15% seats for women in Parliament

India

No quota for women

Maldives

No quota for women Reserves 5% in the lower house and 3 seats in the upper house

Nepal (1991: Article 114)

Pakistan (2002: Election Law Quota, 2002)

Sri Lanka

No quota for women

33% seats reserved for women (National Assembly); 36 out of 342 seats (Senate); 17 out of 100 seats in the senate –

Quotas for women candidates at the local level The Pourshava and City Corporation Ordinance reserves 1/3rd of the total seats for women No quota for women

33% seats in all local bodies (panchayats and municipalities) are reserved for women No quota for women The Local Governance Act reserves 20% of seats for women in local bodies The Devolution Power Plan reserves 33% of seats for women at the local level

Affirmative action taken since BFA*

Women in Parliament 2004 (%)

National policy for advancement of women, adopted in 1997 spelled out commitments and policies for women Women, children and gender constitute an important area in the Ninth Five-Year Plan, 2002–7 Political empowerment is an objective of the 10th Plan

Gender management system introduced in 2001 10th Plan, 2002, envisages 20% of female participation in decisionmaking at all levels

2

9.3

9.3

6.0 9.7

Election Law Quota, 20.8 passed in 2002; Devolution Power Plan adopted in March 2000

The Cabinet has – approved in principle the reservation of 33% of seats in local authorities for women

4.4

Sources: UNDP, HDR 2004; CSDS Data Unit; CENWOR website. Note: *BFA—Beijing Platform for Action.

agenda include equality, peace, sustainable development, democratic governance, and accountable and efficient governance (Miranda 2005). This would require sustained advocacy and capacity building of several stakeholders within the state, civil society

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and market structures. The instruments promoting gender equality such as the BPFA, CEDAW and the newly constituted MDGs could serve as the engendering frameworks for the governance institutions. Jayal (2003) avers that the very definition of governance needs to be engendered as the one given by the UNDP implicitly supports the private–public divide. According to her whatever efforts have been made so far are to engender public institutions alone, whereas the private sphere is also an arena of governance, for example the family, where there is an influence of the exercise of social power and modes of governance. The interaction of the private and public arenas of governance is important as family policy and the nature of the family are an important part of what renders women able or unable to function productively in the public domain (Nussbaum 2003). Socialisation within the family forms a crucial part of women’s capability to counter their oppression in all spheres to create an enabling environment for effective participation in activities of the public domain, including governance. Women’s empowerment and their capability are practical considerations in understanding participation and decision making in governance institutions. Nussbaum (ibid.) recommends the human development perspective as a normative framework to engender governance. Within this framework the goal of development is the promotion of human capabilities, and in case of women it is fostered through education, health care and supportive social relationships. It also requires looking at how the laws, movements, groups and social institutions influence the opportunities of women to take part in a wide range of governance-related activities in any domain—the state, market and the civil society. She argues that the capabilities approach is closely linked with the rights-based approach suggested by Jayal, who emphasises that rights is an important addition to a focus on capabilities where gender equality is concerned, because rights approaches insist that each person has an urgent claim based upon justice in the area under discussion (ibid.). What is commonly observed is that women’s claims are ignored by those who seek to promote human capabilities. Therefore, Nussbaum argues that it is important to combine general capabilities analysis with the idea of rights in order to give sufficient ‘normative urgency’ to the struggle to secure them to women. A regime of positive rights is recommended by Jayal (2003) as a possible instrument of engendering governance. The challenge before a rights-based view of governance is to ensure that all the three generation of rights (civil and political, economic and cultural) are in place. This would imply that they should be seen as interdependent and equally important to accomplish. Consequently, it would encompass not only the formal structures of power in the three realms of governance (state, market and civil society), but also the informal structures of power, the family and the household as well. A rights-based view of governance encourages forms of governance that are more participatory and endorses the making of claims rather than passive receiving of quotas (ibid.: 124). The advantages discussed by Jayal of a rights-based conceptualisation of governance include—a rights or entitlement-based approach places obligations upon government and society to protect and promote the realisation of rights; it mandates governments to provide enabling conditions within which rights may be claimed; it facilitates in identification of obstacles that prevent realisation of rights; and it also

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engages with both processes (participatory) and outcomes of governance. The latter is important for women for a gender-equitable outcome and its sustainability. The Constitution of India, for example, provides equal rights to all, meaning that there should be no discrimination by gender, religion and other divisions. But does this equal opportunity ensure equality in outcome for women and men? Constitutions have been a male preserve, argues Coomaraswamy (2004), where men made the provisions and women operated within these structures by and large determined by male attitudes and concerns. However, with debates on gender equality in governance, ‘there is a recognition that women’s voices must be heard in Constitution making, Constitution drafting and Constitutional interpretation (ibid.: 205). Women are concerned about security in everyday life, social and economic rights, and the need for equality among other needs. Although women have been active at the micro level (in SHGs, income generation and delivery of some social services) the world of macro-level politics and macro-economics has been a far reach for them. Therefore, Coomaraswamy strongly puts forth that unless women fight for changes in the basic constitutional and economic structures of society, the gains they make at the local level will not grant them the full equality they deserve in the process of democratic governance. The CWDS task force (2002) is of the view that in the Indian context, the ethical framework of gender-sensitive governance is already provided within the Constitution, which upholds the principles of gender equality, gender justice and the dignity of the individual. The concept of human rights from a gender perspective is subsumed in them. Thus, without this ethical framework, the current debate on the instrumentalities of good governance in terms of participation, accountability, transparency and legitimacy is self-defeating. Women continue to suffer subordination and exclusion, both within and outside the family, in spite of gender-neutral categories of citizenship, and the availability of rights is constrained for those belonging to marginal groups and women belonging to these groups (ibid.). Engendering institutions of national governance implies ensuring that they are accountable to women as citizens. This would involve changing rules, procedures and priorities that exclude the participation of poor women and the incorporation of their interests in the development agenda; and mobilising and organising women’s voices in the civil society (Mukhopadhyay 2003: 52). Assesssment of how far institutions are engendered can be done by using the twin criteria of processes (participatory) and outcomes (gender-equitable) as suggested by Jayal (2003). She further recommends using Molyneux’s practical gender needs and strategic gender needs to especially assess policy outcomes. Gender audits are also a measure to ensure that both women and men participate equally in the process of governance and development—constitutional guarantees, macro policies, development projects, statistics and indicators, documents of state and national governments, of housing, water, energy, environment and other policies, and finally of budgets. The need for having gender-sensitive budgets is picking up in many countries, including India. The UN system advocates gender-sensitive budgets as one of the several instruments for placing gender at the centre of the national policy agenda (Banerjee and Krishnaraj 2004). As market and civil society are gaining ground and prominence under the new governance paradigm, there is a need to use gender audits in these domains as well to ensure gender justice and equality.

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This chapter has mainly discussed the theme of engendering governance in the domains of state, market and civil society. The emphasis is generally on engendering state structures of governance both in development debates and practice. In this volume, however, a modest attempt has been made to broaden the canvas of engendering by including civil society and market institutions that also have important contributions to make in governance and trigger gender-equitable processes that could have long-term impacts on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The contributions provide some directions at engendering governance institutions in all the three domains. They primarily deal with the problems, prospects, challenges and strategies for engendering governance. Each of the domains has their strengths and drawbacks, but the question remains whether there is a possibility to bring about a synergy among the three. Further, the state, being in a position to legislate and formulate regulations and laws, could take the initiative to bring about a synergy among the three stakeholders.

ORGANISATION OF THE VOLUME The volume is divided into five sections. Section I comprises two chapters. In addition to the introduction, there is a chapter on ‘Gender Mainstreaming, Equity and Good Governance’ by Kumud Sharma, which discusses some of the key debates in gender mainstreaming, equity and good governance, and how mainstreaming arguments have reframed issues of equity and governance. It is affirmed that women’s struggles for voice and visibility have reformulated the parameters of the debate on equality, justice and participation. Two sets of issues are considered important—operationalisation of these concepts within governance discourse, and legal frameworks and the institutional matrix that determine terms of exclusion and tensions between gender-specific exclusions. It is important to build collective agendas and shape new institutional spaces that support the women’s movement. Some challenges in this respect are whether the national governance agenda contains the hope of redistribution of power and resources to achieve gender equity and justice; the sufficiency of spaces available to women as change agents; and enabling structures to provide such negotiating spaces alongside those traditional institutions that women have to continuously confront. The author argues how there is a need to change the prevailing situation so that women have greater access to power and a voice in governance. Section II focuses on state, gender and governance. A chapter on people’s planning campaign (PPC) in Kerala by J. Devika provides a critical feminist perspective to analyse the interactions between political and civil societies in the shaping of specific developmental interventions by the state. Implemented in the mid-1990s, the PPC was hailed as an important experiment in mainstreaming gender concerns in development. Based on the distinction between civil society and political society given by Partha Chatterjee, the chapter examines a few questions essentially historical in nature, around the fact that political society in Kerala has never displayed any acute concern for gender justice, and that this remains a marginal issue, even within civil society. Therefore, it is analysed

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under what conditions gender came to be acknowledged as a key element in a political experiment as momentous as the PPC. The second chapter presents an analysis of the Mahila Samakhya (MSK) in Karnataka by Sangeetha Purushothaman and Suchitra Vedanth, which is a programme initiated by the central government. It deals with the role of the grassroots women’s networks supported by the MSK in engendering local governance. Governance is seen as a process in which the role of networking is examined in steering governance towards pro-poor and pro-women outcomes in different social spheres. The authors make a distinction between improved and engendered governance and have applied it to the relationships between networks and governance process. The chapter highlights the mutual investment and resource sharing that aptly describes the new form of relationship between the state and the civil society (popularly referred to as GONGO). Federations of women’s sanghas (collectives) have emerged as a force and an organisational form playing a new and important role in transforming and challenging traditional governance hierarchies and practices, and eventually towards engendering governance. The chapter on human rights, panchayats and women by Bidyut Mohanty discusses the potential created by women’s agency/change agents of ‘restorative justice’ in panchayats, thereby compensating for the violation of human rights. Several instances of women as justice givers are described. The author has also discussed the potential of women leaders in engendering governance. The chapter on city consultation as an approach for gender-responsive local urban governance in different Asian countries by Girija Shrestha has discussed the coming together of local authorities, the private sector, community representatives and other stakeholders in a city to deliberate on specific issues and solutions relating to environmental management, poverty alleviation, governance and HIV/AIDS with gender as a cross-cutting component. Examples are drawn from Cambodia, Lao PDR, India and Nepal. The chapter on redefining an agenda for governance by Meera Velayudhan has looked at gender and policy planning through the national Five-Year Plans. It is observed that despite policy shifts from welfare to women’s empowerment, there is still a considerable difference in women’s and men’s access to and opportunities for exerting power over economic structures in society. The author has suggested that at the policy level there is a need for system-wide coherence vis-à-vis all state level laws and policies. What emerges is an inter-sectionality of policies, which is an area of advocacy and research. Section III is focused on market, gender and governance. The chapter on engendering market mechanisms by Nirmala Banerjee discusses the gendered situation of Indian woman workers as sellers of their labour in changing market conditions. The author argues how neo-classical economics ignores the factors that are responsible for women’s shortcomings as workers. She recommends that for empowering women in the economy, there is a need to develop institutions that can curb the patriarchal tendencies of various authorities such as the state, private employers and the trade unions. Apart from institutions, the role of the Indian state and its constitutional mandate is very important for engendering market mechanism is what Banerjee strongly puts forth. The second chapter on the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) attempts to link women working in the informal sector to formal markets. It addresses the major barriers

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faced by women workers in integrating into mainstream market systems. SEWA is engaged in several efforts to organise, empower and integrate women workers into the mainstream market. Three case studies are presented in the chapter, depicting SEWA’s strategies to strengthen business processes and establish strong market linkages at all levels—from local markets to the domestic/national and global markets—thereby portraying one way to engender market mechanisms. Section IV deals with civil society, gender and governance. The chapter on women’s movements and governance by Indu Agnihotri attempts to link the present discourse on governance at an international level, its influence on national policies and perspectives (for example, food security, employment guarantee act and the population debate), and the experience of women’s movements in India. The author builds on the need for adoption of a theoretical and historically analytical approach to issues of governance by looking at the social, economic, political and institutional origins, as well as their ramifications in the context of a seemingly incontestable consensus. The second chapter in this section is on the role of informal institutions in engendering governance by Ratna Sudarshan. It has used three case studies in suggesting ways to engender governance—to ensure that the enabling and decentralised framework of governance created through panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) is engendered and assisted in taking local roots; to support and encourage local groups of empowered women to handle larger agenda and join hands with men to develop local institutions for governance; and, finally, the contribution of women’s groups to engender formal governance structures such as the panchayat. The third chapter in this section is on engendering cooperative governance, with specific reference to the Women Dairy Cooperative Societies (WDCS) in Gujarat, by Smita Mishra Panda, and deals with how, in spite of proliferation of the WDCS, which has brought many women into the cooperative fold, their contribution to the governance of the societies is limited by traditional patriarchal structures and a lack of motivation on the part of the milk union to consider gender as a constituency for equity and women’s empowerment. The experience drawn from a study conducted in the Valsad region of Gujarat indicates that women in the dairying business have great potential to participate effectively not only in WDCS governance, but also in other public institutions at the village level. Section V dwells on the assessment of gender sensitivity in governance. The chapter on gender audits as an input to engendering governance by Vibhuti Patel provides an overview of the policies and programmes that have deconstructed and reconstructed gender relations in India. It is observed that although there is a lot of interest by the government to undertake gender audits for different programmes, implementation is yet to be institutionalised in the formal structures of governance. Through gender audits women are viewed as active participants in the process of governance, and the challenge is to develop capacities for a gender-aware policy framework for decision makers in the government structures, gram sabhas, legislative assemblies, parliament, judiciary and legal system, educational institutions, corporate world, financial and funding institutions, local national and international NGOs, human rights organisations and audiovisual media. Finally, the chapter on engendering governance of Karnataka PRIs by N. Shantha Mohan is an important contribution in terms of action research. Using

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a three-dimensional approach of research, intervention and advocacy, the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, attempted to work towards the process of engendering governance of PRIs in three districts of Karnataka. The author has developed a framework to assess engendered governance and has applied the same to the Karnataka PRI study.

REFERENCES Agnihotri, I. and V. Majumdar. 1995. ‘Changing Terms of Political Discourse: Women’s Movement in India, 1970s–1990s’, Economic and Political Weekly, 30 (29): 1869–78. Anandhi, S. 2002. ‘Interlocking Patriarchies and Women in Governance: A Case study of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Tamil Nadu’, in Karin Kapadia (ed.), Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women: 425–58. Baden, S. 2000. ‘Gender Governance and Feminisation of Poverty’, in Women’s Political Participation and Good Governance: 21st Century Challenges. New Delhi: UNDP: 27–40. Banerjee, N. and M. Krishnaraj. 2004. ‘Sieving Budgets for Gender’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39 (44): 4788–91. Basu, A. 2003. ‘Gender and Governance: Concepts and Contexts’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: Human Development Research Centre (UNDP): 20–58. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. 1995. Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace. Beijing: United Nations. Bhatt, E. 1999. Moving Towards People Centred Economy. Ahmedabad: Self Employed Women’s Association. Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS). (2002. ‘Gender and Governance: A Country Paper’. CEDS, New Delhi. Coomaraswamy, R. 2004. ‘Engendering the Constitution-Making Process’, in R. Coomaraswamy and Dilrukshi Fonseka (eds), Peace Work: Women, Armed Conflict and Negotiation. New Delhi: Women Unlimited: 185–207. CSDS Data Unit. 2004. Lokniti: Programme for Comparative Democracy. Delhi: Centre for Study of Developing Societies. D’Cunha, Jean. 2006. From the Margins to the Mainstream: Women in Political Decision making in Thailand. Bangkok: UNIFEM East and Southeast Asia Regional Office. Datta, B. (ed.) 2000, ‘And Who Will Make the Chappatis?’ A Study of All-Women Panchayats in Maharashtra. Mumbai: Stree. Devika, J. and P. Kodoth. 2001, ‘Sexual Violence and Predicament of Feminist Politics in Kerala’, Economic and Political Weekly, 36(33): 3170–77. Government of India (GOI). 2002. Tenth Five Year Plan (2002–2007). New Delhi: Planning Commission. Haq, M. 2000. Human Development in South Asia: The Gender Question. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Hensman, R. 2004. ‘Globalising Women and Work: What are We Talking About’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39(10): 1030–34. Jain, D. 2001. The Vocabulary of Women’s Politics. New Delhi: Freidinch-Ebert-Stifting. Jayal, N.G. 2003. ‘Locating Gender in the Governance Discourse’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: Human Development Research Centre (UNDP): 96–134. Lowe Morna, C. 2002. Gender and Governance: A Proposed World Bank Action Plan. Washington: World Bank. Mayaram, S. 2002. ‘New Modes of Violence: The Backlash Against Women in the Panchayat System’, in Karin Kapadia (ed.),The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women: 393–424.

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Mayntz, R. (1998) ‘New Challenges to Governance Theory’. Jean Monet Chair Papers, No.5, Florence: European University Institute. Miranda, Linda T. 2005. ‘Impact of Women’s Participation and Leadership on Outcomes’. Expert Group Meeting on Equal Participation of Women and Men in Decision making Processes, with Emphasis on Political Participation and Leadership, 24–27 October, Addis Ababa: United Nations. Mukhopadhyay, M. 2003. ‘Creating Citizens Who Demand Just Governance: Gender and Development in the Twenty First Century’, Gender and Development, 11(3): 45–56. Narayanan, R. 2002. ‘Grassroots, Gender and Governance: Panchayati Raj Experiences from Mahila Samakhya Karnataka’, in Karin Kapadia (ed.),The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women: 295–351. Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2000. Gender and Good Governance (Draft). The Hague: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. NRCW. 1998. Shramshakti: Report of the National Commission on Self Employed Women in the Informal Sector. New Delhi: National Resource Centre for Women. Nussbaum, M. 2003. ‘Gender and Governance: An Introduction’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: Human Development Research Centre (UNDP): 1–19. Peters, B.G. and J. Pierre. 1998. ‘Governance Without Government? Rethinking Public Administration’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 8(2): 223–43. Radha, S. and B.R. Roy Chowdhury. 2002. ‘Women in Local Bodies’. Discussion Paper Series, Thiruvanathapuram: Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development, CDS. Rai, Shirin. 1999. ‘Democratic Institutions, Political Representation and Women’s Empowerment: The Quota Debate in India’, Democratisation, 6(3): 84–99. Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Sen, G.1995. Markers on the Way, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era. ———. 2003. ‘Feminist Politics in a Fundamentalist World’, in Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay (ed.), Governing for Equity: Gender, Citizenship and Governance. Amsterdam KIT: 24–26. SEWA 2006. http://www.sewa.org/aboutus/structine-asp Tambiah, Y. 2003. ‘The Impact of Gender Inequality on Governance’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: Human Development Research Centre (UNDP): 59–95 Taylor, V. 2000. Marketising Governance: Critical Feminist Perspectives from the South. Singapore: Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era. UNDP. 1997. ‘Governance for Sustainable Human Development, A UNDP Policy Paper’. New York: United Nations Development Programme. ———. 2000. Human Development Report for South Asia: The Gender Question. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ———. 2004. Human Development Report, New York. United Nations Development Programme. UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW). 2005. Achievements, Gaps and Challenges in Linking the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration and MDGs (Report of the Expert Group Meeting, February). United Nations. UNRISD. 2005. Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. Geneva: United Nations. Vyasalu, P. and V. Vyasalu. 2000. ‘Women in the Panchayati Raj: Grassroots Democracy in India’, in Women’s Political Participation and Good Governance: 21st Century Challenges. New Delhi: UNDP: 41–48. WEDO. 2005. Beijing Betrayed: Women Worldwide Report that Governments Have Failed to Turn the Platform into Action. New York: The Women’s Environment and Development Organisation. World Bank. 1992. World Development Report. Washington, D.C. World Bank.

2 Gender Mainstreaming, Equity and Good Governance Kumud Sharma

INTRODUCTION

T

HIS chapter discusses key debates in this triad of mainstreaming, equity and governance, and how ‘mainstreaming’ arguments have reframed issues of equity and governance. The issues are addressed from two perspectives. First, it is proposed to critically review the theoretical premises of the mainstreaming approach, its assumptions and presuppositions and conceptual tools to interrogate policies and institutions of governance. Second, it is proposed to look at various approaches that have been attempted in the last three decades to institutionalise women’s issues within structures of governance and how the latter have responded to concerns raised by the resurgent women’s movement. Within the liberal rights discourse, ideas of democracy, equity and justice have been an integral part of the political agenda of state, and yet many questions remain unresolved. Rethinking governance agenda from a gender perspective and institutionalising gender equity concerns remain an ambitious project. Is governance for growth and economic efficiency or for equity and social justice? Has it become a techno-managerial concept or does it promote greater participation and representation of people? How does it address issues of plurality, diversity and inequality? These questions acquire significance particularly in the changed political landscape, the rise of neo-liberalism, and challenge to engage system of governance both at the national and global level. Economic and social policy reforms are reconfiguring women’s rights in many ways even threatening to reverse earlier gains in some areas. The new policy regimes based on market-led developmental model exacerbate inequalities. The process of equity enhancement is often uneven and involves resistance, conflict and accommodation.

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Throughout the world in the 1980s and 1990s income inequalities have risen, poverty has remained a persistent problem, and insignificant progress has been made in improving women’s rights and entitlements. Democratic systems expected to be the most effective in promoting gender equality and social justice are under severe pressure. Agendas at Global Conferences and Summits (Rio 1992; Vienna and Copenhagen 1985; Cairo and Beijing 1995) as well as national responses and initiatives since the 1970s have been shaped by growing engagement of women’s movement with state and non-state actions and processess. Women’s own understanding and perspectives on citizenship rights, democracy, decentralised governance, participatory development, nature of state and sites of contestation have provided ideological bases for linking up women and development issues with governance. The issues of gender and governance actually flow out from the concerns shaped by women activists, tribals, dalits and other marginalised groups. The restricted understanding of this discourse within the establishment, and the gap between progressive rhetoric of official documents and lackadaisical initiatives to address gender issues in a decontextualised manner and noninclusive tendencies or exclusions in macro structures need to be continuously confronted.

WHAT DOES ‘MAINSTREAMING GENDER’ IMPLY? Gender mainstreaming appeared in the international context after the Third UN Conference on Women in Nairobi (1985) and acquired wide usage after the Beijing Conference on Women and the Platform for Action (1995) as a main strategy for achieving gender equality. Post-Nairobi mainstreaming emerged as a new strategy due to slow progress and continued marginalisation of women. Women’s movement highlighted the role of public institutions in maintaining women’s subordinate position. They questioned the presumed gender neutrality of public institutions as they reinforce and contribute to gender inequalities through their assumptions, activities and work procedures. The Beiging Platform for Action (BPFA) declared that ‘women’s issues are global and universal and PFA is a powerful agenda for the empowerment of women and calls for the integration of gender perspective in all policies and programmes’ (BPFA 1995). In 1996, the Commonwealth ministers responsible for women’s affairs mandated the Commonwealth Secretariat to develop the concept of gender mainstreaming and a comprehensive network of structures, mechanisms and processes for bringing a gender perspective to bear upon the mainstream of all government policies, programmes and projects. The Secretarial defined gender mainstreaming ‘as an approach to advance gender equality that involves addressing gender inequalities in all aspects of development, across all sectors and programmes. It is not simply about ensuring that women’s position is improved within existing frameworks which are dominated by women. Gender is mainstreamed when the development processes and frameworks are transformed in ways that ensure the participation and empowerment of women as well as men, especially in the decision making process.’

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Another elaboration of the concept states that mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. While the concept of ‘mainstreaming’ has gained momentum, however, layers of illusion and myths, false generalisations and mystification often leave women’s concerns invisible. The ‘integrationist approach’ by gender advocates in the 1970s began as a response to the invisible, marginalised and segregated approach to women’s concerns within the mainstream policy agenda. The rationale for integrating gender concerns into policies and planning process provides a variety of arguments built around welfare, efficiency and equity costs of exclusion of women. In the 1970s, the integrationist discourse focused more on poverty, work and basic needs as women were predominantly represented among the poor and were largely responsible for the family’s subsistence needs. In the 1980s the integrationist argument shifted to ‘efficiency-based’ approaches emphasising the significant contribution that women made to the economy, and the importance of addressing women’s concerns within planning and implementation of development programmes. The neo-liberal policies in the 1990s, critique of marketdriven paradigm of development, and the arguments of ‘development with a human face’ refocused the debate on poverty, and economic growth, and its impact on women. The ‘incorporationist’ policies were obvious in the target group approach, which relied upon uniform packages or modules for women in poorer households in a decontextualised manner and without making any attempt to understand the dynamics of gender relations. Women continued to be identified as needy beneficiaries of underfunded, residual and target-oriented programmes. The Declaration of the National Convention of Women in Beijing (1995) questioned the very premise of global attempts to ‘redress’ women’s inequality and bondage through the slogan of ‘integration of women in mainstream development’. The WID approach was institutionalised in the mid-1970s, though it failed to institutionalise a gender perspective within the policies and practices of mainstream development or within structures of governance. The term ‘mainstreaming’ was readily appropriated by government documents, but the substantive content of mainstreaming was often missing. Mainstreaming signified different things to different people. However, a distinction was made between ‘integrationist’ agenda setting and ‘transformative’ approach to mainstreaming. Jahan (1995) distinguishes between ‘integrationist’ and ‘agenda setting’ mainstreaming. The transformative version of the mainstreaming approach attempts to shift gender perspectives from their marginal locations to the centre of the development agenda in both institutional and ideological terms. Transformative strategies are obviously politically more ambitious and require political mobilisation and active engagement of women with state institutions for developing more nuanced and alternative ways of doing things.

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SHIFT FROM WOMEN TO GENDER (WID TO GAD) IN DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE Initial debates to include women in development policies and programmes described as the ‘WID approach’ were to counter women’s invisibility and marginality in development planning and interventions, and make their contributions visible. It began with an uncritical acceptance of existing social structures and state institutions and focused on integrating women into development initiatives. A common programmatic agenda and changing practices of development that excluded women unified the WID advocates. However, they did not raise the basic issue of power relations in the institutional context. The early efforts of WID advocates led to some shifts in viewing women’s role in the development process (it generated a demand for disaggregated data, policy commitments, creation of mechanism, and women’s programme units within state structures). The approach was critiqued for its ‘enclave approach’ trying to address women’s concern through small but marginal ‘women-only’ projects and failing to make any impact on mainstream development strategies. It was also criticised for the nonideological stance of WID protagonists and as ‘liberal feminism’ ignoring structural inequalities (Tinker 1990). The WID discourse had a distinct bias to economic issues and downplayed women’s subordination and systemic inequalities. It held planner’s prejudices responsible for women’s marginalisation. The contribution made by the WID discourse had severe limitations as a ‘politics of change’ as it did not challenge gender inequalities. The WID arguments dislodged the earlier ‘welfare approach’ and marked a point of departure from the earlier intellectual traditions of seeing women as a target of welfare. However, it also presumed the gender neutrality of the development agencies and processes of development and modernisation. Voices from the South countered many of the WID arguments and were responsible for the emergence of an alternative strand of policy advocacy rooted in more structural analysis of women’s marginalisation within the development process. The women and development (WAD) arguments focused on the process of development and institutional mechanisms, and their responses to the question of gender inequalities. Tinker (1990) identified three planning errors in WAD approaches—omission, reinforcement of pre-existing values, and addition or superimposition of western values and ideologies regarding appropriate work for women. Public institutions continued to be the focus of gender advocates. Some believe that despite these flaws, WID scholarship and the anti-poverty and efficiency arguments paid off and were conducive to advocacy (Buvinic 1986; Moser 1989). Shift from women to gender (WAD to GAD) was an attempt to focus on unequal power relations between women and men rather than using the category of women in an uncritical and isolated manner. The GAD approach not only addresses gender inequalities within development processes, but goes beyond the relational analysis and addresses institutional basis of male power and privileges, both within the household and within the so-called gender-neutral institutions where public policies are framed

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and decisions are taken. It focuses on the fact that inequalities emanate from gender differences. To institutionalise a gender perspective requires engaging with each site of power, which produces or reinforces gender inequalities. Gender relations and their intersections with other social relations operate within each site of power and in all institutional contexts. A counter-view, however, claims that the use of the term ‘gender’ denies the existence of women-specific disadvantages and oppressions.

GENDER-RELATIONAL FRAMEWORK IN THE WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE The concept of ‘gender relations’ was used to provide the framework for specific organisational forms, which in turn, through the operation of tradition, customs or legal constraint, tend to create durable and routinised patterns of behaviour. Gender relations may be more explicit in some institutional locations, but always interacting to shape the identities, practices and life choices of different groups of men and women. Kabeer (1994) argues that Gender hierarchies are not seamlessly and uniformly woven into institutionalized structures. They are produced dynamically through the interaction of familial gender ideologies and distinct institutional practices. Gender acts as a pervasive allocational principle linking production with reproduction, domestic with public domain, macro economy with micro institutions within which development process unfolds.

GENDER ANALYSIS FRAMEWORKS BEING USED FOR INTERVENTION A widely shared view among feminists as to why development initiatives so often fail is that gender has practically become synonymous with women, and ‘gender mainstreaming’ often does not result in making gender issues an integral part of development thinking and practice. The approaches, goals and methodologies used to explore the various dimensions of the gender and development equation remain ambiguous. Most GAD advocates agree to a ‘twin-track approach’, that is, integrating and maintaining a special focus through a specific mechanism, programme units and programmes for women, and mainstreaming to avoid ghettoisation or cooption of gender issues. A more serious problem seems to be how to conceptualise the ‘gender relation framework’ that captures the complex and multivariant analysis. Interpretations involve both analysis, judgement and choices. To probe the question of equity or equal opportunity, we must explore the bases upon which gender equity is assessed and re-examine how changes in gender relations are conceptualised and measured. For over two decades now gender analysis frameworks have influenced development thinking and practice, and have been discussed by March et al. (1999) in greater details. A few of them are:

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1. The Moser Framework: Initially it was Maxine Molyneux (1984, 1986) who identified practical and strategic gender needs in the early 1970s. Caroline Moser (1989) adopted it for gender planning in her ‘triple roles’ framework. 2. The Harvard Framework: One of the first of its kind, it uses a matrix for the collection of gender-disaggregated data at household and community level to argue about allocation of resources to women. 3. The Gender Analysis Matrix: This emphasises bottom-up participatory approaches and people’s own analysis and understanding in bringing about transformations. The focus is on four main areas: labour, time, resources and socio-cultural factors. 4. The Social Relations Framework (Kabeer 1994): It explores structural relationships that determine institutional spaces within the household, community, market and the state, and enable women to act as agents of development. 5. The Capability Framework: According to this, deprivations are caused both by lack of access to resources as well as lack of freedom and self-determination of autonomy (Sen 1999). A capability approach is closely linked to a right-based approach (Nussbaum 2000). 6. The Women’s Empowerment Framework (Longwe 1999): It addresses issues of women’s empowerment and equality through welfare, access, conscientisation, participation and control. It is usually argued that there is a shift in approach from welfare to empowerment and to rights-based. The embeddedness of these rights within unequal social relations and cultural ideologies, however, constantly create tension. The GAD arguments, whether pitched at the levels of macro structures or located at micro-level realities, the gender/social relation approach, are basically concerned with explaining how relations of class, caste and gender mediate social realities and get translated into gains and losses within broader processes of social change, which is neither unidirectional nor unilinear. Competing approaches to women’s issues are grounded in different views of the problems of inequalities as well as the nature of exclusions. Equity and justice form the core principles of this debate, but different understanding and approaches are rooted in different ideological assumptions and commitments. The advocacy also varies and is contingent on the political force and interpretive powers (Molyneux and Razavi 2003). The politics of gender relations is shaped by different political and economic contexts, varying levels of development, and class, caste, ethnic and religious divisions. Some believe that the gender and development discourse in India has evolved without firm roots either in gender studies or in the Indian women’s movement. Simplified notions of gender as socially constructed differences between men and women were popularised by some aid agencies, NGOs and government departments. This liberal notion of gender does not challenge the paradigm of economic growth that benefitted from gender differences. Several frameworks that became popular in the 1990s do not say much on the complex processes of women’s subordination or empowerment (Murthy 2001).

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MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO POLICIES AND THE PLANNING PROCESS: ARGUMENTS FOR EQUITY AND GENDER JUSTICE The rationale for mainstreaming gender concerns into policies and into the planning process provides a variety of arguments built around welfare, efficiency and equity costs of exclusion of women. It is also argued that bureaucracies are not monolithic and impermeable, and through a strategy of engagement it is possible to promote changes within existing bureaucratic structures. ‘Gender blind policies premised on the notion of a male dominated actor, are the consequences of inappropriate assumptions and are a result of errors of compartmentalising, aggregating, eternalising and depoliticising understanding of gender relations’ (Kabeer and Subramaniam 1999). Mainstreaming could also be a source of legitimation of status quo interests as policy goals are framed and stated in universalistic terms. Selective issues entering mainstream means compromises and co-option of the agenda and language of women’s movement without a transformative impact. Institutions pursuing growth and efficiency often downplay systemic gender biases and inequalities. Several arguments for gender-sensitive policies and pay-offs have been identified, and are discussed further.

The Basic/Minimum Needs Argument Need-based arguments for gender justice are more oriented to a welfare approach. Within ‘gender and poverty’ debates, the emphasis on poor women’s needs was less threatening to male bureaucracy and programme implementers who were otherwise resistant to female incursion within bureaucracy. Anti-poverty approach was a toned down version of the equity approach or what Jackson 1996 calls ‘equity stripped of gender politics’. The gender and poverty discourse transformed mainstream understanding and approaches, particularly in the 1990s; by emphasising social and economic costs of adjustment policies, gender-based market distortions leading to allocative inefficiencies, intra-household inequalities in resource allocation and bargaining, waste of resources from reproductive labour or prioritising productive after human provisioning—what Palmer calls ‘reproductive tax’ (1991). While the ‘feminisation of poverty’ debate based on a number of hypotheses has serious empirical and methodological gaps, it has provided a useful platform to raise demands for equity and justice. Poverty is a by-product of denial and deprivations, but it is also a political process. By constructing women as a ‘disadvantaged category’ and bracketing them with SC/ ST and other weaker sections, policies addressing equity and social justice issues often emphasise the attitudinal nature of disadvantages while ignoring unequal power relations. The approach to such formulations is often based on certain assumptions about women’s traditional roles and responsibilities, and the nature of constraints they

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face. Intervention programmes as a response to structural discrimination expect ‘equal results’ through affirmative action. The target group approach or affirmative action legislation address an identity category ignoring differences. Problems of poverty and women’s inequality in the labour market cannot be addressed by a focus on credit programme or SHGs. Policy approaches are constructed on equally impoverished views of women’s lives. Equitable organisational arrangement is not all about narrow distributional concerns of equity, but exercise of power and the fundamental preconditions for the development of alternative arrangements (Pateman 1992).

The Efficiency Argument This addresses the consequences of ignoring or excluding women from development planning framework. The negative impact of adjustment policies on women not only politicized feminist scholarship but reformulated the efficiency argument (Moser 1989; Palmer 1991). It had tremendous appeal. However, others argued for a more humancentred approach conducive to gender equity (Beneria 1995; Elson 1992; Sen and Grown 1985).

The Equity Argument The equity approach has not only attracted a great deal of attention, but is a main driving force of feminist politics. This approach values equity for intrinsic rather than instrumental value. Kabeer (1994) suggests that gender equity should be premised on the notion of social justice rather than search for formal equality. Planning for gender equity requires recognition of the implications of the gender division of labour, women’s different needs and priorities, and their differential access to resources and power. Equity based on differences goes beyond equality of opportunity, or removal of discriminatory practices or barriers and argues for affirmative action. Can public institutions that have displayed biased views about women’s roles and capacities be relied upon to implement goals of gender equity?

INSTITUTIONALISING GENDER THROUGH SPECIAL PROGRAMMES AND MECHANISMS WITHIN THE STATE STRUCTURE: MAINSTREAMING VERSUS GHETTOISATION During the 1970s most governments set up national machineries and WID units within state structures. National machineries legitimated gender issues and allowed women to influence broader political, economic and social processes. Some of the strategic gains included changes in conceptualisation of women’s issues, policy analysis and monitoring, alliance building, reviving debates and databases, and so on. Currently,

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mechanisms include a Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD 1985), The National Commission for Women (1992), a Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women that monitors the efforts of the Government of India, and a Committee for Monitoring of Gender Mainstreaming functions within the DWCD (it monitors more than 47 beneficiary-oriented schemes). Official documents also claim that development planning for women has moved from welfare to development, and to equity and empowerment. A National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001) has been adopted. The Ninth Plan Document (1997–2002) recognised ‘empowered women as agents of social change’, which signified a shift from WID to a gender approach. These agencies have largely remained marginal and under-resourced, and many of the action points identified have not been translated into budgetary allocations. The linkages between women’s programme units, institutional structures and women’s constituency have remained weak because of structural and sectoral locations of national machinery and other mechanisms. They have remained as ‘peripheries of mainstream development concerns’ (Goetz 1995). They never formed the core of budgeting and personnel policy within bureaucratic processes, nor were they able to significantly influence other governance structures. Given that gender is a cross-sectoral issue, it has to be internalised by sectorally divided ministries/departments. With a focal point doing the advocacy work, gender mainstreaming has to deal with the problems of marginalisation, ghettoisation (through women’s bureaus, programme units and women-specific projects), and ‘misbehaviour of women’s projects’ (Buvinic 1986). Despite a progressive stance and various commitments made at international fora, there is lack of ownership of the GAD agenda. Razavi and Miller (1995) use the term ‘WID/gender entrepreneurs’ who provide convincing justifications for the relevance of these issues to their ‘organizational activities’. Here the term ‘entrepreneur’ denotes specialised knowledge and bargaining skills which the word advocacy does not convey (ibid.). There is a note of caution for those doing gender advocacy within government structures and those who sometimes personalise WID/gender issues, as this can intensify the resistance of bureaucrats unless, ‘policy entrepreneurs can couch it in a non-conflictual language’ (Staudt 1995). There are conflicting views on the state as a vehicle for equity and social justice. Does the state have the capacity to act as a regulator of otherwise unconstructed and unexpected outcomes of growth and development strategies and market behaviour unless policies dealing with disadvantaged sections entail certain normative questions? Women’s struggles around issues of access to resources, survival, livelihood, food security, etc. have led to the search for new institutional mechanisms. The quest has resulted in several state initiatives—such as allocation of 40 per cent resources for women in anti-poverty programmes, joint land titles, component plan, gender-sensitive budgets, specialised machineries, women’s representation in PRIs, and interventions by the education system to promote women’s equality (National Policy on Education, 1986). However, the challenge of pushing state machineries to locate gender issues more centrally remains. It is important to build transformative agenda, and shape institutional spaces that support the demand and aspirations of the women’s movement.

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Issues of institutionalising women’s concerns means pursuing transformative agenda through both discursive strategies and through engagement. It could be the strategy of ‘entryism’ (Bangura 1997) to gradually transform the procedure, goals and culture of institutions along gender-equitable lines. Fraser (1989) talks about deinstitutionalising male bias by working on at least three fronts—at the discursive level, in defining rules and procedures that shape practices, and at the level of resource allocation. The strategies of engagement or confrontational discourses are rooted in structuralist understanding of women’s subordination (ibid.). The engagement strategy is to promote change within existing bureaucratic structures (Reinelt 1995). The ‘politics of engagement’ views mainstream (discourses) and institutions as the key terrain of political struggle. This approach is contrasted with a ‘disengagement strategy’, which is sceptical of the ability of bureaucratic structures to promote women’s concern. Feminism as an oppositional discourse is endangered by too close a contact with bureaucratic, linguistic and institutional forms. The requirement of conformity dilutes feminist voices as they enter bureaucracies (Ferguson 1984). Those who are concerned with the gender neutrality of public institutions and development agencies argue for a ‘disengagement strategy’. A counter-view argues that state institutions are too important to be ignored despite their shortcomings. The developmental state has remained a site for feminist struggle, however, transformative agenda has to be built on women’s resources and should expand the space for gender justice.

FROM SYMBOLIC RECOGNITION TO POLITICAL COMMITMENT: MAINSTREAMING GENDER OR GENDERED GOVERNANCE? The gender mainstreaming agenda emphasises a ‘gender equality perspective’ within institutions of governance including those sectors that are supposedly gender neutral. What is the difference between ‘mainstreaming gender’ and ‘gendered governance’? Gendered governance means moving beyond symbolic recognition of gender as a concern and institutionalising a commitment through policies, programmes and institutional mechanisms. The gender and governance debate not only questions assumptions of development policies but reframes issues of gender equality and justice. These concepts explore the basis of gender discrimination and the relationship between the state and non-state processes. The concepts of rights and justice have provided ideological bases for much of the political dynamism displayed by people’s organisations. Embeddedness of these rights within unequal social and gender relations, culture and ideologies entail certain normative questions. Governance is seen through many lenses. There are a variety of contexts and actors— state market, civil society, people’s movements which define the framework of governance. Issues of governance cannot be seen in isolation of the framework of power and organisation of social relations. A narrow definition of governance focuses on economic and administrative governance. A broader one encompasses political governance also. How does it address issues of pluralism, diversity, inequalities and tensions

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operating within an unequal system? Does linking development with governance issues mean closing gender gaps, or does it mean empowerment of women through participation and representation? Has the state ceased to be an agent of egalitarian ideology? The ‘gender, equity and governance’ arguments are premised on: 1. The state having the primary responsibility to safeguard and promote citizens’ well-being. 2. The state being the primary instrument for dealing with social and economic inequalities and injustices as governance encompasses state-society interaction. 3. The quality of governance being strongly influenced by the ability of people to participate in democratic processes and institution building. To what extent can the institutions that have shown systematic biases and stereotyped views about women be relied upon to implement goals of gender equity? What are the ideological fault lines that subvert goals of gender equity and justice? The current discourse on governance marks a shift from a structure-based to a processbased and from a state-power-centred definition of governance to a democratic citizenship-based argument with emphasis on rights, autonomy and participation. Jayal (2003) identifies three broad domains of social action—state, market and civil society and argues that the recognition of this plurality of domain is arguably the most distinctive features of the new definitions of governance. The concept of ‘good governance’ was popularised by Bretton Woods institutions in the context of what they term as a crisis of governance in developing countries. The UNDP definition1 however, emphasises human development, direction of social intervention, development that does not marginalise variety of voices, and commitment to the values of democracy and accountability. The concept was soon turned into a managerial one, and its four key dimensions included efficiency, accountability, legal framework, information and transparency. The alternative conceptualisations emerged from a plurality of actors with greater emphasis on participation, decentralisation, accountability, responsiveness, and issues of equity and justice. Reconceptualisation could partially be attributed to social and political struggles against iniquitous development. The Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS) organised five regional consultations to identify key issues in the ‘gender and governance’ equation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The The The The The

government’s response to questions of gender; structures, agencies and programmes in different states; state policies, action plans and initiatives, particularly affirmative action; people’s movement and their role in making interventions; and interlinkages between different actors working on women’s issues.

The consultations identified major gaps in conceptualisation of gender issues within governance. Despite new theories and constructs making their entry into public policy, the thinking remains within certain narrow moulds. The CWDS 2001 report on ‘gender and governance’ argues that there cannot be a universal lens to examine the complex

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relationship between these two. However, governance must have certain distinct goals and an ethical framework that provides the standards of efficiency, accountability, transparency and participation. It further argues that in the Indian context the ethical framework is provided within the Constitution, which upholds the principles of equality, gender justice and the dignity of the individual. The CWDS’s regional consultations focused on the central issue as to how to enhance the negotiating space for women in the present paradigm of state, market and civil society as the welfare orientation of the state is increasingly taking a back seat in favour of neo-liberal agenda? Which are the enabling structures and platforms available to women to influence the governance agenda? The conflict between short-term remedial measures and long-term goals of equity remains unresolved. At a deeper level, structural transformations in the state systems brought out by globalisation, marketisation and reassertion of conservative forces provide formidable challenges as they have altered the terms of collaboration between the state and people’s organisations. The term governance as a latest buzzword has acquired new connotations with development managers and practitioners. To link governance with equity and justice, one has to look at the ideological framework of development and institutions of governance. Development itself is not an unproblematic concept. Truncated approaches to issues of ‘gender and governance’ overlook interconnections between the macro and the micro contexts, and between different institutional constructions of gender. For example, the dominant conceptualisation of poverty and its reduction to simple arithmetic leads to a strategy targeting male heads of households. The contradictions between population policy and gender equity, women’s economic empowerment and escalating dowry demands require serious attention. The agenda for more gender-equitable governance is mostly ducked by political parties for reasons of electoral arithmetic, political expediency or systemic resistance. Institutionalisation of gender concerns calls for catalytic institutions and not institutions with inadequate mandate, resources or clout within the governmental hierarchy. Quality of governance cannot be questioned without questioning the framework of power, decision making and organisation of social relations. Crisis of sub-national identities, caste-based regional politics, ethnicity-related conflicts, distorted urbanisation patterns and an overloaded criminal justice system, have serious implications for gender equity. Does the good governance agenda also contain a concept of social and economic control? Good governance is defined in terms of liberal democracy, economic management, economic policy reform, transparency and appropriate environment for democracy and rule of law and promotion of human rights of the citizen. The homogenisation of the concept of good governance and conception of state, calls for a serious interrogation of the politics of governance. Usually, it is argued that there is a shift from a framework of reform to a framework of equity and empowerment. However, the problem in internalising a concern and ideology within already established systems and governance structures remains. Much of the gender sensitisation and training as tools for advocacy leaves mainstream approaches largely unaffected. Equity-based discourses are not paid much attention to as there is a new discourse using neo-classical language to explain discrimination against

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women in land and credit markets. The neo-liberal philosophy, opposed to state interventions and in favour of a minimalist state, has also changed gender policy discourses. With the Millennium Development Goals on the international agenda, the mainstream development discourse is refocusing on poverty and social development issues. It also provides a useful platform for raising issues of equity and justice. However, the approaches are not conducive to gender equality. Some of the policy responses like quotas for women in PRIs for under-representation, target group approach to deal with distributive concerns, or training and gender sensitisation to reduce biases within mainstream development institutions reflect a model of state interventions based on inadequate understanding of the problems of gender inequalities. Women’s struggles for voice and visibility have reformulated the parameters of the debate on equality, justice and participation. However, two sets of issues are important— operationalisation of these concepts within governance discourses and legal frameworks and the institutional matrix that determines terms of exclusion and tensions between gender-specific and other exclusions. It is important to build collective agendas, and shape new institutional spaces that support the demands of the women’s movement.

ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES EMERGING FROM GRASSROOTS ORGANISATIONS Transformational politics begins with day-to-day problems of women. Grassroots organisations, informal lobbies, issue-based struggles, women’s movements’ demands from citizenship rights—all form the backbone of struggles to resist top-down approaches. Issues such as unequal access to and control over resources, undervaluation of women’s work, violence against women, under-representation in decision making bodies—all raise questions of power relations. Issues of daily needs like water, fuel, fodder, etc. could be transformed into struggles against the deeply entrenched vested interests. Articulation of these concerns by women’s groups question not only the quality of governance, but the framework of power that determines resource control and use, and women’s entitlements. The collective agenda, built through women’s grassroots initiatives and people’s movements, has reconfigured linkages between economy, power structure, cultural patterns and gender relations. Since liberal democratic tradition has run parallel to deep-rooted inequalities, what are the implications of strategies available to women for struggle, resistance and negotiation? Grassroots organisations have emerged as instruments of bargaining, and some of them have learnt to negotiate and push boundaries through collective action. Grassroots activism in a way represents institutionalised agency: 1. Shift from a more general discourse to micro-level and contextual notion of development (households, equity, space, intra-household dimensions of power and conflict).

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2. Forced a debate on the concept of empowerment that focuses on organisational strategy and resource theory of empowerment (economic and welfare resources and social capital). 3. Participatory training and capacity building as two key concepts to promote alternative analysis and agenda, and transform women’s lives and affect their well-being. The reconceptualisation of the ‘gender and governance’ equation could partially be attributed to women’s grassroots initiative pushing for new directions and visions of change. Women’s local struggles have opened up new spaces for political engagement. There is a continuous tension between confronting the politics of development and the strategy of balancing the politics of mainstreaming. It often involves counter-pulls and pressures of balancing women’s practical needs by accessing developmental resources, their critical needs of renegotiating power equations, developing counterpositions and building their capacity as a pressure group. Does the national governance agenda still contain the hope of redistribution of power and resources in favour of the marginalised, or the instruments for realisation of gender equity and justice are slipping out of their hands? Are there enough spaces available to women as change agents? Which enabling structures provide such negotiating spaces? New political spaces created by institutions of local self-governance coexist with traditional institutions which women have to continuously confront and which continue to mediate between the distant state and women. Enhancing women’s access to power and their voices in governance is a desirable goal, but that demands a rethinking on the nature of politics and power, and engaging more effectively in democratic processes.

NOTE 1.

The UNDP defines governance as the ‘exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences.’

REFERENCES Bangura, Y. 1997. ‘Policy Dialogue and Gendered Development: Institutional and Ideological Constraints’. Discussion Paper No. 87, UNRISD, Geneva. Bangua: UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). Beneria, L. 1995, ‘Towards a Greater Integration of Gender in Economics’, World Development, 23(11): 1839–50. BPFA. 1995. ‘Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace’. Beijing. Buvinic, Mayra. 1986. ‘Projects for Women in the Third World: Explaining Their Misbehavour,’ World Development’, 14(5): 653–54. Elson, Diana. 1992. ‘Public Action, Poverty and Development: A Gender Aware Analysis’. Paper prepared for seminar on Women in Extreme Poverty, Vienna.

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Ferguson, A. 1984. ‘Sex War: The Debate between Radical and Libertarian Feminists’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 19(1): 106–12. Fraser, Nancy. 1989. Unruly Practices: Power, Discourse and Gender in Contemporary Social Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Goetz, A.M. 1995. ‘Institutionalising Women’s Interests and Gender Sensitive Accountability in Development’, IDS Bulletin, 26(3): 1–10. Jackson, Cecile. 1996. ‘Rescuing Gender from Poverty Trap’, World Development, 24(3): 489–504. Jahan, Rounaq. 1995. The Elusive Agenda; Mainstreaming Women in Development. London: Zed Books. Jayal, N.G. 2003. ‘Locating Gender in the Governance Discourse’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. Human Development Research Centre, UNDP. New Delhi: 96–134. Kabeer, Naila. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London: Verso. Kabeer, N. and R. Subramaniam. 1999. ‘The Rationale for Gender Awareness and the Policy Process in Institutions, Relations and Outcomes: Frameworks and Tools for Gender Aware Planning’. Discussion Paper No. 357, IDS, Brighton. Longwe, S.H. 1999. ‘Women’s Empowerment Framework’, in Candida March, Ines Smyth and Maitreyee Mukhopadhyay (eds), A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks. Oxford: Oxfam GB: 92–101. March, Candida, Ines Smyth and Maitreyee Mukhopadhyay. 1999. A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks. Oxford: Oxfam GB. Mazumdar, V., Kumud Sharma, Nirmala Buch and C.P. Sujaya (Mimeo). 2001. ‘Gender and Governance. A Country Paper’. Delhi: CWDS. Miller, Carol and Shahra Razavi. (eds). 1998. Missionaries and Mandarins: Feminist Engagement with Development Institutions. London: Intermediate Technology Publications in association with UNRISD. Molyneux, Maxine. 1985. ‘“Mobilisation Without Emancipation” Women’s Interests, State and and Revolution in Nicaragua’, in Feminist Studies, 11(2): 227–554. ———. 1986. ‘Mobilisation Without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, State and Revolution in Nicaragua’, in Richard Fagan, Carmen Diana Deere and Jose Luis Corragio (eds), Transition and Development: Problems of the Third World Socialism, pp. 280–302. New York, Monthly Review Press. Molyneux, Maxine and Shahra Razavi. 2003. ‘Gender Justice, Development and Rights; Democracy, Governance and Human Rights’. Programme Paper No. 10, Geneva: UNRISD. Moser, C. 1989. ‘Gender Planning in the Third World: Meeting Practical and Strategic Gender Needs’, World Development, 17(1): 1799–825. Murthy, Ranjani K. (ed.) 2001. Building Women’s Capacities: Interventions in Gender Transformation. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Nussbaum, Martha (ed.). 2000. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press. Palmer, Ingrid. 1991. Gender and Population in the Adjustment of African Economies: Planning for Change. Geneva: International Labour Organisation. Pateman, Carol. 1992. ‘Equality, Difference, Subordination: The Politics of Motherhood and Women’s Citizenship’, in G. Boak and S. James (eds), Beyond Equality and Difference: Citizenship, Female Politics and Female Subjectivity. London: Routledge. Razavi, Shahra and Carol Miller. 1995. ‘From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in Women and Development Discourses’, Occasional Paper Series, Fourth World Conference on Women, Geneva: UNRISD. Reinelt, C. 1995. ‘Moving onto the Terrain of the State: The Battered Women’s Movement and the Politics of Engagement’, in M.M. Ferre and P.Y. Martin (eds), Feminist Organisations: Harvest of the New Women’s Movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Sen, Gita and Caren Grown. 1985. DAWN, Development Crisis and Alternate Visions: Third World Women’s Perspectives. Stavenger: Verbum. Staudt, K. 1995. ‘Bringing Politics Back in’: Bilateral Efforts to Mainstream Women. Geneva UNRISD. Tinker, Irene (ed.). 1990. Persistant Inequalities: Women and World Development. London: Oxford University Press. UNDP. 2003. Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: Human Development Resource Centre.

SECTION II

STATE, GENDER

AND

GOVERNANCE

3 Modernity with Democracy?: Gender and Governance in the People’s Planning Campaign, Keralam J. Devika

INTRODUCTION

O

VER the past couple of decades, feminist observers of development and politics have been alert to the fact that gender justice is not automatically instated with greater inclusion of women in the economy and polity. The notion of gender politics that they have developed clearly embodies this caution. It hints at changing the structures that handicap the entry of women into politics and development. Nor does it take for granted that any socio-political domain is essentially more sensitive to gender justice than others. Gender politics, thus, involves articulating and realising gender justice in the state and civil society alike; its gains are never construed as blessings naturally unfolding, but always as the result of persistent and intelligent struggle (Molyneux 2001; 2002). The agents of feminist critique have historically been located outside the state, in the realm of civil society, very often as organised groups speaking on behalf of ‘women’. Yet they have often been quite marginal in that realm, finding themselves at loggerheads with major players. This marginality, then, provides a critical standpoint to analyse the interaction of political society and civil society in the shaping of political and developmental interventions by the state. This means that feminist critiques of state-driven efforts at engendering governance may not identify themselves as residing comfortably in an always-and already-oppositional ‘civil society’; they would need to explode such homogeneity often attributed to this realm.

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This becomes all the more vital in the case of the People’s Planning Campaign (henceforth, PPC),1 hailed as a significant effort at democratisation and mainstreaming gender justice into local governance and development in Keralam, launched in 1996. For, as will be elaborated later, it represented the culmination of a highly charged engagement between various social movements and the forces of political society in Keralam over a decade and a half. The objectives of this paper go beyond reporting on the degree of success/failure of the effort at mainstreaming gender concerns into the local developmental process and governance. By now several such studies are available. In general, they have emphasised the absence of structural change capable of loosening the grip of patriarchy, and also pointed to the apparent lack of will on the part of political forces that endorsed gender justice as an important component of the PPC earlier. Here, keeping in mind the observations made by these reports, I will raise a few questions essentially historical in nature: given the fact that political society in Keralam has never displayed any acute concern for gender justice, and that this was a marginal issue even within civil society here, under what conditions did it come to be acknowledged as a key element in a political experiment as momentous as the PPC? Gender justice has been addressed in people’s planning (at least in some locations, to some extent) in some specific ways, excluding other ways—what determines this selection process? These are questions that prompt a preliminary foray into the history of civil and political societies in 20th-century Keralam, more specifically, to the history of gendering promoted by these realms, which have worked to disqualify women as full citizens or limit them to a citizenship actively mediated by a certain domesticoriented womanliness. It is hoped that this exercise will help frame the observations of the reports mentioned earlier in a larger historical context. The historical lessons may also make evident the political utility of a feminist standpoint that marks its distance from both the state and civil society in generating critical insight on the process of gendering governance. Often, a simple reporting of the process trains its critical eye on the state alone, and misses that point that the PPC has been shaped by both social movements and political forces. Or it simply mixes up the two indiscriminately, thereby losing sight of the specific ways in which patriarchy has operated in these distinct realms. I argue that for almost three decades in the late 20th century, politics in Keralam has been characterised by an overwhelming concern over issues of ‘democracy’, over issues of ‘modernity’. By democracy, I mean the channelling of popular demands to the developmental state through the mediation of political society, which consists of mainly political parties and other mobilisations and institutions connected to them. By modernity, I mean the desire for a new ethical life characterised by respect for individual autonomy and informed by the ideals of the Enlightenment, including a secular culture. The ‘public action’ characteristic of the mid-20th-century decades was the high tide of political society in Keralam; civil society in Keralam has always been in some sense subordinated to it, or has largely stayed within its terms. I find it useful to refer to this framework developed by Partha Chatterjee (2003) in his analysis of Indian democracy precisely because it makes it possible to highlight the specificity of this situation. My effort here has been to adapt this distinction as an analytical

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framework to make sense of the problem at hand, without necessarily subscribing to the political-normative load that this distinction has been made to carry in the debates sparked off by it. I would like to argue that 20th-century Malayalee society has seen different models of the ‘modern’—which have existed in tension with each other. What I would call the ‘framework of democracy’ has been dominant in Kerala, expanding right from the early 20th-century. This has privileged the interests of the collectivity— the community or the society as a whole—over the individual person. I claim that the issue of women’s freedom has been posed and resolved almost entirely within the terms of the ‘framework of democracy’, indeed, to the neglect of the latter. In other words, the question of women’s freedom has been posed and solved within the concern for ‘collective welfare’, the patriarchal moorings of which remain underplayed beneath the espousal of the public–private divide and the sexual complementarity it entails. This also means that the very possibility of posing and resolving the question of women’s freedom in terms of the concern for equality and autonomy of individuals—which would have certainly been more helpful in allowing better participation of (at least elite) women in the public as citizens—was effectively elided. Chatterjee’s model is particularly helpful in bringing to light this tension. Of course, there remains the question whether gender justice is ensured within the liberal public sphere and I would like to leave it open. Chatterjee argues in favour of a distinction between civil society and political society in order to get a better grasp on the dynamics specific to Indian democracy. By civil society, he refers to those ‘characteristic forms of institutions of modern associational life originating in the Western societies which are based on equality, autonomy, freedom of entry and exit, contract, deliberative procedures of decision making, recognised rights and duties of members, and other such principles’ (Chatterjee 2003: 172). What this implies is that the domain of such civil social institutions is still restricted to a fairly small section—a sort of ‘enlightened elite engaged in a pedagogic mission in relation to the rest of society’ (ibid.). It is more or less assumed that ‘the actual ‘public’ will not match up to the standards required by civil society, and that the function of civil social institutions in relation to the public will be one of pedagogy rather than of free association’ (ibid.: 172, 174). In Keralam, the women’s groups that sprang up in the late 1980s to form the nuclei of the contemporary women’s movement in the state still conform to these specifications, though they have aspired and, indeed, work to be much more. Political society in India, Chatterjee points out, lies between civil social institutions and the state, and consists of elements that draw upon forms of modern political association. However, ‘the practices that activate the forms and methods of mobilisation and participation in political society are not always consistent with the principles of association in civil society’ (ibid.: 176). Mobilisations in political society often make demands on the state, but violate civic regulations; welfare functions are demanded as a matter of collective right. The agencies of the state deal with these people not as bodies of citizens, but as populations deserving welfare, and the success these people may attain depend on ‘the pressure they are able to exert on those state and non-state agencies through their strategic manoeuvres in political society’ (ibid.: 177). In the context of late 20th-century Malayalee society, such distinctions are clearly much more

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blurred; indeed, it is interesting to note that the more prominent movements in civil society like the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishat (KSSP) have remained largely within the terms of discourse set by ‘the framework of democracy’. Those civil society formations marked by concern for what I term ‘modernity’ have been relatively marginal. I argue that these have had important effects on the effort to mainstream gender justice in the PPC. In the first section of this paper I trace the emergence of civil and political societies in 20th-century Keralam, with special attention to the ways in which they have been gendered and simultaneously worked as gendering spaces. This account may help us to understand how gender justice came to be both ‘in’ and ‘out’, at one and the same time, in a momentous political experiment, which was nothing less than a key event in the history of political society in Keralam. In the second section, I turn to the numerous reports on gender and governance in the PPC by both academic and nonacademic observers, to take up several points of agreement, and discuss them in a wider historical context. The conclusion looks for pointers to the future, and the possibility of ‘modernity with democracy’.

MODERNITY, GENDER, CIVIL SOCIETY: A BRIEF HISTORY The early glimmerings of civic associations in Malayalee society were evident in the closing decades of the 20th century, when people—mostly of the newly educated classes, who were in contact with colonial institutions, knowledge and practices—came together as ‘reasonable individuals’ for common purposes. From the outset this was gendered: modern educated men gathered together in reading clubs, debating societies and so on; the women of this new elite formed women’s associations.2 The Trevandrum Debating Society, the Puthenchandai Reading Association, the Chalai Reading Club and other such groups began to take shape in Thiruvananthapuram and other centres closest to colonial power in the late 19th century, not to mention such fora in colleges and other modern institutions, see Devika (2002a). In these gatherings men discussed issues pertaining to the ‘public’—to the economic, political, social and intellectual domains—while women discussed matters related to the home, human relations and sentiments. 3 The 20th century saw the rise of movements like the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, the Nair Service Society, the Araya Sabha and the Nambutiri Yogakshema Sabha, which sought to transform pre-modern caste formations into modern communities (Gopalakrishnan 1973). It is difficult to term these movements as part of ‘civil society’ (as Chatterjee defines it) even though they clearly conformed to the norms of modern associational life.4 In the early part of the 20th century these were clearly part of political society, active in the community politics focused on representation in the state legislatures and on cornering resources from the state (Menon 1994; Ouwererk 1994). It is possible to argue that these movements worked not so much within what I call (drawing upon Chatterjee 2002) the framework of ‘modernity’, as the framework of ‘democracy’, and progressively so, as the 20th century unfolded. This may indeed be

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a controversial claim, as it is well known that these movements were the major vehicles of modernisation—for instance, of the family. However, we have some important work on 20th-century community reformisms in Keralam which argues forcefully that the changes in family forms and conjugal arrangements advocated by the various reformisms were much less committed to producing female autonomy, and finally produced a new patriarchy that limited female agency to the sphere of domestic concerns (Arunima 2003; Awaya 1996; Kodoth 2002a; 2002b; Velayudhan 1999a; 1999b). Women were assigned active supervisory roles within modern families, and female education was treated as an instrument to produce efficient homemakers and attractive wives. In other words, the ‘woman question’ was resolved not in favour of women’s autonomy and equal participation in community life and citizenship—in terms of the framework of ‘modernity’. It was resolved in terms of ‘social need’, later to become an important element in the framework of democracy. But besides this, a fear of the modern–especially of those aspects of modernity that seemed to be conducive to individual autonomy especially of women—seems evident. This becomes clear if we look at the debate over contraception in the Malayalee public sphere in the 1930s (Devika 2002b). Here the fear of modernity appears as the other side of a desire for social order and well-being. What we may see is a constant fear that some elements of modernity—here, contraception—may grant sexual autonomy to individuals, and that this may undermine ‘the progress of society’, by reducing sexual self-disciplining, which was regarded as a key element in productive, hardworking modern individuality. Even those who were advocates of artificial contraception (excepting very few) endorsed it as a measure useful for the promotion of public health, and not as one that gave individuals a measure of sexual autonomy.5 As we will see, this fear of the modern as producing anarchy in some form recurs, albeit in altered form, much later in Malayalee society. In the early 20th century the expansion of civil social institutions in Malayalee society largely followed the gendered lines indicated previously, with streesamajams (women’s associations) becoming more and more numerous.6 However, by the late 1920s a small but vocal group of women publicists had emerged, mostly women who had entered higher education and employment, who were demanding equal citizenship, representation of women in the legislature and public bodies, and job reservations for women. They protested against discriminatory restrictions on women in employment, discrimination against women in the legal codes, and so on (Devika 2005). They aroused much anxiety precisely because they were agitating from within the terms of the modern, and their advocacy for women’s autonomy as equal citizenship evoked much unease as it appeared ‘divisive’, that is, upsetting the smooth division of the world into the gendered domains of the public and domestic (Devika 2002a). Indeed, many of them faced a great deal of slander and ridicule both in public and in other spaces.7 It is worth noting that it was not the stepping of women into public space per se that evoked feelings of disconcertment. A modern educated woman like B. Kalyani Amma, wife of the wellknown radical political journalist Swadeshabhimani K. Ramakrishna Pillai, who appeared to be the very paragon of wifely loyalty, self-discipline and fortitude, was almost universally admired. However, women who evoked the strategic unity of ‘women’

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in defence of the economic and political interests of such a group seemed ‘divisive’.8 Again, women active in the freedom movement in the 1930s often laboured the point that the advocacy of full civic freedoms for women was too narrow a struggle and that women should expand their horizons and work for general emancipation.9 Further, in the 1930s, the political claims of ‘women’ were sometimes pitted against the political claims of communities—and this often led to the identification of the espousal of women’s interests with upper-caste, and later upper-class, interests. 10 This was an important way in which promotion of a gender politics aimed at securing the autonomy of women came to be forcefully depicted as fundamentally inimical to the general interests of the collectivity, be it ‘Malayalee society’, the community or whatever. This was to echo all the more powerfully in the coming decades, especially in the communist movement.11 One of the most powerful ideological moves made by the early women publicists in favour of the full inclusion of women in the public was the argument that certain ‘womanly’ capacities—capacities supposedly given to women by virtue of their ‘natural’ sexual endowment, like compassion, patience, forgiveness, gentleness and so on—were necessary for the conduct of modern public life and government (Devika 2002a). However, this claim was never really effective in the field of politics, and political society of mid-20th-century Keralam continued to implicitly or explicitly endorse the public–domestic divide, and the relegation of women’s agency and their ‘special capacities’ to the domestic domain.12 Indeed, when women participated actively as a group in politics—for example, in the infamous anti-communist agitation of the late 1950s, the ‘Liberation Struggle’—it was always in the name of the home and the hearth, and (in that sense) guardians of social order (Nazrani Deepika 1959). After the successful conclusion of the struggle, the women participants were heartily congratulated and gently shooed into safely apolitical ‘social work’ (ibid.). Even without such explicit direction, several of the women publicists who had been active in the 1930s and 1940s had already taken to ‘social work’ and developmental activism in the later decades, both of which appeared safely away from politics.13 Thus, the espousal of full civic rights for women as equal citizens and the promotion of their specific interests (as in the demand for job reservation for women) was, by the mid-20th century, clearly outside the concerns voiced by the class and community institutions that made up Malayalee political society. It is no wonder that these efforts withered, and have entirely disappeared from both official history and public memory. On the flip side, civil social associations of women were certainly not concerned with articulating the interests of women as equal citizens. Women’s associations, for instance, were more often than not tied to the interests of the modern family, helping their members acquire modern social and familial skills and mores, or earn an income without wandering too far from the home (cottage industry). The most popular forms of women’s civic associations were those largely organised around their familial roles as mothers, wives and homemakers, and those geared to integrating women as active agents of social development (which did not necessarily and frequently challenge the former, and, indeed, largely built on it). The Community Development Programme of the 1950s, for instance, organised women in associations at the local level, and focused on the intersection points of development and familial improvement (Nanu 1960).

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The decades following independence were the heydays of political society in Keralam, during which political parties successfully steered popular demands for health, land, housing, education and higher wages towards the developmental state (Jeffrey 2003: 150–211). Women were active participants of these struggles, as not so much ‘women’, but as workers organised under trade unions. Here, too, however, a critique of patriarchy remained unarticulated—the space for such critique was never cleared—and as Anna Lindberg (2001) has recently shown, women workers were consistently directed towards the home through a range of strategies, and literally ‘shown their natural and rightful place’ as wives and mothers by officials, employers and their own representatives. Thus, while maternity benefits were fought for, the family wage remained in place. Hence, one of the strongest effects of the unionisation of working-class women was what Lindberg calls ‘housewifization’ and certainly not their entry into a liberal public as full-fledged citizens. When these women came together in public associations, this often followed the aforementioned pattern of mobilisation for the home and for social development. In these decades—which also saw a cultural hegemony of leftism—a certain egalitarian developmentalism grew into a powerful ideology shaping visions of the future of the Malayalee people. It was fervently hoped that state-directed economic growth would unify all sections of people, and political society was accepted as the major agent of such change (Devika 2004). Civil social institutions were conceived as crucial allies and ‘junior partners’ in this endeavour. The state-sponsored family planning campaign in Keralam in the 1960s demonstrated the effectiveness of this arrangement. Civil social institutions and political parties and groups worked together to popularise birth control—but less as a tool of personal autonomy for persons than as a measure of economic gain for families and society as a whole. If Anna Chandy in 1935 had approved of artificial birth control as a measure that would improve women’s control over their bodies, now such a possibility seemed almost absent. Birth control was being endorsed not within that frame, but within that of ‘general good’—within the frame of ‘democracy’, and by agents in both civil and political societies (Devika 2002b). After the 1970s, however, egalitarian developmentalism, which had been the common rallying point for civil, social and political social institutions, began to be questioned more frequently, and from different perspectives. In such critical evaluations, the ineffectivity of political society in delivering its promises, as well as the unrealistic and environmentally improvident developmental ambitions it fostered, became the target of new critiques from the civil society.14 This did not represent a rejection of the framework of democracy, but a radical revaluation. Popular movements, which grew in strength and influence in the 1980s, like the KSSP, operated within the framework of democracy, but they questioned powerfully the dominance of political society in setting its terms, articulating alternative visions and means in a range of issues, all of which had been crucial to political society’s framework of democracy. Thus, it is no surprise that a study on the KSSP preferred to refer to it as a ‘development movement’ (Zacharia and Sooryamoorthy 1994). When one considers the possibility of conveying a women’s perspective within such rejuvenated social movements outside political society, this aspect appears to have been a crucial debilitating factor. The late

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1980s was also the period that saw the first flickerings of a women-centred politics in the Malayalee public arena (Erwer 2003); small groups of new elite women, heavily influenced by Marxism and rationalism, began to discuss Western feminism and the possibilities of generating social critique from a women’s perspective informed by feminism. Both the marginalisation of women as active agents in politics, and the instrumentalist and male chauvinistic use of women’s grievances by Malayalee political society, which became appallingly visible here in the same decade, were important provocations for such efforts (Hiranyan 2000). Within the KSSP, the articulation of a women’s perspective was carried out in an understandably circumscribed manner— the focus of the strategy was to ‘elevate’ women to being active agents of change for ‘general good’ than to address the questions of gender injustice in any direct way.15 This was not merely the limitation of a development-oriented movement like the KSSP. Activists who sought to integrate gender justice into the fish workers’ movement of the 1980s, one of the first self-assertions by people marginalised from social development in Malayalee society, found it a rather steep climb (Nayak and Dietrich 2002). In the 1990s gender justice became far more widely discussed in the expanded mass media and due to reasons mostly unconnected to any upsurge of public concern about the deleterious effects of patriarchy. For instance, the erosion of faith in the homogenised image of the Malayalee people as the agent of egalitarian development (so dear to all elements constituting Malayalee political society), which became all the more apparent when groups of people marginalised in social development began to assert themselves, might have had a ‘loosening’ effect. The expansion of the media in the 1990s was momentous as far as the increase in the sites of enunciation of a ‘women’s perspective’ was concerned. A ‘woman’s critique’ of patriarchy became much discussed anew in the Malayalam literary field, which began in the 1980s itself. The Malayalam literary field was one of the few sites in which such a critique (that claimed to issue forth from a unified ‘women’s view’) had held its own, despite tremendous odds, throughout the period from the mid-1950s onwards (Arunima 2003a); in the sites of knowledge production, national trends that brought women’s studies and gender to the fore had some effect. In the public sphere struggles over issues that appear to affect women across class and caste, and that seem to call for explicit, unambiguous confrontation of patriarchal institutions—like sexual harassment, dowry and domestic violence—have been long drawn and bitterly dividing, even when the ethical correctness of the feminist position was often fully conceded (Devika and Kodoth 2001). In contrast, there seems to be allround support for women’s associational efforts that rest upon the goal of strengthening women’s economic contributions to the family, hoping to thus empower them. Here, again, civic mobilisations of women seem to be staying on the same terrain as they have been throughout the century; they are acceptable and actively encouraged when an overt link is posited between such mobilisation and domestic upward mobility. They are less accepted and regarded with more suspicion when they address themselves to the power structures within the family (appearing to destabilise it in the very act), or claim for women the status of full-fledged citizens. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s political society in Keralam was clearly facing a crisis that was precipitated by the conjunction of a number of elements. First,

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the remarkable levels of social development, the fruit of Malayalee political society’s highly energetic interventions, seemed to be under severe strain here, not to mention the sluggishness of economic growth. It was even being accused that the redistributive and competitive politics, which was, indeed, the natural outcome of political society’s framing of the question of social change in terms of democracy, was responsible for the latter (Tornquist 2000). The Nehruvian vision of development espoused by political society no longer seemed viable either; and the persistent critique of such visions from social movements in Keralam, quite audible since the early 1980s, was not the least important factor that stripped away such conviction. The impact of globalisation (globalisation in a broader sense, as Malayalees had begun to slowly turn away from the nation-state and towards the international job market for employment and livelihood since the 1970s) were also becoming apparent by the early 1990s, with very complex social repercussions. More and more educated Malayalees seemed to have lesser and lesser stake in reshaping socio-economic life in Keralam (ibid.); money flowing from abroad had a definite impact on lifestyle, promoting appallingly wasteful forms of consumption. These were essentially problems that the earlier sorts of democratic mobilisations could not solve, and, indeed, seemed to undermine such mobilisations themselves. The PPC was a response to this crisis, and it was shaped and supported by elements of the left that had been sympathetic to the social movements’ critiques of state-centric visions of development.16 It was, in a strong sense, a serious effort to locate the ‘people’ as the major historical agent of social transformation and economic growth, in a much broader sense than ever before. This gives us some insight into how the concern with gender justice became an important element in the policy making of Keralam’s experiment in decentralisation, even though, as recounted earlier, the claims made by women to full citizenship had been regarded with deep suspicion not only by political society in general, but also by social movements. Along with financial devolution and administrative decentralisation, a consensus on greater inclusion of women was apparently reached, and accepted in the policy formulation. Given its orientation towards broadening the inclusiveness of ‘people’ as agents of historical and economic change, that democratic decentralisation sought to reach out to marginalised social groups to integrate them as full participants in planning and implementation was no surprise. Also, the apparent consensus within political society (in which dominant sections had hitherto displayed little sympathy towards women’s struggles for autonomy and citizenship, either as individuals or as a group) over the special and highly visible emphasis on welcoming women into governance and local development as participants was perhaps to be expected. One, here was a substantial group of people who seemed to have already proven their mettle as agents of change within families—and also within local communities, as was evident in the Total Literacy Campaign of the early 1990s—possessing necessary skills and time, and thus eminently employable in the effort to extend political society’s framework of democracy. Two, the fact that women were largely devoid of strong political affiliations, as also the fact that the category of ‘women’ was itself largely not politicised, may have made them particularly attractive as agents of the new effort.17 The induction of such a group may have seemed useful in warding off the ‘pernicious’

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effects of divisiveness within political society. Neither of these features had anything to do with working towards favourable conditions for evoking the women’s question within the framework of modernity—for locating women as agents not within the family/local community, but within wider society as citizens with direct claims upon the state. But neither did they close off that possibility. There is, of course, also the argument that the pressure for gender-sensitive planning from international bodies and funding agencies was also of crucial significance. While this may be true, I would still argue that internal compulsions are as important as external pressures. And without local political will, they can indeed have little to contribute towards creating genuinely liberal attitudes towards women’s full participation in politics. Democratic decentralisation certainly envisaged women’s presence as participants and not merely as passive beneficiaries. In the later years there were concerted efforts to define ‘participation’ more sharply, so as to avoid not only the reduction of women to mere beneficiaries, but also to open up some space for the articulation of women’s strategic interests. But at the outset at least, the ambiguity of ‘participation’ was probably useful—it could either be simply the extension of the active familial agency already conceded to women into the realm of the local community, or the active articulation of women’s strategic interests along with their practical needs. This was probably crucial in garnering general assent for incorporating women in an unprecedented way in the PPC. With this history in mind, I believe it is possible for us to understand better many of the observations that have been common to the various reports on gender, local development and governance in the process of democratic decentralisation in Keralam. In the next section I draw upon some of these.

GENDER IN THE PPC: QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS Almost all reports on gender in the decentralisation process agree that the substantial reservation for women was definitely a major step towards inducting them as participants in local governance. 18 However, they also point out that there was little cognisance of the fact that their near-total inexperience in politics calls for special measures to help them learn the ropes of political activity. A report by SAKHI based on fieldwork in 2000 points out that the rotation of wards reserved for women every five years is detrimental to building the political capacities of women; it also points out that political parties and movements have very limited interest in ensuring the actualisation of the mandatory Women’s Component Plan, and in developing women’s skills in the political domain (Vijayan and Sandhya 2004: 77). Women’s reservation does not automatically ensure the politicisation of women as a group. Several reports, therefore, have recommended continuous capacity building and sensitisation programmes for elected women representatives (Mukherjee and Seema 2000: 42–44; Radha and Roy Chowdhury 2002: 33–35; Vijayan and Sandhya 2004: 76–77). It may appear curious, as these reports very forcefully point out, that political parties, which were keen to induct women into the political process, seemed most reluctant to provide the

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conditions under which these women could develop the skills and capacities for fullfledged political careers. Women representatives who refused assigned roles have often been made to suffer, many of these reports indicate (Chathukulam and John 2000; Mukherjee and Seema 2000: 30; Muralidharan 2003: 6; Radha and Roy Chowdhury 2002: 28–31; Sukumar and Thomas 2003: 9–10; Vijayan and Sandhya 2004).19 As an author points out, ‘Women members who stick their necks out continue to be in danger of being heckled and in occasional cases, of being subject to slander’ (Muralidharan 20003: 6). What is very clear in all these accounts, then, is the disjuncture between the professed willingness of political society to induct women into the process of governance, and its actual reluctance to do so—and, indeed, its eagerness to maintain the restrictions upon women entering the public as politicians. It may be noticed here that after the pre-independence legislatures in which women nominees represented the ‘interests of women’, it is in the democratic decentralisation of the 1990s that we do have a similar measure in governance, an effort to make women’s specific interests audible in political decision making bodies.20 What is really striking—going by the documentation in these reports—is that it is precisely those strategies that were deployed in the 1930s to silence and shove out those women articulating specifically ‘women’s interests’ in politics, like sexual slander, heckling, public ridicule, indecent sloganeering, postering, etc., that are being used now to silence their present-day counterparts. In other words, political society stubbornly clings to the idea that shaped civil and political societies in early 20th-century Keralam: that the domestic forms the appropriate space for women, and that women who venture out seeking public forms of power must be effectively treated as ‘not-women’, as not worthy of the privacy and respectability enjoyed by the truly gendered woman, she who emits the womanly signs of modest dress, discreet speech and, above all, political docility. From the reports it is evident that most of the strategies that seek to disorient recalcitrant women members aim, to some extent or the other, at stripping their dignity. Of course, such experience has steeled many a woman representative and spurred her on to acquire the necessary skills (Mukherjee and Seema 2000: 31–34), but no wonder that a large section of women representatives interviewed by observers admitted their reluctance to contest again (Radha and Roy Chowdhury 2002: 28). No wonder, again, that some reports by feminist observers stress the urgent need to politicise the category of ‘women’ as a group with well-defined interests in society or recommend remedying the lack through gender training (Vijayan and Sandhya 2004: 77). Nor is it surprising that the active involvement of social movements like the KSSP in democratic decentralisation has not effected a significant change in the general attitude of misogyny prevalent in political society; despite the fact that it did try to raise the issues faced by women representatives, for instance, through its women’s street theatre group. However, even in the brief period of animated debate over gender justice within the KSSP in the late 1980s, the distrust of women’s autonomy as citizens—as different from the simple assigning of an active public role to them, one essentially derived from active, supervisory domesticity—as socially divisive, was never fully overcome.

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The reports are also in agreement that those projects that were aimed at satisfying women’s practical needs were generally endorsed, while those which addressed their strategic interests were either ignored or opposed (with, of course, important pockets of exception). Thus, Sarada Muralidharan (2003: 3) points out that while schemes for training girls in self-defence techniques was generally ridiculed, others which simply distributed sewing machines to women were readily approved. The dominant tendency, it seems, has been to keep apart the two—that is, to separate practical gender needs from strategic gender interests, as if the two were so watertight that they could be addressed only through different projects. When they appeared mixed, a great deal of ‘moral opposition’ seems to have been provoked. Thus, as the SAKHI report indicates, the suggestion for a multi-purpose centre for women to be used as a training centre, a day-care centre for aged women, a restroom for fisherwomen, etc. did not meet moral condemnation, though it came to be finally shelved in favour of other projects that generally fell under the familiar rubric of ‘cottage industry’ (Vijayan and Sandhya 2004: 39), something that has been accepted as suitably ‘womanly’ in Keralam since the 1930s (Devika 2002a). Also, projects that seemed to address women’s livelihood without threatening the existent structures of gender dominance too explicitly were not the target of ‘moral’ opposition, though many of them died down, often due to the lack of managerial and entrepreneurial skills. SAKHI mentions two such projects in its reports (Vijayan and Sandhya 2004: 39–42). However, from the documentation of the reports, it seems that the moral opposition seemed particularly virulent when schemes that linked practical needs with strategic interests (when the effort was to fulfil women’s practical gender needs through means that essentially challenged entrenched forms of gender power) were proposed. (The guidelines for designing projects for women and the models of such projects distributed in all panchayats in the second year, 1998–99, contained both these types—those that explicitly challenged patriarchal norms, and those that mounted a more muted challenge). For instance, Vanita Mukherjee and T.N. Seema (2000) mention how a scheme for training girls as auto-rickshaw drivers (not only a male preserve, but also a very visible masculine public role in Keralam) that aimed at generating greater income for women was crippled through public derision of the women who underwent the training, and it finally had no takers as it went against accepted gender codes and seemed to hold the possibility of upsetting established norms of sexual morality (ibid.: 22; Vijayan and Sandhaya 2004: 39). The SAKHI report mentions another telling instance in which a proposal for generating employment for women through starting a unit to manufacture cheap and hygienic sanitary napkins was booed out as indecent (Vijayan and Sandhaya 2004: 47). This appears crucial when we consider that feminists have been quick to point out that no hard and fast dividing line can be drawn between women’s practical needs and strategic interests and, indeed, that it is crucial for women’s political interests that the two should not be perceived to be existing in dichotomous relation. As Kabeer and Subrahmanian (1996: 24) point out, ‘Meeting daily practical needs in ways that transform the conditions in which women make choices is a crucial element of the process by which women are empowered to take on more deeply entrenched aspects of their subordination.’ Feminist observers of democratic decentralisation have implicitly

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asked for precisely that linkage in the formulation of projects for women.21 It is clear that a realistic understanding of the implications of adopting a gender in development perspective—that, here, it would have to integrate measures to bring about structural changes to promote equality in gender relations into the very grain of the processes of local development and governance—was lacking. Such a perspective, as observed earlier, was not forthcoming from the major civil social movements deeply involved in democratic decentralisation in any serious sense. It would possibly come only from feminist groups, which were marginal in Malayalee civil society, even in the 1990s.22 And feminist groups in Keralam were battling with the state and political parties (over cases of sexual harassment, limitations in mobility, etc. in which political society was directly implicated), precisely when the GID vision was being prescribed and inserted into the policy of democratic decentralisation (Devika and Kodoth 2001)! The formation of the Women’s Commission, again, intended as a step towards institutionalising gender justice in the state, was toothless in effect: once again, simultaneous presence and absence. And, predictably, the risk of the divisiveness of political society getting reflected within the Women’s Commission soon appeared real, so also the deep resentment of powerful sections of political society against it (Erwer 2003: 169–74). Many reports have observed the rapid spread of self-help groups (SHGs) of women as part of the decentralisation process, and reflect on the potentials of such mobilisations. Almost all agree about the unprecedented degree of assent this form of organising women has gained all over the state; they also agree more or less that ‘women who have participated in vibrant self-help or neighbourhood groups have developed strong sense of self worth and faith in their ability to interact with power structures. Increase in their contribution to the household income has led to an increased relevance within the family’ (Muralidharan 2003: 5–6). Some have been far more optimistic than others, seeing in them the institutions that could potentially deal with both the practical gender needs and strategic gender interests of women (Mukherjee and Seema 2000: 34– 35). Yet a later observer has voiced serious doubts about the ability of the Kudumbashree, the state poverty eradication programme (which has had a history distinct from that of both feminist activism in Keralam and democratic decentralisation more attentive to gender), which has been welcomed all over Keralam as the space to widen the participation of women in local governance, to ensure the active presence of women as participants—who inform or critique the processes of governance and development. She observes that the presence of the women thus inducted has not been able to materially alter the texture of the project. The decision making in the local government has certainly not incorporated the opinions of these groups. In the absence of statutory or other compulsions, provisions not perceived to be in the immediate interest of the panchayats are merely ignored…. Thus the role they have been formally assigned for participation in the developmental processes has tended to manifest as a conduit for implementation rather than as one that informs or critiques the developmental process. (Muralidharan 2003: 5)

She also points out how this reduces empowerment to a means for an end set by the governmental state—poverty alleviation. This perceptive observation about such empowerment is worth quoting:

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Looking back to the history of women’s agency in Keralam, we may see that there is really no novelty in what is being offered as agency for women. In the early decades of the 20th century, ideal womanly subjectivity was defined as centred upon a reformed domestic realm, performing active supervisory functions (Devika 2002a). The present move is really the offering of such a possibility to the women of the poorest classes (Kudumbashree mobilises women living below the poverty line), with appropriate changes (such as the foregrounding of income generation), and, further, extending it to the local community. While it can create a great deal of self-confidence among women—for it does attribute to women a certain ‘natural’ capacity to be the guardians and disciplinarians of the home and the local community—by infusing in them a sense of genuine participation, there is absolutely no guarantee that this will translate into a full-scale concern for gender justice, for women’s rights as equal citizens, with equal access to both public and domestic domains. Indeed, such a move actually serves to further entrench established gender norms that have been so central to the assertion of the new Malayalee elite of the 20th century through community reform and modern education. It is possible that this may further extend a modern patriarchy in Keralam, which to some extent would be ‘female-driven’.24 The measures and the concrete action taken at various levels in the process of decentralisation to address strategic gender interests have also been documented and assessed by the reports, especially the measures adopted to ensure women’s participation at all levels, and to prevent the conflation of women’s interests with familial interests or interests of a more general sort, and also the training programmes for gender sensitisation. Later, Watchdog Committees or Jagrata Samitis were to be initiated along with SHGs to deal with social issues that included violence against women, dowry and alcoholism’, and were probably meant to be complementary to the SHGs (Mukherjee and Seema 2000: 35). Here, again, women’s practical needs and strategic interests seem to be dealt with in two different institutions. And, more importantly, the move towards ‘dissolving’ gender struggles, towards seeing them as part of ‘general social conflict’ by blurring their distinctiveness and thereby the upholding of community-based nonconfrontationist solutions, has been conspicuous in many instances. In the case of struggles over women’s practical needs this is readily achieved, but such a thrust is evident even in struggles over strategic interests. This is not to deny that there have been some instances in which problems like alcoholism were tackled by the SHGs themselves (ibid. 32; Radha and Roy Chowdhury 2002: 26). The Jagrata Samitis were envisaged as lower-level units of the State Women’s Commission (Thampi 2001: 34–36). However, community resolutions continue to remain popular. One report found that a large majority of the women representatives were mostly reluctant to take up ‘inside issues’ of families, and when they did, it was largely through the neighbourhood groups (NHGs) and, in one instance, the gramasabha

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(Radha and Roy Chowdhury 2002: 25–26). A truly telling instance is an anecdote related by Mukherjee and Seema (2000: 39–40) about a play focusing on the difficulties of women representatives presented at the state-level gender training programme in the second year. Titled ‘Subhadra Madhavan and Panchayati Raj’, it was a street play produced by the KSSP’s women’s theatre group, which had a woman as the cheif protagonist who was persuaded by her husband into joining politics. The play throws light on the problems she had to confront as a representative. At the state-level camp a small team wrote a sequel to it, depicting how she single-handedly fought corrupt commercial interests, the apathetic bureaucracy and her suspicious husband. When the play was presented, apparently, there was considerable adverse reaction. The model of the lone fighter seemed too unrealistic; instead, the participants wanted Subhadra Madhavan’s story to be a non-confrontationist one, in which she gradually manages to wear down the gossip, elicit help from all around her, and convince her husband. They wanted to see it ‘depicted as a struggle in partnership with other persons and forces seeking to transform society’ (ibid.). What is striking about this whole account is that it is as though only two alternatives are available to women struggling against patriarchal restrictions: either be a lone fighter, hitting back single-handedly, or solve one’s problems with the help of the community. While the first of these is clearly unrealistic, the second is equally problematic from the feminist view in that it avoids the articulation of a gender politics. The third possibility of women mobilising as a political group for action against patriarchal restrictions does not seem to even occur! I would claim that such polarisation of alternatives is commonly upheld in the Malayalee public sphere, as in the media’s handling of some of the highly controversial incidents around charges of sexual harassment that held public attention in the late 1990s (Devika and Kodoth 2001). No greater testimony to the marginality of the feminist perspective to democratic decentralisation need be produced. Given the overall thrust on SHGs (the name given to the poverty alleviation programme focused on women— Kudumbashree—which has clearly familial implications, is apt indeed) which locate women’s income generation right within the family, one may claim that entrusting conflict resolution to the community (conceived most often as a group of families) has generally found greater favour over encouraging the politicisation of women’s issues and recognising women as a group with distinct political interests in establishing fairness in gender relations. The reports have also emphasised the extent to which gender training is being looked upon as a means of creating gender awareness and skills required for tackling such issues, by both the architects as well as the women newly inducted into the decentralisation process. Whether this can actually work as a substitute for the political awareness generated in and through the feminist movement is a key question here, especially in light of the fact that feminist groups and individuals have been drafted in as gender trainers.25 It is undeniable today that feminist mobilisations have effectively worked to some extent in the Indian context, to dismantle the public–domestic divide by bringing the latter into legitimate public discourse. Here, from what has been discussed previously, what seems to have encountered the greatest opposition, despite many rounds of training and sensitisation efforts, is precisely this aspect of stripping away

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the ostensibly apolitical appearance of the domestic and private. The bulk of attention has been given to discussing the impediments women aspirants for a career in politics have to face, and to learning the skills necessary for formulating women’s projects. The assumption that women’s smooth entry into public life will somehow set in motion a process by which they will develop their own perspective and demands seems to be pervasive in much of the gender sensitisation efforts themselves. However, the historical experience of women in 20th-century Malayalee society does not bear out this hope. That women’s education and empowerment have not performed such a function is clear, as recent work has emphasised (Eapen and Kodoth 2002). Given this context, gender training may well be expected to help women learn the ropes of governance and to boost their self-confidence; but there is no assurance that the private–public divide will be breached in any fundamental way.

CONCLUSION: POINTERS FOR THE FUTURE I have been implicitly drawing upon the framework developed by Anne Marie Goetz (2003) to analyse women’s political effectiveness in governance. She suggests that the success of the gender equity interest in policy making and policy implementation depends upon the interaction of three major factors: the strength of the gender equity lobby in civil society, the credibility of feminist politicians, and the capability of the state to enforce gender commitments (Goetz 2003; Goetz and Jenkins 1999). In all these counts decentralisation in Keralam has a rather bleak record. As discussed before, the gender equity lobby has been weak in both civil and political societies, and the responses of civil and political actors towards feminists have ranged from outright hostility to vague suspicion—sympathy has been rare. In Malayalee politics women participants are few, and tend to follow party directives. The capacity of the state to enforce commitments to gender equity has also not been encouraging. There is no doubt that the induction of women into local governance and the remarkable spread of SHGs of women formed as part of the Kudumbashree programme are two events of immense significance to the future of gender politics in Keralam. The question, however, is regarding the directions they may take and the forces liable to influence these developments. The question is whether they will be able to work together to produce the sort of effects the new social movements produce, those which transcend ‘the institutional boundaries of old politics’ (Offe 1985). Ultimately this has important implications for the autonomy of civil society in Keralam. It will make possible for civil society to focus on issues hitherto obscured by its remaining within the terms set by political society. And, importantly, it will help to shift the major focus of public action from extracting gains from the state to changing the nature of politics itself. Civil and political societies would engage in a far more equal exchange than has hitherto been possible, making redundant the notion of a chosen historical political subject, be it the working class or a more amorphous ‘people’ (Boggs 1986; Laclau and Mouffe 1985). It seems inevitable here that feminist initiative has to claim much greater space in the Malayalee public sphere for this to happen. There is no doubt this is a daunting

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task: playing on the title of Robin Jeffrey’s well-known book (2003), one may express almost in formulaic terms one widely shared conception of the roots of Kerala Model (‘politics + women = social development and well-being’). The conjunction of a particular sort of politics and a particular sort of female subjectivity is seen to have produced the well-being Keralam is so famous for. It is easy to see the magnitude of the critical task that the feminists are taking on here when they say that this particular female subjectivity, and the domestic arrangements supporting it, has been oppressive, and that it has denied women parity of participation in public life—and that ‘politics’ has been reinforcing it. It is then clear that the simple extension of ‘politics’ into what was hitherto a technocrat-bureaucrat privilege zone cannot answer the feminist critique. Especially when ‘women’ remained defined (within dominant sections of political society, and civil society as well, with the possible exception of a minor group which may have wielded some influence at the level of policy formulation) as essentially outside ‘politics’. In the 1990s feminists in Keralam had taken some strides towards a more vocal gender politics, and this meant entering into direct confrontation with mainstream political parties and hegemonic political discourses that monopolise the definitions of ‘progressive’, and challenging them to pay more attention to gender oppression.26 This, however, has taken place almost in complete isolation from the process of democratic decentralisation. Critics have pointed out that some of the most vexing ills of decentralisation derive from the fact that the effort had been to actualise participatory democracy within a framework ill-suited to it, that of Five-Year Planning (Chathukulam and John 2002). For the project of realising gender justice as envisaged in the PPC, it could be said that it was skewed because what should have been ideally the attempt to address political demands ensuing from a feminist identity politics was delivered within a framework of governmental intervention. Thus, the PPC sought to recognise ‘women’ as a group and ensure them a fair share in the distribution of resources; but neither such recognition nor the concern for such redistribution was forthcoming in wider political and civil societies in Keralam. Thus, we had (isolated, but to some degree influential elements in) the state trying to create enabling conditions for the induction of women as full-fledged agents of local governance through policy, even though the major players in Kerala’s political and civil societies had either extremely instrumentalist ideas of gender justice, or maintained a more or less hostile attitude to assertions of women’s rights. Peter Evans (2003) says that if deliberative democracy is to succeed, three conditions have to be necessarily met: first, it has to be socially self-sustaining in that ordinary citizens must remain willing to invest their time and energy in it; second, the institutions created by deliberative democracy must be capable of overcoming the ‘political economy’ problem, that is, the opposition of power holders in existing decision making structures; and third, they must not be inefficient or biased against investment such that real growth is affected. He thinks that in the PPC the ‘political economy’ problem has been surmounted. One cannot resist adding that this conclusion is impossible if ‘power holders’ were defined in gender terms. The mobilisation of very poor women in the SHGs under the Kudumbashree programme brings up in bold relief one of the major divides that has been characteristic

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of women’s politics in Keralam in the 1990s. In this decade we have seen women of the marginalised groups or at the peripheries of mainstream society mobilise (the Kudumbashree mobilisation is one form this is taking, albeit very much state-sponsored), in contrast to the relative passivity of women of the new elite, who have had better access to education, health care and employment. The diverse mobilisations of dalit women, tribal women, women of the fisher folk, sex workers and people of samesex orientation form an emergent network that carries many of the distinctive features of the new social movements, such as internal democracy, horizontal organisation and identity politics, to a much greater extent than civil social institutions like, say, the KSSP, which are far more subservient to political society at the ideological level. However, these have before them an overwhelming task, given the immense organisational strength of political society in Keralam, which has decades of dominance behind it. Perhaps equally important would be a rethinking on the Left—even though given the present, this appears to be wishful thinking, perhaps one should not rule out the suggestion that the Left could rethink its rather blind allegiance to the ‘framework of democracy’. It is also important to note that the identity politics espoused by the aforementioned network is certainly not of a sort that installs reified and intolerant identities. On the contrary, they represent a politics of representation attentive to both maldistribution and misrecognition (Fraser 2000). Whether the state-sponsored mobilisation of women in SHGs will serve to question gender power is still ambiguous, though it clearly holds interesting possibilities. An observer remarks about SHGs that ‘the forum for thrift and credit could be developed into a hunting ground for ideas and debate’ (Muralidharan 2003: 4). Reports on the experiment have stressed its importance in helping many women gain citizenship skills like public speaking and in dealing with the state machinery. However, they also point out the claims often made regarding the expansion of general awareness are often considerably exaggerated; more crucially, they observe that at present, these institutions do not in any sense challenge patriarchal values. Moreover, SHGs do not seem to challenge the belief in the home being women’s ‘natural’ location.27 Indeed, they seem to achieve a limited extension in that domestic agency conceded to women by Malayalee social reform is widened to the level of the community. It may be argued that the extension of such agency to the poorer, working-class marginally located groups of women who were not recognised as coming under the sign of ‘woman’, and hence excluded from the middle-class privilege and relative security this offers, is really the sum and substance of the current phase of ‘empowerment’ through the SHGs. It may even be conceded that this is ‘empowerment’, relatively considered. It is mentioned as such by many of the women who participate in SHGs. However, the limitations of such agency are already evident in Malayalee society; far from challenging entrenched gender norms, it invisiblises them, making token changes. This is not to dismiss the aspirations of those who have entered SHGs. Yet I find it important to assert that the outcome of such initiatives at least until now is not likely to be gender equality, unless we dilute the notion considerably. Whether SHGs can be developed into vibrant civil-social institutions that raise the issue of gender justice within the framework of modernity depends upon whether the

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aforementioned network is able to transform itself into a vigorous ‘counter-public’, capable of breaking the apparent dichotomy between ‘democracy’ and ‘modernity’ in the framing of the women question in contemporary Malayalee society with such force that issues of ‘modernity’ can no more be subsumed under issues of ‘democracy’ as before. And indeed, by asserting that ‘democracy’ is unthinkable without ‘modernity’. That would require us to go beyond both ‘democracy’ and ‘modernity’, beyond both the exclusive espousal of either ‘collective welfare’ or ‘individual autonomy’.

NOTES

1.

2.

3.

I have chosen to use ‘Keralam’ over ‘Kerala’, which is more familiar in English, and also, ‘Malayalee’, instead of the more common ‘Keralan’ or ‘Keralite’. Also, instead of ‘Travancore’ and Kochi’, the more familiar names of the princely states that along with British Malabar came to constitute the State of Keralam, I have preferred to use the local names ‘Tiruvitamkoor’ and ‘Kochi’. The PPC was launched in August 1996 by the Left Democratic Front in Keralam, and it was hailed as a unique effort to draw in people as participants in planning for development and implementation of projects. Local bodies were to be substantially promoted as institutions of governance, and considerable financial devolution, which made available to these bodies some 35–40 per cent of the resources of the Ninth Plan, was effected. Efforts were also made to institutionalise locallevel planning and implementation by setting up the Administrative Reforms Committee. The PPC was to unfold in six stages, the first of which (September–October 1997) was the convening of the local village assemblies, the gramasabhas, with maximum popular participation (special attention was to be paid to ensure participation of women) in which people were to voice their needs and demands through group discussions aided by trained facilitators. An estimated two million people took part in the assemblies, of which some 26.22 per cent were women. In the second phase (October–December 1997), assessments of local resources were made through participatory studies, presented as the Panchayat Development Report at development seminars to be attended by delegates from the gramasabhas. The report was to have a mandatory chapter on women and development. The third phase (November 1997–March 1998) was the election of task forces for various sectors, consisting of elected representatives, experts and activists, who were to formulate projects. Gender-impact statements were made mandatory for all projects and a separate task force was set up for women’s development projects. The fourth phase (March–June 1998) involved plan finalisation at the local level in meetings of elected representatives, and the plan document was to have a separate chapter on women’s development projects, with 10 per cent of the resources set apart of the Women’s Component Plan. The fifth phase (April–July 1998) consisted of the integration of local plans at the block and district levels, and the final phase (May–October 1998) was the formulation of a state plan from the district plans, in which the local-level plans were to be evaluated by the District Planning Committees. In this phase the Voluntary Technical Corps was raised, consisting of retired government officials with various technical skills to help the local bodies to assess the feasibility of the plans. For a detailed account, see Isaac and Franke (2000). The Trevandrum Debating Society, the Puthenchandai Reading Association, the Chalai Reading Club and other such groups began to take shape in Thiruvananthapuram and other centres closest to colonial power in the late 19th century, not to mention such fora in colleges and other modern institutions. See Devika (2002a). It is worth mentioning that in the late 19th century novel Indulekha (1889), widely acknowledged as one of the earliest and most lucid statements of the gender divide identified as ‘truly modern’ in Keralam, the two all-male discussions are around the eminently ‘public’ topics of religion and politics, while the modern-educated heroine forcefully intervenes just once, in a topic centred around the domestic, regarding conjugality, morality and marital fidelity.

76 4. 5. 6.

7.

8.

9. 10.

11. 12.

13.

14.

15.

J. DEVIKA This comes close to what Frietag (1996) argues about the shaping of communal identities in late 19th century British India. For instance, the contrast between the position taken on the issue by intellectuals like Sahodaran K. Ayappan and first-generation feminists like Anna Chandy. See Devika (2002b). The Malayala Manorama (henceforth, MM) reported the activities of a women’s association at Thiruvananthapuram (MM, 13 October 1907); at Palakkad (MM, 23 July 1910); at Attingal (MM,18 September 1909); at Guruvayoor (MM,19 December 1908); at Tiruvalla (MM, 16 June 1909). The Sharada reported the activities of a women’s association at Kozhikode in 1905 (Sharada, vol. 2 (7): 137). A women’s association was operating at Talasherry in the 1910s which home-delivered books to women (M. Kunhappa, ‘Preface’ to Amma (1977: iii). Women who tried to enter competitive politics or were active in nominated positions in the preindependence legislatures of Teruvitamkar and Kochi had to face tremendous odds. Anna Chandy, contesting in the 1931 elections in Tiruvitamkoor had to face a powerful smear campaign and abusive propaganda, in the form of abuses written all over the walls in the road of Thiruvananthapuram. See Nazrani Deepika (1931). Some of the preliminary fieldwork I have been doing about these women, who were impressively vocal in legislatures, made me alive to the extent of the sexual slander perpetrated against them; in popular memory, they were ‘society ladies’ who enjoyed favour among bureaucrats and the dewans, by virtue of the sexual services they rendered. But even those women, who spoke in deviant voices that espoused the interests of ‘women’ were ridiculed and treated with distrust. Thus, Kochattil Kalyanukutty Amma’s advocacy of artificial birth control came to be mercilessly ridiculed in the ‘humorous’ press in the 1930s. See Devika (2002b). See the way in which the well-known Malayalee humorist of the 1930s, Sanjayan (pseudonym of M.R. Nair) contrasts Taravath Ammalu Amma, a senior female author well known for her advocacy of a moral, domestic, non-confrontationist existence for women, and the ‘speechifying’ women of the 1930s, whom he found obnoxious (Sanjayan 1970 [1936]). See the article by a prominent freedom fighter from Malabar, E. Narayanikutty Amma (1929–30). In Keralam, the political claim that demands made on behalf of gender identities must remain secondary to the claims of community movements dates back to the 1920s and continues into the later half of the 20th century. See, for instance, the stance taken by the well-known progressive Ezhava reformer Sahodaran K. Ayyappan in the debate around the Child Marriage Restraint Act in Kochi (Cochin Legislative Council Proceedings, vol. IV, 1940, 1439). See Velayudhan (1999); also see a very perceptive article written in the 1950s by Kumari Saraswati, (1955). See the statements of the Tiruvitamkoor–Kochi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Kumbalatu Sanku Pillai, in Nazrani Deepika (29 October and 19 November 1951). He justified the poor representation of women in the Congress candidates’ list by claiming that the home was woman’s rightful place, and that Malayalee women who enjoyed high status within the family did not need to, or even desire to, venture out. Examples are many: Parvati Ayyapan; Konniyoor Meenakshi Amma; Ambady Kartyayani Amma; Akkamma Cheriyan; Mukkappuzha Kartyayani Amma; and others. Gandhi was often cited as an inspiration for this calling. The struggle against the large-scale hydroelectric project proposed at Silent Valley in the early 1980s brought about a sharp polarisation between two visions of development, when civil social opponents of the Nehruvian vision of economic development (which included many shades of opinion) won a major victory against political society. Erwer (2003: 197–202). As a participant in such efforts, I do remember the extent to which concern regarding gender issues was largely instrumental, concerned not so much with recognising their importance as with using them to increase women’s membership in the KSSP, which was abysmally low.

MODERNITY WITH DEMOCRACY? 16.

17.

18.

19. 20.

21. 22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

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And, indeed, this has brought much credit to the Left in Keralam, and this has been used as evidence by the detractors of the claim that the solutions of the ills unleashed by the rolling back of the state with liberalisation and the forces of globalisation lie in the civil society. See, for instance, Harris (2001). This is, however, not the place to assess the debate. Shirin Rai (1999) points out that such a motivation could underlie the political parties’ recent attention to women’s representation in Indian politics. Patrick Heller (2000) credits the CPM with recognising decentralisation as a way of approaching interests and issues that appeal to post-class struggle constituencies. However his claim that the explicit recognition given to gender equity was non-instrumental appears facile, given the fact that the CPM, or at least its lower-level functionaries, has been at least equally hostile to gender justice as anyone else. Nor does the KSSP have anything beyond a programme that seeks to extend the familial agency, already conceded to women in early-20th-century social reform, to the local community. All reports more or less agree that there was effort by the top architects of the PPC to bring in a gender perspective in the guidelines, documents and training for the panchayat council members, and a more energetic effort made in the second round of planning, after it was observed in the evaluation of the first round of planning that low participation of women in the PPC was one of the three major weaknesses (Isaac 1998). Reports also observe that active women are tied very firmly to political parties. See, for instance, Jain (1998). The difference of course, is vital: the women in pre-independence legislative bodies were largely state nominees, upper-caste new elite women, while the present-day women representatives are democratically elected, and from diverse social groups. All the reports echo this concern. Noteworthy exceptions have also occurred, for instance, in Ernakulam district there were groups that are part of the Kerala Streevedi, the feminist network in Keralam that has been involved in setting up a women’s multipurpose centre (Erwer 2003: 160). Also see, Anand (2002) who has studied the Community Development Scheme SHGs and NHGs (self-help groups and neighbourhood groups) in Malappuram district, and concludes that while some increase of self-confidence is evident, concrete results are yet to come. This fear seemed rather confirmed at a Women’s Day discussion on ‘equal wages for equal work’, aired by Doordarshan which I attended in March 2004. Among the participants were enthusiastic members of Kudumbashree SHGs in whose speech and demeanour a fresh self-confidence was abundantly evident. However, in the discussion, it was clear that the family-orientedness of the Kudumabshree was really being projected as its major merit, and one of the participants went to the extent of arguing that equal wages for women workers was really not an important issue; those women ought to quit work and join together in Kudumbashree, be with women, rather than continue in (socially/morally) unacceptable gender roles that required competing with men! What loomed frightening in this enthusiastic flourish was, of course a renewed gendered segregation at work, one that may well be expected to reproduce all the existing inequalities. Feminist reflections on the state agree more or less that the state is a site of power that one can bargain with, that need not be rejected fully, and may be conceived as one of the actors in a complex political field. See Phillips (1998), Ray (1999) and Randall (1998). The Streevedi is now an all-Kerala network of 50 organisations ranging from medium-sized ones to small groups. (Personal communication with Mercy Alexander, general convenor, Streevedi). Its ideological influence is now undeniable and sceptics have changed their tunes. Compare, for instance, the language used by the CPM woman-politician Susheela Gopalan in a speech made in an early conference organised by feminists in 1990 (reported in Hindu, 12 December 1990) and a later speech by her in 1998 (report in Kerala Kaumudi, 29 September 1998). A similar shift is perceptible in the KSSP’s language on women’s issues. See KSSP ‘Vivechantiute Bhinnamukh angal’ (The Many Faces of Discrimination) souvenir of the 39th Annual Conference focused on gender discrimination (2002), in which we find an article on the ‘Politics of the Body and Sexuality’,

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J. DEVIKA written by a prominent feminist activist. This was a topic viewed with considerable suspicion within the KSSP at the turn of the 1980s. See, for instance, an early study on the Community Development Scheme in Keralam (Oommen 1999), which was a survey of 1,279 women members of the neighbourhood groups organised under this scheme.

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Goetz, Anne Marie. 2003. ‘Women’s Political Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework’, http:// www.shef.ac.uk/~perc/gender/goetz.pdf. Goetz, Anne Marie and Rob Jenkins.1999. ‘Accountability to Women in Development Spending: Experiments in Service-delivery Audits at the Local-level’. Paper presented at the UNDP Workshop on ‘Propoor Gender and Environment Sensitive Budget Analysis’, 28–30 June, New York. Gopalakrishnan, P.K. 1973. ‘Samudayaparishkarana Prasthanangal’ (Community Reform Movements), in Kerala Charitram (The History of Kerala). Kochi: Kerala History Association: 1205–70. Harris, John. 2001. ‘Social Capital Construction and the Consolidation of Civil Society in Rural Areas’, Working Paper No. 00–16, London School of Economics and Political Science, London. Heller, Patrick. 2000. ‘Moving the State: The Politics of Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa and Porto Alegre’, Paper presented at the International Conference of Democratic Decentralisation, Thiruvananthapuram, 23–27 May. Hindu. 1990. 12 December. Hirangan, G. 2000. ‘Streeyum Ezherttum’ (Women and Writing: Conversation with Sara Jaseph). Bhashaposhini Annual Number: 92–108. Isaac, Thomas T.M. 1998. Decentralisation, Democracy and Development. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Planning Board. Isaac, Thomas T.M. and Richard W. Franke. 2000. Local Democracy and Development: People’s Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala. Delhi: LeftWord Books. Jain, Shilpa. 1998. ‘Redefining the Politics of Presence: The Case of Indian Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions’. B.A. Thesis, Harvard University. Jeffrey, Robin. 2003. Politics, Women and Well-being: How Kerala Became ‘A Model’. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Kabeer, Naila and R. Subrahmanian. 1996. ‘Institutions, Relations and Outcomes: Framework and Tools for Gender-aware Planning’. IDS Discussion Paper No. 357, Institute for Development Studies, Brighton. Kerla Kaumudi. 1998. 29 September. Kodoth, Praveena. 2002a. ‘Framing Custom, Directing Practices: Authority, Property and Matriliny Under Colonial Law in Nineteenth Century Malabar’. Working Paper Series No. 338, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. ———. 2002b. ‘Gender, Community and Identity in Christian Property Law Reform: The Case of Early 20th Century Travancore’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 3 (3): 383–93. Laclau, E. and Chantal Mouffe. 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. London: Verso. Lindberg, A. 2001. Experience and Identity: A Historical Account of Class, Caste and Gender among the Cashew Workers of Kerala, 1930–2000. Lund: Department of History, Lund University. Malayala Manorama. Various issues. Menon, Dilip M. 1994. Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India: Malabar, 1900–1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Molyneux, Maxine. 2001. ‘Mobilization without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, the State and Revolution in Nicaragua’, in Women’s Movements in International Perspective: Latin America and Beyond. London: Palgrave: 38–59. ———. 2002. ‘Gender and the Silence of Social Capital: Lessons from Latin America’, Development and Change, 33(2): 40–75. Mukherjee, Vanita and T.N. Seema. 2000. ‘Gender, Governance and Decentralized Planning: The Experience and People’s Campaign in Kerala’. Paper presented at the International Conference on Democratic Decentralisation, Thiruvananthapuram, 20–23 May. Muralidharan, Sarada. 2003. ‘Gender and Decentralization: Opportunities and Challenges’, Kerala Calling, October.

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4 Role of Grassroots Women’s Networks in Engendering Governance: Case of Mahila Samakhya, Karnataka Sangeetha Purushothaman and Suchitra Vedanth

INTRODUCTION

T

HIS chapter examines the role played by women through networks in engendering local governance. Different types of networks have emerged in nine districts of Karnataka, namely, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Raichur, Koppal, Gulbarga and Bellary, through the work done by women belonging to 31 federations, supported by the Mahila Samakhya Karnataka (MSK). The appendix provides an overview of the MSK and its activities. The roles played by these federations will be analysed to see to what extent these challenge the traditional norms of governance. Traditional theories of women and the state (Murray and Kubik 2000) will be examined to see the extent to which they do or do not capture the new forms of organisations and new roles emerging on the ground, namely, federations of women’s sanghas (village level women’s collective). The chapter also looks at other literature on networks to see the various roles they are playing in changing women’s situations globally (Purkayastha and Subramanium 2004). The study on the federations in the MSK will serve as the basis for analysis and theory. The objectives of this study were to examine the process, history and future concept of the federations; their current performance and activities assessed by women and staff; the capacity-building needs as prioritised by the women across and between districts; and the role of federations vis-à-vis different institutions. The functions that these institutions perform that are important to the federations and bring out the capacitybuilding needs of the federations towards better dealings with those institutions, and their specific functions.

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A brief note describing the federations is first in order. The federation, which is a broad umbrella organisation, comprises and represents about 50 women’s collectives in a given block in a district. It is a registered body at the block level, comprising women representing their sanghas. Sangha women gain membership to the federation either individually or collectively through their sanghas. The range of membership in the federation is between 500 to 800. Members pay a nominal membership fee on an annual basis, which is used to meet the operating costs of the federation. They meet annually in the general body to elect the executive committee members of the federation. The executive committee in turn plans, monitors and regulates the activities of both the federation and the sanghas. The executive committee has office bearers such as president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. The executive committee also oversees the activities of the different committees that meet under the banner of the federation. Two to three women from each sangha comprise the membership of each of the six thematic committees (health, governance, economic development, legal literacy, education and self-reliance). Committee membership is organised in such a way that every sangha woman is a part of at least one committee. These committees meet regularly at the block level. Committee members draw up action plans, resolve problems that have arisen on the ground, and follow up on activities in each area. The common understanding is that the federation exists to strengthen the women’s movement, their voices, and their collective capacities to negotiate on their issues and bargain for resources.

METHODOLOGY In the spirit of empowering federations, the methodology adopted by the study was a participatory one, involving visual exercises (as a substitute to standard surveys) for each of the study components that would help women assess for themselves the federations’ performance visually, through voting, and prioritise their future needs. A total of 630 sangha women were involved in these participatory exercises and in the focus group discussions. Additionally, MSK staff from seven districts was interviewed. The focus group discussions and the reflection sessions brought to light the dynamics of the federations, their concerns and achievements. An in-depth study of one federation in each district and a workshop with members from all the federations of the district was conducted. Members of the executive committee, the nari adalats (womens courts), the six issue-based committees and the general body, were the respondents. This study had certain limitations, including that the time taken did not allow more than a one-time assessment of the federations’ needs and performance. This study provides only a snapshot of the federations at a particular moment in time and does not capture the entire process and the federation’s needs on an ongoing basis. While a serious attempt was made to understand the goals and perspectives of the organisation, as outsiders there were limitations on how much of these can be fully understood. Nor is literature providing clear-cut analytical frameworks to analyse

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emerging phenomena such as the growth and performance of networks and federations easily available.

LITERATURE REVIEW This section aims to define networks, federations and governance using the available literature, but tailoring these definitions to suit the Indian context. It also aims at exploring the links between networks and governance from the broader literature. The concluding sections of this paper will highlight the links between networks and governance based on the empirical evidence gathered from the study.

Networks and Federations: Definitions and Distinctions Networks arise from and are sustained by the relationships between individuals over some shared concern, belief or value (Lowndes et al. 1997). Typically, networks are voluntary in nature and have lower levels of formalisation than organisations. Federations in India are similar in their characteristics to networks, as described in the literature, in that they arise from and are sustained by relationships between individuals based on common beliefs or values and begin as voluntary, informal structures. Broadly, the main difference between networks and federations in the Indian context is that typically networks refer to networks of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), while federations refer to coalitions of community-based organisations (CBOs). Currently, the women’s federations remain informal, but are moving towards formalisation with members increasingly seeing the need for registration and for formal budgets. This is because federations represent sanghas and, therefore, a degree of accountability is needed, which translates into membership, budgets based on sangha contributions, payments for the expenses of federation members, and reporting of outcomes of the executive committee members’ activities to the general body. These are built into their structures. The federations provide the basis for partnerships and for negotiations with formal institutions because they are larger collectives and, hence, have more power, clout and bargaining capacity than sanghas. There is a greater willingness among mainstream institutions to negotiate with federations rather than individual sanghas despite the fact that currently several of these federations are still ‘informal’ (unregistered) structures, as this reduces transaction costs for banks and government agencies and helps them meet their targets. Federations earn greater institutional respect than individual sanghas. The federations are the means through which sanghas access government resources and hold it accountable. Thus, there is the potential for a strong link between governance and the federation operations.

DEFINING GOVERNANCE A concise definition of the term governance is not easy since it has come to be used as an umbrella term for describing a range of phenomena. Pierre and Peters (2000) have

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attempted to provide a variety of ways to define governance, dividing them broadly into definitions of governance as a structure and definitions of governance as a process.

Governance as a Structure This refers to governance in many structural forms and includes hierarchical governance, governance as markets, governance as networks and governance as communities. Governance as hierarchies implies governance conducted by and through vertically integrated state structures as an idealised model of democratic government and public bureaucracy. This definition is more historical in its context because it looks at governance as reflective unrivalled state power, whereas today governance, in the West is more horizontal because of the development of networks that contest and challenge state objectives and interests. Governance as markets refers to the market as a governance mechanism, and is used to describe an alternative and more efficient resource-allocating mechanism to the ‘Big’ government, which is seen as bureaucratic and inefficient in resource allocation. However, the problem with this form of governance is that, since economic theory is driven by self-interest, some problems are created by these economic processes, which cannot be solved by the market itself. Governance as networks is an increasingly familiar form of governance, with networks comprising a range of state and non-state actors dealing with single issues to coherent community policies. This emergent new form of governance in its extreme is sufficiently powerful to resist or challenge state power. Governance as communities is a form of governance based on the idea that communities can and should solve their own problems, whereas the state is too big or too bureaucratic to deal with these.

Governance as a Process Pierre and Peters (2000) have described the governance approach with greater focus on process than on formal institutional arrangements. Here, while institutional arrangements are important as they determine the role the state can play, governance is more concerned with outcomes than with institutions, and governance is more about the relationships between structures than the structures themselves. This is driven by the need to alter the policy process, and democracies are now experimenting with new models of policy consultation. These experiments include citizen engagement with governance being a dynamic process. Three processes have been described. The first is governance as a steering and coordinating mechanism. In such a mechanism public and private actors steer economic activities to produce desired outcomes (ibid.). The second and third are governance as a monitoring mechanism, and a mechanism that challenges existing hierarchies and existing practices, respectively. This chapter focuses more on two aspects of governance, namely, governance as networks and governance as communities. However, rather than viewing governance as a structure, it views governance more as a process, looking at the role played by networking in steering governance towards pro-poor and pro-women outcomes, in

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monitoring governance from a gender perspective, and as a mechanism that challenges patriarchal practices and existing patron–clientele relationships.

Conceptual Framework of Improved and Engendered Governance We will look at governance through the following conceptual framework. The two variables examined are improved governance and engendered goverrnance. Improved governance means that it is more transparent, accountable, equitable, sustainable and participatory for the community at large. However, if it is not taking into account 50 per cent of its population, namely women, then to this extent it is limited in its impact. While engendered governance is if the aforementioned indicators are relevant for both men and women. In other words, governance needs to be more transparent for women, accountable to women, equitable for women, have lasting, sustainable changes for women, and must invite not just community participation, but women’s participation in particular. Why is this distinction important? Because a panchayat may hold gram sabhas and open up its accounts, budgets and decision making processes to them and hence claim to have improved governance. However, if women are not present in that gram sabha, it implies that while the panchayat has become more transparent and accountable to the larger community, it has not become so for women. Even if women are present at meetings but do not talk, are excluded in any way, or due to illiteracy or other factors unable to access the same information, then governance is not engendered despite the best of intentions. Therefore, while governance has improved for the larger community it has not improved vis-à-vis women. What are the engendered indicators and the measures of each governance indicator? These variables obviously have indicators that are gender sensitive in order for the governance itself to be an engendered variable. Table 4.1 provides an idea of indicators of improved and engendered governance (Purushothaman et al. 1999). These indicators and their measures have been used to guide the analysis as we examine field evidence to see to what extent these indicators reflect the ground realities. The measures for each of the indicators below differs sharply vis-à-vis their sensitivity to women. The next section will examine the measures associated with each indicator.

Table 4.1: Indicators of Improved and Engendered Governance Improved governance

Engendered governance

Transparency Accountability Equity for rich and poor Sustainability Community participation

Engendered transparency Engendered accountability Equity for poor women Sustainability for women Participation of women

Source: Purushothaman et al. 1999.

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Measures of the Indicators of Improved and Engendered Governance The indicators used to measure improved and engendered governance are different. The criteria used to measure the indicators of either type of governance is discussed. Increased transparency means the extent to which budgets and decisions are made public, number of public assemblies held per year, the extent to which people participate in assemblies, the extent to which elected officials are accessible to people, the extent to which programmes are explained to people, and the extent to which the manner of usage of funds is made available to the public. While engendered transparency implies extent of women’s participation in assemblies, their access to elected officials, programmes and other appropriate information. Increased accountability is measured by nature of communication between elected officials and the community. While engendered transparency implies extent of women’s participation in assemblies, their access to elected officials, programmes and other appropriate information. Similarly, equity is measured by increased access to resources of the voting constituency and improved standard of living. Equity for women also means increased access to resources and improved standard of living. Sustainability is lasting changes for the community, but sustainability for women refers to enduring changes for them. Community participation is measured by increased participation of the community in decision making processes; and participation of women is measured in terms of increased participation of women in decision making, increased participation of the sangha at panchayat meetings, and extent to which the panchayat consults the sangha (Purushothaman et al. 1999). Engendered governance and improved governance are both dependent variables. In the ensuing sections the relationship between federations and these indicators will be examined for their specific impact on governance.

Relationships between Networks and the Governance Processes Networks are seen as open systems of governance which enhance participation and challenge established hierarchies (Gilchrist 1995, quoted in Skelcher et al. 1996). Networking enables higher participation levels and greater partnership formation as it is characterised by a high degree of trust, cooperation and mutual advantages (Skelcher et al. 1996). According to Lowndes et al. (1997), research on governance shows the growing significance of networking and other forms of social coordination. Networks are dynamic in nature as membership is fluid and can change. This complements the new forms of governance as a process, which is equally fluid and dynamic. In India the emergence of federations of poor women’s collectives is a direct response to the state’s failure to address the concerns of poor women. Thus, both phenomena, networking and decentralised local governance, have emerged simultaneously and have tended to complement each other.

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Roles Played by Networks The literature has pointed to a rich variety of roles played by networks (Purkayastha and Subramanium 2004: 8–11) in social, economic and political processes. These include, though are not limited to, such diverse facets as engaging the community in decision making and planning (Purushothaman et al. 2004 in Purkayastha and Subramanium 2004), working for the right to collective survival and improving the standard of living of their members, increasing the choices women have and can make, raising awareness on women’s rights, maintaining and transmission of cultural identities (Bhattacharya 2004), new norms, attitudes and information, helping members access employment (ibid.), helping women access markets (Hamal Gurung 2004) providing social support systems to individual women, mobilisation of women for political campaigns, and for electoral processes from getting women into power to voting (Husain 2004). This classification does not fully describe the roles played by the federations formed by the Mahila Samakhya Karnataka. Broadly, the role played by the Karnataka women’s federations can be described as improving democratic practices. Specifically, it ensures the equitable delivery of public goods and services by local government to communities in a manner that engenders and improves governance. This creates a direct relationship between governance and the phenomena of networking to which we will return later. However, it expands the political arena of women’s interventions from purely electoral politics to holding the local government accountable on a daily basis.

State and Civil Society Relations The last set of relationships that need to be critically examined include the one between state and civil society. In a recent paper (Alikhan et al. 2004), four broad classifications of this relationship in India emerged—co-option, collaboration, critical collaboration and conflicts. In case of co-option, NGOs exist purely as sources of revenue for their managers and workers. They may or may not achieve change on the ground (that is, some are simply corrupt fronts, while others are essentially uncritical contractors of government schemes, with no agenda of their own other than securing funding and meeting unquestioned government targets). Here NGOs function more in an extensionary role. In case of collaboration, NGOs work with the government with a mission to change government practices/policies without overt conflict. This relationship is more reformist and less revolutionary in nature, NGOs receive government funding (usually as part of a wider range of income sources), and carry out government contracts as part of a number of programmes. While there is little scope for innovation or dissent within specific programmes, over the long term they hope to shift government agendas, and some have. National and some state governments are said to have adopted self-help groups (SHGs) based on NGO successes with this strategy. Collaboration can be very uncomfortable as some NGOs that have played important roles in the reduction of poverty through collaboration while avoiding open confrontation with government are strongly criticised by others who argue that no radical, sustainable change is

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achieved. Critical collaboration means NGOs engaging with the state in a variety of ways (from secondment to committees, to taking part in grassroots programmes, to organising rallies and dharnas), yet articulating a clear purposive agenda, for example, human rights, reproductive and child health, and being willing to advance it in both collaborative and oppositional fora. A very difficult role to play. The last relationship is that of conflict. In this case, NGOs reject state funding and articulate a radical oppositional stance to gender, class, caste, regional, religious and/or ethnic inequalities of power. The common critique of NGOs with this position is that they hold out on helping people meet their basic needs in the hope of more radical outcomes. However, all these are relationships that reflect older forms of analysis and ways of looking at the state, which is seen as omnipotent and all-powerful. More recently, both history and the thinking that followed showed that states, especially in the third world, are ill equipped economically, technically and otherwise to deal with the complexity of the problems they face, especially poverty. In the World Urban Forum held in Barcelona in September 2004 the emergent views of the state were completely different, especially as local government emerges as a new actor, alongwith decentralisation. It was projected that the world population is estimated to rise by 3 billion by 2050 and most of this increase is to be in the third world countries and in cities. In the face of such anticipated pressure on resources, the state is seen as more or less powerless to handle the consequent complexity of these problems. In fact, the common emergent global understanding is that no single actor can handle these problems given their scale and complexity. The state especially has neither the flexibility nor the resources and technical capacity to deal with imminent problems arising from urbanisation and globalisation. Since no one actor has the capacity to deal with these issues, the need of the day is partnerships involving the state, civil society and private sector to address concerns in the face of rising problems and shrinking resources. Increasingly, the roles of these actors are seen as distinct and complementary, with the private sector responsible for economic growth and investment, the public sector responsible for infrastructure, and civil society responsible for mobilising the active participation of citizens in planning and development processes. Such partnerships between state and civil society have already begun to emerge in countries like the Philippines where up to 30 per cent of state resources are reserved for them by law. Thus, the birth of the need for a new form of relationship between local government and civil society has emerged, which is one of mutual investment and resource sharing (Purushothaman 2004).

Mutual Investment A relationship between local government and civil society that can be defined as mutual investment would include a recognition of both as partners engaged in community building and in local development processes where neither actor can solve emergent development problems alone. The two are seen as mutually dependent and can only be present in countries with well-developed civil societies where the state cannot handle problems related to rising poverty and pressures of urbanisation.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE KARNATAKA FEDERATIONS The objectives of the federations as articulated by women is broader than the objectives of a single collective or sangha, and coincides more with the objectives of the larger women’s movement. These objectives are strengthening sanghas and furthering the women’s movement, and establishing linkages with government institutions at block, taluka and district levels. Strengthening the women’s movement includes dealing with internal conflicts within the sanghas, rejuvenating sanghas that have stopped functioning, forming new sanghas, and helping sanghas on issues that they cannot deal with single handedly. Furthering the movement also entails getting the next generation of women organised into kishori sanghas (village level collective of young girls between the age group of 10 to 18). Establishing linkages with government institutions at block, taluka and district levels include attending meetings and getting access to decision making forums at these levels of government, banks and other institutions. Thus, while one objective clearly focuses on an inward-looking goal of building and strengthening the women’s organisations or sanghas and the women’s movement, the second goal is more concerned with governance issues, towards accessing resources from mainstream institutions, and influencing the decision making process. Another set of goals emerged from interview with the nari adalat formed by the sangha women trained in legal rights to deal with the problems of the rural women, in particular the poor among them. This includes getting justice for poor women where it has been found that traditional courts, police, local panchayats and so on have delivered decisions that are biased. These goals involve engaging with institutions both at the personal level with the family and at the level of government, since often it is required for the nari adalat to get the support of the police or the panchayat for the decisions made. These objectives reflect the need for federations to intervene and emerge as dynamic actors to play roles that other institutions are unable or unwilling to play. It reflects the need for interventions in issues related to justice, resource allocation, and delivery of public goods and services in favour of poor women, which the state has proved to be incapable of and which sanghas at the level of communities are unable to deal with effectively.

THE STRUCTURE OF FEDERATIONS IN KARNATAKA Federation structures are not easy to predetermine (Figure 4.1 shows an organogram). It takes a while before a structure can evolve, which makes sense for poor rural women and it is typically complex in function and structure. Historically, federations have been formed on the basis of issues or a particular cause, but once the cause is addressed, solved or defeated, they tend to fall apart. In Mahila Samakhya, however, the purpose of federations that are of and for the rural and especially the poor women is to address a range of issues that are all interconnected. This requires a structure that is flexible

Bidar

Sangha

Executive committee

Block-level federation

Bijapur

Sangha

Bellary

Self- reliance

Legal

Mysore

Raichur

Health

EDP

Panchayat

Sangha

Education

Gulbarga

Thematic committees at sangha level

Sangha

General body

Nari adalat

Koppal

District implementation units

Mahila Samakhya Karnataka (registered society) State programme office

Mahila Samakhya (NPO under Government of India)

Figure 4.1: Organogram of the Mahila Samakhya, Karnataka

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enough to respond to these multiple needs. Each taluka federation has an executive committee (EC) consisting of seven to 13 members depending on the size of the federation. Typically EC members are elected for a year. The EC also has office bearers such as president, vice-president and secretary. In addition to the EC, the federation has six issue-based committees, namely, health, sangha self-reliance, legal literacy, panchayati raj, education and economic activities.

ROLE OF COMMITTEES IN THE FEDERATION The committees perform the roles of addressing issues on scale, acting as pressure groups, dealing with concrete problems in a task-oriented manner, and so on. To address issues on scale means that the committees were formed to address specific issues at a higher level because the federation committees, being larger collectives than the individual sangha committees, have the required knowledge inputs and numerical strength to deal with the issues effectively. At the sangha level, committees solve all general problems that arise, together. In acting as pressure groups the committees play another important role in pressuring institutions and officials on issues pertinent to the committee. In order to deal with concrete problems in a task-oriented manner, the committees, based on training provided, determine tasks for various members and resource persons. For example, in Bidar the health committee was asked to identify how many women had a white discharge problem; and legal committee members were asked to establish linkages with the police stations in their areas. The legal committee and nari adalat solve legal problems. The panchayat committee plays an important role in helping sanghas access government programmes and services. The EDP committee at the sangha level looks after savings, economic activities and loan repayments. If there is a problem with bankers, the EC member from the EDP committee brings it to the notice of the EC, which in turn solves it at the taluka level.

IMPACT OF THE NETWORKS From the point of view of governance, one of the purposes with which the sanghas were established was to link women with the local government so as to enable women to access the various schemes and facilities available, to help them tackle and resolve issues in a gender-sensitive manner, and make the local government accountable to them. However, it was found that their scope and scale was limited to the village level only. In instances where issues had to be resolved at the taluka or district level, it was the staff and the organisation of the MSK that stepped in. As the presence of the organisation itself began to decrease as a deliberate strategy for withdrawal and the issue of sustainability arose, the need for new organisational forms became apparent. The most articulate and capable women had to be trained to take on the role of the staff. Intrinsic to the issue of sustainability is networking with the local government and linkages to their institutions, departments and offices. For the sanghas to get access

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to resources for members in order to improve their standard of living and for the sangha to play a basic role in community development at the village level, linkages to local government is essential. This goes way beyond linkages just with village panchayats, to linkages with the district and taluka offices, that is, to the administration. Even for the sanghas to become more effective in their own villages, linkages to the district and taluka government established by staff was essential. But this had to be taken over by the women themselves, for which the federations and committees became important. Beyond this there are issues like alcoholism, which go beyond any one village and need to be resolved by a collectivity of sanghas at the district and taluka levels through waging campaigns or through raising awareness throughout the district. There are also issues like corruption that require intervention of officials at higher levels. These roles need to be taken over by the people‘s organisations. Programmes such as the Santhwana— a women’s helpline or health camps that require mass participation or bank linkages, all require intervention at higher levels. This implies that for local governance to be effective, intervention is required at all levels. Furthermore, it implies the need for organisations at all levels. This explains the emergence of the federations. However, what is different about these federations is their complexity and the capacity of the different parts of these federations to take on multiple functions. Thus, these are not issue-based federations, and yet there are committees within their structure that can handle specific issues and expertise on a variety of issues continues to be developed among women. Thus, the roles played by the different network components have been examined vis-à-vis their impact on women on the ground in relation to local governance. A broad range of impacts surfaced through this study. These include aspects like building linkages with and monitoring the government and banks. The most significant impact was the capacity of the federation to monitor the performance of public institutions such as banks, government offices and schools. This entailed fighting corruption, ensuring that services reached those eligible for them, and monitoring the quality of services. This resulted in making these goods and services accessible and transparent to women. Another aspect was organising social campaigns and acting as a pressure group. The capacity of the federations and the committees to organise campaigns at a larger level, such as against alcoholism, to promote women’s health and to act as a pressure group on issues, required a strong degree of women’s participation at all levels. The third aspect of conflict resolution primarily involved resolving problems within the sanghas as well as conflicts within villages that their sanghas were not able to resolve. This resulted in decisions that are more equitable for women. Finally, delivering justice for women through nari adalats ensured that the conflict resolution and solutions were just to women. The institution that was rated the most significant was the MSK itself (43.6 per cent), followed by local government (15.7 per cent). Among women’s needs, overriding priority was accorded to literacy (260 or one-third of the women), followed by legal literacy (140 women) followed by how to access government programmes (129 women). Literacy was seen as a major need primarily to access information, while legal literacy was to ensure that women were aware of their rights and could access justice while

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linking to government programmes as an essential part of self-reliance and sustainability. Thus, these needs relate to women’s access to and control over resources for which influencing local governance becomes a very important aspect. The next section examines specific examples of how the networks impact local governance.

BUILDING LINKAGES WITH AND MONITORING THE GOVERNMENT The linkages with government entail several steps. The first is accessing information related to the range of government programmes and services, the eligibility criteria for these, the mechanisms for choice of beneficiaries and service delivery. The next step is monitoring how these services and programmes are administered. A simultaneous step is to establish linkages to the programmes so as to help women access public goods and services.

Access to Information The federation provides an important avenue through which information is channelled to the women. The general bodies of various federations report on the types of information they receive through the federation. These include information on programmes such as housing, toilets and sanitation, on credit, banking, loans and savings, information on schools, economic development training, smokeless chulhas, on health, and on the procedure for widows to obtain pensions. The federations also make use of meetings as an opportunity to invite officials to discuss programmes with women. For instance, a federation invited NABARD officers to give information on SHG concepts to a group of 220 people. A second category of information is sangha-wise information dissemination, where the federations arrange for different sanghas to access a variety of information. For example, the federation in Bellary took the sangha to the agriculture department for an exposure visit. In Yelburga taluka, Koppal, at a sangha meeting five EC members came and provided women information on health issues. Details on institutional procedures is a third category of information. In Bellary district the federation has provided information on procedures related to the police. In Gulbarga district the federation provided information on election procedures and how to fill up forms. In Koppal district, the EC trained five or six sanghas on loan repayment. Social issues is the fourth category of information handled or received by the sanghas. In Bellary district the federation discussed child-marriage, solving marital conflicts, how to solve disputes without going to the police station, as well as a range of other issues. In Koppal, the EC gives training at the cluster level on social awareness regarding school dropouts. In Raichur, the federation organised for a lawyer, doctor and the police to give appropriate information to women. In Mysore the federation organised legal training for committee members with the support of the Free Legal Aid Board which provided the knowledge inputs.

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Linkages Established with Government Programmes Various strategies are used to establish government linkages, including the federation inviting government officials to attend meetings and supporting women to participate in the gram sabhas to avail of various government schemes. The federation has leveraged resources for women in a range of different areas, spanning legal aid, education, health, housing, electricity, sanitation, yellow cards, green cards and other benefits.

Committee-wise Linkages Legal The MSK, in association with the Department of Women and Child Welfare, provided a 24-hour, toll-free helpline in 19 centres across seven districts, namely, Bellary, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Mysore, Raichur and Koppal, wherein, counsellors helped women in tackling issues relating to dowry, family disputes, sexual harassment, rape, bigamy, property disputes and the like. The Santhwana programme was very successful and provided round-the-clock help, but has been withdrawn due to problems relating to funds and administration. The nari adalat now provides the same type of help.

Health In Bellary the federation invited doctors to participate in health check-up camps and in Pulse Polio programmes. In Gulbarga and Bijapur the federation organised health camps for women. According to EC members, health camps are organised by them for about 200 women at a time (both sangha and non-sangha), and doctors provide information about reproductive diseases. The health committee members have surveyed the prevalence of STDs in 30 villages and have identified 200 women who suffer from white discharge.

Education In Koppal, EC members have submitted a list of girls who have dropped out of school to the MSK, who in turn has passed it on to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (a Government of India programme to enrol school dropouts). EC members helped some dropout girls to get admitted into schools and then sent them to the Bellary Education Centre (primary) and the Bijapur Education Centre (high school). They hold Kishori meetings and melas for awareness raising on education matters. The federation has identified school dropouts and sent them to the Kalika Kendra in Bellary. In Gulbarga, too, the federation enrols school dropouts and sees to it that all children go to school as part of the school enrolment campaigns.

Economic Development Lack of access to credit is one of the major barriers to economic progress for poor women. In the face of mounting debts and exploitative credit terms, women desperately need

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access to credit from formal institutions. Furthermore, the terms and conditions applicable to credit for productive purposes, especially interest rates, need to be competitive for women producers and women entrepreneurs to survive in an increasingly globalised and competitive economy. Thus, linkages to banks become an important function for the federation to perform. Almost 50 villages in Bellary district have received loans for small businesses, arranged for by the federation. The federation arranged loan of Rs. 30,000 for 15 members and Rs. 40,000 for 20 members of Hurlihal ghataka (cluster of villages) for sheep rearing. About 36 members from three sanghas in Joghalli ghataka received a loan of Rs. 65,000. Women in Bellary wanted a loan from the bank to buy goats. The bank initially refused because their husbands had defaulted on loans. The EC approached the bank head office and said that when the husbands wanted a loan, the wives were not considered. The same rule should apply to the women. In this way the federation ensured that the bank gave the women the required loan. In Raichur two devadasi women each got a buffalo at a 50 per cent subsidy. In Kustagi taluka, Koppal district, the EC got sangha women a loan to buy goats. A range of other benefits have accrued due to the federation’s interventions. The EC members in Koppal and Gulbarga districts have accessed Swarnjayanthi Grameen Swarozgar Yojana (SJSY), widow pension, schemes for the handicapped and facilities for sangha women. In Gulbarga bank linkages and government linkages are in place. Bankers are ready to give loans to the federation, but they have been redirected to the sanghas because the management of money is not efficient and professional at the federation level. There is a need for experts in the area of finance to train the women to manage the federation’s finances efficiently. In Bellary women have got access to smokeless chulhas. They have got a contract to construct toilets for schools, a room to cook midday meals with grants from the zilla panchayat and drinking water for schools. An application was submitted to the gram panchayat for water purifiers in individual houses in two ghatakas (Gudekote and Hurlihal). The mahasangha in Mysore got houses for sangha members under the Ashraya scheme in Periyapatna taluka. They also got toilets built through panchayats in Nanjangud taluka. In Koppal, the women’s ration cards (yellow cards) under the Antyodaya Scheme were mixed up, and they were given the more expensive green cards. The EC members got hold of the details and approached the federation on how to proceed. Finally, they approached the gram panchayat, which demanded Rs. 4 per application to change the cards, which women refused. The issue was finally sorted out without the women paying the wrongly demanded amount. In Bidar also women said that they were able to get access to widow pensions and ration cards for the poor with the sangha’s help. The government provides many facilities for the rehabilitation of devadasis. The sangha prepared a list of the number of devadasi women in the village, and along with the EC and the MSK, got houses for seven of them. In Kustagi taluka of Koppal district, Padama, an ex-devadasi, said that the government has a scheme where women get free land. But the villagers objected as she was an ex-devadasi. The EC moved in and got her the land she was entitled to. The EC in Koppal helped register a building for one sangha. They also got land for a sangha building in Yelburga taluka. In Gangavathi taluka, the construction of the sangha building had stopped due to a lack of money. The EC members approached a zilla

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panchayat member, Hanumesh Naik, who provided necessary funds. In Dashmapur ghataka of Bellary the women, along with the EC, got their sangha building through an MLA. Two sanghas got together and, with support from the EC in Bellary, went to the panchayat and got a mini water tank. The federations in Gulbarga have helped women access money for the handicapped. In Bagewadi taluka of Bijapur, the federation obtained saplings under the tree planting programme from the forest department.

Government Linkages that Benefit the Whole Village Community In Bellary, women collected Rs. 60 from each house which they handed to the panchayats for availing purifiers and are awaiting the latter. The sangha applied to the EC and along with the support of the federation, they got access to housing programmes and clean drainage for the whole village. The villagers in Yerobayyanahatti village in Bellary district contacted the federation and, with their help, got a compound wall built around the school.

Monitoring Government Programmes and Services Monitoring programmes and services are one way women hold officials accountable to the community. The federations are increasingly taking on this role as a way to ensure better quality and delivery of public goods and services, and also to fight corruption. Monitoring takes place in a wide variety of ways. For example, the different committees play a major role in monitoring through mobilising the sanghas.

Monitoring of Education Money towards scholarships for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) children comes to the panchayat office, but it does not reach them. The sangha members in Koppal collectively applied pressure and told the sarpanch (village head) that if he did not give the money to the rightful beneficiaries, he should mention the same in writing, thus forcing him to give the money. In Bidar federation members visit the schools and saw to it that there was no discrimination against children based on caste. Saraswathi, president of Aurad taluka federation, said that the school in Boral village needed a cook for the midday meal. She knew that there was a reservation for an SC/ST woman for this job. She approached the headmaster who said that he did not know about it and asked her to ask the School Development and Management Committee (SDMC) president, who in turn did not know about it either. She approached the panchayat president. He said that he had been on leave. So they approached the tehsildar. Meanwhile, she and the sangha women got the school closed and refused to allow it to open till one of them got the job of a cook. Three months later, the tehsildar put out a list which was appropriate and the matter was resolved. At this point, they were wondering who should get the job. They finally decided on an SC/ST woman whose husband had died. They made her join the sangha and gave her the job. In all the nine MSK districts, sangha women keep a check on the midday meals in the schools. They

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monitor cleanliness and hygiene and the quality of the food served. In Ernal village, once a mouse fell into the water which was used for cooking; the mouse was boiled and a girl brought it home! Once there was a snake, and another time there were worms. All this was monitored and brought out in the open by the sangha women. They banned the midday meal scheme for eight days. Finally, the teachers took charge of the programme for better delivery.

Monitoring Housing Schemes In Devdurga taluka, Raichur district, at the general body meeting, the MLA was invited and told by the women that they had not received houses from the Ashraya and Ambedkar programmes. The MLA assured them that he would sanction 100 houses. The federation identified deserving beneficiaries and construction is now on. The women from Jeerang Tharaki of Bijapur district went to meet an MLA, Raju Alur, with a list of 20 members eligible for housing, of which 10 were non-sangha women. He was not there and the women said they would wait and not leave until they met him. They waited till 11 P.M. and then left. The gram panchayat president told the MLA that these women would return the next day. The women went back the next day and the MLA told them that he had asked the gram panchayat secretary to give the women the houses.

Monitoring of Other Welfare and Social Security Schemes In Raichur taluka, the EC identified all the widows and called for a meeting with them at the Raichur federation office. The EC members explained to the widows how to apply for pension, what documentation was required, and so on. They fixed a date and accompanied the widows to the tehsildar’s office. Due to these efforts, the money has been sanctioned for 10 beneficiaries and each now receives Rs. 100 per month.

Monitoring Health Services and Sanitation In several districts women have been involved in creating awareness about and actually ensuring cleanliness of the village. Women in Bellary ensured that the drainage is clean, and that the auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) make home visits which they are supposed to do, check the anganwadis, motivate everyone to get birth certificates, and so on. If there is an outbreak of a disease, the sangha women get the necessary treatment from the primary health centre (PHC). In Raichur, women accompany the doctor and ensure that everyone gets Pulse Polio shots. They ensure that pregnant women get food from the anganwadi. They, too, monitor ANM visits. In Koppal, cleanliness of the village is monitored, and once when the drains were blocked, the sangha women cleaned it. They also ensure that garbage is cleared regularly. Last year, the EC in Koppal district mobilised the sangha women to clean the water tank and the washing area. Monitoring of government programmes and activities has taken place both through the federations and the sanghas. The sanghas monitor the work and provide this information to the federation. Thus, according to the general body, several instances of monitoring have taken place both jointly by the sanghas and federations, and also by the sanghas themselves.

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Fighting Corruption Often, women are deprived of resources due to corrupt practices of government personnel. The federations have tackled several of these types of problems when brought to their notice. For example, in Hanumsagar village, Koppal district, government doctors used to take bribes from patients. When EC members found out about this, they got the incident reported in the papers and then convinced one woman doctor that she was doing something wrong. They also spoke to the people and told them not to give bribes. The woman doctor has now changed and if she has a problem, she discusses it with the villagers and tries solving it. She does not take bribes any more. Similarly, the corruption in postal services was resisted in Ginnapura village, a small, backward village 20 km from Koppal. There is no public transport to and from this village except for one bus that comes once in the morning and once in the evening. Kariyamma Devi Mahila Sangha has been in existence for the past six years. The members regularly conduct sangha meetings and actively participate in trainings and school programmes and sangha women are well known to everyone in the village. One day the members found out that the village postman was cheating old people of their pension money. Gangamma, the president of Kamadhenu Mahila Mahasangha (federation) took this case to the tehsildar’s office. When the sangha women came to know of the case they confronted the postman in front of the whole village and forced him to return the money. They warned him that if he did not return the money, they would complain about this to his superiors. The postman acknowledged his wrong deeds and in front of the sangha members and the whole village, he said that he would sell his land to return the money to the rightful people. In Abbalti village, Mysore, an Ashramshala hostel was supposed to be built. But a corrupt politician wanted the hostel to be built in his village. The sangha heard about this and approached the panchayat and the Deputy Commissioner (DC) in this regard. At a zilla samiti meeting, it was decided that they would file a complaint with the Tribal Board in Bangalore. The convener and co-convener travelled to Bangalore, contacted the Tribal Board and explained the case to the director. Consequently the building was constructed at Abbalti. Thus, making officials accountable, ensuring that resources are accessible and are distributed equitably, ensuring efficient running of schools and delivery of other public services, and making transparent the choice of beneficiaries, are strategies used to make governance more effective. Getting women access to resources, ensuring that government officials are accountable to women and seeing that women get access to and effectively participate in the decision making arena are means by which the federations ensure that governance is engendered.

ORGANISING SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS AND ACTING AS A PRESSURE GROUP The sanghas have also been actively involved in the campaign against alcoholism. This fight has taken many forms. In Raichur, awareness was raised among men on the

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problems associated with alcoholism. In other districts, like in Bidar, the struggle was more violent with women actually having to engage in direct action like physically stopping the entry of ‘arrack’ into the villages. In Koppal and Bijapur more formal steps were taken, where women submitted letters to the deputy commissioner to take action. There was a liquor shop between two villages in Chittapur taluka in Gulbarga district that was creating a lot of problems for the women. The villagers approached the sangha women and together they wrote a letter to the federation. The federation said that if the villagers worked together, they would support them. After conducting a gram sabha with other sangha members, villagers and the federation members, the liquor shop was moved away from the village. Government-initiated campaigns like the Pulse Polio have also been supported by the sanghas. Women in Gulbarga visit houses and talk about the importance of Pulse Polio drops. They also make sure that the polio drops are sealed and safe before being administered. Other issue-based campaigns have also been taken up from time to time by the sanghas. In Bellary, women planned to stage a protest as they were not getting respect and facilities from the taluka office. In Raichur, all villages had a power problem. The federation organised a strike outside the Karnataka Electricity Board office to protest against this. Now they have electricity for six hours a day. In Bidar, a woman Lalitha from Talmadagi village said that a child from her village was knocked down by a lorry. The federation complained to the police, but they did not arrive for a long time. The president of the federation, along with sangha members, lined up on the road and started a rasta roko (a strategy adopted for stopping regular traffic as a form of protest). In no time, the police arrived. The women made sure a report was filed and the necessary photos taken. The sanghas have also been involved in election campaigns. Earlier, with the support of the mahasangha two women stood for elections in Mysore district. The one who stood for the zilla panchayat won and is now a zilla panchayat member. Presently, the general body members of the federation are planning to have a woman candidate stand for elections in the zilla and taluka panchayats. Fighting campaigns on a larger scale and at higher levels and raising awareness on issues that are important to women and women’s rights are other roles the federations play. Here, typically, struggles take forms that are either violent or involve direct conflict with existing institutions. Thus, it requires mass participation and a show of strength, which is beyond the capacity of a single sangha and, hence, requires the involvement, coordination and participation of the federation.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION Conflict resolution is an essential function of the federation. As the sangha is the basic unit of the federation, problems at this level need to be addressed first. This requires that the federations deal with conflicts at various levels, but primarily those within sanghas and conflicts within the village

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Internal Conflicts within Sanghas These are primarily concerned with issues related to repayment of loans, misappropriation of funds and interpersonal dynamics. In Kudligi, some women were not repaying their loans and there was a fight because of this. An EC member intervened successfully, advising the women not to fight but to stay united and repay the bank loan together. For four years the sangha in Anjanapura village of Mysore district had stopped functioning due to misappropriation of funds by a sangha leader (Nagamma). One or two sangha members complained to an EC member who went to Nagamma’s house and took hold of the sangha’s property. She returned and spoke to the women about forming a sangha all over again. As a result, it is now running well. But the money stolen could not be retrieved. Now, Nagamma has volunteered to return the money and says that she wants to return to the sangha. Interpersonal dynamics are another cause of internal conflicts. After her services were terminated from the MSK, a sahayogini (a person who facilitates sangha activities) in Mysore proceeded to demotivate sangha women in Balenahalli and the sangha stopped functioning for four years till EC members in the area talked to the women and motivated them to restart it. Half the women agreed and a new sangha was opened with a new bank account. After six months the rest of the women were motivated enough to reopen the old sangha with the old bank account.

Conflicts in the Village Conflicts in the village are mainly related to property and harassment. In Tegampur village, Bidar district, there was a fight about ownership of property between two neighbours. An EC member, along with sangha members, went and resolved the issue. In another case, a married man kept harassing a teenage girl of the same village and would not allow her to do anything. He told everybody that he wanted to marry her. The girl’s mother brought this to the notice of the sangha and because of this, the man ran away from the village. With the knowledge that a second marriage is illegal, the EC is planning to talk to the man and tell him to leave the girl alone and not destroy three lives, once he returns. Not all issues get resolved easily. Some cases, like the previous one about the village stalker, are more complicated and require a greater amount of time and a more effective process. Conflict resolution is more about strengthening the women’s movement and intervening in societies and communities on behalf of women. However, the federation also represents a parallel form of governance, which has come into place because mainstream institutions fail to address these issues, or address them inadequately.

DELIVERING JUSTICE FOR WOMEN A majority of the cases handled by both the legal committee and the nari adalat concern marital discord, family disputes, rape, sexual harassment, dowry and bigamy, and all

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cases involving stark injustices against women. This section describes the various types of cases handled by the legal committees. Broadly, they can be classified as relating to devadasis, marital discord and second marriages, land and property settlement for women, asset sharing among households, conflict resolution, alcoholism, community (especially women’s participation in decision making on local resources), child-marriage, dowry, rape, murder, corruption, negotiating for access to government programmes, gender justice (for women and men), fighting casteism and women gaining access to public resources. Two of several cases are presented as examples of intervention to deliver justice: 1. Stopping Child Marriage: In Huglur village, Hadgali taluka, Bellary district, Pakiramma brought to the notice of the legal committee that the marriage of a girl by name Shantamma, who was only 11 years old, had been fixed. Four legal committee members visited her home and convinced her parents that it was wrong and the marriage was stopped. She is presently working as a labourer as there is no earning member in her house. 2. Fighting the Devadasi System: Bajaramma, a nari adalat member from Marchad village of Raichur district, reported about a couple who had 12 acres of land and only one daughter. They felt that once she got married and left their home, there would be no one to look after them in their old age. Therefore, it was better to dedicate her as a devadasi. A sangha member informed the nari adalat about this. The sangha and nari adalat members went to the girl’s house when the initiation ceremonies were taking place and informed the mother that this was both illegal and wrong. The father cried saying he had so much property but no one to take care of it. The women said that they should get their daughter married and let the son-in-law live with them. The girl is presently going to school, and says that she wanted to study further and marry only after her schooling. In this manner, they were able to convince the parents and stop a girl from becoming a devadasi. These are instances of how formal mechanisms have failed to deliver justice and instances of how state institutions like the panchayat and the police have remained indifferent or are inaccessible to poor women, and how the nari adalat and the legal committees have intervened on behalf of women. These also represent instances of women’s interventions on behalf of younger girls who as minors have no say in determining their future.

IMPACT OF THE FEDERATION ON INDIVIDUAL WOMEN LEADERS This section discusses the individual attitudinal changes brought about by the sanghas/ federations, which build up women’s leadership so as to take the movement to the next level. Supporting and validating women’s leadership is crucial to the women’s

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movement. And making the women’s contribution visible and acknowledging the individual experiences of women leaders is one way to ensure that it is valued and made visible. This serves to motivate more women to emerge as future leaders, to spearhead the movement.

Sustainability One intention and subsequent impact of forming the federation was that women take over the functions of the MSK staff. Some women, like Bhimbai from Yarnal village of Bijapur district and an EC member, say that they had the confidence to do the work of sahayoginis or fieldworkers. However, some others felt the MSK should still be there to hold their hand. While the aforementioned intention still holds, to date the few instances where this is happening is only at the sahayogini level but not at the higher levels. Women are still far away from taking over the functions of the MSK staff at the state and the district level, which includes leveraging programme and policy intervention to facilitate women’s access to resources.

Attitudinal Shifts After joining the executive committee there has been an attitudinal change among women leaders not only regarding themselves, but it has also translated into shifts in attitudes towards others. Such shifts can start with changes in their own behaviour, their beliefs and practices, for example, Basamma Huggi,1 a widow, after becoming an EC member, now wears a nose ring and bindi (decoration on her forehead). She does not cover her head and sit at home any more. She has also got her daughter, who was also a widow, remarried. This shift was also seen among women in other districts. Bhimbai from Yarnal village said that her brother was an alcoholic and after becoming an EC member she has helped reform him. Sangamma2 said that since she now goes out to resolve other people’s conflicts, she has stopped all the fights in her house so that no one can ever say that she does not practise what she preaches. Ruplibai 3 said that after joining the EC her courage has increased and she no longer fears politicians and the elders in her village. Previously, women would restrict the freedom and movement of their daughters-in-law, but now they do not.4 According to one woman,5 earlier, they would never send their girls to school. But now they give preference to girls’ education because after becoming EC members they have come to know the importance and advantages of education. She has brought up and educated all of her six children. Thus, among EC members one sees a larger sense of responsibility, greater will and determination to fight against exploitation of other women, a change in behaviour towards the next generation of women, and a need to act as a role model for others.

Recognising the Larger Movement This greater sense of enhanced responsibility towards the community easily translates into an increased recognition for the movement as a whole. As one member puts it,

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‘At least we now know the path and the direction we have to work towards.’6 For instance, Bharati7 said that she has become more responsible and her communication skills have improved. Earlier she used to question saving with the sangha when there was the post office. But now she understands the importance and power of the sangha. Puttamma8 said that earlier she did not care about what was happening around her. But now, as an EC member, she is concerned about this and, consequently, she gets a lot of respect from the community.

Exposure These attitudinal changes are a direct outcome of the exposure that women get as EC members through travelling and increased interaction with various institutions on issues relevant to the broader movement. According to one EC member, the mahasangha has given her greater exposure to people, institutions and programmes in terms of both quality and quantity, compared to the sangha.9 Shivamma10 said that she has gained greater exposure through the travelling that she has undertaken as an EC member.

Increased Capacity to Deal with Institutions There is also an increased capacity to deal with other institutions through letters or institutional linkages. Ramibai, from the Lambadi tribe, and president of the federation,11 said that now she is able to understand better and can even sign her name. Women now know how to make phone calls and how to speak over the phone.12 Chenbasamma13 said that she has the confidence to approach the police station.

Dealing with Officials The exposure and increased opportunity to interact with officials has enhanced women’s confidence and their capacity to deal with them. Yellamma14 said that she knows who the MLA and inspectors are, and also knows about banking and can deal with the bank manager. Shankramma15 said that earlier, when officers visited her home, she would not speak with them. Instead, she would disappear from sight. But now she can speak to them any time. Solamma16 has developed communication skills and selfconfidence.

Sense of Well-being EC members have a greater sense of responsibility and feel better about themselves due to their participation in federation activities. This feeling of well-being takes many forms. For a woman becoming an EC member is akin to being given a life jacket to swim in life.17 Yamunawwa, an EC member from Bijapur district who is over 60 years old said that she has gained courage and is now not scared of anything. She has become disciplined and feels at peace. She says that after becoming an EC member, she feels younger!

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The Spark to Learn The more confidence the women develop, the greater is their willingness and capacity to grow. Women said that they have developed an interest in learning. Now they are able to think.18 Joining a sangha itself teaches women a lot. They can take up any issue and fight for it and can stand up in front of a man. Joining the federation teaches them even more. ‘Before joining the sangha, I was dependent. But now, I have learnt how to attend gram sabhas and also how to deal with finances on my own and have solved many problems.19 Gouravva20 said that earlier she did not know anything about reading or writing. But today she can sign and as she also visits the school and panchayats, she receives a lot of respect. Bhagamma21 said that after becoming an EC member she has started trying to remember the reading and writing she had learnt a long time ago.

CHANGES IN THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE COMMUNITY The involvement of women in federations has an impact not only on themselves but also on their communities and their households. EC members reported a number of changes in the attitudes of families over time. To begin with, there is more respect towards women. Husbands’ attitudes have changed, taking several forms like new-found respect for them or greater support, and can even go as far as men sharing household chores or encouraging greater participation of women in household decision making. Janabai22 said that she gets respect from her family members because she is an EC member. Kavitha23 said that after joining the EC, her husband now does the housework and her little son fetches water. Simultanaeously, they have also gained respect from the community. Rangamma24 said that her children teach her to read and write every day. They say that since she is an EC member, she should know how to write. She said that once, when she was planning a strike, she met the village dalpathi who asked her a lot of questions to assess how much she knew. After listening to all that she knew, he said that he would support her. Shashikala25 said that her children were very proud of her being an EC member. She also said that the gram panchayat members and the head master of the school are now scared of her and give her a lot of respect because they say that she has so many women behind her. Basamma, an EC member from Raichur district, said that she gets a lot of respect in her village. Neelamma, another EC member from Raichur district, said that if there is a meeting in the village or if some visitors arrive, the village head calls her to sit in these meetings. The women are increasingly involved in decision making in the public domain. Parvathi26 said that earlier when she used to go to committee meetings, she would do so with two or three others. But after she became an EC member she goes alone for meetings. Her family used to question her going alone. So she explained to them that only she had been made an EC member, not the other women, so she had to go alone. Her family thus decided that she was the chosen one because she was smarter than everyone else. At home she now has a say in the spending of money, which earlier only

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her husband had. She has also learnt a bit of reading and writing. She can read bus numbers now. According to an EC member in Bidar, now the women are asked for advice on various matters. The women also found that their achievement was a matter of pride and found support for their work. Several women seemed to have families that were supportive and proud of them. Laxmi27 said after becoming the federation president, her family views her as an officer and everyone is proud of her. She has developed patience and listens to what people say. She has reduced her personal expenses so that she can spend on her travelling. These expenses are often a source of conflict with family members and, therefore, Laxmi’s strategy has helped her prevent such a type of conflict. Gouravva from Hirebinal said that she works in the field and if her family gets a message that she has to attend a sangha meeting or an EC meeting, someone cycles all the way to the field to give her the message. If her meeting goes on till late, her husband or son come to pick her up. Women have grown in knowledge, confidence and capacity, and now their advice is sought within the family. Chennabasamma, an EC member from Raichur district, said that her family members talk to other people in the community about her position with pride. She is well respected. Some women experienced radical changes in their homes. If Bhagyamma, an EC member from Gulbarga district, has to go to a meeting, her husband does the housework. Earlier, he used to beat her because she had joined the sangha. But after becoming a member of the EC, she told him that she would leave him but would never leave her sangha. Now, he has stopped hitting her. Her husband even said that since she visits the tehsildar’s office and the gram panchayat office, the family’s name has grown in stature and respect. There have been instances of reduced superstition. Some women mentioned about changes in attitudes regarding education and superstitions within the family after their joining the EC. According to one EC member in Bellary district, more importance is now being given to children’s education. Husbands cook when women return late from EC meetings. Many superstitions have been put aside (like keeping women out of the house during menstruation). Siddamma from Nelbommanhalli said that earlier her community used to keep both the mother and newborn child outside the village for 41 days after delivery, believing that they were unclean. After becoming an EC member, she changed this practice in the entire village.

The Role Played by Networks in Engendering Governance The links established between federations and the local government result in a range of different benefits for women and their sanghas, including greater equitability for women. The links have made government programmes and services transparent and accessible to rural women, especially the poor women. By fighting corruption, government officials are being made accountable to their constituencies. The very existence of federations as registered bodies that aim to take on the role of the NGOs provides an element of sustainability to the movement. The sanghas and federations, as they evolve and increase their links with the gram panchayats and all tiers of local

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governance, increase the participation of women in development, decision making, governance and, finally, in democratic processes.

GOVERNANCE AND FEDERATIONS Federations play an explicit role in local governance and development at several levels. The framework (Figure 4.2) used by Ritchey-Vance (2003) has been adopted here towards analysing the impact of federations and their implications for local governance. Figure 4.2: Grassroots Development Framework Tangible

Intangible Broader impact

Strengthening organisations

Direct benefits

The three levels of tangible and intangible impacts described by Ritchey-Vance include broader impact on society, strengthening organisations such as the sanghas, federations and the nari adalat, and direct benefits to families and individuals. Details of the development framework is provided in Figure 4.3.

Direct Benefits to Families and Individuals These include tangible benefits like improving the standard of living of individuals and families through increased access to credit, bank and government linkages and resources, and assets accrued as a result. Intangible benefits include a higher personal capacity, namely, increased self-esteem, greater cultural identity, creativity and critical reflection.

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Figure 4.3: A Detailed Depiction of the Grassroots Development Framework Tangible Policy environment Law Policies Practices Organisational capacity Planning Administration Resources Reach/linkages

Intangible Society Local, regional, national

Networks NGOs Grassroots groups

Standard of living Basic needs Knowledge/skills Employment/income Assets

Families Individuals

Community norms Values Attitudes Relations Organisational culture Vision Democratic practice Autonomy Solidarity Personal capacity Self-esteem Cultural identity Creativity Critical reflection

Intangible benefits also include a change in the attitudes of women themselves, of their families, sons and other male members and elders towards them, greater respect for women, increased pride in their work, and increased cooperation and support in household responsibilities, among several others.

Strengthening Organisations With regard to strengthening organisations, tangible impacts include organisational capacity—planning, administration, resources and linkages. The coming into being itself and functioning against all odds is one of the greatest achievements of the federations and the nari adalats. Therefore, to this list we could add the creation of new organisations. The federations and nari adalats are relatively newer organisational forms that have arisen from the sanghas, which form their base or foundation. These new organisations in turn strengthen the sanghas through channelling resources, negotiating on behalf of sanghas, forming of new sanghas and so on. Intangibles refer to change in organisational culture. This includes vision, democratic practice, autonomy and solidarity. Also included is conflict resolution within sanghas which sustains existing organisations. An important intangible is the respect earned by the women in the community and the trust established in the community in the nari adalat’s capacity to deliver justice.

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Broader Impact on Society The broader tangible impacts include those on policy environment, namely, laws, policies and practices. While the federations have not yet changed policies and laws, they have most certainly changed practices of local governments and the manner in which laws and policies are framed and implemented so as to favour women. The aim of the federations, however, is to grow to the district and the state levels—levels at which federations can influence policy more effectively. The reworked grassroots democratic framework is provided in Figure 4.4. Figure 4.4: Reworking the Grassroots Development Framework Tangible Policy environment Law Policies Engendering practices Organisational capacity Planning Administration Resources Reach/linkages Creation of new organisations Standard of living Basic needs Access to public goods and services Knowledge /skills Employment/income/credit Assets

Intangible

Society Local, regional, national

Networks Federations NGOs Grassroots group

Families Individuals

Community norms Values Attitudes/raising awareness Relations/trust Organisational culture Vision Democratic practice Autonomy Solidarity Conflict resolution/strengthening existing organisations Personal capacity Self-esteem Cultural identity Creativity Critical reflection Changing attitudes Increased family support

The intangible impacts are in community norms, including values, attitudes and relations, which is where the federations and the nari adalats have had maximum impact. The campaigns waged by the federations and sanghas against alcoholism, the devadasi system, child-marriage and other social issues have had a great impact in raising the awareness of communities as well as the government and bringing to light the illegal nature of these practices. The legal literacy imparted to the nari adalat and the legal committee on women’s rights has helped a large number of women understand and stand up for the rights of women and deliver gender justice. In the process of delivering judgements that are rightly in favour of and just to women, which women would not

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normally receive in court, these alternative institutions have helped set a moral precedent in the communities where they have intervened.

The Emergence of Federations as a New Organisational Form The key difference between traditional theories and analysis presented in the chapter is that the study at hand identifies the emergence of a new organisational form, namely, the federations. These are different from the traditional definitions of networks in that federations primarily refer to networks of community-based organisations and their membership is primarily at the grassroots level, that is, the members of the federations are the very women whose lives, situations and circumstances are to be positively impacted and changed in their favour and for the better. These federations are fundamentally different from the networks that tend to be more professional in nature and are conglomerations of non-governmental organisations. The federations, being run and operated by the women themselves, are more accountable to the women’s sanghas and directly tackle issues relevant to the sanghas. Because of their scale and size, they bring greater human resources both in terms of quality and quantity, to the movement. They can, thus, perform functions such as detailed monitoring of governance, follow-up of sangha needs, issues and activities, and intervention in the lower tiers of governance for which NGOs have neither the staff nor the reach. They have greater legitimacy in negotiations as they comprise direct membership of the constituency of grassroots women, whereas most NGOs and networks of these NGOs are one step removed from this constituency. Thus, this framework, now tailored to the context of the federations, would look more like what is represented in Figure 4.4 with a few additional elements. The most important challenge posed by the federations is changing the ways in which the local government works, allocates resources and plans, so as to basically include women and develop a gender dimension in its overall functioning. This impact on governance is both direct and indirect. It is direct in that it improves access to and delivery of public services for both individuals and families and, in particular, for poor women. The direct impact is also through challenging existing policies and practices of village governments that are not sensitive to the poor and to women. Direct impacts on policy are visible at the state level through the initiatives taken by the federations of elected women representatives (EWRs), which have placed several issues on the agenda, including allocation of funds at the panchayat level for development, issues that women prioritise and extending the term of the constituencies reserved for women from five to 10 years. The indirect impact on governance is that it changes community norms and values, which is both at the family and the community level. This creates an enabling environment for women, both within the family and the community, which allows for engendered values and practices to become the norm. Thus, in the grassroots development framework, the emergence of federations as a new actor adds an important new facet wherein this organisational form is a direct manifestation of the strength of the grassroots women’s movement. The federation plays a number of roles that strengthen both the movement and its impact at all levels,

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which neither NGOs nor community-based sanghas are in a position to do. Therefore, one conclusion of this study is that the federations have emerged to become a central element in the grassroots development framework that contributes to increasing tangible and intangible benefits at all levels.

CONCLUSIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ENGENDERED GOVERNANCE The federations, committees and nari adalats have emerged to deliver resources and justice to poor women. Their interface with local governance spans many levels. There is improved access to information about public goods and services, which raises the awareness of officials that women and the community have the knowledge of their entitlements and, therefore, it indirectly raises their accountability. The delivery of goods and services to the rural areas, and especially to poor women, is more effective. This involves both a relationship of collaboration and conflict between the federations and the government. Sanghas collaborate with the government to identify those women who need treatment for various reproductive ailments and arrange for mass camps, which increases the reach of the departments and improves their efficiency, mutually helping both government and community. It can involve conflict when goods and services normally delivered on the basis of a patron–clientele type of relationship to those close to the local government gets challenged and forces governance to become more equitable. Also, when it comes to monitoring goods and services, this could involve either a collaborative or conflicting relationship between the government and federations. Here, monitoring helps the government remain both transparent and accountable. It helps in the equitable distribution of resources by ensuring delivery to those candidates who are genuinely needy or deserving. Fighting corruption is another key feature that involves challenging the state when its performance on indicators of good governance is poor, that is challenging government officials when they usurp state funds and do not deliver public services in an efficient manner. It represents the most extreme aspect of monitoring, namely, intervention when the state is acting against the interests of communities or against its own stated objectives. Involvement in campaigns can start with raising awareness on social issues, but can result in conflicts with the government, as seen in cases when women have organised rasta rokos to close down liquor shops and even shut down agencies. These campaigns change society’s perceptions and attitudes towards women and other social issues. They simultaneously raise the awareness levels of officials about their responsibilities regarding enforcing the law and ensuring that it is effectively implemented in situations where it is not being enforced or not being properly implemented. The delivery of gender justice happens when laws are not being enforced or in the absence of legal means to ensure justice for women. Therefore, women bring in a new moral code through the judgements delivered by the nari adalat. This new mechanism

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for delivery of justice takes the place of existing courts, the police and the panchayats, which are supposed to deliver justice, but are either inaccessible to or biased against the poor women. Here, the support of panchayats and the police may be sought in the form of partnerships to deliver justice to women. But the only means by which this is possible is through the sangha or federation and not by individual women. All the committees of the sanghas and the federation operate as a network representing several sanghas of a particular block/taluka. These committees informally challenge local governance by surfacing individual cases of corruption on the part of government employees and these cases are presented to the higher level officials to ensure that the corruption ends. Through monitoring of the activities of public institutions and service delivery mechanisms, the sanghas and the committees make government officials aware that they are accountable to the public and, thus, change the ways in which the local government operates. By submitting the lists of those genuinely eligible for public services, the federations and committees make the process of service access and delivery more transparent, equitable and efficient. Through the involvement of sanghas in identifying those eligible for public services and in monitoring their delivery, the federations enable and elicit greater community participation and also by women. Monitoring, therefore, becomes a key mechanism through which governance is made accountable, participatory and transparent. The direct impact of the executive committees of the federations is seen in the access to and delivery of public services, and in their capacities to help the sanghas and women build their asset base, be it in the form of sangha offices or individual houses. The most important role of the local government is to deliver public goods and services. In failing to do this for the poor and the landless, the local government has failed in its most important role. Thus, the emergence of sanghas, federations and other forms of networks has been in response to this failure, and these institutions take on the role of monitoring and ensuring this delivery to marginalised populations. Herein lies the most important contribution of federations and networks to governance, namely, ensuring the delivery of public services to women, and in making the local government more accountable, transparent, participatory, equitable and efficient, especially with respect to poor women. This is yet another role that networks of women are playing, which is different from what is outlined in the literature. The relationships that the women’s federations are evolving with the state transcend the typical categories of conflict or hostility or collaboration or critical collaboration. Instead, there is the evolution of a multi-faceted relationship, recognising the state as having multiple identities and, therefore, evolving a complex relationship with it, which ranges from empowering and genuinely investing in the local government to challenging existing hierarchies and challenging patron–clientelism within the local government. Thus, this new form of relationship that federations have the potential to evolve between women and local government can best be described as mutual investment, recognising that both local government and civil society have their strengths and weaknesses, and each on its own cannot handle the complexity of issues and problems

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inherent in developmental processes. It recognizes the fact that the state helps maintain both capitalism and patriarchy (Murray and Kubik 2000). It sometimes works against the state and sometimes with the state to challenge patriarchal norms and practices. The primary contribution of this study is, therefore, in the positioning of the federations as an emerging organisational form, playing new and important roles towards transforming and challenging traditional governance hierarchies and practices. Federations of women’s sanghas thus become a central element in complementing the process by which governance, development and democracy are engendered.

APPENDIX: OVERVIEW OF MAHILA SAMAKHYA KARNATAKA Origin The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, as revised in 1992, recognised the need to redress traditional gender imbalances in educational access and achievement. Removal of illiteracy and the obstacles to women’s access to education, and retention of girls in elementary education through provision of special support services, setting time targets and effective monitoring, were envisaged by the NPE. The Mahila Samakhya (MS) project was initiated in 1989 to translate the goals of NPE into a concrete programme for the empowerment and education of women in rural areas, particularly those from socially and economically marginalised groups. In Karnataka the MS was launched in 1989 with Dutch assistance. It also works in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Kerala and Jharkhand. Each of these states has a office and district offices for the project. The apex coordinating body is a national office at the Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi.

Programme Structure The MSK is a programme under the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education is president of the MS—an autonomous registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The Secretary, Primary and Secondary Education, is the chairperson. The MS team consists of a cadre of highly motivated and innovatively trained women activists, known as cluster resource persons, each of whom works in approximately 25 villages. Their motivational efforts enable groups of poor women to emerge as a sangha. Sangha women share sangha work by forming issue-based committees of two or three sangha members each. Each committee handles one of the following issues—sangha selfreliance and sustainability, panchayati raj, education, health, legal literacy, gender and economic development programmes. The cluster resource persons are supported by a district implementation unit, which has a district programme coordiantor, and four resource persons who form the programme team. They are assisted by administrative and financial functionaries. A state programme office with a state programme director, resource persons and consultants coordinate programme activities of the various district implementation units.

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Objectives The MS is a programme for the empowerment of poor rural women. It is designed to: 1. Create an environment where women can make informed choices and determine their own life course. 2. Facilitate a process of societal transformation through collective reflection, analysis, learning and action with a gender perspective. 3. Facilitate learning and confidence building by giving adequate time for these processes. Thus, the MS works for sustainable change through a process-oriented approach rather than a ‘target’ approach. 4. Enhance women’s economic roles by optimum utilisation, redistribution and rejuvenation of community resources. 5. Augment women’s bargaining powers as members of society by increasing their access and control over household and societal resources.

Strategy The basic strategy of the programme is the building of village-level collectives or ‘sanghas’ that are not merely activity oriented, but which enable women and girls to raise their self-image and confidence and recognise their own strengths. The programme includes initiatives in literacy for adult women, bridge courses for young girls, awareness for women in health rights and legal education, participation of rural women in local governance bodies and support for demanding accountability from mainstream structures and institutions.

Issues Addressed: Six Core Themes Education as the MS sees it is not mere literacy, but development of critical thinking and collective awareness that reaffirms the dignity and confidence of women. It is the dynamic process of gaining access to meaningful information and learning to use that information to transform the quality of life. The MS programme addresses several issues—all interconnected—leading towards the building of women’s capacities to identify and address their problems. Broadly, programme intervention covers the following areas. 1. Education Education: both formal and informal, with particular focus on sangha women and girl children. 2. Health Health: of the sangha members themselves, their children and families. 3. Legal awareness awareness: about women’s legal status and rights. 4. Social issues issues: such as child-marriage, devadasi practice, dowry and caste discrimination.

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5. Political participation participation: including women’s political rights, participation in political processes through voting, campaigning and contesting in local governing bodies. 6. Economic empowerment empowerment: such as regular savings and bank linkages to avail of loans and credit facilities.

Coverage As of March 2004, the MS covered nine districts in Karnataka—Bidar, Bijapur, Bellary, Bagalkote, Chamarajanagar, Mysore, Raichur, Gulbarga and Koppal—working with more than 35,000 women and 5,000 young girls in 1,300 villages. The women’s sanghas in all MS talukas have formed mahasanghas (taluka-level federations) of their own and function as pressure groups for women’s rights. Having successfully mobilised women at the sangha level, the programme has moved in the direction of enabling the sangha to play an independent and empowered role, which has lead to the formation of federations in 33 MS talukas at taluka and district levels. It is expected that these federations will gradually take over the role that the MS has been fulfilling so far. In the next phase the programme proposes to give a concrete shape to the federations so that they function as autonomous bodies. This will be supported by a network of women’s resource centres with linkages at all three levels, and linking women’s experiences on the ground to action research, training, documentation and interventions in policy making and implementation. The vision is to build district, state and national federations of rural women.

NOTES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Nidagundi village executive committee member. Katagihalli village executive committee members, Koppal district. Executive committee member, Gulbarga district. Executive committee members, Bijapur district. Executive committee members, Bijapur district. Executive committee members, Mysore district. Executive committee member, Mysore district. Executive committee members, Mysore district. Executive committee members, Mysore district. Executive committee members, Bellary district. Executive committee members, Bellary district. Executive committee member, Koppal district. Executive committee member, Raichur district. Executive committee member, Raichur district. Executive committee member, Koppal district, from Chodapura village. Executive committee members, Bellary district. Executive committee members, Bijapur district. Executive committee member, Koppal district. Executive committee members, Mysore district.

ROLE OF GRASSROOTS WOMEN’S NETWORKS IN ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

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Executive committee member, Koppal district, from Hirebinal. Executive committee member, Gulbarga district. Executive committee member from Bidar district. Executive committee member from Bidar district. Executive committee member, Bidar district. Executive committee member, Bidar district. Executive committee member from Bidar district. Birladini village, executive committee, Bijapur district.

REFERENCES Alikhan, Fatima, Emma Mawdsley, Gina Porter, Saraswati Raju, Janet Townsend and Rameswari Varma. 2004. ‘NGOs and the State in Ghana and India: An Exploration of New NGO–State Relationships and Their Impact on Poverty Eradication Programmes.’ Consultation paper presented at the conference on state and civil society at the National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, 3 September. Bhattacharya, Kumkum. 2004. ‘Networking within Santal Society: Focus on Women’, in Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramanium (eds), The Power of Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. New York: Lexington Books. Gurnung, Shobha Hamal. 2004. ‘Women Weavers in Nepal: Between Global Market and Local Production’, in Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramanium (eds), The Power of Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. New York: Lexington Books. Husain, Shahanara. 2004. ‘Women’s Networks and social Change in Bangaldesh’, in Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramanium (eds), The Power of Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. New York: Lexington Books. Lowndes, V., P. Nanton, A. McCabe and C. Skelcher. 1997. ‘Networks, Partnerships and Urban Regeneration’, Local Economy, 11(4): 333–42. Murray, Knuttila and Wendee Kubik. 2000. State Theories: Classical Global and Feminist Perspectives. London: Zed Books. Pierre, Jon and B. Guy Peters. 2000. Governance, Politics and the State (Political Analysis Series). London: Macmillan Press. Purkayastha, Bandana and Mangala Subramanium (eds). 2004. The Power of Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. New York: Lexington Books. Purushothaman, Sangeetha. 2004. The Grassroots Women’s International Academy Barcelona Report, 2000 (written on behalf of the Huairou Commission). Purushothaman, Sangeetha, Simone Purohit and Bianca Ambrose-Oji. 2004. ‘The Informal Collective as a Space for Participatory Planning: The Peri-Urban Interface in Hubli-Dharwad Twin City Area’, in Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramanium (eds), The Power of Informal Networks: Lessons in Social Change from South Asia and West Africa. New York: Lexington Books. Ritchey-Vance, Marion. 2003. ‘Social Capital, Sustainability and Working Democracy: New Yardsticks for Grassroots Development’, in Michael Edwards and Alan Fowler (eds), The Earthscan Reader on NGO Management. London: The Earthscan. Skelcher, J., A. McCabe and P. Loftman. 1996. Community Networks in Urban Regeneration. Bristol: Police Press.

5 Human Rights, Panchayats and Women Bidyut Mohanty

INTRODUCTION

E

VEN though the scope of the Declaration of Universal Human Rights in 1948 included both civil rights and other social, political and economic rights, the concept of human rights got expanded only over the years. Similarly, the approaches to human rights discourse not only highlight the limiting actions of the state, but also affirmative support for a broad range of human activities. In India the issue of human rights gained prominence in the 1990s. This led to affirmative action by the state in the form of reserving not less than 33 per cent of the total seats for women in the membership as well as functionary levels of all three tiers of panchayats or village councils. But panchayats have been created on the social structures that are not gender just, and the interplay of caste, class patriarchy takes its toll. Besides, the methods of affirmative action through quota without adequate enabling measures such as right to property, right to education and health care may erode much of the benefit that could have been accrued to the women. Nonetheless, the panchayats have traditionally been considered as the institutions of ‘restorative justice’ which treat the victims and offenders on equal footing. Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasises repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders. The concept of restorative justice was tried out in the context of South Africa after the end of the civil war. It was realised that if both victims and offenders stand side by side and the solutions are reached on a reconciliatory basis, the animosity will be less. Similarly, in the context of panchayats, since everybody knows the core issue and both the parties belong to the same village or panchayat, it will not be difficult to reach an amicable solution. Coupled with that, the new panchayats have been engendered with 33 per cent reservation bringing about 5 million women into the

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political process within a span of 10 years, directly and indirectly. In addition, a ‘women’s agency’ has already been created over a span of 50 years. Since at least a significant number of elected women representatives would be getting recruited from this agency, they would perform the role of justice providers in the panchayats. Some of the examples show that women are delivering justice not only relating to domestic violence, but also land-related problems. These and other aspects will be discussed in this chapter. First, the evolution of human rights and its linkage with panchayats will be taken up. It will be followed by a discussion of the structures of panchayats. The status of women in society in general and in panchayats in particular will be discussed next. A summing up will follow.

HUMAN RIGHTS Human rights are generally understood in terms of being basic freedoms that are essential for existence, survival and personality of the human beings. The crystallisation of human rights, including women’s rights, in the 20th century was clearly manifested in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as enunciated in the aftermath of World War II. The Declaration contains different articles having provisions of civil rights, and economic and social rights. Gradually, the concept of human rights has changed to mean not only claims of the individual to enjoy civil liberties such as freedom of expression, but also the political, social and economic conditions to enable them to realise their full potential. The important role of the state with regard to human rights becomes significant only in an organised society. The notion of human rights as norms concerning the relationship between individual and the state intimately links with the notion of state. There is a basic relationship between state–society and human rights and at first glance the relationship may look fairly straightforward. There is an organic connection between the two. The state that protects the human rights of an individual is better able to integrate the individual within itself and thereby maintain its legitimacy. Politics on its part is the process by which the state is able to steer the society, a process that involves the transformative capacity of the state, including its power to intervene in social events. Casting rights in the frame of theories presumes a moral imperative around some universal conception of a good life towards which everyone is striving and which social development and state politics will bring to us all in due course. As per the liberal view, the state is a conscious creation of human beings. It emerges as a contract device to protect rights. The liberal school of thought starts from the premise that all human beings possess a state of perfect freedom to decide on the choice of action and the manner of dealing with possessions. Liberals proclaim pluralism in regard to values— they assume that human beings may have quite different performances and conceptions about values being pursued, and that the only thing they have in common is the freedom to make choices. As per this thought then, the only freedom of rights is liberty. The human rights movement in India entered a critical and challenging stage in the 1990s. From being a movement of dissent, it has become part of the mainstream of

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politics. This coincided with the international trend of putting the human rights issue as a principal concern in world affairs. India has been a signatory to most international covenants and conventions on human rights. The rights discourse in the third world emphasises the need to redefine ‘rights’. The process of modernisation and development has meant an increasing growth of political power within the traditional social hierarchy, reinforced by new sources of power. The case for a crisis emerging in human rights is in direct correspondence with the declining levels of legitimacy. A state whose social base of power is narrow lacks the capacity to cope with problems of society. Its creativity to find solutions to problems is crippled. This leads to violence and counter-violence and thus a crisis of human rights. It is from this conceptual dimension that the legitimacy of the Indian state and its subsequent implications to human rights need to be looked at. Violation of the rule of law, crippling of electoral processes, collapse of institutions—all these cumulatively result in an environment that is hostile to human rights. The power of the state rests on the dominant structures of the society, which in turn depends on the way social relations are structured. The enlargement of the understanding of human rights, therefore, depends upon the societal behavioural modes and levels of brutalisation of the state apparatus. The legitimacy factor of the Indian state passed through three different phases. The initial phase was that of Consensus, followed by the phase of Confrontation, and eventually that of Crisis. Political and social institutions of the state require a detailed analysis in order to substantiate the human rights discourse. The institution of panchayati raj overlaps in terms of being a political as also a social institution. Panchayati raj institutions constitute an experiment in democratic decentralisation. They were devised as an innovation to strengthen people’s grassroots institutions. Any discourse on human rights requires participative culture and collective access to and control on the means of power. It is from this viewpoint that the experience of these grassroots institutions becomes important. As a social base of power the panchayati raj institutions became all the more important after they were given a constitutional status through the 73rd Amendment Act in 1993. The amendment conceded a share of power to the middle and low castes, and also to women. This was based on the premise that democratisation of power is not merely a matter of institutional arrangements, but also has a great deal to do with the very structures of society. The level at which the panchayati raj operates, that is, the village society, continued to be unjust, unequal and undemocratic. This is primarily because there continues the existence of other sources of power— property, caste, religion and gender. These identity markers seek to reinforce dominance. The effort at democratising the panchayati raj was aimed at bringing down these structures of dominance. In any case, the creation of these institutions have fulfilled the basic human rights of women by enabling them to satisfy the ‘capability’ potential.

PANCHAYATS: INSTITUTIONS OF ‘RESTORATIVE JUSTICE’ In spite of all its limitations, panchayats or village councils can be considered institutions of restorative justice in which both the victims and justice providers

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deliberate on equal terms. Further, the witness constitutes the persons who are also party to the whole process. This is true of traditional panchayats as well as modern ones that came into being after 1992—the one difference being the inclusion of women and other marginalised sections of the society in the new avatar. Haeri (2003) pointed out that where the objective of justice is to restore harmony at the family level, mediatory approaches such as ‘restorative justice,’ ‘victim offender conferencing’ and ‘family group conferencing’ are resorted to in the form of mediatory strategies. These strategies are experimented with a view of restoring social relations and creation of balance. These kind of mediatory strategies allow space for restitution, equality, human dignity and affection instead of retribution, hierarchy, humiliation and hostility, respectively (ibid.). Such strategies are best suited particularly in case of domestic violence against women. The deliberations would be more effective since women are also present in the panchayats—the traditional institutions of justice deliverers. Critics feel that the above approach is not an ideal one because it is not an effective alternative legal system. Second, it may be argued that the role of panchayats as ‘justice providers’ failed in the 19th century because the community had lost faith in them due to other overriding factors such as caste, property, gender bias and nepotism. Again, it must be noted that the role of panchayats got altered particularly under the colonial rule and there was a superimposition of the universal and univocal British legal system. 1 But in the present context with empowerment of the gram sabha, panchayats can still be considered the institutions representing an alternative system of justice particularly relating to violence against women, and thereby restoring the violation of human rights. In the next section the evolution of the panchayati raj system will be traced to contexualise the notion of restorative justice.

EVOLUTION AND PRESENT STATUS OF PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS The concept of panchayats—an assembly of five elders looking after the administration of villages, including conflict resolution—has been ingrained in the consciousness of the Indian psyche. Various historical records, excavations and archaeological investigations show that some form of local government did exist in the remote past. The references to panchayats are there in the epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Kautilya had given a vivid description of urban administration dominated by the central organisation of the monarchy. This central organisation was supported by a board of five. As regards to rural administration, the village in India had been the pivot of administration since time immemorial. It was built upon the basis of decentralisation in principle and the government from the sovereign at the top extended through all grades and strata of society down to the lowest classes in the villages. Every village was a self-governing unit and there was union of villages and self-governing federations. Kautilya advocated a strong monarchy at the centre, but allowed village democracy to function independently. The chief executive officer of the village administration was

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called gramani who was appointed by the King. He supervised the administration with the help of village elders (Singh 2000). Although the system existed from ancient times, each period saw a different phase over the years. However, its present structure and style of functioning owes to the British rule. The functions of those committees comprised collection of revenue and protection of life and property. The committees were constituted on a narrow basis of hereditary privileges or caste. But there were also general panchayats whose members cut across all castes (Mathew 2000). According to Siddiqui (1992), the picture of an efficient village system was idealised during the freedom struggle and important leaders like Nehru, J.P. Narayan and Malviya romanticised the system.2 Gandhi also thought of an alternative polity, with villagebased self-government as its cornerstone. Siddiqui on the other hand echoes the concerns of Ambedkar by saying that the such an idealised picture would not be consistent with the caste- and class-ridden social structure (ibid.). He also referred to the different types of panchayats. For example, in northern India there is the caste village for lessening inter-caste conflicts and farmers and farm labourers (ibid.). Members of a particular caste were recruited to their respective ‘caste panchayat’. Their duty was to ensure observation of rules, social conduct, religious values and settlement of conflicts among its members. Even now the caste panchayats are still very active. Recently the media has been quite active in highlighting the conservative ideas of social sanction3 by the caste panchayats. The functioning of village panchayats on the other hand was controlled by the members of the upper castes. They had the responsibility of maintaining public order and settlement of disputes, both criminal and civil. In some places they also had to perform civic functions such as construction of roads and digging wells. The panchayats used to be controlled by the headman only. As mentioned earlier, the headship was hereditary.4 Similarly, there are panchayats which were constituted for the purpose of resolving inter-caste conflicts. But Siddiqui has not elaborated whether this type of panchayat was different from the village panchayat. Finally Siddiqui (ibid.) talks about another category of panchayat that resolves the conflicts arising between farm labourers and farmers, as well as servants of different farmers. Generally the members of this panchayat were recruited from the upper castes. According to the author, of the four types, caste panchayats were as important as village panchayats. The caste panchayats looked after the sick and poor of the same caste, organised festivals, repaired wells and ponds meant for their caste members, and so on. The author also points out that the caste panchayats were in existence much before the village panchayats, worked more efficiently than other types of panchayats and could be termed as local government institutions.5 In South India on the other hand, panchayats had two components—the executive body and gram sabha. Members were recruited from those castes that owned property. By definition, untouchables and beggars were excluded. The panchayats performed many more functions—such as utilisation of fallow and community land to build temples, roads and irrigation facilities—than those in north India. On the whole,

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according to Siddiqui, the panchayats had police and judicial duties. The settlement of disputes was done by consensus and not by voting. Religion and custom gave them a unique position. Even though this picture was depicted for the vedic period, other regimes like Mughals and British carried out different reforms relating to panchayats, the basic features remained the same though the functions kept on changing. In 1835 Sir Charles Metcalfe, provisional Governor-General of India, described the Indian village communities as ‘the little republics’. However, it did not mean that the panchyats were working with the participation of all sections of society (Mathew 2000). As pointed out earlier, members used to be recruited only from the propertied castes. In addition, women were never recruited.6 Zarina Rahman Khan (2002) also pointed out that the primacy of the panchayats was far from universal and many villages were under the rule of landlords or their agents. She also observed that in a highly stratified social structure, democracy in the village panchayat was inconceivable. In other words, there were village oligarchies.

PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS AFTER INDEPENDENCE During the freedom struggle and immediately thereafter, debates ensued regarding centralisation. While Ambedkar, the Father of the Constitution, was dead against village councils, considering them to be breeding ground of hatred and narrowness, Jay Prakash Narayan was passionate about decentralisation. Nehru on the other hand tried to start the Community Development Programme with the help of the American government, which was bound to fail (Mukherji 2006). Until the Balwantrai Mehta Committee submitted its report on decentralisation in 1957, it had been put into cold storage. For the first time the report mentioned the term, ‘devolution’, though in reality it had not taken place. But the system of panchayati raj was tried out in different parts of India. However, states did not give any power to the panchayats (ibid.). Further, there were no reservation of seats for women in the panchayats, only nominations were made. In 1992 the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act offered a new lease of life to panchayats. The most important feature of the panchayati raj system has been the inclusion of women in the decentralised decision making bodies at the grassroots level. Not less than 33 per cent of the total seats at both the membership as well as functionary level has resulted in an entry of 5 million women in the political process directly and indirectly within a span of 10 years. A large number of political institutions have been created due to the above Act and within that 3 million elected representatives have been engaged in various development activities. Insofar as the number of political institutions is concerned, it has to be pointed out that there are about 533 district panchayats, 5,912 block panchayats and 231,630 village panchayats functioning at the grassroots level (Mathew 2000). Another important provision of the panchayati raj system is the legal entity of the gram sabha. The gram sabha is the village council to which the panchayats remain accountable. Unlike the traditional gram sabha, women are the members of the new

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panchayats. The gram sabha meets four times a year to chalk out the development agenda of the panchayats and select beneficiaries for important schemes of poverty alleviation. Panchayats have been given 29 subjects ranging from agriculture to poverty alleviation. In many states, like Bihar, panchayats have been given authority for conflict resolution—known as nyaya panchayats. It is to be noted that keeping the spirit of Articles 39A and 40 of the Constitution, panchayats have been vested with such power and authority, at least in theory, to provide legal justice without any prejudices and delay. A committee has been set up by the GOI to study the viability of reviving the nyaya panchayats. There have been intensive debates regarding whether the decentralisation in general and that of panchayats in particular could lead to reduction in poverty. Johnson (2002) has reviewed relevant literature extensively to show both sides of the story. He comes to the conclusion that democracy and decentralisation on their own would not necessarily result in a responsive system that is more effective or more accountable to local needs. However, he has identified certain conditions under which local political bodies can be more accountable to the poor. According to him, whether decentralisation meets the needs of the poor depends on the effectiveness of non-state actors and wider social forces in challenging or undermining the basis of central/state power. Bardhan and Mukherjee (2004) have also pointed out that service delivery becomes better targeted if it is routed through panchayats and the political party is committed to pro-poor policies. Their study was based on the experience of West Bengal. Chattapadhyay and Duflo (2004) on the other hand have observed that the elected representatives become more effective provided the party and local elite do not interfere with their functioning. Mathew (2000) has cited several instances such as Janmabhumi programme, watershed management, Joint Forest Management Committee, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), district government (Madhya Pradesh) and Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) where panchayats are ignored. Similarly, health committees, education committees, SHGs, etc., have been formed in villages that are independent of panchayats. However, at the same time it is to be noted that certain state governments like Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal have taken panchayats more seriously. In Kerala, for example, panchayats and members of gram sabha have taken an active role in formulating the Ninth Five-Year Plan (Isaac and Vijayanand 2000). Finally, it is to be noted that in almost all states panchayats have been assigned to implement schemes meant for poverty alleviation, which they have been targeting well.

PANCHAYATS AS VIOLATORS OF HUMAN RIGHTS The introduction of the panchayati raj system in a socially stratified space has heightened social inequities, including gender inequities, in certain places (Dreze and Sen 2002). In some other cases indigenous egalitarian institutions have died their natural death after the introduction of top-down decentralisation (Jayal 1999). Jayal cites the case of traditional panchayats in Himachal Pradesh that used to function in a relatively more egalitarian manner before the introduction of the new panchayati raj system.

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George Mathew (2003) has cited various instances where the new panchayati raj institutions have upset the traditional power structure. The discontentment was reflected in inter-caste conflicts at the panchayat level, including during the election period. For example, the members of dalit community could not submit their nomination forms initially because of obstruction by upper-caste members. When they dared to do so, they were murdered in broad daylight. This incident took place in one of the districts of Tamil Nadu (ibid.). Incidentally, Tamil Nadu underwent a social movement to undo the dominance of Brahmins. Similarly, the inter-caste violence has been taking place in almost all states (ibid.). In yet another case the two-child norm adopted by state governments have violated women’s rights to contest the election in the panchayats. Different states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have passed laws barring women and men to contest elections if they have more than two children. While it is true that one needs to control population, but the way it is done would hurt those sections of the people for whom the reservations are made. For instance, the field experience of women’s groups shows that the two-child norm leads to desertion, abandonment of women and children, as well as forced abortions. It also provides a further impetus for sex-selective abortions. This in turn would lead to a decline in the child sex ratio (Hariharan 2003). The two-child norm is harmful for both men and women, but in practice it harms women more because they do not have control over their bodies. Second, given the son preference norm in society, women are not in a position to take a bold stand with regard to deciding the number of children. Hence, more women than men get victimised by the law. Further, women get married at an early age. In Rajasthan as well as in Madhya Pradesh thousands of children get married on a particular day in June. Women are still peripheral in deciding the number of children to be born. Taking all these factors into account, it may be said that the two-child norm violates women’s rights (Baxi 2002). On the whole however, there are clear signs of a sustained expansion of democratic space at the local level, and also of local politics being an important arena of positive social change. The limitations are best addressed through democratic practice itself, and as far as the potential for the latter is concerned, there is much ground for hope (emphasis added). Further, the status of women in Indian society has been taken up and their role as ‘justice providers’ in panchayati raj institutions. In so far as the status of women in India goes, it is interesting to note that there have been important women leaders in India like Indira Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Vijaya Laxmi Pandit and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay. Yet the status of an average woman is low. Various indices such as access to basic services like education, health, shelter and right to property show that women in general and the girl child in particular are discriminated against. Visibility of certain women leaders in India has been explained in terms of the ‘patriarchal bargain’ where women bargain for security by surrendering their freedom, or ‘paradoxes of patriarchy’ in which patriarchs make deliberate choice to groom their daughters at the cost of sons (Haeri 2003). However, the majority women suffer from acute discriminations and silent violence in the form of neglect on health

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and education fronts. Dreze and Sen (2002) have been talking about ‘deficit of women’, which is the result of the relative neglect of health and well-being of women. Numerous studies have been conducted to show that women face discrimination in intra-household food allocations, particularly in terms of low intake of certain micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) (Ray 2004). In addition women are the silent sufferers of ailments. Coupled with that, they face greater stigma if they get infected by HIV/ AIDS compared to men. Further, it is noticed that maternal mortality is quite high— 540 deaths per 100,000 live births (National Family Health Survey 1998–99). In other words, more than 100,000 women in India die every year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. These findings suggest that pregnant women should receive adequate antenatal care during the pregnancy and deliveries should take place under hygienic conditions with the assistance of trained medical practitioners (ibid.).The most serious concern of the present situation is the declining child sex ratio in the age group of 0 to 6. The decline is sharper in the developed states and within those states it is worse among educated families (Rao 2004). Since the status of women has been relatively low, the Government of India passed a progressive legislation in the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992. The entry of large number of women has created a form of social mobilisation since they campaign as well as cast their votes. The next section discusses the socio-demographic characteristics of elected women representatives followed by the quality of participation.

DEMOGRAPHIC AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTED WOMEN Ten years have passed since the 73rd Constitutional Amendment came into force. Both Karnataka (1987) and Maharashtra (1990) held elections even before the Act’s enforcement and mandatory reservation of seats for women under it. Some micro studies indicating the demographic and other social and economic characteristics of the elected women representatives are already available. It is noticed that majority of the elected women representatives at the ward membership level belong to low-caste and -class categories (Mohanty 2003). According to Mathew (1994), the dominant castes, Lingayats and Vokkaligas, formed 60 per cent of the elected women members at the level of zilla parishad in Karnataka. A similar picture emerged from a primary survey conducted in Orissa in the coastal belt as well as in the tribal area (Mohanty 1999). Around 66 per cent of the elected women members in the state were Karans (Kayasthas) and Khandaits (cultivating castes). In yet another study relating to Orissa, it was revealed that the percentage of nonScheduled Castes (57.1) in the posts of upa-sarpanch is higher than that of Scheduled Castes (28.6) and Scheduled Tribes (14.3). But in the ward membership of the village panchayats, the lower-caste members dominated. For example, Scheduled Tribes constituted 45.9 per cent and Scheduled Castes 27 per cent. In contrast, women from the general castes formed 27 per cent of the group in the first term.

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With regard to marital status, almost all women elected representatives were married. It is also important to note that at least 16 per cent of the total women representatives in Orissa were widows. The West Bengal study by Development Alternatives (1995) showed that around 84 per cent of the women panchayat members were married. Parida’s (1997) survey in a coastal district of Orissa confirmed the same trend, but he did not find any widows in his study. It is interesting to note the literacy levels of the women elected to the third tier of governance. The Orissa study showed that the percentage of literate women at the sarpanch level was 86 per cent, whereas at the ward membership level it is only 68 per cent. Incidentally, according to the Orissa Panchayat Act, 1994, the candidates have to be literate. A pre-poll survey conducted during the first term confirmed the trend. Most of the total women candidates interviewed (48 per cent) had passed at least secondary examination (ibid.). However, in the case of Karnataka, surprisingly, it was noticed that only 20 per cent of the women representatives were literate. Bijapur, to which the figure related, had been a relatively backward district. Women representatives lagged behind their male counterparts in literacy. For instance, 20 per cent of the men were either professionals or postgraduates. In contrast, only 5 per cent of women elected at the zilla parishad level had such qualification (Mathew 1994). In contrast to the Karnataka experience, the West Bengal study suggested that all elected women members were literate, but most of them had not gone beyond the middle school stage. The above mentioned micro studies, which were based on small samples, were, no doubt, not an adequate mirror of the educational status of women panchayat members. But they made one point clear that a majority of the women elected in the eastern and southern parts of India were not illiterate except in the backward districts. With regard to the age composition of the women members, it should be remembered that Karnataka was the first state that had lowered the voting age to 18 years. According to Mathew (ibid.), political parties there found it extremely difficult to get candidates in the higher age groups, that is, above 45. They could persuade only the younger women to contest elections. As a result, most of them were less experienced in politics than men. The studies of Orissa (1997), West Bengal (1995) and Karnataka (1994) confirmed the trend. In Orissa, for example, 80 per cent of the women interviewed were in the age group of 20 to 40. The experience of Maharashtra, which had conducted the panchayat elections earlier, revealed similar features. However, studies from Haryana (Kaushik 1993) showed that women belonged to the post-reproductive age group in the first term, but in the second term relatively young women also came forward. Thus, on the basis of these above studies, it can be said that most of the women representatives are younger, less exposed to public life and less educated than their male counterparts, particularly in the southern and eastern states, in contrast to the northern ones. High-caste members predominate at the top posts like sarpanch, block chairperson and zilla parishad president. However, elected women representatives from the south and east are likely to be more receptive than those in the northern belt, being educated and young.

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QUALITY OF PARTICIPATION Given the aforementioned background, it is difficult to expect that the elected women representatives will work effectively in the initial stages. There are abundant reports from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, to some extent West Bengal and even Kerala, that women are treated with indifference by their male colleagues in the meetings. The bureaucracy also does not treat them with dignity. In many cases they are used as proxies and their male family members conduct meetings in panchayats. In addition, elected women members face violence and rape if they dare to come out alone to attend meetings. The working conditions in the panchayats are not congenial. Besides these handicaps, the general atmosphere of the politics has been vitiated with corruption, violence and petty-mindedness. It also takes a great deal of money to contest elections. All these factors affect the choice of good candidates among women and also their efficiency. However, not all elected women representatives are proxies. In many cases they have been assertive. Members of the all-women Kultikri panchayat in West Bengal, for example, had set their agenda for overall development of the panchayat. This panchayat was declared the best in the state (Mukhopadhyay 1995). Similarly, the all-women panchayat in Vitner, Maharashtra, was engaged in providing clean drinking water, pucca roads and electricity to its own constituency. In Karnataka elected women representatives refused to blindly follow their family members once they were exposed to meetings. The experience of Madhya Pradesh is no different. After undergoing training organised by the UNICEF, women no longer stay behind the veil. Many women have been instrumental in bringing together disparate programmes. For example, many women panchayat members started popularising the sale and consumption of iodised salt after they became convinced of the ill effects of iodine deficiency. Similarly, they asked for protected sanitary facilities such as pit toilets, and washing and bathing facilities (Kulkarni 1997). In the case of Rajasthan, where women are not even allowed to enter the ‘chaupal’, which is reserved for men and where all important matters including politics are discussed, a detailed survey of several lowcaste women sarpanches revealed that they were more accessible to people and took greater care to get things done for the villagers in terms of drinking water, health and income-generating schemes meant for women than the previous sarpanches (Mayaram and Pal 1996). Orissa’s experience in this context was worth noting, particularly in the districts of Jagatsinghpur in the coastal belt, Nuapada in the most backward region and Rayagada in the tribal belt. In those districts the Institute of Social Sciences had been monitoring and evaluating the performances of 210 elected women representatives through various activities for four years (1997–2000). It was noticed that after one year the women elected representatives including ward members were well aware of the importance of palli sabha and gram sabha, the life-lines of the panchayats. In terms of quality of participation, women from the coastal belt stood first and those of the tribal belt last. The elected women representatives of Jagatsinghpur knew by the end of 2000 that Indira Awas, widow pension and other schemes were part of the Integrated Rural

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Development Programmes (IRDP), so they started finalising the list of people living below the poverty line from which beneficiaries could be listed. The elected women representatives of Nuapada knew about the Indira Awas scheme and other welfare schemes but not the IRDP. In Rayagada, some of them were very articulate and tried to finalise the list of beneficiaries through gram sabha, but did not know about the IRDP. Besides, the elected women representatives of all the three districts could identify sources such as fisheries or wasteland development to augment panchayats’ income in addition to grants from the Swarna Jayanti Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), which forms the substantial portion of the revenue. It was interesting to note that almost all the elected women representatives could freely talk of corruption at the bureaucracy level. They also felt that they were bypassed by the block development officer (BDO) and by the personnel of other departments. In Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and other states elected women representatives have worked effectively insofar as the liquor issue is concerned. It has been seen that whenever elected women representatives are assisted by panchayat-friendly NGOs, Mahila Samakhya or political groups, they start functioning well in panchayat institutions. Besides, if women’s agency is established through SHGs or by association with any movement like the anti-arrack movements, women in panchayats start working efficiently.

WOMEN AS JUSTICE PROVIDERS There are a number of examples recently where women have taken the law into their hands and have delivered justice, with all its limitations, to the women victims. Newspaper reports state that in many cases the women were not assisted by any NGO but were mobilised spontaneously. Two cases are presented here. The first event occurred on 13 August 2004 followed by another event on 11 October the same year. In both the cases it was a group of women who punished rapists because they thought the court was unable to deliver justice in time. Both of these events took place in Nagpur district. It is however not known whether the same group of women took part in both the cases. However, the group action was spontaneous. No NGO or any other external group had apparently been involved in the activities. In yet another case, the ‘Mothers Group’ in Manipur stripped themselves in front of the army as a mark of protest against the murder of a rape victim allegedly by the army. Similar examples can be multiplied from other parts of India such as anti-arrak movement in Andhra Pradesh, movement against the site of anti-missile centre in Orissa, right to tree in Uttaranchal and women’s lifting veils in Bihar due to literacy mission etc. In all these cases, inspite of various limitations one thing becomes clear, namely, ‘collective women’s agency’ that clearly emerges.

WOMEN’S AGENCY The women in all these cases have played the role of ‘local mediators’ by keeping ‘fairness and justice’ as the ultimate objective of justice and by aiming to bring justice

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to the marginalised sections of the society (Haeri 2003). Erwer (2003) talks about a similar kind of ‘autonomous women’s agency’ in the state of Kerala namely, Streevedi, which is acting as a catalyst for asserting feminist politics in the public domain. She concluded that how ‘strategic agency’ can create gender political discourses. She was trying to explain the violence against women in a relatively high status society, which is a gender paradox, and how the strategic agency deals with it. In some other context Sen and Dreze (1995) have talked about women’s agency in the state of Kerala and how it has led to decline of infant mortality due women’s access to education. They have defined the agency as one which relates to self determination—individual or collective. In yet another related aspect of agency is the debate in feminist theory as to whether it is possible to conceptualise an agency to be capable of self reflection, self determination, and be autonomous, or it is merely a cultural construction? Fraser, on the other hand, argues that situating the agents or being autonomous in a particular situation does not nullify the quality of being an agent. However, the entire controversy has been centred around the constitution of the agency. But its role in bringing about social change is beyond doubts (quoted in Fabienne 2006). Sangari (2001) has further elaborated the nature of agency. For example she notes that all types of women’s agency, irrespective of its agenda, may not lead women to have a transformative role in the society. She cites the activities of women leaders of Right wing political parties to prove her point. Swadhvi Ritambhara, for example, has achieved an agency but it is not being used for the welfare of the Indian women. Instead, it is being used to spread hatred among two different communities. Finally, many critics argue that it is impossible to have women’s agency, if the women accept men’s agenda. Women are likely to have agency provided men’s agenda coincides with theirs and further for which they give overt consent. Those submissions may however hide many subtle strategies (Sangari 2001; Agarwal 1997). Given the above background, it is argued that there is a possibility of recruiting elected women representatives from the universe of collective agency. They in turn can play a transformative role in panchayat and would act as the providers of justice.

THE ELECTED CASES The micro-studies presented in this section corroborate the argument that some of these women representatives have indeed been recruited from the above universe and have tried to deliver justice in their own way (more examples have been included in the appendix). P. Baby Balakrishnan, president of Madikari gram panchayat, Kesargod district, Kerala tried to mediate in conflict resolution. For example, a family filed a petition to her saying that they have been denied the access to a pathway by a neighbour. She called the members of both the families and sorted out the problem. Similarly, she tried to resolve a dowry case also by bringing both the families together. Baby Balakrishnan has become a crusader against liquor. She joined the women’s groups and took the awareness campaign and squad works to each and every house in the panchayat. If the owner does not cooperate with them, the women’s group break the pots of liquor.

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In yet another case, Geeta Rathore the sarpanch of Jamonia Talab gram panchayat, Madhya Pradesh wanted to give justice to a village woman who used to get beaten up by her husband. One day Geeta got very angry and caught hold of the husband by his shirt saying that she would take him to the police station, if he continues beating his wife. That worked like magic.7 Subidha Yadav, a young sarpanch in Rajasthan, adopts a very interesting strategy of taking villagers into confidence to resolve family conflicts and she often succeeds. For example, in one of her villages the nephews of an old man did not give any monthly expenses to him and the latter in turn approached the panchayat. Subidha Yadav called a meeting with the ward members of that particular village and also had a meeting with the aggrieved parties and came to agreement that the old man has to be given rupees hundred per month for his maintenance expenses. Since that time the nephews have started giving the monthly expenses every month. It is also interesting to note that not a single case has gone to the court in her panchayat. Even though the above cases showed successful conflict resolution, there have been cases where women tried but failed and committed suicide. One such case was Sukhiya Bai, the sarpanch of Gubrail panchayat, Madhya Pradesh. She was an honest sarpanch. She had to deal with the corrupt officials who wanted a certain percentage of the development grant before its release. At the same time she wanted to be just in the eyes of the villagers. In the process she committed suicide to escape from the harassment of bureaucracy. Similar stories can be cited to show that elected women have been trying to mediate different social and economic conflicts.8 In some cases they succeed and in others they fail. Yet another example can be cited to show how an illiterate pradhan from Haryana is actually settling the land disputes and the villagers are all happy with her decisions. They never take any conflict matter to the police station.9 Some more case studies have been provided in the appendix. One may wonder as to why these catalyst women appear in certain places and why not in other places. More research should be undertaken to understand why such types of social capital are available in certain parts of India. At the same time it is important to note that there are certain constraints in operation for the effective functioning of women in delivering justice. One such difficulty is their visit to the site of the conflict particularly during odd hours. Further, they have to be accompanied by their men folks to resolve the conflicts. Finally, they are always overburdened with house work and hardly get time to resolve the conflicts.10 Also, being first timers, they are still unaware of the legal implications of the conflict and thereby do not command the same respect as men. The women are still subjected to various forms of discriminations such as caste, class and patriarchy. The delivery of justice may get biased if they come under such influence. An example can be cited from Himachal Pradesh to show that the panchayat is not in a position to deliver justice because it is not the site of unbiased election. While doing the fieldwork in Himachal Pradesh under the project of ‘Documentation of Community Governance Practices’ an ISS researcher found that in one panchayat a particular woman has been elected as mukhia and her brother in law has been elected the member of the panchayat. A relation of the brother-in-law was involved in a case of sexual harassment in the village. Even though the panchayat wanted to mediate, the women’s group active there were not

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willing to take up the matter and the case is still pending in the court. Similarly, in some cases the agency may not be of right kind. In these cases one is reminded of the role of women’s groups in using the panchayats to intensify riots. Nonetheless, an opportunity has been created where women in panchayats can play a mediating role in resolving local conflicts.

CONCLUSION In India it was noticed that the notion of human rights got expanded to include civil rights as well as socio-economic and political rights particularly during the 1990s. That was the period when the state experimented with the grassroots political institutions namely panchayats to include the interests of all sections of people, including women, in decision making process. The phenomenon of panchayats or a group of five elders delivering justice in villages is not new in the Indian context. In the early days panchayats were given the charge of delivering justice to the victims through consensus. People used to resort to these institutions since the process of getting justice was quick and least harmful for both the parties. The most important point is to note that both the parties had confidence in the panchayat. With the passage of time, each regime, including the Mughals and the British tried to modify the structure and functions of these institutions. Even during the colonial period people from remote areas avoided coming to the court to resolve conflicts of minor nature. But the traditional as well as the informal justice system in the form of panchayats was riddled with various contradictions such as caste, class and patriarchy. Hence, gradually people lost faith in the panchayats and depended more on the modern judiciary system. Eventually, when the panchayats in the new avtar came into being after the passage of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992, a new set of governance regime started functioning in the already existing stratified, hierarchical and gender biased society. However, it opened up a new vista for the hitherto excluded community, namely, women. Five million women within a span of more than 10 years could come to the fore to engender the development process. They have also tried to deliver restorative justice in a non-hierarchical manner. Since women themselves are the victims of domestic violence, they have been relatively more sympathetic to women. Of course, women are not a homogeneous category and they operate under the constraints of caste, class and patriarchy. In addition, they themselves are victims of unfriendly laws such as two child norm, etc. However, over the years because of several social movements and government programmes, namely micro credit, literacy programme, etc., a ‘women’s collective agency’ has been developed. Some of the elected women representatives get recruited from these women’s agency and they in turn become the agent of restorative justice, thereby redressing the violation of human rights. In the process, women get justice in a cost-effective manner and women in the panchayats get a boost to their image.

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APPENDIX Case Studies Old is Bold When most women in her age are confined to the bed or are busy taking care of their grandchildren, Bhagwanti Devi (88), the oldest woman sarpanch of Yamunanagar district of Haryana, is carrying out development work in two villages, Bhagwanpur and Magarpur, in Mustfabad block of the district. Ever since she became sarpanch in April last, no police cases have been registered as all disputes are now solved through mutual consent. Streets of the villages are being re-laid and drains reconstructed. A new anganwadi building has come up and plans are afoot to construct the boundary wall of the primary school in Bhagwanpur village. The octogenarian, popularly known as ‘mataji’, did not attend school herself but nurtures the dream that all village children get education. ‘We are trying hard to get at least one of the primary schools in these villages upgraded,’ she says. Unlike many other women sarpanches, who are treated as just rubber stamps of their husbands or sons, Bhagwanti Devi takes all decisions on her own and attends most of the meetings with government officials. She gets up early in the morning and after helping her daughter-in-law (wife of her youngest son) in the kitchen, she starts her ‘darbar’, where villagers come to her with their problems. She counsels people to shun liquor and drugs. She commands so much respect in both villages, inhabited predominantly by Dalit and Bazigar communities, that she was elected unopposed. She cannot walk properly as iron rods were implanted in both her legs after accidents, yet she makes sure to visit all the sites where development work is carried out. Her husband died in 1995 and she has seven married daughters, four sons and as many as 27 grandchildren. ‘When I can rear 11 children and play nanny to 27 grandchildren, then taking care of two villages is child’s play for me,’ remarks Bhagwanti Devi, full of zest. Maintaining cleanliness, increasing the revenue of the panchayat and educating the village children are her priorities. When asked about the dominance of men in panchayat affairs, she quips, ‘I have broken that tradition.’ (Courtesy: Tribune, 6 February 2006)

This Gujarat Panchayat Needs no Policing from Outside Hunkaa Gram Panchayat on the outskirts of Ahmedabad has earned itself a unique distinction—it has not registered a single crime in eight years! On March 9, DGP A.K. Bhargav presented sarpanch Shardaben Patel a certificate to honour this achievement during the inaugural function of Kanbha Police Station. Shardaben was justifiably proud. ‘Why only eight years? We have forgotten when the police last came to our village. We have been successful in resolving our conflicts at the village level,’ says she.

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In every village, quarrels over water sharing and tree felling as well as thefts from fields end up at the police station. But not so at Hunkaa. Of the population of 1,200, 75 per cent are Thakores, while the other 25 per cent comprise Patels, Harijans, Vaghris and other communities. Beaming with pride, Shardaben told Express Newsline that the village boasted of cent per cent literacy. The few who are landless earn their livelihoods by working in industries nearby. It is not that trouble does not erupt or nobody has a grievance against another, she says. ‘We have succeeded in solving the problem at the panchayat level by bringing together aggrieved parties so that they arrive at a solution which is agreeable to both,’ explains Shardaben. It is her third year as sarpanch and she says she has never encountered a situation in which villagers have not honoured the panchayat. ‘We convince parties that legal matters are full of hassles and take a lot of time, energy and money, and most of them agree to the panchayat’s solution,’ she says. If parties are dissatisfied still, the elders in the village try to knock some sense into them. ‘Elders are respected and their words carry weight in the village,’ says the sarpanch. Shardaben says the entire village is God-fearing. ‘Young and old attend the satsang programmes held every evening in the village,’ says she. ‘We have always had a harmonious atmosphere in the village. There is only one Muslim family in the village but it lives without fear,’ says Jassubhai, Shardaben’s husband. While other villages organise 10 different garbas on Navratri, Hunkaa organises only one big garba where even the Harijans and Vaghris dance. Hassanbhai Mansuri agrees with Jassubhai. ‘We are invited to each and every marriage ceremony. I also invited the entire village when my two sons got married. I can drink water at everybody’s house much the same way as they can do at my place,’ explains 60-year-old Mansuri who is a farmer. ‘The most important point is that villagers here are very strict about liquor and do not tolerate its sale. Liquor is the root of most trouble in rural areas,’ adds Mansuri. Ganaji Budhaji Vaghri rears goats and does odd jobs in the village but has no complaints of discrimination. ‘We are not despised because we are Vaghris,’ he says. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ahmedabad range, A.K. Sharma, was all praise for Hunkaa describing it as a modern utopia. He attributed this to the crackdown on liquor. ‘In my previous postings, I have heard of village leaders having taken the lead in opposing liquor. This often leads to a reduction in crime,’ he said. (Courtesy: The Indian Express, 25 August 2004)

NOTES 1.

F.M. Senapati (1979) in his famous novel titled Six and a Half Acres of Land had highlighted the functioning of modern legal system and how it failed in delivering justice to the real victim since the judge was not involved in the progression of the event. At the same time the author had raised the issue as to how the panchayat failed to deliver justice because the offender was the landlord and the victim was a simple weaver having six-and-half acres of land which the landlord took possession of.

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The romanticisation of panchayats as institutions of justice givers got reflected in the writings of famous writers of Indian literature. As for example the famous story of Premchand titled Panch Paremeswar talks about the power of the panchayat chief in delivering justice even to his arch foe (Premchand 1997). It is worthwhile to note that the functioning of panchayat was shown to be so just that even an old widow could get justice without giving any bribes to any of the panchayat members. Similar stories have also been written in other Indian languages. Interestingly these and other similar stories used to be taught in the schools to shape the socialisation process of the young students particularly in 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, the media has been highlighting the atrocities created by the members of caste panchayats or khap panchayat in compelling people to adhere to the caste rules particularly in case of marriages. For example, in a village in Haryana a man and his wife were asked to live like brother and sister since they belong to the same gotra. However, the media highlighted the incident and the court ordered the couple to maintain status quo. However, in other cases the couples were not that fortunate. They had to pay by their lives. In another case the child from the second husband of a woman was given to the first husband, since she got married again without waiting for the first husband to return from the army after he went missing. (For these and other stories, see Susnil Manav’s ‘Khap panchayats playing with innocent lives?’, Chandigarh Tribune, 2.11.2004. S. Raji’s ‘Panchayat reunites Arif, wife’, Hindustan Times, 20.9.2004. But F.M. Senapati in his famous novel titled Six and a Half Acres of Land wrote that the headship of the panchayat couldn’t be transferred to Bhagia, the weaver from his father because he proved to be a simpleton. Similarly in Premchand’s story titled Panch Parameswar it was mentioned that each time a panchayat was convened the headship was chosen at that time, indicating that the post was not hereditary. Even now-a-days the caste panchayat, particularly of the fishermen caste, keeps a share of the ‘catch’ for the widows, sick and old. This custom is prevalent among the fishermen community living near Chilka lake in the state of Orissa. (Personal Communications with the Fishery officer, Orissa.) In the present context women are not allowed in the traditional panchayats. In all these cases personal interviews were held with those women. Since most of them were awardees of outstanding women’s panchayat leader’s award, instituted by Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, it was easy for me to talk to them as well as to go through the nomination forms. Panchayati Raj Updates, Grassroots and Panchayika are full of such stories of elected women representatives in different states. ISS, Panchayatiraj Update, New Delhi (February 2006). See John (2006).

REFERENCES Agarwal, Bina. 1997. ‘Bargaining, and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household’, Feminist Economics, 3(1): 1–51. Bardhan, P. and Dilip Mukherjee. 2004. ‘Poverty Alleviation Efforts of Panchayats in West Bengal’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39(9): 965–74. Baxi, Upendra. 2002. ‘Sense and Sensibility’, Seminar Issue, 511, (March): 33–39. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra and Esther Duflo. 2004. ‘Impact of Reservation in Panchayati Raj: Evidence from a Nationwide Randomised Experiment’, Economic and Political Weekly, 39(9): 979–86. Datta, Bishaka (ed.). (2000). And Who Will Make the Chapatis? Kolkata: Stree.

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Dreze, Jean and A. Sen. 1995. ‘Gender Inequality and Women’s Agency’, in India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press: 140–75. ———. 2002. India: Development and Participation. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Erwer, Monica. 2003. ‘Challenging the Gender Paradox: Women’s Collective Agency in the Transformation of Kerala Politics’, Department of Peace and Development Research, Goteborg University. Fabienne, Peter. 2003. ‘Gender and Foundation of Social Choice: The role of Situated Agency’, Feminist Economics, 9(2&3): 13–32. Government of India. 2000. National Family Health Survey 1998–99. New Delhi: Department of Family Welfere. Haeri, Shahla. 2003. ‘Contested Terrains: Gender Justice and Citizenship in South Asia’, Paper presented at the workshop on ‘Gender Justice, Citizenship and Entitlement’, organised by International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, 13–14 November. Hariharan, Geetha. 2003. ‘A New Emergency’, The Telegraph (24 August). Isaac, T.M. Thomas, S.M. Vijayanand. 2000. ‘Kerala’, in George Mathew (ed.), The Status of Panchayati Raj in States and Union Territories of India. New Delhi: Concept Publishing House. Jayal, Niraja Gopal. 1999. ‘Democracy and Social Capital in the Central Himalaya: A Tale of Two Villages’, paper presented at a conference on ‘Democracy and Social Capital in Segmented Society’, Uppsala University (June). John, M.S. 2006. ‘Community Mediation: The Role of Elected Members of a Village Panchayats in Kerala’, Journal of Rural Development, 25(1): 29–47. Johnson, Craig. 2003. Decentralisation in India: Poverty, Politics and Panchayati Raj. UK: Overseas Development Institute. Kaushik, Susheela. 1993. Women and Panchayati Raj. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES); New Delhi: Har Anand Publication. Khan, Zarina Rahman. 2002. ‘Evolution of Local Self Governance and Women’s Participation. The Bangladesh Context’, Paper presented in seminar on ‘Women in Local Self—Governance in South Asia’, 2–4 September, CWDS, New Delhi. Kulkarni, Manu. 1995. ‘Gender Issues and Empowerment of Women’, in Madhya Pradesh Human Development Report. Bhopal: Government of Madhya Pradesh: pp. 95–112. Mathew, George (ed.) 2000. Status of Panchayati Raj in the States and Union Territories of India. New Delhi: Concept Publishing House. ———. 2003. ‘Panchayati Raj Institutions and Human Rights in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 38(2): 155–62. Mayaram, Shail and Pritam Pal. 1996. ‘The Politics of Women’s Reservation: Women Panchayat Representatives in Rajasthan, Performance, Problems and Potential.’ IDS WP.074, Jaipur. Mohanty, Bidyut. 1999. ‘Panchayati Raj Institutions and Women’, in Bharati Ray and Aparna Basu (eds.), From Independence towards Freedom: Indian Women Since Independence. New Delhi: Oxford University Press: 19–33. ———. 2003. ‘Women’s Empowerment in the Context of the Constitution (Seventy-third and Seventyfourth Amendments) Acts 1992—An Assessment’, in a workshop report on ‘A Decade of Women’s Empowerment through Local Government in India’, 20–21 October . New Delhi: Institute of Social Sciences. Moore, Erin. 1998. Gender, Law, and Resistance in India. Arizona: The University of Arizona Press. Mukherji, Partha Natha. 2006. ‘Participatory Democratisation: Panchayati raj and Deepening of Indian Democracy’, S.K. De Lecture delivered at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. Mukhopadhyay, Ashim. 1995. ‘Kultikri: West Bengal’s only All-Women Gram Panchayat’, Economic and Political Weekly, 30(22): 1284–85. Parida, Amarnath. 1997. ‘Survey Conducted among 210 Elected Women Representatives in Three Districts of Orissa’ by the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. Premchand. 1997. ‘Panch Paremeswar’ in The Complete Collection of Short Stories. Allahabad: Lokbharti Prakasan.

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Rao, Mohan. 2004. ‘Female Sex Selective Abortions’, Indo Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development, 2(1): 20–26. Ray, Suranjita. 2003. ‘Political Economy of Hunger: A Case Study of Kalahandi’, Lecture series at Developing Countries Research Centre, University of Delhi, 30 September. Sangari,Kumkum. 2001. Politics of Possible, Essays on Gender, History and Narratives. New Delhi: Tulika. Senapati, Fakir Mohan. 1979. Chhaman Athaguntha (Six and Third Acres of Land). Cuttack: Orissa Jagannath Company. Siddiqui, Kamal (ed). 1992. Local Government in South Asia: A Comparative Study. Dhaka: University Press Ltd. Singh, G.B. 2000. Functioning Local Government in South India. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House.

6 City Consulation as an Approach to Gender Responsive Local Urban Governance: An Experience from UMP-Asia Girija Shrestha

INTRODUCTION

B

EFORE discussing local urban development issues, it is important to understand the actors and activities that characterise city life. While examining the factors that comprise local urban development and the delivery of services thereby, one is required to distinguish between local governance, urban management and public administration. Governance is the decision making process, whereas urban management is the process by which goals—physical, economic, social development or a combination of all are met. The administration of services and amenities is the process that keeps towns and cities functioning (DPU 2002). Among major actors in cities, the elected local government is central to its management. Other actors emerging currently include civil society organisations, private sector and individual households. Civil society organisations range from international and national NGOs to local community groups, residents’ associations and the like. Good urban management is concerned with efficiency and effectiveness in the use of human, financial and material resources to meet goals of urban development. For this it is crucial to draw together skills and experiences of public and private sectors of those communities and NGOs through partnership (ibid.). The partnership, which has benefits and risks, is based upon understanding and can bring synergies in the management of cities through each partner’s capacities and skills. Viewing most cases of the partnership with a gender lens reveals that a representative half of the population

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of the world is missing. It is common knowledge that women’s participation in the public domain, specifically in decision making bodies, is less compared to that of men. Once they are excluded from the decision making process of a nation or region, their needs, priorities and expectations will not be included in the policies and plans to be implemented in the development process. Low levels of participation in decision making bodies is not confined to the national level alone, but exists at the local level as well. Compared to other levels of the governance structure of any nation; in urban local governance all urban citizens (both women and men) need to interact directly and intensively in daily life. However, women’s participation in urban local government is similar to that of other structures, that is, not many women are involved in it, specifically in the decision making bodies. It is hard for them to participate in public spheres such as the political, administrative, judiciary and trade union due to cultural barriers, low educational levels, domestic responsibilities and other problems. As women comprise half the world’s population, it is impossible to ignore their low participation in decision making. Decreased access by women to decision making structures is not only an issue from the point of women’s human rights, but is also a negligence and waste of 50 per cent of human resources in the development process. Many policy makers of urban governance feel that including women in decision making is necessary for social equality. However, they do not feel that it is as urgent an issue as poverty reduction, infrastructure development or other development issues that once resolved will benefit women equally. What the policy makers and planners fail to understand is that access to resources is not evenly distributed even within a family. Therefore, they do not prioritise gender issues while planning, implementing and budgeting for national and local plans and projects. They tend to forget that without involving women in all aspects and stages of the development process, it is not possible to achieve the development goal of any nation. In order to achieve social justice, it is necessary to have gender equality. However, it is hard to say that gender equality comes only through participation in decision making. It is only one of the tools that helps uplift women’s position with help from other parameters, including empowering women to handle their responsibilities outside of the home, sharing of domestic responsibilities by men, and increasing access to and control over resources, and so on. Changing gender relations is a slow process, one that could gain momentum by bringing in gender-sensitive policies, such as women’s participation in public decision making. The philosophy of the Urban Management Programme (UMP) views participation as a means to achieve sustainable urban management, thereby empowering people through involvement in decision making processes. The UMP has been using a ‘City Consultation’ approach to promote participatory decision making in cities for sustainable urban development. Through this approach, city government officials are encouraged to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders and involve them in decision making processes concerning city development. This process draws together skills and experiences of all actors and directs it at the development of any one priority issue. In order to bring women and disadvantaged groups into the planning and decision

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making process and sensitise city government officers within the institution and other stakeholders of the cities, the UMP is conducting gender-responsive city consultation in different cities. This chapter highlights the cases of Lalitpur (Nepal), Delhi (India), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Vientiane (Lao PDR) City Consultation processes. Further, it attempts to show how the consultation process is bringing the agenda of local women into urban governance through their participation. In addition to making officials and decision makers sentient to gender issues, this has also enabled them to discover ways to incorporate disadvantaged people’s concerns into the planning process. It further explores whether this process has transformed women’s agency after their involvement in decision making or if the projects ended without making any impact on the management of the cities. In consequence, there is an attempt to find out the relationship between gender-sensitive projects in urban local governance and change in women’s agency. Further, it evaluates the UMP’s contribution in transforming women’s agency. Importantly, this study attempts to answer these questions and prove that if women are involved in decision making, even if it is forced or donor driven, women’s agency can be improved. Here, women’s agency (Kelkar et al. 2005) is understood as the capacity for autonomous action in the face of constricting social sanctions and structural inequalities. This in turn offers a framework in which constraint is seen as constitutive of gender norms and relations between women and men, which are deep-rooted and durable but not static. Empowerment is defined as the entrenched capacity of people to act individually and/or collectively in the ongoing struggle to achieve equality and social justice. This definition of empowerment focuses on people’s capacity to improve their social position, and more importantly, on their ability to successfully engineer a fundamental and sustainable change in their power relations (Lairap-Fonderson 2002). The analysis presented is based on the review of literature, both published and unpublished reports and documents of the UMP, field visits, discussions and interviews with UMP project participants at community and municipal levels.

GOVERNANCE AND GENDER ISSUES Governance can be conceptualised through many lenses. A narrow definition focuses on economic and administrative governance, whereas a broader one encompasses political governance also (Sharma 2004). Definition of governance ranges from restricted view of sound management of economy to an expanded view of embracing such projects as the liberalisation of politics and the reduction of social inequality (UNRISD 2005: 181). Issues in governance cannot be seen in isolation of the framework of power and organisation of social relations (ibid.). Gender equity and governance arguments are premised on (ibid.): 1. the state has the primary responsibility to safeguard and promote citizens’ wellbeing;

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2. the state is the primary instrument for dealing with social and economic inequalities and injustices as governance state–society interaction; and 3. the quality of governance is strongly influenced by the ability of people to participate in democratic processes and institution building. There are varied contexts and actors—state, market, civil society, people’s movements—which define the framework of governance (ibid.). The seven basic indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance developed by the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi, in 2002 are (Panda 2004): 1. Survival of women women: Mortality rate, crude death rate, under 5 mortality rate, infant mortality rate, stillbirth rate, maternal mortality rate and sex ratio at birth. 2. Quality of survival survival: Life expectancy at birth, where the child (especially the girl child) has been given a complete course of immunisation, her nutritional status, age at marriage and first pregnancy. 3. Skill acquisition acquisition: Literacy, enrolment and dropout rate at primary level of school, completion of primary education, dropout rate at the secondary level and the completion of secondary and higher education. ce participation 4. Workfor orkforce participation: Rates and patterns of workforce participation, wage disparity, paid and unpaid work, workplace condition, pattern of migration and women-supported households. 5. Control over resources resources: Control over means of production (capital or land), land ownership and property rights. 6. Participation in the public sphere sphere: Different positions of decision making— political, administrative, trade unions, judiciary etc. 7. Security Security: Incidence of rape and molestation, abduction, dowry, marriage-related violence and murder, and unnatural death above the age of 20.

LOCAL URBAN GOVERNANCE AND GENDER RESPONSIVENESS Local urban governance is not limited to the provision of local needs of urban people, but is an instrument for the engagement of the community in civic affairs. Urban governance is about effective collaborative planning, decision making processes (and mechanisms) and implementation to co-ordinate distinctive efforts of the local government, civil society organisations and the private sector towards the progressive attainment of sustainable urban development and local democracy (Edgar 2000: 4). Here, collaborative planning, partnership and decision making process mean those who are the consulted people. Does bringing only men into the planning process create an equitable place? This question needs to be addressed while discussing good governance issues. There is clear difference between government and governance. The government is the exercise of direction, authority and control by state, whereas governance is

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relations between the governed and government, between the state and institutional sphere private sector and civil societies (Edgar 2000; Mehta 1998). According to Edgar (2000), governance has three dimensions: (a) national scale and to what extent policy frameworks at this level promote or hinder participatory governance; (b) urban scale, and refering to instruments and frameworks that either promote or stifle participatory urban governance and (c) locale scale is the functioning of municipalities themselves. In relation to the last, there are internal and external dimensions of municipalities. Internal dimensions refer to institutional systems, structures and procedures. External dimensions refer to relations with civil society organisations, the private sector and public spheres in general (ibid.). Further, participatory urban governance means an approach to municipal decision making processes and outcomes, organisation, management and relationships towards the formulation of an integrated development approach. The integrated development approach is bringing together sustainability, equitable economic development, political voice, social justice and cultural freedom. The approach is characterised by responsiveness, transparency and participation (ibid.). The greatest threat to good governance is corruption and a failure to understand the boundaries of responsibilities. Hence, governance should be transparent and accountable. It should be based on the principle of participation (DPU 2002). Gendered governance is characterised by engendered transparency, that is, the extent to which women participate in assemblies, the extent to which information is accessible to women, etc. Engendered accountabilities is communication between elected officials and women, engendered participation—increased women’s participation in decision making; equitable economic development—, increased access and control over resources by women (Purushothaman and Vedanth 2004). The key preconditions for developing participatory governance include the following aspects (Edgar 2000): 1. political will amongst decision makers at national, regional and local levels; 2. enabling regulatory frameworks at national, regional and local spheres, which stimulate and reward participatory decision making processes between key stakeholders in the city; 3. institutional reforms to strengthen governance capability within the municipality, building on national opportunity structure that arise from substantive decentralisation; 4. clear incentive systems sanctions and benefits that allow for the normalisation and mainstreaming of participatory governance approaches to urban management; 5. concrete plans to facilitate meaningful, inclusive and relevant participation, measure performance against jointly set targets, etc.; and 6. an empowered citizenry. Therefore, gender-sensitive participatory governance includes presence of a political leader who is aware of gender issues and motivated in incorporating an agenda of gender

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needs, and the regulatory frameworks that keep an eye on the participation of both women and men. Other issues include municipal capabilities on meeting gender needs, that is, equipping staff with tools and techniques, and organisations with technical, financial and managerial support on gender needs. For good urban governance it is necessary to have accountability of public officials, transparency in public procedures and decisions, and wide participation in public choices. It should be built on the rule of law (Mehta 1998). Good urban governance means simplicity in rules and regulations, managerial efficiency, adaptiveness, responsiveness and transparency (SMART). These need to be followed in a participatory and consultative process of development (ibid.). As far as consultative process is concerned, it is necessary to take into account issues of gender needs and the fact that both women and men participate effectively. Good urban governance, thus, as discussed, is widely taken to mean participatory and representative governance where all constituencies are included in the political, economic and legal planning and decision making processes involving collection, distribution and use of urban resources for the development of the city. Moving towards good governance requires representation of women and disadvantaged groups in policymaking assemblies, authorities and civic organisations. This not only involves changing political institutions to include women’s proportional representation, but also involves ‘sensitising’ others within such institutions to adopt gender-sensitive processes, policies and practices. A gender-sensitive approach to urban governance has two principal objectives (Beall 1996). First, to increase women’s participation in development and management of urban projects and programmers, including improved women’s representation in political structures and their active involvement in advocacy and lobbying for equitable human settlements development, and management through participation in organisations outside of government. The second objective is to foster gender awareness and competence among both women and men in the political arena and planning practice. Urban governance must be gender sensitive if it is to be equitable, sustainable and effective. There are different ways women and men participate in and benefit from urban governance. The latter is significantly shaped by prevailing constructions of gender, whose norms, expectations and institutional expressions constrain women’s access to the social and economic, and thus political resources of the city.. Most societies ascribe roles and responsibilities to women and men differentially, but fail to value, or even account for, the crucial contributions women’s labour makes to household and community maintenance. Given that women experience and use the urban environment in different ways from men, they have different priorities in terms of services and infrastructure, for example with regard to transport, housing and basic urban services. Such priorities rarely feature in urban policy or investments. Policy makers and planners, whether women or men, need to be gender aware that women’s needs and interests are properly addressed and they are brought in to the planning process. Urban poor women from developing countries are affected by lack of basic services, not treating human rights as local women’s rights, not recognising women’s economic

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contribution and economic needs, less education for economic capabilities development, insufficient public transportation, and lack of security of tenure (UNCHS 2001b). According to the UNCHS (ibid.), norms of good governance are underpinned by sustainability, decentralisation, equity, efficiency, transparency and accountability, civic engagement and citizenship, security of individuals and their environment. Further, each of these norms have specific gender aspects that need to be highlighted while discussing good governance, including women’s greater inclusion in the decision making process. Important policy issues on women and local urban governance (ibid.) are: 1. Women’ omen’ss representation in local government government: There is need for increasing representation of women in local government. 2. Recognition and support for poor women’ women’ss activities activities: From a human rights standpoint, women’s activities in urban areas that support their communities’ social and economic well-being need to be decriminalised and supported. 3. Participatory policy policy: Urban policy making should be a bottom-up process that involves citizens, men and women, and recognises community-based organisations, including women’s organisations, as legitimate stakeholders in urban governance. 4. Eliminating violence against women: The security of the individual and their environment needs to be addressed. 5. Building capacity of women and CBOs CBOs: There is a need for capacity building for women and women’s organisations at the local level. 6. Building capacity of local government government: There is a need to build the capacity of local authorities to deal with community-based organisations. 7. Gender budgeting budgeting: Gender budgeting should be included in policy and programme planning at all levels. The successful examples of local innovative initiatives of urban governance from Asia suggest that it is possible for most urban local governments to adopt good governance practices. Strategies for improved urban governance are enumerated in these successful local initiatives. They include the strategies of enablement, participation and capacity building. Various programmes of the UN system, including the global programme on urban management, have been promoting such strategies. It is expected that with the successful implementation of these strategies, good governance practice will become widespread and lead to an appreciable increase in the quality of life of urban residents (Mehta 1998). Some case studies from the Urban Management Programme are discussed in the following sections.

THE URBAN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (UMP) The Urban Management Programme (UMP) is a global UNDP programme executed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The UMP was

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launched in 1986 as an initiative of the UNDP, UN-HABITAT, World Bank and several bilateral partners. The programme is designed to improve the contribution of cities and towns to sustainable development through improved urban management and it is one of the largest urban global technical assistance programmes of the UN system. One of the strategies for project implementation used by the UMP includes anchoring regional activities through regional institutions and local/city-level activities through local partner institutions. The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, is the regional anchor institution for Asia-Pacific activities and All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) is the sub-regional institution for South Asia activities.

THE UMP–AIT PARTNERSHIP The AIT, a postgraduate academic institution, and UN-HABITAT have been working in partnership since January 1998 to coordinate and carry out the activities of the UMP in the Asia and Pacific region. The commonality of the UMP’s and AIT’s focus areas— poverty alleviation, environmental improvement, participatory urban governance and HIV/AIDS, with gender as a cross-cutting theme—provides an excellent opportunity for both organisations to complement each other’s capacities towards improving understanding of urban issues and challenges in the Asia and Pacific region and find ways in which these can be addressed in pursuing social, economic and environmental development goals. As mentioned earlier, participation has been seen as a means to achieve the UMP’s goal of sustainable urban management and empower people through their involvement in decision making processes. The UMP has been using the ‘City Consultation’ approach to promote participatory decision making by encouraging city government officials to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders and involve them in the decision making concerning the city’s development. Policy and planning with an understanding of gender does not come naturally to professionals, be they women or men. Changes in organisational culture and operational procedures will be required to foster gender-sensitive analyses and consultative processes. Inclusive partnerships in urban governance need to take into account the obstacles to women’s involvement in public life, such as a lack of confidence or skills, and the burden of multiple household responsibilities. Additonally, women are not the only group to be marginalised from political and planning processes. Diversity is a reality of urban development. A gendered approach to planning offers solutions to many of the challenges presented by social and economic diversity (Beall 1996), and some examples, which the UMP is conducting through its City Consultation approach in order to bring women and disadvantaged groups into the planning and decision making process is discussed in the ensuing sections. The cases presented are of Lalitpur, Delhi, Phnom Penh and Vientiane City Consultations, and how they attempted to bring the agenda of local women into the decision making through their participation. This also enabled other city government officers to study how to incorporate disadvantaged people’s concerns in the planning process.

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THE UMP CITY CONSULTATION PROCESS City Consultations bring together local authorities, the private sector, community representatives and other stakeholders within a city to discuss specific issues and solutions to key urban problems. There is a continuous process of dialogue among stakeholders and the city government. While there are differences from region to region and even from city to city, an important outcome of this dialogue is an action plan that has city-wide support. With its City Consultation methodology, the UMP has focused on urban poverty, urban environment, good urban governance and HIV/AIDS, with the gender component on emphasis. Since its beginning, the UMP has facilitated over 120 City Consultations, carried out through 19 regional anchor institutions and 40 national and local institutions. The City Consultations aim to institutionalise the participatory decision making process. The underlying premise is that poor city administration is often the result of weak rapport with civil society, particularly where bureaucratic and unresponsive modes of administration are the norm. The consultation approach has been designed to bridge this gap so that city administration and key stakeholders in civil society can participate in decision making. The City Consultation has the following main purposes (UNCHS 2001a): 1. to identify, review and expand upon urban issues of priority concern, which affect sustainable growth and development of the city; 2. to bring together key actors from the public, private and popular sectors that agree on the need for, and commit themselves to jointly develop, an improved city management process built on partnerships, and which cuts across sectors to promote sound development; 3. to demonstrate a process of defining priority concerns and identifying key actors and a methodology to establish a participatory cross-sectoral working group approach; 4. to agree on a mechanism for developing an appropriate institutional framework for strengthening and maintaining the process and for linking these activities to existing structures besides demonstrating the necessity for pooling resources in order to address the priority issues; and 5. to mobilise social and political support and obtain the commitment necessary to operationalise the cross-sectoral working group approach in addressing the agreed priority issues. A City Consultation is built upon inclusiveness, a continuous, demand driven, bottom-up process, with co-operation not confrontation, conflict resolution and flexibility principles (ibid.).

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Figure 6.1: The UMP City Consultation Process Implementation • Implementation of priority actions • Leveraging local resources • Results and inpacts

Priority action plan

Monitoring and feedback

Preparing for City Consultations • City selection • Stakeholder mobilisation • City profile on thematic focus: poverty, governance, environment, gender

City Consultations Stakeholder engagement • City-wide consultations • Focus groups • Working groups/task force • Institutional mechanisms

Action plans • Detailed strategy • Resource mobilisation • Donor round tables

Intermediate actions • Policy formulation • Demonstration projects • Stakeholder-driven initiatives

Documentation Dissemination in local media

Identification of key areas • Prioritisation • Role of stakeholders • Action areas

Source: UMP–UN-HABITAT (2002).

DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE CITY CONSULTATION PROCESS Preparing for Consultation This stage aims to assess the local situation and to customise the process accordingly. Activities include city selection, mobilisation of stakeholders, identifying stakeholders and analysing their roles, and city profile preparation for providing basic information and informing prioritisation. The gender-sensitive city profile, the necessary basis for gender analysis and gender responsive planning and management, is included in the preparation. Presenting issue-specific information along gender lines is highly desirable, and in some cases even necessary, in order to highlight the impact of issues and activities separately on women and men for impacts that affect them differently. This genderspecific information is also important for stakeholder identification.

Identification of Key Areas The purpose of this stage is issue prioritisation, agreeing on role and responsibilities of stakeholders and decisions to be taken about action areas. The gender analysis tool is necessary to use during this stage, since it leads to more balanced and, hence, stronger stakeholder participation.

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City Consultation The purpose of consultation is to promote stakeholder dialogue, consensus building and commitment through city-wide consultation, focus groups and working groups, and task forces. The structure of a typical consultation is that of city profile presentations in plenary, clarifying of issues, stakeholder positions and brainstorming in working groups and again in plenary presentation of synthesis of group outcomes, and agreement on the way forward. If the stakeholders are not aware of gender issues, it is necessary to build their information prior to the consultation. Only after they are equipped with the gender analysis capability, can the consultation process be started.

Action Plan Preparation An action plan translates a broadly agreed set of policy frameworks and strategies into concrete actions. It defines necessary activities together with the responsible actors and their required commitments of resources, all within a clear time-frame for implementation, besides outlining a monitoring system for overseeing the process. The action planning process requires reconfirming, making explicit the commitments of partners and stakeholders, and agreeing on coordination and implementation mechanisms. The action plan should clearly take into account needs and priorities of weaker and disadvantaged groups.

Monitoring Monitoring the participatory decision making process provides information for measuring progress at three levels: applying the process, achieving results and sustaining the process. It is also necessary that municipal officers are equipped with the tools of gender monitoring prior to monitoring process, which will help them keep track of gender issues.

CITY RESPONSES REDUCING GENDER GAP IN LOCAL URBAN GOVERNANCE Using the City Consultation methodology as a foundation, the UMP facilitated more effective and sustainable local responses to good urban governance incorporating gender issues. This project aims to begin dialogues on developing and strengthening existing local responses to gender issues, in partnership with all relevant stakeholders and municipal governments. The process helped align city plans with national strategies while taking into account local conditions of the communities’ and individuals’ gender needs.

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The four projects in Nepal (Lalitpur), India (Delhi), Laos (Vientiane) and Cambodia (Phnom Penh) focused on: 1. strengthening leadership commitment on gender needs and action from all stakeholders; 2. bringing women to decision making positions in local governance; 3. building the capability of women members to handle activities to be carried out at the local governance level; 4. awareness raising of both women and men city government officers on gender issues and gender needs; 5. capacity building of those city government officers and other stakeholders to bring gender components in the planning, implementing and monitoring process; 6. launching innovative, community-based gender-sensitive action plans; and 7. implementation of the action plan. The details of the project objectives and activities are presented in the following sections.

Case 1: Participatory Urban Poverty Reduction in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Cambodia is one of the least developed countries in the world. The transition from a planned to a free economy has had a serious impact on the acute poverty of the country. In 1995 the DFID/UNDP-funded, UNCHS/UNDP-executed ‘Phnom Penh Urban Poor Communities and Municipality Development Project’ (CMB/95/009) has worked to achieve the following objectives: 1. development of constructive partnerships between key actors; 2. strengthening and expansion of the community development process and generation of mutually acceptable, replicable and permanent set of solutions; and 3. capacity building at local operational levels of the municipality. In connection with this, the municipality of Phnom Penh in early 1999 requested the UMP to assist it in strengthening its capacities in poverty reduction and urban governance. In collaboration with Phnom Penh municipality, the UMP has launched different projects. Only gender-centric projects are considered for discussion in this chapter. The objectives of the UMP consultation in Phnom Penh in 1998–99 were: to develop a resource mobilisation framework for poverty alleviation, to build capacity of the municipality of Phnom Penh for poverty reduction and to develop capacity building programme of local authorities in poverty alleviation. During 2000–2001, the UMP City Consultation aimed to help mobilise resources through the active

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participation of both women and men in all level of activities of CBOs and NGOs. It was to help integrate poor women’s needs and concerns into UN-HABITAT’s (CMB/00/ 003) project framework. The basic activities that were carried out during 2000–2001 were: 1. preparation of a gender and poverty profile of Phnom Penh; 2. gender awareness training for the municipality’s Community Development Management Committee (CDMC) members to review existing women’s and other disadvantaged groups’ issues at Khan (district) level; 3. training on field-based gender-focused action research to the same members; 4. preparation of community action plan; 5. gender monitoring training; and 6. finalisation of community action plan through city-level stakeholders meeting. The project was implemented by Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C) as a local partner institute in partnership with UMP-AIT and UN-HABITAT Cambodia. Besides this project, the UMP is implementing another gender-centric project in Phnom Penh on HIV/AIDS, jointly with KHANA (an NGO), Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Phnom Penh municipality.

Case 2: Participatory Urban Poverty Reduction in Vientiane, Lao PDR The population of the city of Vientiane is growing at 5.9 per cent per year. Most of this growth is caused by in-migration. The growing city is starting to face complicated and inter-related problems such as poverty, unemployment, drug addiction, land disputes, environment degradation and lack of housing. Although some of these problems are not very serious presently, there are no indications that they will disappear in the near future. In fact, trends indicate that they may even worsen. Under the aforementioned circumstances, women and youth are most affected. The lives of women are becoming increasingly difficult because of their responsibilities in sustaining the family under high inflation and lack of public services. The structure for Vientiane municipal government is not yet in place and laws and regulations for urban governance are yet to be put in order. Such a situation calls for an initiative at the ground level in order to seek better and more effective city planning and management, especially for the more disadvantaged groups. Under these circumstances, there was a need to build the capacity of the district officers for this new project. They were unprepared for a gender-responsive participatory process since both gender and participation were new concepts to them. A pilot project was proposed to strengthen the capacity of local government officers for participatory urban management during 2000–2001. The district officers could draw lessons from this to enable them to develop a better city management structure in the future. The objective of the UMP City Consultation in Vientiane was to develop a genderresponsive capacity building model for the local authorities in poverty alleviation. The

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participants of this programme were district officers of Vientiane municipalities, including village heads. During this consultation, the following activities were conducted: 1. gender and poverty profile of Vientiane city; 2. gender awareness training for government officers to review existing issues about women and other disadvantaged groups at the village level; 3. training on gender-responsive statistics; 4. training on gender and urban environment management to collect data and analyse it from gender perspective at the village level; 5. based on the knowledge gained in previous trainings, preparation of community action plan by the officers in three villages; and 6. a city-level stakeholders’ workshop to present a community action plan that the group discussed and finalised. The proposed community action plans were based on the needs and priorities articulated by villagers. Further, linkage with the Asian Development Bank-funded Vientiane Urban Infrastructure and Services Project (VUISP) was explored, because during that time they were preparing the project document. The Women’s Union of Vientiane Municipality (WUVM) coordinated and implemented the project in partnership with UMP-AIT and Vientiane Urban Development Authority. The ADB/VUISP agreed to replicate the project carried out by the UMP in three villages, namely, Phonpapao, Sayasthane and Phone Sa Vanh Neua. Currently, it is replicating the gender-responsive planning and monitoring for the preparation of action plans on infrastructure building in 40 villages. The WUVM, the UMP’s local partner institution, is preparing the infrastructure action plan through fieldworkers trained in the topics mentioned earlier. Later, these fieldworkers go to field/village and prepare the action plan in consultation with villagers at the community level. Once the action plan is ready, it is implemented by the ADB/VUISP with ADB funding.

Case 3: Capacity building of Urban Poor Women for Shelter Rights in Delhi, India Delhi, the capital of India, has a long history of in-migration and the consequent proliferation of informal settlements. Due to industrialization, a large number of jobs and services were generated in 1970s. A sizeable number of unskilled migrant labour from other parts of India started to pour in. A number of short-term measures were taken to help these urban poor; however, it did not suffice and Delhi state was unable to provide enough land near the service areas. The hardest hit in this development process were women. The ideas of capacity building interventions for these women emerged when the UMP, along with India Habitat Centre and INDICARE Trust, organised a symposium to mark World Habitat

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Day in 1999. Capacity building for slum dwellers was necessary to establish a dialogue with local civic bodies for provision and maintenance of basic services; to establish a mechanism for access to credit for housing and income generating activities; participation in site selection for slum relocation; and in the planning and delivery of basic infrastructure. The Delhi Consultation aimed at empowering women slum dwellers to effectively participate in decision making processes that vitally impact their living environment and facilitate the creation of a sustainable credit mechanism to contribute to improvement in their quality of life. The broad objective of the programme was to set up the ‘Mahila Chetna Slum Women Solidarity Groups’ in selected slum areas. The major activities during consultations were: 1. The profiling of selected communities through participatory learning and action (PLA) techniques. Several group meetings were conducted to collect the information for profiling. 2. A capacity building programme for women community leaders. 3. A painting competition for slum children on the Habitat Day theme ‘Cities Without Slums’. 4. The community consultations continued to finalise the community profiles and prioritise issues. 5. The programme initiated the capacity building of slum women through creation of community organisations called ‘Mahila Chetna Slum Women Solidarity Groups’. These were initially savings groups, but are now being encouraged and empowered to initiate and sustain a dialogue with the administration regarding provision of basic services and access to land tenure. In July 2001 the consultations in Delhi were initiated at the request of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the NGO INDCARE Trust, which was later engaged as the local partner institution (LPI). The LPI facilitated all consultations and conducted the PLA exercise in the six communities. These were: (a) Shankar Garden; (b) Ravi Dass Camp; (c) Indira Gandhi Camp No II; (d) Indira Gandhi Camp No. III; (e) Indira Gandhi Camp No V and (f) Possangipur. Interventions of the UMP mainly focused on the issue of shelter rights for people in slums and building the capacities of the women for consultation with the local selfgovernment. The major areas covered were: (a) Shelter; (b) Strengthening of Mahila Chetna and (c) Women’s Rights. It was envisaged that each of these issues would be addressed by a process that was women centric and the empowerment of women was seen as a tool for the improvement of the slums. The Mahila Chetna was envisaged to lead this process and, therefore, strengthening and facilitating its activities and the process of creating its own identity was a critical aspect of the interventions. Women in slums otherwise face a series of discriminations, which makes them a subject of abuse and prevents them from seeking justice. This discrimination also prevents them from playing an active role in the

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community. Mahila Chetna ensures that slum dwellers participate effectively in decision making that vitally impacts their living environment and facilitate the creation of a sustainable credit mechanism to improve their quality of life.

Case 4: Urban Poverty Reduction through Participatory Approach in Lalitpur, Nepal The Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City (LSMC) approached the UMP in November 1997, seeking assistance in building capacity of the council for urban poverty reduction, with particular emphasis on micro-finance for the urban poor. Lumanti, a local NGO, as an UMP local partner institution, was assigned the responsibility of coordinating the programme, conducting research studies and managing the city consultation activities under the guidance of the LSMC. The principal focus of City Consultation in Lalitpur was to build capacity of the LSMC in developing a participatory framework for urban poverty reduction. Major activities conducted with different partners under the UMP umbrella were as follows. 1. A series of small focus group meetings was organised to disseminate information about the UMP initiative and gather information about poverty situation of communities. 2. Three major pre-consultation meetings were organised, one each with CBOs, NGOs, and intellectuals and ward chairpersons. 3. City-level consultation meeting were held where findings from pre-consultation meetings were presented. A city profile was disseminated summarising the poverty situation and key issues needed to be solved. 4. Working group and task force committee were formed to implement the poverty alleviation programme in a participatory way. 5. Pilot project on poverty reduction programme was implemented in the five poorest communities. 6. Urban poor fund was developed. 7. Skill development programmes, basic services delivery programmes and study visit programmes for women were carried out. 8. Community learning centres were established in two of the pilot communities. 9. The women’s association of Lalitpur and the women’s forum ‘Mantuana Misa Khala’ were set up for exchange of knowledge through different talk programmes and seminars. Lalitpur has quite a few community-based women’s groups like mothers’ groups, and savings groups, but there was no city-level women’s organisation. Hence, ‘Mantuna Misa Khala’ was formed as a sister organisation for women to develop capability and leadership at the city and national level. Gender sensitivity, organisation management and leadership trainings have been organised for the members of Mantuna Misa Khala.

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GENDER-SENSITIVE UMP CITY CONSULTATIONS AND CHANGES IN WOMEN’S AGENCY As mentioned earlier, participation has been seen as a means to achieve the UMP’s goal of sustainable urban management and empower people through their involvement in decision making processes. The representation of women and disadvantaged groups in policy-making assemblies, authorities and civic organisations is one of the major goals of the UMP. As the cited cases show, the UMP has taken different approaches to ensure women’s representation in local bodies or civic organisations in different cities. In the case of Delhi and Lalitpur, women from the grassroots were trained to represent themselves through capacity building exercises, whereas in Phnom Penh and Vientiane, the capacity of local government officers in managing gender issues was developed. It is not enough to change institutions to include women’s proportional representation. It is essential that these institutions are sensitised to gender issues and adopt gender-sensitive processes, policies and practices. Case studies from Laos and Cambodia are good examples of such sensitisation. As is generally understood, gender sensitive policies and planning does not come naturally to professionals and decision makers, irrespective of whether they are women or men. To promote gender-sensitive analyses, consultative processes and inclusive partnerships in urban governance, it is necessary to take into account the obstacles to women’s involvement in public life, such as a lack of confidence or skills and the burden of multiple responsibilities. The UMP case studies dealt with capacity building and confidence development. The issue of women’s multiple responsibilities, specifically the unpaid burden of caring and nurturing, are yet to be dealt with. Some of the highlights that present changes of women’s agency in the case studies is analysed in the following sections. The UMP intervention in Delhi, India, through INDCARE in six slum communities has had a visible impact on the status of slum women, who are now much more aware and better informed of their position and status regarding land tenure and shelter accessibility. They are also in a better position to negotiate their demands for basic services and land tenure with the authorities. Further, two members of the Mahila Chetna are active members of the National Committee of Slum Dwellers. Mahila Chetna is also the networking agency of the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF), Mahila Milan (SPARC), Coalition for Urban Poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Bangkok, and Delhi Action Group (DAG). Through such small projects, women have learnt to negotiate and fight for their rights—of which they were not aware of earlier. While these numbers are fairly low compared to the total population of women, it is hoped that these small changes will gradually influence and make an impact on the larger population. Similarly, in the cases of Lalitpur, Nepal, and in Delhi, India, self-help groups were formed and women’s leadership was developed. According to these women leaders, the positive changes that have occured due to the formation of the groups are:

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

mutual trust developed; good neighbourly relationship established among slum dwellers; economic security enhanced; interest towards literacy among women increased; income opportunities created for business activities in the group and for individuals as well; 6. self-confidence boosted for the poorest of the poor women along with access to credit facilities at the time of need; 7. performance of one group influenced formation of the other group; and 8. males were also motivated to form such groups. The consultation approach gave these slum dwellers confidence that they had the potential to be the biggest agent of change. They had to change their attitude of acceptance to one of demand if they wished to achieve anything. Much remains to be done yet, and there is an urgent need to create legal and social awareness on the rights of the poor. Members of both groups had exposure visits that helped them understand the partnership among NGOs, the people and the municipal corporation, and the different possible options of self-help groups for the improvement of communities. Further, it developed their confidence to work in groups for community welfare and improvements. Mantuna Misa Khala (women’s association of Lalitpur) initiated a discussion programme focusing on women’s issues as learning from the urban forum. It mobilised grassroots women to participate in the discussion programme. It helped expand the knowledge of women and men. The forum usually discussed current political and national issues. The association also developed itself as a platform for discussion and played a role in advocating the rights of the people and disadvantaged groups. Efforts are being made to get these networks to tie up with others in Lalitpur and collaborate with each other in possible areas. There were still some problems such as lack of a good meeting place and insufficient funding to organise a bigger space. Discussions with women leaders from communities and active members of Misa Khala brought out the fact that being involved in the local decision making body led to a change in their social status. It also encouraged other women to participate in decision making, increased their confidence, raised economic empowerment, and gave them a voice in household decisions. In the Phnom Penh case the mutual trust among the local NGO, the local partner institution (GAD/C), and the municipality was not clearly developed. So the project failed to make a significant impact on the issues raised in the action plan through consultation. The local government authority did not stick to its work plan and the action plan prepared during the consultation remained just another training output. In Vientiane, Laos PDR, the same process was used for the consultation, but the relationship between the Laos Women’s Union and Vientiane Urban Development Authority was congenial, and as a consequence the project implementation expanded from 3 to 40 villages.

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WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING Some women/project leaders were asked about their opinion regarding the kind of impact they would make when involved in the local government. The questions pertained to whether they felt that they had different concerns and priorities compared to men and whether increasing the number of women in local government would make a difference. In addition to that, they were also asked what they had done during their tenure in the local government. The summary responses, from the fieldwork and a research conducted by a team from Lumanti (ESCAP and LOGOTRI 2001), are common and it showed that women leaders in local authorities decided to enter urban local government because they wanted the following: 1. to fight for the rights of backward women; 2. to raise the status of women; 3. to facilitate local women to improve their quality of life and make them aware of their rights; 4. to motivate and mobilise the local people for active participation in the development process; 5. to change traditional attitudes and behaviours and raise women’s role in the decision making process; 6. to convey and communicate the voice of grassroots-level women to urban local governance; and 7. to prove women’s competency/skills. It is clear from the responses to these questions that women believe that they can make an impact on local government and that they do practise transformative leadership. The responses have shown that if their participation is increased, priorities are taken care of compared to a scenario where they are totally absent. However, while the basic right to participate is continually undermined by the political system and through the barriers imposed by tradition and culture, some women are still dealing with the problems of just getting into local government. Sometimes, it is hard for them to get a seat within a party if they use women’s welfare or gender issues as their agenda. This sometimes means they have to start with a more conservative approach and work within party lines than have different agendas to promote. Women invariably face the problem of work overburdens, as domestic responsibilities rest with them and productive work also consumes a lot of time. Some women, however, felt that gender division of labour at household is reducing and men have started sharing household tasks such as fetching water, cleaning the house and taking care of children, etc. It was noted that some higher-class women’s responsibilities of household work is taken care of by domestic helpers. All in all it is a sign that women are making a difference, however small that may be.

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WOMEN’S APPROACH Women leaders responded that their working style and approaches are quite different from that of men in some aspects. These include, women representatives’ focus on gender issues and problems, their working style being more organised and planned, and their dealings being free and frank, without corruption. Priority has been given to health, sanitation, income generation activities and awareness. It is also stated that women are more dedicated and serious, and motivate their subordinates as well as local communities in development activities, particularly women’s groups. Minimum women’s fund has been utilised for maximum benefit, and the solution to problems is kept in mind. Exposure visits inside the country are regarded as quite essential to raise the level of awareness as well as to build the confidence (Authors’ fieldwork 2004; also ESCAP and LOGOTRI 2001). However, a study conducted in two states of India had shown that there is no correlation between women’s participation and education, and corruption. The rate of corruption factors included high cost of campaign, the number of terms in office, and the extent to which women were serving as ‘proxies’ for men, whether husbands or other local patrons. Hence, women or their sex should be seen as simply agents of good governance, interested, public sector accountability to women must become an objective of ‘good governance’ reform (UNRISD 2005). Most other people perceived that women’s participation in the decision making process and their involvement at the advisory level are essential. It has been realised that the presence of women representatives makes local women more comfortable when expressing their problems and issues (ESCAP and LOGOTRI 2001).

EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN REPRESENTATIVES Some of the women leaders raised the problems like harassment by male colleagues. Even in cases where women want to bring some changes in women-specific decisions, they are forced by male colleagues or male relatives to support their mandate (their political party affiliations). Another common problem is that women are given softer portfolios such as health, education, children and women’s welfare, and so on, which is associated with their household responsibilities and femininity. Women are overlooked during decision making and overall governance process and they are hardly consulted in the decision making process in urban local governance. They have to accept men’s decisions on whether they agree or not (ibid.). Women leaders identified certain barriers to their progress. These include illiteracy, traditional attitudes and behaviours, discrimination on gender and economic dependency. Other barriers are lack of competence, capability and self-confidence, domestic burden and family restriction (Author’s field survey 2004; also ESCAP and LOGOTRI 2001). However, after discussion with 25 women leaders from all four cases, Phonm Penh, Vientianne, Delhi and Lalitpur, it has been observed that after being involved in the local decision making body, it brought to them:

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1. 2. 3. 4.

a change in their social status, especially those in decision making positions; the ability to influence other women to participate in decision making; an increase in their confidence; increased economic empowerment as well as more say in household decision making; 5. share in household work by other family members; however, major responsibilities still remain with them; and 6. bringing women-friendlier policies and making it easy to counsel other women. These outcomes reveal that gender-sensitive projects in urban local governance can help change women’s agency.

CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED Primarily, the major concept of gender-sensitive City Consultation is to ensure that the needs of both women and men are considered and properly addressed. The second aim is to improve decision making and implementation of the processes by the participating women, men and disadvantaged groups. The tools used in this process were: preparing city profiles with gender disaggregate data to improve the information collection system, using specific tools to understand local government officers on gender needs by field visits and capacity building of women and vulnerable groups. Eventually, such processes facilitated in bringing all possible city stakeholders into one forum to discuss and agree on needs and priorities of vulnerable groups and recommend an appropriate action plan with implementation methodology. Thus, capacity building activities are essential before preparing any plans and programmes in two ways. First, city experience increasingly shows that most of the people involved in governance systems are blind to gender problems and it helps them become gender sensitive while implementing the projects. Similarly, women require special capacity building support because there are many disadvantages for them that have inhibited their abilities to participate effectively. Gender differentiation is increasingly used as an integral part of stakeholder identification and analysis, leading to more balanced and hence stronger stakeholder participation. An impact assessment was carried out using group discussions and case studies of different women who took part in the UMP City Consultation processes. It clearly demonstrated that these women gained confidence while taking part in city-level urban management activities and have become vocal in their needs, enjoying their participation in the decision making process. Although these numbers are very small compared with the entire female population in the country, these small beginnings can influence bigger changes. Hence, a gender-responsive participatory process in urban planning and management allows for the balanced allocation, management and utilisation of available resources. It leads to equity in roles and access to these resources. The increased utilisation of these potential resources, especially skills and knowledge of women, greatly improves

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efficiency in resource use and in development project implementation, leading to sustainability. Many people argue that there is no use of women’s participation if it is not effective participation or only passive participation. However, this chapter illustrated that participation in a decision making body, even if women do not effectively participate, is the first step for their visibility in the public domain as well as towards meeting gender equality. It can be achieved by increasing women’s participation in the entire public sphere, in decision making. Capacity building activities can be conducted parallel to it to make them more efficient, capable and confident, as well as sustainable. For this, it is necessary to initiate more gender-sensitive projects parallel to capacity building activities of disadvantaged groups, which will facilitate in empowering women. The issue of gender-sensitive governance, therefore, needs to be addressed through a multi-pronged approach. While women’s and/or disadvantaged groups’ empowerment is essential, the engagement of officials and their orientation to the new, gender-sensitive participatory approach is the critical factor. Without their involvement, no intervention can be sustainable and/or replicable. Each city is different in terms of its socio-economic situation as well as bureaucratic system. The approach of consultations was different in each city. All these were dependent upon the capacity and interest of local partner institutes and city government officers. However, there were some common lessons from the consultations. As mentioned earlier, after the completion of the project, participants, especially women, felt that they had become more vocal and had got recognition. They were more confident and the municipality respected them. A project designed with an understanding of the needs of disadvantaged people can not only improve their living condition, but also their self-esteem and self confidence. It is not easy to achieve partnership among organisations and institutions involved in the management of towns and cities without trust between them (DPU 2002). If there is lack of trust between the government office and local partner institutions/NGOs, the project becomes less productive. A wider understanding helps bring higher synergies to the output. Hence, it is very important to build trust between local government and civil society for the implementation of any project. If there is a strong political will and dedication of stakeholders to the gender issues discussed earlier, the project becomes successful and easy to implement. Similarly, the capacity, willingness and strong involvement of the local partner institution in the consultation theme ensures the success of the project. Pilot activities are important to assess the impact of the project, otherwise it is hard to evaluate the effect of capacity building activities and consultations processes. A significant impact can be achieved if small activities lead to a city-wide, long-term perspective and strategy for a gender-equitable outcome and overall poverty alleviation. Community-based organisations need to be federated at the ward level. Capacity building, orientation and training of ward councillors/officials are urgent requirements. The institutional structure of the local government also needs to be reviewed to ensure better coordination of poverty alleviation strategies and to make them increasingly participatory, gender responsive and, thus, more effective.

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REFERENCES Beall, Jo. 1996. ‘Urban Governance: Why Gender Matters’, UNDP Gender and Development Monograph Series, No. 1. Development Planning Unit (DPU). 2002. Implementing the Habitat Agenda: In Search of Urban Sustainability. London: DPU. Edgar, Pieterse. 2000. Participatory Urban Governance: Practical Approaches, Regional Trends and UMP Experiences (UMP Publication 25). Nairobi: UNCHS. ESCAP and LOGOTRI. 2001. ‘Nepal Status Report on Women in Local Government’, Paper presented in Women Mayors and Councilors Forum, Phitsanulok, 19–22 June. Kelkar, Govind, Girija Shrestha and N. Veena. 2005. ‘Women’s Agency and IT Industry in India’, in Cecilia Ng and Swasti Mitter (eds), Gender and Digital Economy: Perspectives from the Developing World. New Delhi: Sage. Publications: 110–31. Lairap-Fonderson, Josephine. 2002. ‘The Disciplinary Power of Micro Credit: Examples from Kenya and Cameroon’, in Jane L. Parpart, Shirin M. Rai and Kathleen Staudt (eds), Rethinking Empowerment: Gender and Development in a Global/Local World. London: Routledge. Mehta, Dinesh. 1998. ‘Urban Governance: Lessons from Best Practices in Asia’, UMP-Asia Occasional Paper, No. 40, Bangkok: UMP-Asia. Panda, Smita Mishra. 2004. ‘Background Paper on Engendering Governance: Issues and Strategies’. Proceedings of Silver Jubilee Symposium on Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies, Institute of Rural Management Anand, Anand, 14–19 December. Purushothaman, Sangeetha and Suchitra Vedanth. 2004. ‘Role of Grassroots Women’s Networks in Engendering Governance’. Proceedings of Silver Jubilee Symposium on Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies, Institute of Rural Management Anand, Anand, 14–19 December. Sharma, Kumud. 2004. ‘Gender Mainstreaming, Equity and Good Governance’. Proceedings of Silver Jubilee Symposium on Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies, Institute of Rural Management Anand, Anand, 14–19 December. UMP–UN-HABITAT. 2002. Looking Back Looking Forward. New Delhi: UMP-Asia, Kriti Creations. UNCHS (Habitat). 2001a. ‘Tools to Support Participatory Urban Decision Making’, in Urban Governance Toolkit Series. Nairobi: UNCHS. ———. 2001b. ‘Women and Urban Governance’. Policy Dialogue Series No. 1. Nairobi. UNRISD. 2005. Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. Geneva: United Nations.

7 Redefining an Agenda for Governance: Gender and Policy Planning Meera Velayudhan

INTRODUCTION

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S in the mid-1970s and the International Women’s Decades that followed, the women’s movement in India is today once again debating the interlinkages between the position of women and the process of development. The major issues being considered by the women’s movement––be it the liberalisation of the economy and SAP, the impact on sources of livelihood and incomes for women, the nature and levels of participation of women in the processes of democratisation of public decision making bodies, the need for equal legal rights for women who belong to diverse religious traditions—all invariably lead to a few fundamental questions that are as relevant today as they were in the 1970s: 1. What happened to the promises of equality that was built into the Constitution of free India? 2. What goals were set and priorities outlined for national development? 3. What had led to devaluation and marginalisation of women? 4. Was it the problem of lack of implementation of programmes alone or was it something deeper and intrinsic to the process and plans of development? These questions were posed in the mid-1970s when the findings of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) set up by the Government of India in 1974 highlighted the declining position of women, particularly since independence. The decline was manifested in the trends such as:

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1. excessive mortality among women and female children; 2. disparity between men and women among the poorer sections in access to health care and medical services; 3. systematic decline in the sex ratio; 4. an increasing gap between men and women in literacy, education and training for employment; 5. an accelerated decline in women’s employment since 1951; 6. increasing number of women forced into prostitution owing to poverty; 7. growing trend of trafficking in women and commodification of women. The significance of these startling findings was somewhat weakened in the context of a political emergency, but was not totally lost owing to the struggles of broad sections of women in India in the 1970s and the revival for the first time since independence, of a national debate on women. During the 1960s and 1970s, women participated in large numbers in agrarian struggles for land and food, in working-class agitations for higher wages, in the anti-price rise movements, against violence inflicted on women in the form of rape, dowry and sexual harassment, and in the struggles for civil liberties. These touched many parts of India, in particular, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the south; Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa in the west; Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in the north; and West Bengal, Tripura and Assam in the east (Velayudhan 1999). These struggles took place within the context of the crisis––both economic and political––towards which India was moving. The crisis was reflected in the trends of heavy tax burdens, growth of external debt and increasing expenditure in sectors such as military, policy and bureaucracy. That women’s low economic and social conditions made them more vulnerable to the crisis was evident from the low demographic indicators highlighted by the CSWI report (1974) itself. Development planning had little impact on the low economic conditions of a large number of rural and other working women, but also led to the growth of social attitudes and values, which, according to the report, represented a ‘regression from the norms developed during the freedom movement’.

PLANNING WITHOUT WOMEN Although the instrument of planning was the most positive indicator of policy formulation for women in India, the government’s Five-Year Plans perceived women mainly as targets for social welfare. With the exception of the Second Five-Year Plan, all the early Plans focused on ‘women’s legitimate role in the family’. By overlooking women’s productive role and ignoring the significance of women’s participation in decision making bodies and processes, women were, in a sense, denied the opportunity to influence social transformation or determine its direction. The development plans did not examine the impact of macro policies on women in crucial sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry or trade. Women were viewed more as supplementary earners and not as active economic agents and therefore programmes ran the risk of becoming more of welfare handouts.

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A beginning was made to develop institutional mechanisms when the First Five-Year Plan (1951–56) led to the setting up of the Central Social Welfare Board in 1953 as an apex body at the national level to promote welfare work through non-state actors/ groups charitable trusts, etc. The Third, Fourth and Interim Plans (1961–74) continued to reflect the welfare approach although they held that priority should be given in education to men and women, and measures should be launched to improve maternal and child health services, with supplementary feeding for children, expectant and nursing mothers the focus. The Fifth Plan (1974–78) made a pronounced shift in approach from welfare to development, recognising the marginalisation of women, and stressed on the need for special employment generation programmes for women in poverty alleviation. However, the reports of a coercive approach in official family planning measures in some regions in India during the emergency period eroded the faith of the people, in north India in particular, and informed popular responses to population-related policies, particularly where they concerned vulnerable communities and sections of the people. The weakness of the earlier Five-Year Plans to address women’s needs and concerns also lay in the fact that the administration of the programmes and resources rested with the bureaucracy, the panchayats and other decision making bodies lacking awareness of the need to change institutions or the people’s perceptions, in particular those whose roots were part of social inequalities. Even official attempts to promote grassroots women’s organisations, the Mahila Mandals (Second Five-Year Plan, 1956– 60), for income generating activities, proved ineffective without the democratic decentralisation of decision making bodies. The governance structures at the local levels in particular needed to be transformed from being a preserve of the powerful caste/ class to genuinely represent the voices of the people. Besides, there was a need to foreground gender concerns through a vibrant women’s movement, to such a process of democratisation. Also recognised over the years was the value of consultative dialogues, to form a kind of national consensus to develop an issue as one of public good. A small beginning was made when, the women’s movement, strengthened by a wider information base and insights, joined the growing number of gender experts and demographers, and with support from few policy makers, challenged the official data and accounting system (for example, the Census) and its underlying perceptions, particularly regarding women. They persuaded the government to incorporate in 1980 for the first time a chapter on women and development in the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which also formed the basis for designing new plans. This was, however, no easy task. Civil society organisations, in particular women’s organisations, gender studies experts and concerned citizens, conducted wide campaigns and lobbied with members of Parliament, state governments and with sections of policy makers during 1977–79. The state, which is empowered through the planning process in particular to take measures towards the realisation of the constitutional goals of equality, became the focus of efforts at changing public policy agendas on women. While the inclusion of women’s concerns within the framework of the Sixth Five-Year Plan was an affirmation of the constitutional commitment to equality of opportunity, in no way did it ensure practical

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changes, which were ‘mainly the function of the strength and power base of the women’s movement’ (Mazumdar 1979). Campaigns and struggles by women highlighted the need for change in the traditional welfare approach to planning for women, and focused on four main strategies: 1. promotion of women’s equality by combining the issue of women’s economic independence with access to education and health care, including reproductive rights; 2. need for using disaggregated data in planning so as to highlight the male– female, caste and class differences in the distribution of resources and power; 3. the important role of grassroots-level organisations of women, in particular rural poor women, in conceptualising, developing and managing programmes; and 4. the need for women to have an asset base and independent access to family assets, by giving joint titles to husbands and wives, to single women in case of femaleheaded households, widows and deserted women, in all programmes involving asset transfer such as distribution of land, house sites, etc.

RETHINKING DEVELOPMENT Such interventions, at a very small but significant level, questioned the prevailing notions of development. It highlighted the need to change indicators and concepts used to measure women’s position in society. For example, official categorisation and recognition of only waged work as ‘work’ ignored the participation and contribution of the majority of poor women in India in non-wage productive work and subsistence activities so crucial for poor households. It also ignored the prevailing social norms that assigned to men and women a different and unequal relationship with: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

ownership, access and control over productive resources; work roles; workloads; earnings and entitlements; occupational mobility; and distribution of subsistence resource (food, health care, etc.).

Also brought into sharp focus was the question of power relations between men and women within households and whether these varied according to caste, class, community and region. Also demystified was the conception of the ‘family’. Cultural studies on women and the household, for example, had shown that the impact of colonisation, with its legal systems and reallocation of resources, was not uniform within and across colonised societies. Changing forms of division of labour and wider economic processes constantly redefined the role of women in society in varied ways (Dube 1985).

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Insights into the multiple roles that rural women perform in the agrarian sector, linkages of women’s low position with varied sectors of the economy, and the political process developed into a critique of the prevailing conception of ‘development’. Alternative approaches that were suggested implied that any evaluation of programmes, for example, income generating programmes, must consider if: 1. increase in income earned leads to women’s increased status within the household, including control over income and role in decision making; 2. increase in skills/knowledge also includes knowledge of the market; and 3. work and income earned leads to changes in the household division of labour, increased food intake, medical care and more physical mobility for women. Underlying this approach was a different concept of development itself and what it meant for women. This debate gained worldwide significance in the 1970s and 1980s. This was not an accident and was linked with the contemporary world events. Increasingly, the debate turned to the crucial link between trends in the international economic order and the status of women, and newer questions were posed such as the collapse of the monetary and trade systems, energy crisis, arms race, increasing problems of food availability to much of the post-colonial and newly independent nations, urban and ecological problems, and growing mass poverty (Tomsic 1988). Developing countries being the most affected by such trends had signalled, through forums (such as NAM), the need for an economic development and self-reliance that would enable the countries and its people to live a life of freedom and dignity. The links between the trends in the international economic order and the status of women came into sharp focus, particularly when multinational corporations began to relocate industries (textiles, garments, electronics, etc.) in the developing countries of Asia and Latin America. About 80 to 90 per cent of such low-skilled assembly jobs were done by women and under difficult conditions. Almost 70 per cent of the Free Trade Zones consisted of women in the 15 to 24 age groups. At the same time, in developing countries, workers were laid off and wage rates of women workers lowered. New dimensions were added to the debate when the women’s movement posed questions such as: 1. How has the transfer of technology from the developed to developing countries affected the lives of women in terms of their status, the sexual division of labour, gender relations at work and within the family, women’s workloads, and avenues for employment? 2. How did women’s limited and decreasing control over productive resources constrain their use of technologies that can increase their productivity and give them access to credit, education and land? 3. How can women gain increased access to modern technology and also participate in its generation. 4. Did ‘appropriate technology’ mean that women gain new technology for domestic work while men become the focus of the technology training for new work opportunities?

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The transfer of technology to new social contexts had led to women losing their customary rights to land (as in many African regions) and their exclusion from agricultural development projects, and also deprived women of access to new techniques and tools. In India, too, studies revealed, innovative agricultural methods and sophisticated technologies in some regions had a negative impact on women, displacing many from traditional productive activities, reducing their income and whatever power they may have enjoyed within the household in particular. The poorest households were the most adversely affected. Rural, in particular dalit and tribal women’s livelihood and social position were deeply affected by macro policies relating to agriculture, forests, water resources, land distribution and land use. Women from artisan households in rural and urban areas were equally affected by macro policies such as textiles, science and technology, commerce and credit (National Perspective Plan [1988–2000] 1988). As a NAM report put it: ‘The process of marginalization of women in development has been intensified by the current processes of economic change and may continue in future. The marginal position of large section of society and specifically women can no longer be justified. The structural changes in the economy of developing countries which are likely to follow future developments in science and technology must be based on the increased and genuine participation of all members of society’ (NAM Report 1985). Therefore, the debate stressed, the process of industrialisation, codes for transfer of technology, etc, needed to be linked with women’s rights for equal participation in development, for opportunities, for new avenues for work, for literacy and education, and training in new skills, and for access and control over productive resources. The debate also emphasised the need for new inquiry into the impact of family and household structures, caste and cultural values on women’s access to technology, income, training and education. Gender concerns in effect widened the scope of the debates on technological development and its applications (Krishna Raj 1991).

WIDENING CONCEPTS OF JUSTICE AND EQUITY IN LAWS AND POLICY Following the wide participation of women in popular movements in the 1970s, women’s struggles and organisations emerged since the early 1980s on a broad range of issues. Many focused on forms of violence that women faced, such as dowry-related murders, rape and sexual harassment. The issues highlighted were as follows: 1. Women as citizens had a right to live in a secure environment and the state’s inability to protect its own citizens was a violation of its own commitment. 2. The role of public servants and the judiciary in upholding constitutional guarantees for women needed to be emphasised. 3. Power relations (caste/class) formed the background of the increasing violence inflicted on poor women, in particular dalit and tribal women.

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4. The character of victims of rape cannot be a consideration in determining rape. 5. Cultural attitudes have an impact on the way law is interpreted in legal redressal mechanisms and judicial processes. 6. Rape was an act of physical, mental and psychological violence on women. The struggles to change laws concerning rape brought to the forefront notions of custodial rape within the legal systems and ‘power rape’ (employers, landlords, contractors, officials) within the concept of civil rights. The legal system, if it was to be an instrument of social change, needed to widen its conceptions of equality and justice through a more broad-based debate, gender sensitisation, legal aid mechanisms and more ‘know your rights’ campaigns among women. When dowry became a ‘burning issue’ in the 1980s, it was evident that the nature of dowry had changed. It had now spread to all castes, classes and religions. The comprehensive legislation suggested by the women’s movement stressed that dowry could not be seen in isolation and had to be viewed in the context of women’s economic dependence, and lack of legal and social rights in the natal and marital homes. This included women’s right to property. While the women’s movement was able to forge alliances and broad-base its struggles on issues of violence against women, only since the 1990s did it begin to identify with and define the complexity of dalit women’s rights. This has been more in response to the growth of dalit women’s groups and platforms since the 1980s. While the intensity and spread of dalit women’s awareness of their rights are yet to receive recognition by the women’s movement, these stem from both a sense of unease and lack of understanding of the role of such engagement in expanding the spaces of democratisation. In the context of the varied perspectives and positions from which struggles of subordinated castes was being waged in contemporary India, the underlying factor, that of dalits negotiating citizenship, was often overlooked. A gender-inclusive citizenship suggests that women from diverse backgrounds and interests join in collective struggles against all forms of discrimination. Active engagement and dialogue with varied forms of organisation and collective actions of women from oppressed castes/tribes/communities is a precondition to any such joint action. Case studies of programmes that focus on gender and the poor in rain-fed farming and joint forest management indicated that the poor or marginalised often lose out if building ‘a consensus’ is the basis of empowerment initiatives (Mosse 1995). Therefore, methodologies, tools and skills are needed that give space to varied articulation of social reality so as to bring about gender redistributive change. Engagement within civil society and with the state on policy issues must be informed by plural and democratic values. Even if tools and frameworks are developed to integrate issues of diversity within project practices and policies, these need to be incorporated in organisational systems and accountability as well (Goetz 1997). The concern for the growing number of ‘missing females’ also found expression in the 1980s. This disturbing trend, noted by the freedom fighter, Annie Besant as long back as in 1914, was identified as one of the critical findings by the CSWI (1975), which pointed to the declining trend in the sex ratio, particularly since independence. Of

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immediate concern was the rampant misuse of modern technology, and struggles by women led to enactment of the PNDT Act in 1994. Sex-selective abortion was viewed as a discriminatory practice. The women’s movement also conducted sustained campaigns against the violence of certain reproductive technologies inflicted on women, including steroids and hormonal injections. Alongside developed a critique of the population policy, which focused on women’s reproductive role without taking into consideration women’s health and right to information or the cultural values assigned to such roles. The targeting of poor women to promote contraceptives, the link between medical establishments, private practitioners and the interests of private pharmaceutical companies was highlighted by the women’s movement, which also resisted efforts to change the Maternity Benefit Act to restrict the benefit to two children per couple (combined with increased leave for abortions) or amend the Peoples Representation Act to disqualify those with more than two children. In the name of procreative autonomy (‘control over own body’), certain international aided target-oriented schemes tested new reproductive technologies on women’s bodies. Female foeticide was being practised by communities that had no tradition of infanticide and had spread to developed regions, including the Green Revolution belts. This suggested that the process of modernisation has differing and unequal impact on women when new technologies impinge on pre-existing patterns of unequal gender relations within the family and outside. Policy interventions, therefore, needed to take into consideration the impact of local traditions, culture and power relations within the family and community on women’s access to technology, training, education and income. Attempts were made to link the aforementioned issues with the debates on population policy. The National Population Policy 2000 marked a pronounced shift from a target-oriented approach and introduced concepts such as social development, women’s empowerment and holistic strategies for improving the quality of life of the people. The service delivery system too was to be based on a decentralised system of management, as also partnership with private sector. However, a strong implementation system was imperative. Besides, paradigm shifts are always located within contested areas of power. Hence, there was a need for support from the groups/sections whose interest the policy represented, from within civil society and the media. Studies have indicated that demographic imperatives continued to inform most players in the policy process and there was no clear consensus on what the policy was attempting to change. The ownership of the policy still lay with the implementers (Dasgupta 2004). Since the 1980s the context in which women’s struggles for their rights were being conducted, asserted and negotiated began to change, with the country witnessing a more pronounced move towards liberalisation. Increased information, the dialogue process and alternatives suggested had an impact on the formulation of the Five-Year Plans themselves and the Sixth Plan (1980–85), which included for the first time a chapter on women and development in a plan document, recognised rural women’s development as a priority area. The Sixth Plan selected rural women as targets of the anti-poverty programmes, land distribution and training for self-employment (TRYSEM). While TRYSEM made 33 per cent reservation for women, no fixed quota was indicated

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for the other two thrusts. The Sixth Plan also acknowledged the validity of a ‘special component’ of women’s programmes in all sectoral development plans, but did not earmark funds in sectoral allocations. A special programme, Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWACRA), was introduced in 1982 as a package of development assistance to poor women’s groups in select underdeveloped districts with the object of improving their economic, educational, health and social status. The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985–90), while emphasising the policies of the Sixth Plan, added essential components of equity and empowerment (articulated by the UN Decade for Women) to the entire question of rural women’s development. It stressed on the need to identify and promote ‘beneficiary oriented programmes’ for women in different development sectors. The plan introduced several new concepts, for example, inculcating confidence among women, generating awareness about their rights and privileges, training for economic activity and employment, new avenues of work, support through credit, marketing, training in skill/management and technology, and so on. Women were perceived as a crucial resource for national development. Another recognition made in the Seventh Plan was the need for the organisation of women workers so that women realise their potential for development and receive their due share in this process. This approach also resolved the dilemma (the household or collectives of women as the focus of programmes) in choosing a basic approach to rural poor women’s development. The Seventh Plan also accepted the Special Component Approach with the direction that a minimum of 30 per cent beneficiaries under all anti-poverty programmes must be women. The document also noted the Sixth Plan decision to confer titles on the husband and wife jointly and a single title to female-headed poor households in all development activities involving transfer of assets and distribution of land and house sites. It also stressed the need for involving more women in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras and technology demonstration centres. Meanwhile, the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), with a state minister in charge, was set up in 1985 within the Ministry of Human Resources Development. The DWCD set up a commission to prepare a report (Shram Shakti Report) on women in the informal sector. In the much-critiqued National Perspective Plan for Women (1988–2000), the Government of India acknowledged that the concerns and needs of the vast majority of women were barely addressed as the initiative for social action and the function of social audit, as they existed, rest not with the people but away from them and were more distant for women. On the one hand, women’s economic capabilities remained subdued and under-utilized while on the other hand, the conditions of work were inconsistent with an egalitarian approach to development based on concepts of human rights and social justice. For the majority of women in the country, there is more work than wages, more load than capacity, more compulsion than choice.

The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992–97) reversed the trend of having a separate chapter on women and development, but upheld the strategy for women’s employment to enable them to become equal partners in development rather than mere beneficiaries.

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It promised to ensure flow of benefits to women through core sectors such as education, health and employment. The Eighth Plan also held that women’s roles should not be restricted to that of homemakers and mothers. A clear directive was provided to different ministries to earmark resources for women’s development programmes. The plan also stressed the need for integrated programmes for women and the need for changing society’s attitudes towards women through awareness generation and establishing women’s groups. The plan focused on women’s employment, increasing opportunities through skill training and a decentralised approach. During the last two years of the Eighth Plan, a chapter on women’s development (for the next plan) was drafted in consultation with the DWCD, state governments, NGOs, academics and prominent women from varied walks of life. A revised draft Ninth Plan was prepared. A significant development during the Eighth Plan was the reiteration of the importance of education as having an impact on women’s roles, a legacy of the social reform movement and freedom struggle. In 1992 the National Policy of Education of 1986 was revised to promote adult literacy and primary education with a focus on girls and other disadvantaged sections. This provided the space for paying attention to ending female illiteracy and looking at the barriers to their access to and retention in education. It visualised an important role for educational institutions in promoting values of women’s equality through changes in the curriculum and textbooks, and a systematic gender sensitisation and training of teachers, policy makers and administrators. To an extent, lobbying by a wide range of organisations, popular science movements, gender experts and educationists ensured this policy shift. They played a significant role in the 1990s in conducting the Total Literacy Campaigns (TLC) covering a large section of women, in different parts of India. The programmes were area or region specific, time bound, volunteer based, outcome oriented. It also involved the development of more creative ways of addressing regional diversities and cultural contexts, in particular the caste and community backgrounds and women’s position within diverse family structures. Evaluation of TLC campaigns pointed to the large-scale participation by women (more than men), and how women were found to be more confident, articulate and assertive after having gone through the campaign. The mobilisation of women in varied ways was crucial to the advancement of the campaign. Literacy was now perceived as a process to build an environment in which women could, at their own pace, gain knowledge and seek information so that they are in a position to make informed choices. Therefore, issues that concerned women as a group had to be addressed. Incidences of wife beating, resistance from the menfolk in the family, alcoholism, female seclusion in the community or caste, opposition from the village headmen, the significance of women’s work to the survival of their households, and their childcare and household responsibilities such as fetching water and fuel wood, could not be ignored. Where such issues were addressed, women became more conscious of the barriers that led to their marginalisation and began to identify the ability to read and write as skills that could contribute to their empowerment. In many areas the literacy movements moved forward through the emergence, sometimes spontaneously, of a wide range of organisations among women such as cooperatives and thrift societies. A striking feature of the campaign was the participation of large number of

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adult women. Literacy interventions that have an empowerment framework can play a key role in facilitating women to understand their rights and also to engage with institutions of governance at varied levels, to exercise and reframe these rights. Building upon the skills and confidence gained during the Total Literacy Campaign continued to be a challenge. Although with liberalisation and SAP, the traditional actors—state, civil society and political institutions—expanded to include international financial and development institutions, the state was still perceived as having a major role in determining the direction of economic changes. That policy objectives and instruments were gender neutral came under increasing scrutiny, as also the perception that the market would provide optimal solutions for all. A growing number of studies indicated that macroeconomic policies had a differential impact on women and men and that existing gender inequalities in decision making and in distribution of resources and allocation of family labour in particular informed women’s roles and conditions in terms of (a) resources, (b) opportunities and (c) benefits from the development process. It was increasingly recognised that while policies should target problems at their source, macro policies too need to be made gender aware. The ‘food first’ policies from the 1950s in agriculture was replaced by an ‘exports first’ policy in 1990s. Rural poor women, tribals and dalits had not only lost their key roles in food production, but also much of their traditional skills and knowledge of plant species, and of how soils, water and forests are sustained. The loss of common property resources such as forests, tank bunds and grazing lands have been contracted to private interests or taken over by the state. Much of common property-related activities concern women and constitute a kind of informal economy run by women locally. These remain invisible to planners, but are vital to women, the rural poor in particular. The decline of common property resources, degradation of land and deforestation had an adverse impact of rural poor women and led to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

loss of livelihoods; alienation from land; women living in constant fear of losing small landholdings to moneylenders; women living in constant fear of their menfolk selling off the land; women as victims of violence in conflict over landownership; shortage of fuel, fodder and water, thereby increasing women’s workload; a weakening of the ability to cope with scarcity and drought conditions; dalit women most acutely affected by shortage of drinking water owing to social restriction to sharing water, leading to violence as well as opposition from upper caste women; 9. increasing dependence on the rich, powerful, upper-caste; and 10. lack of power. The complex link between the development priorities of the state and the well-being of its citizens have also been highlighted by the struggles of fishermen and women (Nayak 1998). Despite the increasing financial outlay by states and also as a share of

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allocation to agricultural sector, the fishing communities are the most deprived sections in terms of indices of health, education and basic services. In the 1970s, when fisherwomen in Kerala launched campaigns demanding transport facilities to travel to the market, the development policies of the state came under scrutiny. The women had to beat the arrival of fish from the mechanised landing centres. Perceiving the potential of shrimp as a foreign exchange earner (at a time of crisis in balance of payments in trade), trawlers were introduced and heavy state subsidy was provided for the creation of infrastructure facilities. This impacted fisherfolk, and women particularly were forced to procure fish for sale under severe conditions, travelling long distances and facing the power of merchant exporters. Women not only lost their role in distribution of fish, but also their traditional work of weaving and mending fish nets. Many women were forced to turn to wage work, sorting and drying or work in shrimp peeling units in Kerala. With loss of sources of livelihood in local communities, women provided the skill and served as source of cheap labour on fish processing units in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra (Nayak 1998). The overexploitation of coastal fish by mechanised fisheries have led to a severe depletion in the availability of fish, an important source of cheap nutrition for coastal communities and inland people. Shrimp monoculture industries are dotting India’s coastline and large tracts of paddy land in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa in particular have also been converted for such activities. Men and women have lost their traditional means of livelihood in agriculture. Growing domestication of women owing to loss of livelihood has made them more vulnerable, particularly to domestic violence. With increasing private investment in fishing, local people are losing their land use rights. The excessive use of sea and groundwater by shrimp farms have also led to shortage of potable water as well as water for cultivation (ibid.). The varied struggles of women to define development forged wider linkages. Women’s struggles for food security interlinked with the environmental movements. The organisation of rural poor women’s collectives in wasteland development, afforestation, horticulture, etc., also led to increasing explorations and engagements on strategies of empowerment of women and gender-sensitive participatory development. The final Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997–2002), approved retrospectively in 1999, for the first time stated emphatically that for empowering women as agents of social change and development, a National Policy for Empowerment of Women would be formulated. For the first time it discussed the issue of reservation of seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies and increased representation of women in public sector and civil services. To increase women’s participation in industrial development, a Development Bank for Women Entrepreneurs was proposed. More importantly, the Ninth Plan resolved to have a Special Women’s Component in the plan to ensure 30 per cent flow of funds to women’s development sectors. However, strategisation for the same was left for further action. Evaluations of the Ninth Plan have indicated that budgetary allocations for women-specific schemes increased only in the area of family planning. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002–2009), with empowerment of women as its strategic objective, held that nearly one-fourth of the funds sanctioned in total budget allocation of the DWCD-specific schemes could not be utilised during the Ninth Plan

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due to limited capacity of absorption of funds under the existing strategy. Women need to be empowered to come forward to use the schemes, it held. The measurement of development needed to go beyond achievement of GDP growth to indicators of distributive justice and their monitoring. Women-headed households have to be targeted, identifying their disadvantages in rural and urban settings, according to different parameters of deprivation. It stressed the need for developing gender-sensitive indicators to measure human development, and its use as a tool for monitoring development needed acceleration. Over the years a strategy that evolved for gender mainstreaming included the creation of an environment for women’s economic independence through newer employment opportunities, social strength (women’s collectives) and provision of services. The concept of convergence of programmes emerged in this context. The Tenth Plan stressed on the need to empower women and women’s agencies through a mandated approach of convergence of schemes and resources at all levels of governance, through inter-sectoral committees of all ministries/departments at the state and central levels, with specific responsibilities given to panchayats and municipalities to administer at the grassroots level. An Integrated Women’s Empowerment Programme, which has been launched to create a synergy of women’s self-help groups, panchayati raj institutions, NGOs and state administration at the block level, for preparation of action plans for the development of women, converging the schemes of the state government, the DWCD and other ministries/departments of the Government of India, was to be universalised in all blocks in the country. The SHG as a concept, its feasibility, and the possible outcomes in terms of impact on micro and macro levels has been critiqued. Conceptualised as an empowerment tool by the government in the 1990s, it was aimed more at enhancing women’s confidence, group functioning and recognition within the family, and also at removing barriers (lack of access to productive resources, capital asset, skill development, training, etc). This strategy is being debated and under scrutiny in the context of globalisation, growing marginalisation of women, enhancing its capacity through linkages with private sector, and its sustainability. Government strategies for economic empowerment of women in the social sector was considered inadequate unless they were co-related with issues of wider inequities such as access to food, water and sanitation. Strategies adopted by non-state actors, such as NGOs, in the context of changing economic environment pointed to the need to consider ways in which the women’s work security can be linked with social security, health, sanitation and housing through the organisation of women and community-based organisations, and how these can in turn create new linkages with local governance, insurance, business structures, etc., which need to be engendered. The need for evolving the logistics of partnerships (for example, with insurance companies) has also been raised. It was felt that there was a need to: 1. look at gender as a mediating phenomenon of household economic activity and 2. to expand the concept of poverty to include proneness to risk, lack of options, restricted freedom, insufficient endowments (skill, education, health, property

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rights), unequal access to resources (within the household and outside), rigid sexual division of labour, and lack of voice in policy making. Categories of empowerment is increasingly being defined in terms of: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Creating a sense of security; Developing a vision for the future; Women’s economic independence; Ability to intervene in public affairs; Increased decision making power within the household; Participation in non-family groups; Mobility and visibility within the community; and Varied inputs in human capital formation (Krishna Raj 2004).

The approach that the empowerment of poor women through collective action and organisation alone ensures changes in social attitudes and enables women’s full participation in the development process, emerged from the voices of women from developing countries since the late 1970s. It also differed from other approaches not only in its origins, but also in terms of what it identified as the cause, dynamics and structures of women’s oppression. It noted that aspects of class, ethnicity/race, colonial history and position of the international economic order underlie the varied experiences of women’s oppression and they need to confront these structures at many levels. Empowerment was conceptualised not only at the level of control over resources, overcoming patriarchal ideas and transformation in women’s consciousness, but as being non-dominant, that is, more in terms of power to achieve goals and ends. Such an approach sought to differentiate itself from the welfare-oriented Mahila Mandals, which it felt had focused only on women’s reproductive roles and often carried an upper-caste/class bias. The approach which linked the process of the organisation of rural poor women with the movement for democratisation of decision making bodies such as the panchayats has gained more recognition in recent times. It raised fundamental questions concerning the relationship between power and development. It viewed women’s empowerment in terms of their self-reliance, their right to determine choices in their lives and influence the direction of change and the ability to control basic material and non-material resources. Where such efforts were made, women have had to face stiff opposition from vested interests, powerful castes, menfolk in their own families/household, and more often than not, male-dominated panchayats. However, the formation of such organisations have had far-reaching impacts as evident from several case studies. As a tribal woman and panchayat member put it: Before we got together and formed our samiti, we had no position in the village…we were afraid to talk to the men…we worked harder but earned much less…when our husbands beat us or threw us out of our homes, we could do nothing…. I did not know I had the right to talk to anyone in the panchayat or government. Since we formed the samiti, we learnt our rights…. We got wasteland from the men in our village and from government. We got money from the government to develop plantations and other economic activities. I served as panchayat member, learnt of

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schemes for development, made sure that the women knew about them too and placed their demands before the panchayat and government. Now we tell the panchayat—do not plant eucalyptus trees––plant trees that we want, then we will look after them…. Village people now respect us and bring their disputes to us to settle. None of these things would have happened if we had not organized ourselves. (CWDS 1991)

Despite policy shifts in the planning process, from welfare to a concept of women’s empowerment, considerable differences remain in women’s and men’s access to and opportunities to exert power over economic structures of the society. Women are poorly represented in economic decision making and formulation of policies. Since it is within the framework of such policies that individual women and men make decisions (for example, how to divide time between paid and unpaid work), the actual development of these economic structures and policies have a direct impact on women’s and men’s access to economic resources, their economic power and, therefore, the extent of equality between them at the individual, family and societal levels. Key to mainstreaming gender is the question of who are involved in information and data collection, analysis and in formulating solutions. Data, besides being gender disaggregated, needs to be processed in such a manner that it highlights as well as explains the interlinkages between issues and arrives at conscious decisions that can be fed back into policy and programme strategies (Akerkar 2001). In recent years such data has been used to critically analyse budgetary processes and impact of budgetary allocations for redistributive justice. The empowerment approach has also developed as one of bringing the agenda of women into public policy through women’s participation in governance for enhancing citizenship. As citizens are produced in and through the public domain by the politics of rights (by granting determinate rights) and duties (to be honest, etc.), the politics of institutions (creating institutions through which these rights can be exercised), civic space (holding persons to a set of standards), local-level/area-based planning and participation in governance structures is viewed as a means of the public domain. By opening the decision making on priorities, allocations and distribution of services to democratic discussion in people’s forums, it can facilitate the following: 1. Reduced risk of corruption; 2. Creation of a space where citizens are able to act regularly as citizens rather than during election period only; 3. Opening spaces for non-party and other non-state actors in the decision making process; 4. Making elected representatives accountable for ensuring that the public domain is democratic, functions according to democratic norms and is not controlled by only one interest group; 5. Enabling decision making directly by those who benefit; 6. Making access to public resources contingent on participation in the public domain; and 7. Building an environment among the people to develop a code of conduct that enhances democratic values.

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Despite a million or so elected women entering formal politics in India and local elected administrative structures, they need to develop an understanding of administrative and political mechanisms, processes and policies that affect them, the social environment in which they were located, the concerns of the local community/ communities, and their resources base. Tooling and expanding the information bases and strength of elected women representatives through varied forms and levels of collectives is perceived as an added dimension to the empowerment approach. Support to elected women members from a vibrant women’s movement and their interlinkages can go a long way in enhancing the process of building a gender-sensitive political constituency. The shift in the 1990s away from the conventional manner in which development was perceived and practised to a focus on the way in which power was exercised in managing economic and social resources led to wider demands for accountability for a gender-equitable distribution of power and resources and transparency in decision making from public institutions. These efforts involved a questioning and reframing of core values of institutions and their practices, institutional change, developing tools and suggesting mechanisms to mainstream gender concerns in institutions. Over the years more emphasis had been placed on the significance of transparency in policy dialogue so that the varied perspectives are placed in the public sphere for debate. This has enabled the formation of networks, often issue based, and involve a process that includes local communities, researchers, gender experts and policy makers. It is increasingly being recognised that more attention needs to be placed on developing national and state-level mechanisms or clarifying the role of existing mechanisms to enhance the participatory and consultative processes and to bring more conceptual clarity to integrate gender in development. Also, the placing of an issue as one of ‘public good’ will involve intensive engagement within civil society itself, a recognition of diversities, as well as capacity building and leadership development to create a supportive social environment. Individually and collectively, women have and continue to widen and enhance their advocacy roles through an interactive process—the local informing the national and international process.

REFERENCES Akerkar, Supriya. 2001. Gender and Participation. Jaipur: Institute of Development Studies. Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS). 1991. Voices of Peasant Women. New Delhi: CWDS. Committee on the Status of Women (CSWI). 1975. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women. New Delhi: Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India. Dasgupta, Jashodhara. 2004. ‘National Population Policy 2000: A Critique’. Paper presented at the seminar on the New Paradigm of Development and Sex Selection, organised by Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and Action Aid, New Delhi, 6–7 August. Dube, Leela. 1985. Women & the Household: Report of the Regional Conference for Asia. New Delhi: Indian Statistical Institute. Goetz, Anne Marie. 1997. Getting Institutions Right for Women in Development. London: Zed Books. Government of India. 1988. Draft National Perspective Plan for Women 1988–2000. New Delhi.

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Krishna Raj, Maithreyi. 1991. Women and Science: Selected Essays. Mumbai: Himalaya Publications. Mazumdar, Vina. 1979. ‘From Research to Policy: Rural Women in India’, Studies in Family Planning, 10 (11–12): 353–58. Mosse, David. 1995. ‘Authority, Gender and Knowledge: Theoretical Reflections on Participatory Rural Appraisal’, Economic and Political Weekly, 30(11): 569–78. NAM Report. 1985. ‘Women in Development: Report of the Ministerial Level Conference of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Nations’, April, Delhi. National Perspective Plan for Women (1988–2000). 1988. ‘A Perspective from the Women’s Movement’. Report of a debate, Delhi. Nayak, Nalini. 1998. ‘Stable Livelihoods Versus Pursuit of Profit: A Case of Fisheries and Response of the Fishworkers Movement’. Paper presented at the IAWS National Conference, May–June, Pune. Shram Shakti Report. 1988. ‘Report of the National Commission on Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector’, Ministry of Labour. Tomsic, Vida. 1988. Women, Development & the Non-Aligned Movement. New Delhi: CWDS. Velayudhan, Meera. 1999. ‘The Women’s Movement in India’, NIVEDINI: A Journal of Gender Studies, 7(1): 69–100.

SECTION III

MARKET, GENDER

AND

GOVERNANCE

8 Engendering Market Mechanisms Nirmala Banerjee

INTRODUCTION

N

EARLY 300 years after its writing, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe remains an all-time favourite with readers everywhere. It is not because he fires readers’ imaginations by magical feats to compare with those of Spiderman or Harry Potter. What readers find so intriguing is the idea of his living and surviving in a world that has no markets, not even opportunities for occasional barter. This we find intriguing because, in our experience, no person is capable of making a full living only by his own labour. Resources of the earth and capabilities of persons are not concentrated in any one area or person but are randomly distributed all over. Even primitive tribes living in forests have to trade occasionally, if for nothing else, at least for some common salt. Market then is an institution integral to human living everywhere, even among nomads or in subsistence economies. The question is, in working for women’s equality and for promoting the process of their empowerment, why do markets appear to be a partisan and biased institution that requires to be reformed? What kind of reforms are we looking for? And are these reforms specific to some markets or to the institution as such? If the 19th century saw for the first time the entire world linked together through market operations, the 20th century has seen the institution challenged as never before. After the Russian Revolution, Soviet Russia attempted to counter and destroy the free play of market forces in all spheres of its economy. Mao’s China followed suit to a significant extent. To a lesser extent but equally convincingly, Great Britain after World War II witnessed the ruling Labour Party setting up a welfare state where, apart from public goods and services, markets in several other commodities were also put under close control by the state. In India, too, for the first 40-plus years after Independence, state policy undertook to run the economy according to plans in which, there were

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various kinds of controls imposed over the free play of market forces in all modern as well as traditional sectors. Yet at the end of the millennium, after this varied history of confrontations between the state and the markets, or perhaps as a consequence of it, markets now stand fully vindicated. All those policies aimed at controlling them have been fully or largely dismantled, and any reference to impositions of controls on markets has now become an anathema. The World Development Report 2000–2001 argued that income from participating in the market is the key to boosting economic growth and to reducing poverty for individuals (World Bank 2001). In this general euphoria about markets being the panacea for all sorrows of the weak, what sort of a case do we have for demanding reforms in markets in the interest of women’s equality and empowerment? The phrase ‘engendering of markets’ has sometimes been used to refer to making the physical space of markets more women friendly; for example, some public space can be reserved for women sellers, or action is taken against their harassment by police or local bodies. But to make it truly meaningful, the phrase should refer to the removal of the systematic gender-based inequalities suffered by women in outcomes of market deals. The objective of this chapter is to analyse these biases and the reasons for them, as well as the nature of the action required to correct them.

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES I am going to focus on the labour market and on women who enter it as sellers of goods and services or of their own labour. My reasons for doing so are that there is already substantial data over a long time to support the contention that it is in this market that women as a category are at a marked and consistent disadvantage. This is true to a greater or smaller degree in most countries, and for India, analysis of official data by experts has long highlighted the various ways in which this disadvantage makes itself evident. Now that recent developments in the economy are forcing more and more people to depend on the labour market for their livelihoods, it is feared that women’s disadvantages in that market would have a more telling effect on their empowerment than ever before. The explanations given by standard economic theory for these persistent disadvantages of women as workers are far from satisfactory because they merely push the question back to another level. Feminist theory has also addressed the issue; however, their explanations too stop short of providing a satisfactory and realistic answer. Instead, I want to argue that, explanations for women’s disadvantages as workers cannot be complete unless we take account of the role of patriarchy in constructing a woman worker. Women become a meaningful economic category in market analysis precisely because they enter the labour market with different gender-based characteristics than male workers. Because gendering is a social process, the image of the woman worker is likely to differ significantly from one region/community to another, and also at different stages of economic development. Nevertheless, in each situation, its logic lies with the interaction between specific patriarchal imperatives and needs of capitalist

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producers. The few institutional changes that can release women from these patriarchal constraints are still far from complete in the Indian context. This chapter is organised in the following way––in the next section, the new developments in the Indian economy that underline the urgency for removing the disadvantages of women as workers are discussed. In the third section, the several theoretical debates related to the issue are discussed. In the fourth section, I go on to show how patriarchal forces have contributed to constructing the Indian woman worker. The section also provides some recent data that indicates that the nature of developments in parts of India is such that, instead of loosening the controls on women, patriarchal forces may have become more interested in maintaining and reinforcing the status quo. A short concluding section briefly sums up the argument and highlights the policy implications of this analysis.

WHY THE URGENCY? The growing interest in the issue of engendering markets is because markets have come to assume an unprecedented importance in the lives of the average Indian, male or female. This is very much a part of the process of development, in which economic policies of the Government of India have played an important but by no means the lead role. Although the Indian economy had been participating in world trade for many centuries, for a long time, many parts of the society had remained relatively isolated from wider market forces. Even after Independence, for several plan periods, policy makers in India had encouraged this dichotomy between the modern and the traditional sections of the economy. It was a policy set by the Second Five-Year Plan that India would focus on modernising only a section of the economy, leaving the rest to continue undisturbed in its traditional garb. This policy, followed for the next several plans, assumed that the traditional sector, comprising mainly agriculture, cottage industries, traditional services and local trade, would be sufficiently resilient to provide gainful employment to the majority of Indian households. All that the state was required to do was to protect those sectors from open competition with the modern sector (Banerjee 1988). These assumptions allowed the Indian government to concentrate its planned direct investment in the modern large-scale sector, but set up organisations with powers to protect and promote village and cottage industries. By the end of the 1960s, it became apparent that village self-sufficiency was no longer a viable model for the Indian economy. Inadequate availability of food had become a growing problem that could not be tackled through traditional household-oriented subsistence cultivation. The Indian state had to promote greater commercialisation of agriculture through its ‘green revolution’ policies. Also, over time, a growing body of research on the issue employment and poverty had brought out the fact that the poor were not idle or unemployed. Most of them were working; their long hours sometimes hid underemployment, but more often resulted from being engaged in low-productivity work. The question, thus, was not just of generating jobs, but of making work and

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workers more productive. To counter these trends, the government also had to accept some responsibility for poverty alleviation, and promotion of jobs and work. In 1991, the immediate imperative for the Government of India in accepting the new economic policies of trade liberalisation was no doubt the need to salvage its own financial crisis. However, it is also true that by then the economy needed a new direction for development if the country was to find ways of using its human and physical resources more efficiently. The path selected was to open the economy to freer trade with other economies where Indian producers would face competition from world-level players. In order to survive that challenge, Indian producers have been trying to reduce some of their labour-related costs. Increasingly, the trend is to use labour strictly as a variable input and to minimise its cost whenever possible. This implies greater use of short-term or informal contracts, forcing workers to face market uncertainties more frequently. These developments have reinforced some of the other trends that have been incipient in the structure of the Indian economy for some time. In many parts of India, subsistence agriculture has ceased to provide an adequate living to a large section of agricultural households.1 As a result, workers have been moving out of agriculture or combining cultivation with some other activities, and as Table 8.1 shows, this trend has sharply accelerated in the decade of the 1990s. The fall in the share of agricultural workers in the total workforce was mainly from among cultivators, that is, among selfemployed persons. The share of wage labourers in agriculture also fell, but marginally. Table 8.1: Shifts in the Structure of Agricultural W orkfor ce in India (1981–91 and 1991–2001) Workfor orkforce Cultivators

Compound growth rate (numbers) Shifts in shares in total workforce

1981–91

1991–2001

1.94 –2.32

0.24 –8.01

Agricultural labour 1981–91 2.04 1.10

1991–2001 2.25 –0.74

Source: Singh (2003).

Moreover, with the new economic policies, a number of large-scale producers have been allowed to enter the production of many commodities of daily consumption like grain flour or edible oils that had earlier been produced locally by small producers. In the process, artisans in household and village industries who had been producing these items in village units have lost their employment. As Table 8.2 shows, those workers have been forced to find employment elsewhere. As a result, ranks of male and female casual workers have swelled noticeably in rural areas. In urban areas there is a similar increase in the share of casual labour in the case of males, but a decline for females. The fall in the numbers of the self-employed and a rise in those working as casual labour both imply that more and more workers have to enter the labour market as sellers of labour. Moreover, as casual workers, they have to enter into new contracts more often. At the same time, since many more of them are now buyers rather than producers of goods of daily consumption, there is a greater urgency for workers to earn income in monetary terms.

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ENGENDERING MARKET MECHANISMS Table 8.2: Distribution by Status of the Usually Employed: Principal + Subsidiar y* Subsidiary* Year

Self-employed

Regular employee

Male

Female

586 579 550 417 417 415

608 585 573 471 454 453

R 1987–88 R 1993–94 R 1999–2000 U 1987–88 U 1993–94 U 1999–2000

Male 100 83 88 437 421 417

Casual labour

Female

Male

Female

37 28 31 275 286 333

314 338 362 146 152 168

355 387 396 254 162 214

Source: NSSO (2000). Note: In 1,000 workers.

WOMEN IN THE INDIAN LABOUR MARKET In the Indian labour market, there has always been a sharp difference in the situation of male and female workers. There is usually a clear division of tasks between the two genders; men and women work in different industries and/or in different tasks in any given industry (Banerjee 1985; Unni 1999; Visaria 1999). Available data has shown that this practice of job-wise segregation of genders is all-pervasive and usually discriminatory against women. Moreover, although there are wide variations between regions within India in the officially recorded percentages of workers among women, these are consistently lower than those recorded for men everywhere. A much larger percentage of women workers remains in rural areas working mainly in agriculture or household industry. Moreover, the average earnings of women are significantly lower than those of comparable men in all areas and activities. The period since the initiation of new economic policies in 1991 has seen very few changes in the relative positions of men and women in the labour market. Tables 8.3, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8 show that, even where some small shift has taken place, there is little evidence that this has altered the gender-wise division within the overall workforce. In the period between 1977–78 and 1999–2000, the rural rates of usual status work participation of both men and women show little variation: neither has made any significant gains at the cost of the other. Table 8.3: W orkfor ce Participation Rates Per 100 Persons: Usual Principal Status Workfor orkforce Year 1977–78 1983 1987–88 1993–94 1999–2000

Rural male 53.7 52.8 51.7 53.8 52.2

Rural female 24.8 24.8 24.5 23.4 23.1

Urban male

Urban female

49.7 50.0 49.6 51.3 51.3

12.3 12.0 11.8 12.1 11.7

Source: Reports of various rounds of NSSO Employment and Unemployment Surveys.

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There is no indication that with the changed economic policies of the 1990s, there has been any economy-wide surge towards feminisation of work. In particular, it had been expected that with a freer trade regime, there would be a quick increase in women’s manufacturing employment as had happened in several East and South-East Asian countries. However, this too has not come about as can be seen from Table 8.4. Table 8.4: W omen’ otal Manufacturing Employment Women’ omen’ss Share in T Total Year

Rural (%)

1987–88 1993–94 1999–2000

Urban (%)

Total (%)

17.45 17.62 17.74

24.7 24.5 24.7

31.06 30.81 30.95

Source: Various NSSO reports on employment and unemployment surveys. Table 8.5: Unemployment Rates by Current W eekly and Current Daily Status: Per centages in T otal Weekly Percentages Total Labour Force Year

Weekly rural (%) Male

1977–78 1983 1987–88 1993–94 1999–2000

3.6 3.7 4.2 3.1 3.9

Weekly urban (%)

Daily (%)

Daily (%)

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

4.1 4.3 4.4 2.9 3.7

7.1 6.7 6.6 5.2 5.6

10.9 7.5 9.2 7.9 7.3

7.1 7.5 4.6 5.6 7.2

9.2 9.0 6.7 5.6 7.0

9.4 9.2 8.8 6.7 7.3

Female 14.5 11.0 12.0 10.4 9.4

Source: Deshpande and Deshpande (2002: 108).

Table 8.5 shows that, rates of unemployment have declined slightly in recent years, but again, these are generally higher for women than for men. There has been a fall in the regional variations between unemployment rates of men; but for women, sharp variations between regions have persisted, indicating the greater limitations on women’s mobility (Deshpande and Deshpande 2002: 109). Whether employed as regular employees or as casual labour, women’s earnings generally are well below those of men. This holds true even when one compares men and women of similar educational qualifications. Particularly in rural areas, average daily earnings over a week of females are significantly lower than the daily rate for casual work because they are without work for at least a third of the person-days in a week. For men, the number of person-days without work is much smaller. Tables 8.6 and 8.7 provide this information. Among the self-employed, incomes of owner-workers are not available separately. One can only get figures for what are called ‘mixed incomes of owner-workers’ which comprise wages of the self-employed, rents for any own asset used in production and profits, if any, from the venture. For the self-employed in manufacturing, we get figures of annual gross value added per worker for different industry groups. For those

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industries where 25 per cent or more of owner-workers are women, the gross value added per worker was Rs. 18,946.50 per annum. For industry groups where the incidence of women owners was lower than that, the gross value added per worker per annum was nearly double that, at Rs. 37,736.00 (NSSO). Table 8.6: A verage Daily Earnings of Men and W omen Casual Labourers (Rs.) Average Women Category

Rural male

Public work (daily) Public work (weekly) Other work (daily) Other work (weekly)

Rural female

Urban male

Urban female

39.5 35.6 35.4 29.1

n.a. 63.0 63.3 65.0

n.a. 46.0 38.2 37.7

49.0 53.1 45.5 45.0

Source: NSSO Report No.458, Tables 69 (R) and 69 (U) and 70, for 1999–2000. Table 8.7: A verage Daily Earnings of Regular Salar y Earners by Educational Qualifications: Age Average Salary Group 15–59 for the Y ear 1999–2000 (Rs.) Year Category

Rural male

Salaried (all) Illiterate Literate up to middle level Secondary and higher secondary Graduate and above

Rural female

127.3 71.2 91.6 148.2 220.9

Urban male

114.0 40.3 61.5 126.1 159.9

169.7 87.6 105.1 168.2 281.6

Urban female 140.3 51.8 64.4 145.7 234.7

Source: NSSO.

A brief mention of another aspect completes this description of the trends in the relative position of Indian men and women as workers. Both the Indian census as well as the quinquennial employment and unemployment surveys of the NSSO take account of the fact that many are employed for only a part of the period. The census authorities consider them as marginal workers, while the NSSO calls them subsidiary workers. Because of some differences in their approaches to the concept of worker, estimates for marginal and subsidiary workers from the two sources do not tally even though the last decennial census (2001) and last round of the NSSO survey (1999–2000) were very close in time. Nevertheless, both sources indicate that the extent of marginal or subsidiary work was much higher among women than among men. Table 8.8: Shares of Marginal and Subsidiar y W orkers in T otal W orkfor ce According to the Subsidiary Workers Total Workfor orkforce Census 2001 and NSSO 1999–2000: All India (%) Source Census 2001 NSSO1999–2000

Rural male 15.0 1.7

Rural female

Urban male

Urban female

46.0 22.7

6.6 1.0

20.0 15.8

Source: Deshpande and Deshpande (2003: 817).

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Deshpande and Deshpande (2003: 819) further point out that, while male subsidiary or marginal workers were likely to be young, in the age group 10 to 24 years, the women in those categories belonged to the prime workers’ age of 20 to 39 years.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Supporters of free markets do so on the basis of standard economic theory for which markets are the most important institution, and price the most important statistic governing the functioning of the economy. In markets various agents negotiate between themselves to arrive at a price that can accommodate the plans of each buyer and seller in ways that are accepted by all as being optimal in the given circumstances. Market operations and the resultant prices determine for the economy what, how and how much of each commodity is to be produced. A free market is one where numerous buyers and sellers negotiate in ways that bring about a unique price at which all supplies available are cleared and the entire demand of all potential buyers is satisfied. Such a ‘free market’ is considered superior to all earlier systems like barter trade, monopoly operations or any other variations that may be operating in any economy. This is because free markets possess the following characteristics: 1. There is free entry for both buyers and sellers in all markets. The number of dealers (producers and sellers) in any commodity is not controlled by any party or circumscribed by limits of a locality or the strength of a guild. 2. A producer and a seller can choose to produce, sell and buy any commodity without restrictions by community or state. 3. A buyer is not tied to any one seller/producer, but has a wider choice regarding commodities to buy and of sellers with whom to negotiate the deal. 4. Competition ensures that prices allow for only normal profits, that is to say, no monopolistic buyer or seller can make gains more than the rate obtained in all comparable activities. Such free markets maximise the welfare of all economic agents because they give freedom to any person to produce any commodity according to their aptitude and sell it in all possible markets. At the same time, all consumers have access to all tradeable commodities at a competitive price. Policy makers in the Western world have been deeply influenced by these theories and for several decades now, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been promoting changes in the economic policies of many developing countries, including India, for ensuring free markets. Their basic assumption is that economic growth has been slow in these countries because markets were not ‘free’. Therefore, their economic policies need to change in ways that free markets from controls by governments or any non-market authority. The current wave of economic reforms is directed mainly towards achieving this end.

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Market as an Institution Markets, of course, are never free of all regulations. Like all institutions,2 markets, whether supposedly free or not, always operate within the rules and regulations that are set for agents as guidelines and constraints by authorities. These rules and regulations delimit what actions are or are not permissible for agents transacting market operations. Even in the most aggressively free market economies, slavery, as a way of procuring labour, is no longer legal, use of physical force to arrive at a resolution of dispute is not permissible, and so on. Most markets are also subject to some genderrelated regulations; for example, in most countries, including India, there are regulations guaranteeing equal pay for equal work by men and women. In other words, it is possible to formulate laws and regulations that can control gender-based exploitation even in free markets. Moreover, no market resembles the ideal portrayed in theory where all buyers and sellers are said to be equal. Economists recognise that market operations take place within the existing distribution of economic, political and social powers. As a result, in allocating resources and efforts between the wants of the rich and the poor, markets do not pay heed to the intensity of people’s desires or needs, but to their relative capacity to back the demand with money. Similarly, a politically powerful group such as a farmers’ lobby can determine the regulations on specific aspects of the economy that affect them. Moreover, the authorities that formulate the laws and regulations for shaping markets are themselves a part of the establishment in that economy. This means that they themselves support/sanction the existing distribution of income and wealth as well as of political and social powers in the society (or they would be making efforts to change them). Therefore, rules and regulations governing the markets also tend to support the status quo vis-à-vis existing power structures and continue to do so unless challenged by a major counter-force. Engendering markets therefore would require engendering the gender images accepted by the rule-making authorities; to change that, a major counter-force has to be built. I will come to that later on. Furthermore, within standard economic theory, there is another branch, known as Institutional Economics, that recognises that for free markets to work optimally, there must be institutions that can allow and compensate for specific handicaps of individuals entering market deals. In other words, over and above the production costs, there are other costs that are incurred in ‘running the economic system’ (Arrow 1969, as quoted by Williamson 1985). Unless appropriate institutions are installed in the economy for minimising those costs, they will be loaded on the more vulnerable and weaker agents dealing in that market, and thus lead to an overall loss of welfare. Developed countries have installed many institutions conventions, laws, rules of behaviour and social values, as well as legal measures—that can minimise these frictional costs and protect the weak from the depredations by the powerful.3 The friction in running the economic system arises because individual reactions to market indicators often differ significantly due to their historically determined circumstances. Of these, the most important difference arises out of what is called their ‘bounded rationality’. Neo-classical economics assumes complete rationality on the part

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of each agent. Here, however, it is recognised that human agents are ‘intendedly rational but only limitedly so’ (Simon 1961: xxiv). In other words, economic decisions, even when taken with intentions of rationality, may not be fully so because human comprehension of the complexities of socio-economic situations is limited. Another such problem arises from the opportunism of individuals; the self-interest that guides economic decision making is usually accompanied by guile. This means that information given by one agent to another may be incomplete, misleading or distorted purposely to promote the former’s interest. These two aspects mean that in reaching a deal, each agent will act according to what appears most rational to them; but at the same time, whenever possible, they will take advantage of the lack of knowledge or comprehension of the other. This poses a moral hazard; opportunism implies that the deals arrived at may be less favourable to one party or, whenever possible, one agent may go back on the terms of the negotiated deal. Individual rationality gets more bound and/or there is greater scope for opportunism when information about trends in the economy is not complete or is unevenly available. The neo-classical model generally assumes, if tacitly, that information about market possibilities is freely and equally available to all agents. This, of course, is not true of the reality, particularly in developing countries where absence of sufficient information works as an important constraint on economic development. Whatever is available is often asymmetrically distributed, that is, some people have more information and can prevent others from accessing it. The results of market deals with asymmetric information can be quite different from the neo-classical paradigm of free market outcomes. Institutional Economics also talks about asset specificity, which has enormous significance, amongst others, for labour, particularly in a developing economy. When deciding to invest in a machine or a skill, a person who is aware only of current market trends may choose to invest (money and/or time) in one that is very efficient but of use specifically in that produce alone. Alternately, there may be another option—of skill or machine that has a more general application, but is less efficient in that particular product. If the entrepreneur or worker chooses the highly specific one, she may gain in the immediate future, but is susceptible to future market risks. As we know, artisans who rarely have information about future market trends and have access only to their traditional machines/skills are very vulnerable on this point of asset specificity. I have dwelt at some length on these characteristics highlighted by Institutional Economics because they provide a fitting description of the nature of the handicaps of women as workers. Women’s main problem comprises their limited access to information and the opportunism of the parties that they deal within the household (for the division of household tasks) or in the labour market. Usually the skills and tools available to them are highly specific to some traditional skills, which, in a changing market are liable to be susceptible to quick obsolescence. What the institutional economic theory does not explain is why women specifically are more likely to be victims of these tendencies. This issue is explored in some details in the next section.

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ANALYSING GENDER POSITIONS In analysing market operations, neo-classical economists seldom consider gender issues. When presented with evidence of women’s disadvantages as workers, their explanations usually refer to the shortfalls in women’s qualifications as workers—the fact that women usually are less educated/trained, less skilled and less experienced in work than men with whom they compete. By now, many carefully conducted studies have disproved these hypotheses. For the US labour markets, it has been shown that worker characteristics of the kind mentioned previously could explain no more than one-fifth to half the differences between the earnings of men and women (Walby 1990: 21). Studies for Japan as also mine for particular areas and industries in West Bengal have come to similar conclusions (Banerjee 1985, 1991; Kimi 1980). The discrimination, moreover, comes about not because women are paid lower rates than men for identical work. Female earnings are usually lower than men’s because they are assigned different jobs than men, and then those jobs or tasks are labelled as less skilled or of less value. Similarly, economic theory stipulates that relative wage rates and remunerations for different occupations as well as of different groups of workers are determined according to their relative marginal productivity, which is to say, through the free play of market forces of demand and supply. So if women earn less than men it is assumed to be because their work is of less productive value. However, in reality, each economy starts with a preconceived notion of the relative importance of different functions and skills according to the social evaluation of the groups of people traditionally practising those. Those relative values are then reflected in the comparable market values of those skills and occupations. Thus, traditionally, relative returns to skills of plumbers and teachers are sharply tilted in favour of the latter in India; but in the USA, they reflect a more realistic picture of the relative demand and supply conditions for persons with either skill. This factor is particularly important in the case of women because in most societies, there is a tradition of social blindness towards women’s work as also of undervaluation of their skills relative to men’s. As we shall see later, constraints on women often spring from this particular societal tendency.

FEMINIST THEORISATION In feminist literature, these disadvantages have been attributed directly to the development of market-oriented capitalist economy. Early scholars like D.R. Gandgil had noted that, in India, women’s workforce participation rates (WFPR) had been falling steadily since the beginning of the 20th century and this fall could be linked with the modernisation of the Indian economy. The report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (Government of India 1974) further highlighted this development, which triggered substantial research into the marginalisation of women as workers in the process of economic development. Early theorisation for explaining the process, offered particularly by Pearson (1986), had rightly focused on the interaction between

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capitalist development and patriarchal forces. However, later analysts, particularly from among German left feminists, shifted the focus to build explanations based entirely on the nature of capitalist production and marketing strategies. Their argument was that, in the course of development, work that women had been doing in the household economy had got commercialised and transferred to the market economy. Because women found it difficult to combine housework with work in factories, they were eliminated from the visible, modern workforce. Since much of their work remained home-based and invisible to the outside world, they were treated as dependent housewives even when they were actually productive workers (Mies 1976; Mies et al. 1988). For a long time, many of us from developing countries had also accepted this line of argument since it appeared to fit the facts as brought out by our analysis of 20th-century data. Women’s earlier occupations, which Alice Thorner had called ‘making and selling’, had served local markets and given women a place in the workforce. With larger markets and commercialised production, most of those occupations had either been destroyed or taken over by men (Banerjee 1990). Since women were regarded as victims of the process of capitalist development, it seemed appropriate for them to ask for some alternative path of development—a path that would take account of the correct value of work that women did for the household. However, while we were developing these theories, what we did not ask was, why did these developments affect men and women differentially? If women had been constrained by their household tasks, how was it that men could not be asked to share those tasks? This entire logic behind the ‘women and development’ paradigm began to fall apart when viewed against a larger canvas because analysis in that framework clashed with historical facts. To start with, it was difficult to accept the position that in pre-capitalist economies men and women had been equal partners. After all, we have known that women in most pastoral or agrarian societies did not share equally with men in rights to productive assets like land and cattle. Moreover, when one compares the employment trends of women in early stages of industrialisation in different countries, it becomes obvious that there were significant differences in their trajectories. In several countries including Great Britain of the 19th century, women were the first to join factory work. Men were late entrants. It was only later that women lost their hold on factory jobs. This happened when, with rising demand for industrial products, factory work became more mechanised and hence more productive. Consequently, when workers could bargain for better wages, male workers pushed women out of the industrial workforce back into housework and demanded a family wage from employers that was to support non-working women and children. So once again the question remains: what was the leverage used by men to drive out women when they wanted those jobs?

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT Two concepts—gender and patriarchy—are crucially relevant for answering these several questions and for explaining the following facts: (a) women’s position as workers has

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kept changing at different levels of development; and (b) though women’s subordination seems to be universal, there are significant variations between regions/communities in their actual status and activity patterns even at similar levels of development. It is, therefore, essential to accept that in each society, women’s subordination is an outcome of the power of patriarchal forces. Depending on their hegemony and their requirements at each level of economic development, each society fabricates and practises gender roles to serve those requirements. This understanding opens up an important possibility: because gender roles are not natural or biological, it is in principle possible for women to take the initiative to alter gender roles and acquire a more empowered position in the economy. To do so, what they need is to understand the imperatives of patriarchal forces in their society at each juncture and then to demand/build the support of appropriate institutions that can counter those forces. Accepting the broad rubric of gender and development implies that analysis of the position of women in the labour market has to be specific to each economy—its structure and the level of its development, as well as the existence of the necessary institutions there. Although most feminists now profess to accept the logic of gender and development, there is still a strong tendency to view all women, especially of developing countries, as one homogeneous group that shares and reacts similarly to capitalist development. That is why, for many of them, the main impact of the new economic policies on women’s employment is seen only through the experience of those working in exportoriented industries (Ghosh 1994, 2004; Standing 1989). The main argument of these authors rests on the experience of women in several countries, especially Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia or South Korea, where, triggered by their export-led economic growth during the two decades of 1980s and 1990s, women’s overall employment and especially employment in manufacturing industries had grown very fast, much faster than those of men. I have elsewhere written in some detail about the fallacies involved in this position (Banerjee 1995). As seen before (Table 8.4), in India, there has been no sudden spurt in jobs for women in manufacturing in recent years. Moreover, the number of women employed in export-oriented industries forms a very small segment of the Indian female workforce4 as compared to the total number of Indian women workers. Nevertheless, most feminist writers writing about the impact of the new economic policies have focused only on that segment at the cost of neglecting the very grave trends in overall women’s employment that were discussed in an earlier section.5 This neglect has been costly both because it has diverted attention from the very real problems of the vast majority of women and also because it has failed to identify the main force that lies behind women’s subordination. Feminists who have charged capitalist deve-lopment as the main villain responsible for women’s problems do so without realising that the qualities of meekness and docility that agents of capital find in women have already been inculcated into them by patriarchal forces within their own families. I want to argue in the next section that correcting this misdirection given to analysis of women in the economy has now become imperative not only because the actual trends urgently deserve our attention. It is also because of an emerging trend in the livelihood patterns of a significant number of Indian households where women’s

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unpaid and flexible labour is becoming a crucial ingredient for maintaining the multiple occupations required for household survival. In such a situation, there is a growing possibility that patriarchal controls on women from within their households may be further reinforced.

PATRIARCHY AND MARKET OPERATIONS In the theorisation about gender in India, there is a sharp disjuncture between analysis of women’s work in the private and the public spheres. In the private sphere, it is accepted that in each society it is the patriarchal forces that determine the gender-wise division of labour and thereby the workload borne by women for reproduction of the household.6 However, as shown earlier, in the public sphere it is assumed that capitalist forces of development are the sole determinants of women’s position as workers. This analysis thus ignores the fact that it is the same women with their limited endowment of time and labour who function in both spheres. Therefore, there is every likelihood of there being a conflict of interest between those two claimants for women’s labour. Women become a meaningful economic category, precisely because their overall worker position is an outcome of this interaction, which ultimately shapes both the supply and the demand functions for their labour. Men also face claims on their labour from the household, but generally in their case, the claims of the market are given a priority. In the case of women, however, which of the two would prevail over the other cannot be taken as an invariant for all societies and all times.

Gendering of Women Workers The question of engendering markets arises mainly because of this gendered nature of women’s entry into the labour market. Within India, there are many variations in women’s employment patterns, and for India as a whole as well as other South Asian countries, the nature of the gendering process is once again distinctly different from that in the South-East and East Asian countries. Natal families of girls in South Asian countries are particularly concerned with regulating girls’ sexuality and ensuring their premarital chastity. Hence, girls in India tend to be withdrawn from schools even before they finish elementary level and married off before the legal minimum age of 18 years. For example, even in 1999–2000, the dropout rates of girls from elementary level schools were as high as 70 per cent in West Bengal (Government of India 1999). Moreover, in the decade of the 1990s, nearly half the women in West Bengal had been married before the legally sanctioned age of 18 years (2000). The other outcome is a trait directly related to women’s market behaviour. In most countries of South-East and East Asia and of the first world, women usually enter the labour market immediately after schooling and before marriage. The peak rates of women’s workforce participation are reached around the age of 20 years and certainly before marriage. Indian women, on the other hand, usually join workforce when they are in their mid-20s, after marriage and early childbearing. Their work force participation rates peak at a much later age, at around 40+ years (NSSO 2000).

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Other kinds of controls on women are usually imposed by their marital households and these are mainly concerned with the use of women’s labour. In traditional agrarian or artisan households in all parts of India, women’s tasks in family occupations are clearly marked and these are always to be performed over and above routine housework as well as childbearing, rearing, etc. In addition, it is usually the duty of the woman to take up the load of any extra work—such as fetching water from a distant source, collecting fuel or nursing the sick—as may become necessary. All such work gets priority even when the household expects her to join the workforce for additional income. This accounts for the limited mobility of women workers and their frequent opting for homebased work, even when it entails lower rates of pay. Patriarchal controls on women keep altering with altering economic conditions. This is because, demands made on women’s labour by capital usually get a positive response from household authorities. For example, urban middle-class families of India have been quick to appreciate the growing opportunities for educated young people and their daughters are allowed to stay unmarried, get higher education and build careers (Banerjee 1999). The example of Bangladeshi women suddenly being allowed to migrate singly to cities to avail of jobs in textile factories is also well known. In fact, that an average Indian woman does join the workforce, even if at a later age, is also due to economic imperatives of their families. However, decisions regarding when and how a woman is to join the workforce still remains with the family and it normally does not relieve women of their household duties. There are numerous instances to show that participating in the public workforce and earning a money income as well as being acknowledged as a worker, in however constrained and poor conditions, ultimately triggers the process of women’s empowerment. Problem is, this trigger itself remains with the market; unless market sends strong signals of a demand for women workers, the process remains moribund. In such a situation, needy households, with their limited information and poor assets, devise some additional work for supplementing their incomes. In this households are opportunistic enough to maintain family traditions to control and use the readily available labour of the family women as an infinitely flexible resource.

Findings of a Field Survey This hypothesis is illustrated by results of a survey conducted by Sachetana 7 in 2003–04 under the sponsorship of UNIFEM. The survey covered 500 households randomly selected from some areas of rural or semi-urban industrial West Bengal. One of the main aims of the survey was to assess the impact of the new economic policies on the livelihoods of households. This was to be done by comparing the situation in some apparently affected areas with that in other areas where the policies had little or no apparent impact. The survey results showed that at least in West Bengal during this period, very few adults could earn a full living for an entire family from one single occupation. Less than 10 per cent households had a worker with a job in the organised sector, and it

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was among them that one did find women who were housewives in strict sense of the term. But in all other families, each adult tried to combine more than one activity; for example, men who had some land usually cultivated it for one crop and then leased it out for other crops and themselves worked as labour on short-term contracts or as casual labour. About 191 families in the sample had some cultivable land; but only 40 households claimed that cultivation was the only occupation they pursued. Nearly half the families (245 out of 500) combined other occupations with running a small enterprise, either in their traditional caste professions or running a small shop of some kind. Therefore, because the earnings from no one person or occupation were sufficient to make a family living, it was important for all to draw on the family’s physical as well as labour resources and pool the earnings together. This means that, unless the economic situation improved sufficiently to provide some more adults a full living in one occupation, the time was not ripe for any one person, and least of all, for any woman, to break out of family bonds and strike out on her own. Table 8.9 gives an idea about the pattern of activities of men and women. A household’s living involved both paid and unpaid work for most adult members and many of them were working on more than one kind of task during the same day or period. Taken together, those activities kept each worker busy for long hours. However, a better part of the juggling between tasks and roles was being done by the women. They were the ones who did more kinds of tasks and did so mainly in unpaid capacity. The survey brought out that: 1. Many more women contribute to a family’s real income than counted by the standard NSSO method. 2. This work comprises multiple tasks, partly on their own and partly as part of the household’s joint efforts. 3. Nearly 80 per cent of those women spend more than five hours a day on such activities taken together. 4. Barring a minority, most work as unpaid workers.

Table 8.9: Pattern of Activities of Men and W omen* Women* Description Number of workers Paid workers Unpaid workers. Both kinds of work Total tasks done Tasks per worker

Males

Females

855 (100%) 571 (67%) 162 (19%) 122 (14%) 1,110 1.3

726 (100%) 126 (17%) 452 (62%) 143 (20%) 1,890 2.6

Source: Sachetana 2004. Note: *The tasks involved were of the kind included in the standard (NSSO) productive work categories as well as those whose products were not necessarily marketed. They roughly correspond to NSSO’s 93 category, but not the 94 category.

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5. Most family activities depended crucially on utilising unpaid help, especially of women; but the women doing that work are not always included in the list of acknowledged workers of the family. 6. Women’s paid work has to make accommodation for this household-oriented work and, therefore, remains at a low, supplementary level. 7. Women also try to supplement the family income by undertaking production as well as collection of freely available goods and services that can substitute for market purchases. The pattern emerging from these facts suggests that women seldom had a specific, full-time occupation for themselves. This benefited the household because their labour was then available to meet the requirements of additional labour in other family occupations initiated by male members. Moreover, because women’s help was unpaid, many such occupations, which would have been unprofitable at positive wage rates for helpers, had become viable. However, working in those tasks did not remove the stigma of being a dependent worker from the women. Families, in general, appear to be opportunistic in the way they deploy the labour of their women members for running activities that are initiated by others. But their main problem is probably their limited information about new opportunities opening up for women in other markets. Even when they get to know about those openings, it takes some time for them to be assured that there are no major risks or uncertainties about the prospects. In a small study of the families of women who had migrated from the tribal areas of Jharkhand (Samadhan 2002), it was found that although many tribal families were desperately poor, they were reluctant to let their daughters migrate to metropolitan cities for jobs unless the local church organisations intervened to facilitate the migration. In case of other migrant women, their contacts with families had become tenuous and rumours were that they had been trafficked for flesh trade. This uncertainty had made it very difficult for others to think of allowing their daughters to migrate.

Employers’ Role In South Asia, households are the most obvious agents of patriarchy. They not only determine the nature and quantum of female labour, but additionally have their own demands for that labour. Employers who use that labour in market deals also have their own patriarchal agenda: they have their preconceived notions about the relative capabilities of men and women, and depending on that, the appropriate division of tasks between them. For example, employers are often wary of entrusting women with sophisticated machines. As a result, there is a sharp difference in the productivity of men working on those machines and women working with cruder tools. This, in turn, justifies the lower earnings of women. Employers also find it difficult to trust women in top decision making positions and therefore many career-seeking women have found themselves coming up against a glass ceiling at the workplace. Nevertheless, whenever employers in India have demanded the labour of women with specific qualifications, they appear to have been successful in mobilising them in sufficient numbers at

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reasonable rates of wages. This is probably because households are quick to adjust their traditions and claims on women to accommodate employers’ demands. Indeed, changing demands from employers have often acted as the catalytic agent for transforming gender patterns. However, in India, so far, employers have probably found it more profitable to organise production somewhat differently and to exploit the existing vulnerabilities of women rather than to demand changes in existing gender patterns. Many of the industries that employ women do so precisely because women with these handicaps are found to be more easily exploitable. For example, in West Bengal, the beedi (handrolled crude cigarettes) industry has gradually shifted out of factories and workshops where male workers could compel the employers to agree to officially fixed wages. They have been putting out the work at less than a third of the official rates to women in Muslim-predominant areas, because women there face extra constraints on their mobility. In another case, we found that employers had successfully used women’s lack of knowledge and mobility to keep their wage rates at the same level for 20 years. In a survey conducted in 1976, we had found that in Kolkata, rates of payment for putout work of finishing of garments had then been very low at around Rs. 1.5 per dozen. In the years following, there had been some politicised demands from the workers for raising the rates, with the result that the jobs had disappeared from the city. In 1994, we discovered that those jobs had been moved to rural areas, especially in areas bordering Bangladesh, where there was a constant traffic of more workers looking for work. The rates there in that year, were exactly at the same level as in Kolkata nearly 20 years ago. Employers also benefit from the fact that women are mostly employed in labourintensive industries in which there is little investment in fixed capital. In that situation, if workers at one place become aggressive in their demands for better wages, employers can shift production from one place to another with little cost to themselves. Moreover, many of the skills of women workers are also very specific, that is, they can be applied only to limited number of jobs. This too adds to their vulnerability in their dealings with employers.

Trade Unions Trade unions are another patriarchal agency whose role in women’s exploitation is not always noted. In India, there are many instances where unions have used their collective strength to deny women a share in any benefits accruing to workers. Elsewhere, (Banerjee 1985), I have noted the case of women who had for a long time been employed as armature winders in Kolkata’s fan industry. When a labour tribunal agreed to put the rates of pay for that skilled job on at par with other skilled engineering work, the trade unions ensured that those jobs from then onwards went only to men. In another instance, as late as 1973, a nationalised bank had refused to employ a woman even though she had topped the list of interviewees. This was in spite of the constitutional guarantee against such a bar on grounds of sex; but the management pleaded that the workers’ union had demanded and got an agreement to that effect. The garment workers

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of Bangladesh claimed that, though the country had highly politicised unions, none of them had fought for getting women the right to join or form a trade union. Most of these instances were verbally reported by the affected workers, but not recorded for fear that the unions would take further action against them.

The State Although the Indian Constitution guarantees that the state will not discriminate between citizens on grounds of sex, the Indian state is not free from its patriarchal bias. It has passed laws such as the one fixing a minimum age at marriage or has declared its resolve to ensure universal education, but it has always been very slow to enforce them, especially when they relate to women. Other laws, particularly relating to property and inheritance, have been drafted in such a way that women find it very difficult to own or utilise productive assets. In recent years, the state has launched many programmes ostensibly for women’s economic empowerment. Their main thrust is towards promoting self-employment among women. Our studies in West Bengal have shown that, rather than ensuring that the participating women become full-fledged workers in their own right as required for empowerment, the schemes aim to provide some supplementary work to home-bound housewives (Banerjee and Sen 2003). What is more, though there is talk about backing the programmes with investment in necessary infrastructure like roads, electrification, markets, etc. that are required to run the enterprises successfully, there are no arrangements on the ground to achieve this. The state, moreover, has been very tardy in taking note of the enormous load of housework borne by the average Indian woman. In many areas women have to walk miles for collecting drinking water. With recent hikes in prices of commercial fuels like kerosene and LPG gas, more and more women are compelled to spend hours seeking non-commercial fuels. However, the state’s policies for preserving forests have now made that task even more laborious. Once again, policy makers, in designing measures for women’s economic empowerment, have given little thought to their existing work burden and the impact on it of state policy measures. As a result, measures for their empowerment have more often than not added to their work, but done little to improve their economic position. The main reason why the state has neglected these areas is its own patriarchal character. In spite of India’s democratic constitution, the state is still dominated by males, as can be seen from the poor representation of women among elected representatives. Male politicians are well aware of the dangers of losing this dominance over women and are, therefore, resisting the bill to reserve a third of the seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies. The recent rise of caste and religion in politics is a further negative portent for women’s empowerment in the society and economy.

State as a Counter-force The state then is one of the major agencies of patriarchy. It has contributed significantly to the subordination of women in both the private and the public spheres. At the same

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time, for us to build the necessary institutions that can counter patriarchal forces, our obvious choice of an ally has to be the Indian state. This is because, the state in India does have a clear directive from the Indian Constitution to work towards equality for women. And in the last three decades, the Indian women’s movement has gathered sufficient strength to force policy makers and politicians to publicly accept empowerment of women as a crucial goal. Increasingly, the state is being compelled to initiate policies that are supposed to lead towards that goal. At the same time, we have gradually come to realise that there are still many gaps between what the policies profess and what they ultimately achieve. That is why, one of the growing field of research in women’s studies is a broad area called ‘gender budgeting’ where attempts are being made to verify how much of state resources are actually allotted to those professed policies. Work is also going on to investigate the structure and execution of the public schemes meant for women in order to find out why many of those policies perform so badly on the ground. We do know some of the main reasons for women’s handicaps as workers—their lack of education, training, their lack of experience because of early marriages and childbearing, and their immobility due to the huge load of household work imposed on them. The state has initiated measures that are meant to combat these problems. However, so far, it has done so half-heartedly because there has been no compulsion on it to account for the failures. Admittedly, households have their own motives for resisting moves to impose the minimum age of marriage for girls or to ensure that they stay in schools. But probably, the main reasons for their doing so is the deteriorating law and order situation in the countryside where parents do not feel safe to let pubescent daughters go out to schools. The state has to accept its responsibility, for these failures. And to make it accept that responsibility, we in the women’s movement have to keep building pressure on the state in our capacity as citizens of India.

CONCLUSION Ever since it became known that there had been a secular decline in women’s economic activities throughout 20th-century India, much emotional energy has been expended on portraying the conflict between women and market-oriented development. This has been aggravated in the recent reaction to the new economic policies of the Government of India, which aim to free markets from state controls. In general, the literature on this topic has identified the institution of markets along with the intervention by agents of powerful international capital as the main villains responsible for women’s economic subordination. This chapter has made three major points. First, it has put Indian women’s position as sellers of their labour into its macro perspective. The bulk of the feminist literature in this area in recent years has focused mainly on industry-specific studies describing either those where women had recently lost their jobs or those where women had newly found jobs in export-oriented industries. I have argued against this piecemeal approach and the resulting misdirection of the debate. After all, this affected section of the

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workforce is still very small as compared to the total size of the women’s workforce in the country. Moreover, the logic behind drawing parallels with other market-friendly developing economies for predicting future trends in women’s employment in India is highly suspect. If women are a meaningful economic category, it is because of their gendered position in the labour market. As a social construct, gendering in each society would have its own distinct character and it is unlikely that the reaction to market forces would be the same in all societies. I have tried to demonstrate how the gendering of Indian women workers is sharply different from that of women in South-East or East Asian countries, which provide the prototype for women’s employment in exportoriented countries. I want to stress that this kind of analysis not only reduces women to no more than their biological identity, but also wastes useful energy that needs to be directed to analysing the very grave problems that the recent phase of economic development has created for the majority of Indian women. Second, it has dealt at some length on the market as an institution to point out that free markets do not mean completely unregulated ones. They are subject to regulations by the state in the interest of law and order, transparency and honesty in dealing, as well as to give some protection for special sections (such as labour laws for workers’ safety). Moreover, all market economies do develop institutions that can work towards the protection of the weak against the opportunism and moral hazards created by the powerful. Admittedly, the authorities operate within the given distribution of economic and political powers, and to some extent, reflect the values of the powerful elements. But if these forces are not put under some regulations and the powerful are allowed to dominate the scenario, then markets would no longer be free. From time to time, then, market economies are compelled to put in place regulations that can check those powerful forces because their unbridled run on the markets undermines the efficiency of the economic system. I have argued here that for empowering women in the economy, one needs to develop institutions that can curb the patriarchal tendencies of various authorities. Employers, trade unions and the state have always harboured such tendencies, though there are institutions promoted by the Indian Constitution as well as by authorities like the ILO that have, to an extent, regulated their operations. However, households are still the most important as well as the most compelling agents of patriarchy because even today, their economic interests are heavily dependent on keeping control of the labour of their women. On the other hand, available evidence has shown that households are very quick to respond to changing economic situations. If they are given sufficient information and workable facilities for girls’ education, parents are eager to get daughters educated. Families would also willingly allow women to take up jobs if these are available. Their main problem is the absolute imperative in our society of getting daughters married at any cost. This is driving parents to commit female foeticide and infanticide, give away daughters in unsafe and reckless marriages to strangers, or pay whatever dowry they have to. It is a grave failure on the part of the state that it cannot stop the menace of dowry. It is an even greater failure of the women’s movement that it has not reached out to young girls to get them to think of and fight for alternatives to such marriages.

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The compulsions of household authorities are also related to the third major point of the paper, which is based on the findings of a field survey conducted by Sachetana in 2003–04 in West Bengal. The survey brought out the fact that, mainly as a result of fast-changing economic conditions, more and more households find that their traditional occupations can no longer provide a full living for the family. They, therefore, attempt to undertake diverse multiple activities to supplement their incomes and also to hedge against the risks of an increasingly market-oriented economy. To do so, household authorities have to ensure that some flexible labour is readily available so that all the activities undertaken are accomplished. Household women are the most preferred source of such labour since patriarchal training makes them willing to put in their labour wherever required at no cost to the household. Hence, there is now an added incentive for households to maintain and tighten their patriarchal controls on women. Ultimately, the main ally of women in their struggle for improving their economic position has to be the Indian state with its constitutional mandate as well as the compulsions in a democracy of its pro-women policy declarations. It has repeatedly professed its intentions to remove many of the handicaps of women, like their lack of access to education and skill training, to physical capital, and necessary infrastructure. The state has so far been able to take these responsibilities lightly because women have not built the pressure groups required to force its hand. Our main task now is to closely monitor state actions and to make it unavoidable for policy makers to fulfil their promises to women.

NOTES 1.

2.

3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

In a recent survey conducted in West Bengal, out of 360 rural households, only 40 relied solely on their own cultivation for their full livelihood. Of the rest, 30 more derived a part from cultivation, but supplemented it with other work as labourers or a being self employed in petty activities. In general, an institution refers to a body with an entity that is run according to specific rules and regulations. In economics, the term is used in a wider sense to also include sets of rules and regulations that monitor human interactions in different fields. As we shall see, the powerful are not just the ones with more economic or political power, but also those who have better access to knowledge, mobility and information. This section is miniscule partly because even today, exports account for no more than 20 per cent of Indian manufacturing output. And second, even in industries like textiles, garments and leather, which are aggressively pushing for exports from India, women are a small part of the total workforce. I have elsewhere discussed in detail these writings and their mismatch with Indian reality. See for example, Banerjee (1995; 1998). Reproduction includes not only biological reproduction, but also the work involved in the social and physical reproduction of all household members. Sachetana is an autonomous women’s organisation from Kolkata engaged mostly in research on gender-related issues. The study in question was financed by a grant from UNIFEM as a part of their ongoing gender budgeting programme.

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REFERENCES Banerjee, N. 1985. ‘Women’s Work and Discrimination’, in N. Banerjee and D. Jain (eds), Tyranny of the Household. New Delhi: Shakti Books: 147–67. ———. 1988. ‘The Unorganised Sector and the Indian Planner’, in A.K. Bagchi (ed.), Economy, Society and Polity. Calcutta: Oxford University Press: 71–103. ———. 1990. ‘Working Women in Colonial Bengal’, in S. Vaid and K. Sangri (eds), Recasting Women. New Delhi: Kali for Women: 269–301. ———. 1991. ‘The More It Changes, the More It Is the Same’, in N. Banerjee (ed.), Indian Women in a Changing Industrial Scenario. New Delhi: Sage Publications: 237–98. ———. 1995. ‘Women’s Employment and All That’, The Administrator, Special Issue on ‘Gender and Development’, 3(11): 53–70. ———. 1999a. ‘Can Markets Alter Gender Relations?’, Gender, Technology and Development, 3(1): 102–22. ———. 1999b. ‘How Real is the Bogey of Feminization?’, in T.S. Papola and A. Sharma (eds), Gender and Employment in India. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House: 299–317. Banerjee, N. and J. Sen. 2003. The Swarnajayanti Garm Swarozgar Yojana. New Delhi: UNIFEM. Bhatt, P.R. 2003. ‘Changes in Workforce Structure in India’, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 46(4). Deshpande, S. and L.K. Deshpande. 2002. ‘Reforms and Labour Market in India’, in Reform and Employment. New Delhi: Institute of Applied Manpower Research. ———. 2003. ‘Changing Employment Structure in Large States of India’, Indian Journal of Labour Economics. Ghosh, J. 1994. ‘Gender Concerns in Macro-Economic Policy’, Economic and Political Weekly, 29(18). ———. 2004. ‘Informalization and Women’s Workforce Participation: A Consideration of Recent Trends in Asia’. Paper presented at the conference on Globalization, Labour, State, Markets and Organisation. Kolkata, Institute of Development Studies, 2–4 Decmber. Government of India. 1974. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India’s. New Delhi: Ministry of Education. ———. 1999. Selected Educational Statistics. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development. International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS). 2000. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2). Mumbai: IIPS. Kimi, H. 1980. ‘Women Workers in Textiles and Electronic Industries of Japan’. Paper presented at a seminar on Women: Development and Population Trends, Paris, November. Mies, M. 1976. Lace-makers of Nursapur. New Delhi: Kali for Women. ———. 1986. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale. London: Zed Books. National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). 2000. Quinquennial Survey of Employment and Unemployment 1999/2000, Report No. 455. New Delhi: Ministry of Planning and Statistics, Government of India. ———. 2000. Various Reports. New Delhi: Ministry of Planning and Statistics, Government of India. Pearson, Ruth A. Whitehead and K. Young. 1981. ‘Introduction: The Continuing Subordination of Women in Development Process’, in K. Young. Walkovitz and R. McCullogh (eds), Marriage and the Markets. London: Routledge: 9–16. Samadhan. 2002. ‘Out-migration of Tribal Women in Domestic Work with Special Reference to Ranchi’. Paper prepared for a joint project with Sachetana, Kolkata. Simon, H. 1961. Administrative Behavior. New York: Macmillan. Singh, A.K. 2003. ‘Charging Workforce Structure in India. An Interstate Study’, in Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 46(4): 894 Standing G. 1989. ‘Global Feminization through Flexible Labour’, World Development, 17(7): 1077–95. Unni, J. 1999. ‘Women Workers in Agriculture Some Recent Trends’, in T.S. Papola and A. Sharma (eds), Gender and Employment in India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House: 99–121.

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Visaria, P. 1999. ‘Level and Pattern of Female Employment 1911–1994’, in T.S. Papola and A. Sharma (eds), Gender and Employment in India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. Walby, S. 1990. Theorising Patriarchy. Oxford: Basil and Blackwell. Williamson, O. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: Free Press. World Bank. 2001. World Development Report. Washington, DC: Oxford University Press.

9 Linking the Informal Sector with Mainstream Markets: Case of SEWA Self Employed Women’s Association

INTRODUCTION

W

OMEN in India have been active contributors to the national income. However, their contributions have seldom been acknowledged. Another important feature of women’s work in India is that, majority of them are employed in the informal or the unorganised sector—78.4 per cent of the women workers are engaged in informal sector and the percentage goes up to 80.7 per cent for the women workers in the urban areas (NSSO 2000). Women’s contribution to productive work becomes visible and explicit with their ability to earn an independent income by participation in economic activities outside the home. This imparts economic independence, which improves the position of women within the household and leads to substantial enhancement of their social status. Economic participation of women is, thus, both a reward on its own, and a major influence of social change in general (Sen 1999). Women’s economic participation leads to greater empowerment and positively contributes to the agency role of women. However, it may be pointed out that it is only a necessary condition, and not a sufficient one for women’s development. To ascertain the sustainable empowerment of women, it is important to focus on the markets that most women workers in the informal sector currently work and the growth opportunities that these offer. This chapter focuses on the market set-ups in which women workers in the informal sector are currently operating. It addresses the major barriers that they face in integrating into mainstream market systems that have higher potential for growth. The chapter discusses the Self Employed Women’s Association’s (SEWA) relentless efforts to organise, empower and integrate women workers into mainstream market systems. Three important case studies presenting SEWA’s initiatives are discussed. The case studies

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portray its strategies to strengthen business processes and establish strong market linkages at all levels, starting from local markets to domestic and global markets. In response to the demand for creating sustainable livelihood strategies through development of optimal business models and establishing strong linkages with mainstream market systems, the SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH) and the SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC) were established as the commercial arms of SEWA. The main objective was to provide a range of integrated services to strengthen operations and help attain commercially viability and market readiness. Both the STFC and SGMH work towards empowering local communities by setting up alternative livelihood options using the traditional skill base and establishing strong linkages with mainstream markets at the local, regional and global levels. The STFC focuses on converting the traditional skills of hand embroidery and craft in the Kutch and Patan districts into a commercially viable self-sustainable model, while SGMH concentrates on providing marketing services to rural producer groups engaged in the production of agriculture products, inland salt, gum and forest produce. All activities undertaken by the STFC and SGMH have a strong element of replicating systems, processes and values, and have in-built systems of establishing backward and forward linkages which creates cascading effects and multiplier mechanisms in terms of increasing the benefits of any given project. The design of every model is based on the plan for achieving self-sustainability and transforming the economic activity of producer groups into a commercial viable proposition so that all subsistence economic activities grow into sound micro-enterprise business models and thereby attain the scale of small and medium-scale enterprises within a stipulated time period.

MAJOR BARRIERS TO MARKET ENTRY FOR POOR PRODUCERS Given the merits of the market mechanisms in optimally allocating resources and organising economic activity and the opportunities that come with globalisation, it is important to understand that the poor sections of population remain the most marginalised and will perhaps be excluded from making effective gains from the opportunities unless strategies are worked out to make the markets reach the poor. In the past three decades of working with poor producers in the unorganised sector (both rural and urban), SEWA identified five key barriers facing poor producers entering mainstream markets (SEWA and World Bank PREM 2001). 1. Size of operations: The small size of operations of poor producers lead to uneconomic size that poses constraints on benefiting from economies of scale, application of appropriate technology to improve productivity competitiveness, that leads to weaker bargaining position. 2. Lack of communication: Poor producers have very limited communication and organisation with others outside of their communities. This leaves them at the mercy of those with market information who may withhold, misrepresent or charge exorbitant sums for it. Thus, they lack the resource and influence to

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maintain sustained interactions with buyers and are unable to negotiate fair terms with middlemen. 3. Lack of information: Poor producers lack the market intelligence needed to produce goods of acceptable quality for which there is demand in major domestic and national export markets. In addition, they do not have appropriate information on where markets and potential buyers for their products exist. On the other hand, buyers and retailers have not considered the possibility of buying from poor producers while remaining profitable. Therefore poor producers are unable to foster relationships with global buyers. 4. Policy barriers: Policies relating to trade are mostly developed without inputs from poor producers. Hence, new rules often serve as obstacles to their development. Adequate analysis and advocacy is needed to promote a conducive policy environment at both the national and global levels for making trade fair and advantageous for the poor. 5. Technical and financial limitations: Poor producers need support to build their technical know-how and develop production processes that lead to timely delivery of goods that are competitively priced, standardised and meet quality requirements of export markets. In addition, poor producers have growing needs for financial assistance, particularly as they try to scale up operations. However, as they do not fit the traditional customer profile for banks and other providers of financial services, they are often unable to go beyond microcredit. These barriers are created not only by the economic structures, but by the social structures that govern the lives and work of poor producers. As the economic and social structures are interrelated, the solutions will also have to be integrated. In view of this situation, SEWA took up the mission of empowering women workers from the informal sector so as to enable them to build up their capabilities and agency. The notion of capabilities entails that female workers should have both capacities (awareness of their rights, information and technical skill) and endowments (access to financial resources, to markets and, consequently, to economic benefits) for them to become agents of their own socio-economic development. Therefore, although effective provisioning of technical assistance and business development services is a necessary condition for creating sustainable business models and income generation strategies, the sufficient condition for achieving the same is through effective empowerment.

SEWA’S STRATEGY TO OVERCOME THE BARRIERS Mobilising Women and Creation of Collective Entrepreneurship Since its creation in 1972, SEWA has organised 720,000 women workers in the informal economy. Two-thirds of its membership is rural. SEWA has built a federation of 110 cooperatives of 20,000 workers providing services and making products. Organising women is seen as the most effective way of increasing their collective strength and

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bargaining power, so that they are no longer exploited by middlemen or totally dependent on moneylenders. This federation also enables village producers to compete in the market as a collective basis, namely, to access technical inputs, products and design developments, and to access credit collectively. SEWA also facilitates in protecting the producers through numerous legal regulations. To achieve a fruitful integration of former informal workers to the formal economy, SEWA originally relies on the joint action of the union and cooperatives. As a union, SEWA mobilises female workers from the informal economy and supports their concerns and claims so that their voices may be heard and reach a policy level. Simultaneously, the aim of the cooperatives is to increase women’s strength and bargaining power. SEWA’s core strength to mobilise and organise artisans into ‘collective enterprises’ has by far been the most effective way of overcoming market failures by strengthening bargaining power, attaining economies of scale and acquiring competitiveness for microenterprises and self-employed workers in the informal sector. The workers concurrently become owners and managers of their own economic organisations, and for organising members to form collectives in order to attain a critical mass required to effectively reengineer business processes to commercially viable and self-sustainable levels.

Bridging the Information Gap Poor producers lack the market intelligence needed to produce goods of acceptable quality for which there is demand in the major national and international markets. In addition, they do not have appropriate information on where markets and potential buyers for their products exist, and prices that are prevailing in the national and international markets for their products. They are, therefore, mostly in the clutches of middlemen who perpetuate the information gap. On the other hand, buyers and retailers have not considered the possibility of buying from poor producers while remaining profitable. SEWA through its marketing arms, the SGMH and STFC, attempts at bridging this disconnect.

Consistent Capacity Building Effective integration and sustainable presence in formal markets entails constant capacity building in terms of analysing information on market trends and the changing needs of the customer, quality upgradation, application of new technology, the constant augmenting of existing skill levels etc. The STFC and SGMH are constantly engaged in the capacity building of artisans through strategic alliances with specialised technical and training institutions, and also building in-house training facilities.

Providing Financial and Technical Assistance Poor producers have growing needs for financial assistance as they try to scale up operations. However, as they do not fit the traditional customer profile for banks and

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other providers of financial services, they are often unable to go beyond micro-credit. SEWA had long acknowledged that investments are necessary to break the vicious circle of poverty. The SEWA bank was set up in the early 1970s to provide financial services to poor women workers. It is a cooperative bank created by women workers, and is an indispensable element for the implementation of SEWA’s trade strategy. In addition to micro-credit facilities provided by the SEWA Bank, the STFC and SGMH facilitate linkages with various institutional investors and state and central government schemes to enable access to subsidised credit and to ensure proper flow of funds. It works on creation of working capital corpus funds which provide the resources to scale up economic activities. Further, linkages with financial institutions and banks are established to enable access to credit and a range of financial advisory services that are vital to engineering efficient and profitable business models.

Providing Access to Social Security and Support Services As women workers who are also mothers and wives become responsible for additional productive work, adequate social services such as childcare need to be provided for them, Therefore, according to an integrated approach to women empowerment, SEWA offers to its members a range of social services with regard to health care, childcare and insurance so that they would be better able to develop their economic potential.

SEWA’S EXPERIENCE: THREE CASE STUDIES SEWA’s aforementioned strategy has been systematically put into practice in the three cases presented in the ensuring sections. The first concentrates on the SGMH’s work with sesame seed workers, to strengthen operations by establishing a direct linkage with Indian Tobacco Company (ITC). The second study is based on strengthening operations of salt workers in the region of Surendranagar. The third concentrates on the craft artisans of Kutch and Patan, and the establishment of the SFTC.

Sesame Seed Farmers and the SGMH The SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH) is a marketing organisation for rural producers including small and marginal farmers, salt producers, artisans and forest produce collectors. Since its inception in early 1999, the SGMH has been working to protect rural producers from market exploitation, and provide a reliable and fair platform for its members to market their goods. The SGMH entered into an agreement with the ITC for the procurement and marketing of sesame seeds. The strategic partnership between the SGMH and ITC has been an important milestone for SEWA. Recognising that large corporations, as well as small and marginal farmers are dependent on a complex network of middlemen for their livelihoods, the SGMH and ITC forged this partnership with the hope of providing farmers direct market access for their produce and thereby

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supplying ITC with high-quality sesame seeds at a competitive price. Over the course of the three-month partnership, the SGMH procured sesame seeds from 1,450 small and marginal farmers from 32 villages in the Surendranagar district of Gujarat. Through these efforts 250 tones of sesame seeds were procured resulting in a total income generation of Rs. 7.6 million. In many ways the SGMH–ITC partnership was a new and unique venture for both SEWA and the ITC. The ITC expressed interest in procuring 1,000 tonnes of seeds from SGMH of 99/1/1 quality during the three-month period. Although the SGMH had been directly marketing agricultural produce through its Krishi Bazaars for three years, it had no prior experience procuring large quantities of agricultural produce for export markets. The SGMH-ITC partnership was an active learning process for both, as well as for farmers. To adhere to the quality specifications and the time deadlines, district associations (DAs)1 and farmers had to learn and act quickly. Clear roles, responsibilities and process guidelines were laid out. It was decided that the SGMH would assume responsibility for providing training to spearhead team members in quality assurance, providing capital assistance to the district association, and also payment against the sesame delivered to the ITC. Subsequently, the DA and the agricultural team leaders were responsible for checking the quality of the sesame seeds, weighing during procurement, and ensuring the jute bags were properly coded. And finally, the farmers were responsible for the cleaning, initial weighing and packing of the sesame seeds. Quality gradations, moisture levels and start-to-finish marketing of products were new to the SGMH, DA, and the farmers, and, therefore, the SGMH–ITC partnership was an active learning process for the entire team. Although the SGMH was only able to procure 250 tonnes of sesame out of the 1,000 tonne requisition, this was a considerable achievement in light of the many challenges they faced. On the surface, the SGMH was faced with the challenge of orienting itself, the DA, and the farmers to the functions of a new sector. This, of course, is not to mention the difficult process of gaining farmers’ trust as well as the general challenges associated with ensuring the central role of women in male-dominated activities. Besides, as a new actor in the sesame seed market, the SGMH was faced with the primary challenge of providing an economically competitive and reliable alternative to a familiar and concrete trading platform. More precisely, it was faced with challenges specifically associated with procuring large quantities of product from small and marginal farmers2 and providing an economically viable alternative to local markets. First, the SGMH struggled to compete in the local market. In the initial stages of their procurement activities the prices offered by the ITC were simply not competitive. Second, the SGMH is not a profit-making institution and, therefore, has very little working capital at its disposal. As a result, accessing funds to ensure farmers could receive immediate payment for their sesame seeds was a formidable challenge. Third, the presence of at SGMH in the market threatened to decrease the local traders’ profits. As a result, competition from middlemen emerged as one of the central obstacles in the context of procurement. Fourth, perhaps the greatest challenge facing the SGMH was the simple fact that procurement from small-scale producers is a tedious and labour-intensive process.

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Despite the many challenges the SGMH, DA and the farmers faced during the three month procurement process, the SGMH–ITC partnership was quite successful. The SGMH worked intensively with the spearhead team leaders to ensure quality standardisation and timely procurement from the farmers. The constraints of working capital was overcome through creation of livelihood security funds in a scenario of supply-side constraints from lending institutions and commercial banks. The results of the partnership are summarised as follows: 1. The increase in farmers’ bargaining power is best evidenced by the fact that in a number of instances farmers and SEWA members were approached by local traders to sell sesame seeds to them rather than to the SGMH. 2. The incomes of farmers have increased. A small survey of those who marketed their goods with the SGMH reported an increased income of Rs. 1,000 to 2,000 over the past season. First and foremost, the SGMH provided farmers virtually direct access to the sesame seed export market. Second, the quality standards and checks that were put in place guaranteed that farmers received an appropriate price for their topquality product. 3 Third, the procurement team’s use of an electronic scale guaranteed that the produce was weighed accurately and therefore, farmers were paid for the full amount of the produce. Fourth, during the holiday season (Diwali) the local markets were not open and local traders were on vacation, whereas the SEWA procurement team worked through. The SGMH provided a continuous outlet for the farmers’ produce. And last, by procuring the sesame seeds at the village level, the SGMH was able to reduce the farmers’ transportation costs to market their produce. 3. Apart from capacity-building of small and marginal farmers, their general market awareness has also enhanced. The women and farmers associated with the partnership learned about the daily rates and the broader trading mechanisms associated with the sesame seed market. They also learnt about the quality aspects of the export market, processes for cleaning and sorting sesame seeds, and techniques of moisture grading. Women were also actively encouraged and enabled to take leadership roles in the procurement teams. In addition to these, leadership roles of women promoted by the SGMH, it should be noted that the SGMH stipulated that cash payments for sesame procurements be paid directly to women.

Salt Workers of Surendranagar and the SGMH The Little Rann Desert of Surendranagar is the source of 90 per cent of the salt that is manufactured in Gujarat. The kind of salt manufactured is raw inland salt that comes brine water (groundwater of the Rann desert). In the Rann deserts, from nearly 40,000 workers depend on salt farming as their only source of livelihood. The salt farmers are traditionally called agarias. The harvesting season is of eight months (from September/ October to June/July). The agarias migrate to the desert along with their families, and

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live in harsh and tough climatic conditions in order to manufacture salt. SEWA started with organising salt workers in the talukas of Halvad, Patdi, Dasada and Dhangadhra in Surendranagar by providing saving and credit facilities, childcare and health facilities to workers who work in extremely harsh conditions. In 1997, the Surendranagar Mahila and Balvikas Mandal (SMBM), a local organisation of women salt workers, was started. Currently, all activities for SEWA members are carried out by this organisation. Having realised that local traders and merchants had a stronghold on the salt industry and the workers were forced to sell their produce to traders for meagre incomes, the SMBM provided salt workers’ cooperatives and producers’ groups with working capital and tools so that they could become producers themselves rather than be labourers for big salt merchants. With the help of the SGMH, these workers now sell their salt directly, thus freeing themselves from contractors, middlemen and merchants. The SGMH has been providing vital inputs in three important areas: technical training for optimising production, introducing salt gradation techniques, and establishing direct marketing linkages with the corporate sector. 1. Technical training training: The SGMH, in collaboration with the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar, provides technical training to agarias in correct methods of producing graded salt and offers advice on various aspects of the preproduction, ongoing production and washing process. In its training sessions to salt farmers, the SGMG is changing the traditional methods of salt farming to maximise production. It has also changed the product mix, and convinced salt farmers to convert from producing Vadagaru salt to Karkash salt, which is financially more viable since the profit margin on the letter is higher. The salt workers are provided with tools like petromax, solar energy lights, gumboots and sunglasses facilitate in production. Traditional cultivation is based on the norm that more water meant more salt. However, if the saltpans are big and contain more water, evaporation is slow. The SGMH convinced the salt farmers to make smaller but higher number of saltpans and thus changed the salt harvesting structure and reduced man-days in production. Farmers harvested salt only once a year, in June. Therefore, the process was labour intensive and cost of production was higher. Farmers could not help each other. The level of impurities in the salt increased if not harvested on time SEWA convinced the salt farmers to have two harvesting seasons—January and June— and, thus, increase their production. 2. Salt gradation gradation: Quality training helps salt workers identify the quality of salt that is necessary to match industrial and chemical specifications. The SGMH also provided technical equipment such as the bomimeter to check the degree of salt water. It has implemented quality control in the production processes whereby the calcium and magnesium content in the salt is monitored to adhere to quality specifications. Prior to this, salt workers used their own judgement to determine when to move the salt from the pans to the storage. The SGMH has set up a salt testing laboratory at Dhangdhra with the help of the CSMCRI where the quality of salt is tested before marketing.

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3. Establishing direct market linkages linkages: The salt market is controlled by a chain of traders and middlemen. Salt workers depended on middlemen to market their produce. These traders also provided the working capital needed to undertake production. Most farmers invariably fell short of money by the middle of the season. Traders would also not pay them the full price for their salt. Sometimes the traders would purposely not collect the salt on time. Consequently, the salt would shrink and the level of impurities would increase. They would then get a lower price for the produce. To free salt workers from the clutches of the traders, the SGMH has forged forward linkages with the corporate sector. Currently the salt workers directly sell to prominent corporates such as GACL, Baroda, Ahmedabad Electricity Co., Maharastra Electricity Co., DCW, Surendranagar, and Grasim Industries—Aditya Birla groups. This has lead not only to increased incomes and freedom from exploitative work relations with the traders but also in establishing efficient production processes that deliver products that meet stringent quality parameters within the stipulated time. Based on SEWA’s principles of adopting an integrated approach, the provision for the salt workers is not only restricted to their economic needs but also their social needs. The salt workers work in harsh and trying conditions for almost eight months in a year with limited access to food, drinking water and medical aid. Their children are left to wander about in salt heaps, without basic education and childcare facilities. As a result of their exposure to salt, the workers and their children suffered from skin diseases. Lack of nutritious food and clean water resulted in high child mortality rate. Balwadis were opened in villages and at sites in the desert where the workers manufacture salt. These functioned in keeping with the work schedules of the salt workers. In summer, when salt workers had to work at night, the balwadis took care of children. Besides this, a mobile ration van was introduced to provide essential food grains to the workers at an affordable price. The SGMH has enabled the salt farmers to increase their earnings by 35 to 50 per cent, and improve living and working conditions in the saltpans. The direct market linkages that the SGMH has established has improved the economic status of the salt workers considerably. They can now invest in savings. The SGMH provides a revolving fund—free of interest at the cost of Rs. 45,000 to 105 salt workers. This revolving fund enables them to initiate and scale up business operations to economically viable levels. Over 25,000 salt workers obtain benefit from the market linkages, capacity building training and technical assistance provided by the SGMH.

The Craft Artisans of Kutch and Patan Districts and the STFC The Kutch and Patan districts are one of the most severe drought-affected and disasterprone areas of the country. The primary occupation of people in these districts is agriculture and cattle rearing. Agriculture is largely rain-fed and the agricultural land in these areas is not productive due to depletion of the natural resource base and lowering of the ground water-tables. The monsoons largely govern the livelihood

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systems, and its successive failures trigger mass migration for seven to eight months in search of work to ensure basic survival. More than 40,000 SEWA members in these districts are adept in the art of intricate embroidery that is closely linked to their cultural heritage. More than 16 distinct embroidery styles, beadwork and appliqué work is done by different communities in both districts. SEWA has converted their traditional skill into a major income generating activity, which has proved as an effective drought proofing and disaster mitigation tool. In a unique model where the artisans are the owners of their own enterprise, the SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC) was set up as a company owned by 15,000 craft artisans of Kutch and Patan to turn their activity into the commercial venture with the main objective of promoting access to national and global markets. The vision of the STFC is to strengthen the position (capacity building) of the 15,000 artisan owners of the company who comprise the poorest of the poor artisans and enable them to effectively participate in mainstream market systems. The major focus is to promote the enterprises in global markets through the creation of a business model based on effective organisation, efficient business processes, product innovation and efficient marketing of their products and services, with a view to providing them economic security and full employment. The STFC aims to build the capacity of 15,000 artisans to enable them to earn a minimum remuneration of Rs. 1,500 per month on a sustainable basis. The STFC provides a range of integrated solutions ranging from marketing support, product development, quality standardization information systems, access to capital and implementing state of the art technology that aims at the capacity building of the artisans in order to enable them to plan and manage their operations and improve their skill levels. The range of services is categorised as follows:

Establishing Market Linkages The STFC provides comprehensive market intelligence that includes market surveys for specific product categories, access to buyers’ databases, information on tariff structures and non-tariff barriers, identification of possible distribution channels and development of an effective sales strategy. It has a well-designed marketing strategy that has a range of channels that is a judicious mix of dedicated retail outlets, intuitional sales by way of B2B marketing, exhibitions in the major metro and emerging cities in India, and exports. The STFC has developed two exclusive retail outlets in Ahmedabad. Banascraft houses a wide range of apparel, home furnishings and accessories with exquisite and intricate handcrafted and traditional hand embroidery on contemporary product designs. It attracts customers from all age groups and economic segments. Nandika is a boutique in the shopping arcade of the Taj Ummed Residency Hotel that caters to a niche market of upper-class business travellers and tourists. It offers a wide range of high-value handcrafted products using traditional embroidery, beads, mirrors and other embellishments. In order to access major national markets, the STFC organises regular exhibitions in the various metropolitan cities and mega cities of India. Exhibitions provide a great

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opportunity for simultaneously undertaking market research, pilot testing new products and providing market linkages to large sections of the population. Market linkages with important national institutional buyers and retail houses (B2B) help extend STFC’s marketing network. At the global level, the STFC has explored new export markets and is currently exporting the products of its member artisans to the USA, the UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany and South Africa. Exhibitions are also organised in many countries to access international markets. Till date, the STFC has organised successful exhibitions in three cities of France, two cities of Spain, in South Africa, Germany and the US. It also participates in various national and international trade fairs such as the New York International Gift Fair, Tendence, Ambeinte, India Handicrafts and Gifts Fair, and Indian International Trade Fair.

Continuous Product Development The products of poor producers based on their traditional skills lack in terms of quality of raw material used and in standardisation of product designs. They tend to be supply driven and are produced in isolation of currents tastes, preferences and needs of the markets. The STFC provides product development facilities whereby contemporary products, based on latest market research information and fashion forecasts, will be developed using the traditional skills of artisans. It facilitates the use of modern technology to ensure quality testing of the raw materials, designing new product lines, and proper finishing and packaging of products. The STFC facilitates bulk procurement of high-quality raw materials and inputs to ensure product quality and economies of scale in operations. It has partnered with the National Institute of Design to facilitate the product development requirements of the poor producers. It will continue to forge institutional partnerships with leading design institutes to develop contemporary products in tune with present tastes and preferences, and thereby bring about considerable value addition to existing products.

Technical Alliances The STFC has brought about innovative solutions to help artisans build their competitive edge in the in the open market. It has designed a set of training modules that aim at continuous skill upgradation and skill development of the artisans. It continuously assesses the skill levels of artisans with A B and C analysis of their embroidery skills. Special training modules are prepared for C- and B-grade artisans to upgrade their skills. The STFC has partnered with the National Institute of Fashion Technology to establish a decentralised three-tiered production structure with a common production centre in Ahmedabad, two district main centres in Radhanpur (district Patan) and Nakhatrana (district Kutch), and 50 village-level common production centres at the village level in the first phase. All production facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art machines and facilities to implement quality control at all stages and ensure an effective production, packaging, warehousing and distribution system. Specific training modules are designed for production-related activities where artisans are trained to use new tools and

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equipment to enhance their productivity and ensure efficient use of resources. The STFC has a competent team of in-house experts and also forges alliances with specialised institutions to impart high-quality technical training. These institutional partnerships have been vital to the production of high-value-added goods that are no longer restricted to the niche handicrafts market segment, but are for the apparel, home furnishing and accessories market that experience high growth rates. For years these artisans had been selling their products for meagre sums to exploitative middlemen. With the establishment of the STFC the artisans became owners and managers of their own enterprises. The income levels increased from Rs. 500 to 1,500 per month in a sustainable manner. The technical assistance and business development services provided by the STFC has enabled them to strengthen their operations, develop contemporary products using their traditional skills, and access new markets both at the national and global level.

LESSONS LEARNT SEWA’s three decades of experience from informal to formal and local to global economy enables one to draw several lessons concerning the mainstreaming of informal economy workers. Such lessons could form the basis of recommendations for other organisations (either NGOs or international organisations) striving to integrate female workers from the informal sector to the mainstream market: 1. Organising workers and awareness raising activities are indispensable indispensable: In order to scale up to effectively integrate with mainstream markets, informal sector workers need to organise so that they gain strength in terms of efficient operations and bargaining power. Unless organised, they will continue to depend on middlemen for their income and moneylenders for all needed investments. In addition, women workers should be made aware to break both the information and gender divide that perpetuates an unequal socio-economic structure. 2. Continuous training and socio-economic assistance are required to upgrade skills and modernise production systems systems: Unless the human capacities of former informal workers are built, they will not benefit from their linking to the formal sector either. A transfer of knowledge and skills, contributing to build the capacities of the informal sector workers, is necessary to accompany the linking of the two sectors. Training should be provided in rural areas as well as in urban areas, which may require the creation of decentralised centres, or associations that would organise such training activities. The building of partnership with technical institutions and research centres could increase the quality of the training sessions. In addition, compensation in cash or grains for attendance of training sessions will ensure that the poorest of the poor artisans/producers are able to participate and benefit from them. Training programmes should be designed to culminate in opportunities to augment

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income in a sustainable manner. In addition, women will not be able to attend those training sessions unless minimum social services are provided to them such as childcare. Finally, the modernisation and rationalisation of their production unit will require investments and thus access to financial services. Therefore, unless an integrated approach to empowerment is adopted, the upgradation of workers’ skills and the modernisation of their production systems is unlikely to take place. 3. The building of larger organisations facilitates linking to the formal sector and efficient marketing of products products: It is difficult for small organisations of former informal economy workers to link up or build partnerships with the formal sector. They need to scale up. It is only when local economic organisations establish capable federations that they are able to forge fruitful linkages and partnership with the mainstream formal set-ups. In addition, such larger economic organisations enable their members to capture the benefits of economies of scale, facilitate access to financial resources, and encourage the pooling of information and ideas for the modernisation and rationalisation of the production unit. 4. Experience of the local formal market is required to increase competitiveness before contemplating entering the national or global market market: Women workers from the informal sector need to develop their technical skills over a period to assert their economic strength at local and domestic levels before contemplating expansion to global markets. Such experience enables them to understand the needs of the market and to design responsive marketing strategy. The building of capabilities is indispensable to forge balanced, mutually beneficial partnerships with larger companies providing access to the global market. 5. Expansion to national or global market is facilitated when partnership with larger companies are built: Larger corporates already have access to the national or global market, and thus can facilitate the marketing of local producers’ products. Such partnership should also contribute to transfers of technology and effective backward linkages with grassroots producers.

ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE SEWA’s strategy for effective empowerment of women workers in the informal sector and creation of sustainable livelihood strategies rest on an integrated approach to building market linkages. This entails efforts ranging from the very creation of market structures in rural subsistence economies to developing marketing networks at the national and global levels.

The Creation of Formal Markets in Rural Areas Most poor producers in rural underdeveloped areas operate in subsistence economies where market mechanisms fail to operate. This entails creation of markets in these areas

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to bring about the gains from trade and market-driven strategies. Operations include an assessment of the current purchasing power of the community and making substantial improvements by introducing and strengthening a rural distribution network. A procurement system whereby poor producers sell their products at fair prices is the first step in improving their economic organisation. Creation of rural markets becomes the vital link whereby the poor producers can gain access to formal marketing systems from which they have been excluded. The SGMH realised the need to strengthen local market and thereby the village economy. It set up a rural marketing distribution network (the RUDI Bazaar). To implement this network, the SGMH has provided inputs in designing the RUDI Bazaar, and training and capacity building of grassroots workers to work as sales and procurement agents in pricing, market research and in assessing buying capacities. The rural distribution network has three major components: procurement, processing and marketing. The SGMH: 1. Will source agriculture and cottage industry commodities directly from the producer, giving them a better return than a middleman would; 2. Has hired SEWA members to work in a processing centre in a village were the products will be centrally graded, cleaned and packed; and 3. Has hired its members as sales agents in each village to sell goods to the end consumer in a direct-to-home distribution model. The objectives of the distribution network are to: 1. Bring affordable goods (sourced from poor producers at fair price) to rural consumers who are most often cheated on weight as much as on quality 2. Economically empower underprivileged rural women by providing them with sustainable income generation activity; and 3. Improve the overall realisation of small and marginal farmers by establishing a system to market their produce to consumers directly. This will free them from the dependency on middlemen that is always disadvantageous to the small farmer.

Expected results The RUDI Bazaar will procure agricultural commodities and other goods from rural producers, employ poor women to process these goods, and finally sell quality goods to consumers. For consumers, RUDI will offer the rural consumer a range of quality commodities and cottage industry products at competitive prices. It will also bring a change in the mindset of rural consumers in terms of enabling them to demand quality products and value for money. Also, by introducing products sold by grammage rather than price, the SGMH will be helping the rural poor not to be cheated on future commercial transactions. The initial focus of the distribution network is rural India,

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but ultimately the SGMH will market these goods nationally. For producers, small and marginal farmers currently find lack of scale disadvantageous, especially when scattered in the country and confronted with middlemen. The rural distribution network will enable them to get fair prices for their products irrespective of their size and bargaining power. The network will simultaneously encourage entrepreneurship and create employment opportunities. Sales agents who will be SEWA members will also benefit as they should earn a gross margin of 10 per cent, which amounts to a profit of Rs. 1,200 per month approximately. The market potential of the initiative is huge, with the SGMH’s base of 530,000 women in 14 districts of Gujarat. The RUDI Bazaar will help and generate work and employment for 31,000 households, and generate an income of approximately Rs. 12,000 to 15,000 per woman per annum.

The Integration of Female Workers from the Informal Sector to the Global Market In order to meet the economic challenges of globalisation it was mentioned previously, the STFC has initiated two important global networks: GRASSNET and GTN. GRASSNET is a network of grassroots producer organisation in the SAARC member countries. It aims at providing national and international linkages to SMEs and micro enterprises in the South and South-East Asian region to strengthen business operations and expand marketing opportunities by providing access to wider regional and global markets. The GTN or Global Trading Network is a partnership of grassroots producer organisations, country governments and international development institutions. It is a unique model that includes grassroots producers groups (GPO) across three continents—Asia, Latin America and Africa. The GTN is a Section 25 company registered in India, where the majority shareholders are the GPOs. Profits earned are reinvested into the organisation, for ensuring better support to existing GPOs and increasing the GTN membership base. Its objective is to link poor producers with national and global markets, thereby offering access to both domestic and external trade opportunities, which, in turn, increase sustainable employment opportunities. The GTN will improve poor women’s access to formal markets so that they benefit from trade and investment flows. It will act as a gateway to global networking and integrate trade in favour of the poor.

Capabilities of the GTN The GTN has two major capabilities: creating linkages and facilitating trade. The former will support GPOs in making regional and global linkages with other groups, buyers and those who can offer technical, financial and marketing assistance. In addition, this capability will provide knowledge management for the exchange of best practices and information valuable to GPOs, as well as trade policy analysis and advocacy representing GPOs interests.

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The trade facilitation capability will offer a trading platform for GPOs to sell their goods to buyers online and offline in both local and international markets. In addition, product development and quality control will be managed by the GTN, ensuring best quality, contemporary products using traditional skills. The GTN will also support the distribution networks from the villages to the customers. Objectives of GTN are: 1. To provide technical, infrastructural as well as financial assistance along with access to information database to poor and grassroots producers and their organisations in member countries. 2. To assist producers to enter international markets besides facilitating market linkages and undertaking analysis and advocacy for change in the public policies of government and international organisations that will provide the producers and their organisations covered under the objects of the company to get level playing field. 3. To bring about the empowerment of poor producers together with the enhancement in their standard of living as well as providing them a viable and secure livelihood. The GTN has been to piloted in India. After the completion of the pilot in 2005, the GTN has expanded to other countries in Asia, moving into Latin America and Africa in the subsequent years.

CONCLUSION SEWA has been working relentlessly to promote self-reliance and provide full employment to its members in the past four decades. Its model of self-reliance is based on organising women and providing them with sustainable work and income earning opportunities using their indigenous skills. Creation of sustainable livelihood strategies led to the demand for scaling up from operations of subsistence economic activity to commercially viable operations. This entailed establishing strong linkages with mainstream markets at the local, regional and global levels. The three case studies presented in this chapter clearly explain SEWA’s strategy to adopt an integrated approach in providing a range of holistic, technical and business development services to build business models, for grassroots producers that effectively integrate with mainstream market systems. These models, based on ‘collective entrepreneurship’ have been by far the most effective way of overcoming market failures by strengthening bargaining power, attaining economies of scale, and acquiring competitiveness for micro enterprises and self-employed workers in the informal sector (Sachs 2004).

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NOTES 1. 2. 3.

District associations are federations of groups of workers/artisans who are spread over the various villages in the districts. It is the most important institution for any form of collective enterprise. SGMH classifies small and marginal farmers as those with less than 10 hectare of land. Here, it seems like there is considerable scope for SGMH to analyse the amount of increased income potential that can be harnessed through the use of such quality controls.

REFERENCES National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). 2000. Quinquennial Survey of Employment and Unemployment 1999/00, Report No. 455. New Delhi: Ministry of Planning and Statistics, Government of India. Sachs, Ignacy. 2004. UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries. New York: United Nations. Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. SEWA and World Bank PREM. 2001. ‘Voices of the Poor’, Mimeo. Washington DC: World Bank.

SECTION IV

CIVIL SOCIETY, GENDER AND GOVERNANCE

10 Women’s Movement and Governance: Issues and Challenges Indu Agnihotri

INTRODUCTION

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INCE the early 1990s, governance has featured in discussions between various agencies, including the World Bank, IMF, donor agencies, UN and the Indian government apart from NGOs, women’s organisations, women’s studies scholars and others, broadly labelled as comprising ‘civil society’. The discussion revolving around governance, good governance and participatory and humane governance has focused on several issues: decentralisation, which has emerged as a mark of more representative and participatory government; best practices with a strong anti-corruption thrust in its connotation if not in practice; and development and sustainable economic growth. The impression conveyed is that governance focuses on processes that make the act of ruling democratic and more participatory, and by so doing, sections of civil society are enabled to influence policies and the path of development pursued. This chapter argues that elements in the emerging reality are contrary to the aspirations and expectations of those involved in advancing participatory governance. The real agenda being pursued in fact advances neo-liberal policies of imperialist globalisation, and there is a need to consciously engage with these developments in order to intervene in favour of pro-people policies. Modern democracies headed by elected governments operate within constitutional frameworks to uphold existing hierarchies and maintain the locus of power in favour of privileged social groups. This exercise of power is not neutral in its purpose nor in its impact. The dawn of capitalism on a world scale historically added a new dimension to the exploitative potential of power, enabling governments of advanced capitalist

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countries to uphold and perpetuate imperial interests through direct political control of colonies, and international treaties that legitimised imperial authority (Bhattacharya 2004). Recalling this history helps to understand how the governance model being advanced through the trade regime of the WTO bolsters a world order to suit the interests of international capital. Clearly, trade agreements are once again being used to impose conditionalities that predetermine outcome at both the national and international level. These impinge on the sovereign rights of governments in the arena of domestic policy making to hold out a real threat of disallowing states from intervening to ensure a level playing field for their citizens and perpetuate inequality between nations. The welfare state, which emerged out of the creative interaction of bourgeois democracy with socialist ideologies and movements in the phase of ascendant capitalism, is today under siege. This poses a challenge to social movements in developing countries in the new millennium. The governance agenda, which aims at ensuring that policies adopted within nations give a free play to market forces, also has an internal dimension: of institutionalisation of a policy of exclusion with regard to citizenship rights. Proactive policies to stem social inequalities are ruled out while differential notions of rights that citizens can access in a market-determined socio-political arena are projected in the name of free competition. Since women constitute the disadvantaged amongst most socially marginalised groups, these developments could lead to circumscribing their rights with regard to state, citizenship and sovereignty. Combined with the threat from fundamentalist assertion, governance agendas, as prioritised by international agencies, hold out a distinct threat of divesting women, or sections amongst them, of the right and opportunity to live as equal citizens of a sovereign democratic state. The paradox between popular aspirations and the agenda of governance being pursued by the Bretton Woods institutions is clearly visible with reference to women’s rights. This threat remains despite the fact that in gender and governance-centred activities at the grassroots level, issues of decentralisation and participatory decision making are the most publicised and have had a spin-off effect with respect to the outcome of the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution, introduced in 1993.1 Women’s representation is viewed from different perspectives by participants in the debate. Women’s organisations see in it an opportunity for widening the scope for democratic participation in policy making. Funding agencies, on the other hand, tend to see participation in local-level bodies as the end goal, leaving macro-level issues for the big players. The latter represents the core issue of governance as defined by the World Bank and aims at restructuring paradigms to advance the neo-liberal agenda of the new international order. This chapter outlines the debate and investigates the extent to which this directly influences the perspective and policy planning of the Government of India, which in turn impacts lives of women. In India, this is clearly visible in attempts to move from a universal rights framework to a justification for selectivity in the state’s commitments at the level of practical implementation in the name of efficiency and effective governance. This has translated itself as ‘targeting’ in schemes aimed at tackling poverty alongside the privatisation of delivery mechanisms. The strategy and manner of implementation of the governance

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agenda thus effectively results in curtailment of the rights and entitlements of citizens and an abdication of responsibilities by the state towards its citizens. Women are thus confronted with the dual prospect of increasing inequalities along with the state according recognition to differential citizenship. Seen in this context, the governance agenda is rife with contradictions. Recent years have seen massive struggles on issues of food security, work and livelihood issues, which have brought into focus the impact and implications of policies pursued. There is greater mobilisation of and by the poor to be recognised as poor in order to access resources that only the state can garner and provide, even as the desired outcome is the realisation of aspirations and opportunities through a state committed to an egalitarian order. Thus, fulfilling the basic needs of its citizens, or of some of them, has become dependent on acceptance by the state of a framework that is premised on departure from the liberal welfare state model of universal rights. This is used to legitimise selectivity even as the discourse on governance bids for international acceptance on the basis of a ‘universal rights framework’, which is seen as being advanced by the context of globalisation.

THE WORLD BANK–IMF INITIATIVE ON GOVERNANCE Since the late 1980s, the World Bank began to place greater emphasis on the policy environment in which technical cooperation was being undertaken to focus on the political climate and thrust for policy measures, the rationale being that lapses with regard to governance were a key factor accounting for failure of technical cooperation. Whereas the Bank had thus far, apparently, maintained a distance from political developments, hereafter political processes were identified as crucial since ‘if we are to achieve development we must aim for growth that cannot be easily reversed through the political process of imperfect governance (Conable 1991).2 Subsequently, as the functioning secretariat for consultative meetings of various donor consortia, the Bank came to occupy a strategic position with regard to conveying the political conditions to be met, even as it formally stuck to a ‘non-political mandate’. Thus, aid became dependent on a fresh set of political conditionalities with the agenda of good governance providing an instrument to donors to legitimately scrutinise, judge, certify and influence the process of ‘reform’ with regard to the internal structures of recipient countries. Scholars noted that renewed interest in the concept of governance originated in the circle of international donor agencies, the World Bank in particular and that the notion of good governance has served as a general guiding principle for donor agencies to demand that recipient governments adhere to proper administrative processes in the handling of development assistance and put in place effective policy instruments towards that end (Doornbos 2003). Further, the concept is being used to induce reforms within the institutional environment of recipient countries, ‘giving rise to new contents for the good governance metaphor’ as a normative prescript applied primarily in the context of countries in the South. Somehow, governance has started to ‘draw attention to a whole range of often largely unspecified issues’, largely pertaining to public policy

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making and structures of authority. It also ‘deflects attention specifically from the locus and the arena of actual decision making, which could be within the state, within an international organization or within another structural context’ (Doornbos 2003). It is no coincidence that the current discourse on governance began to take shape after 1989, when the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc gave it a new rationale in the eyes of the Bank. After 9/11, conditionalities directed at the internal political structures were used to facilitate imposition of the WTO regime, and principles of national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs were given the short shrift. The initiative of the Bank in reordering the world in the wake of regime changes was soon taken up by the International Monetary Fund, which asserted that good governance is important for countries at all stages of development. The IMF chose to concentrate on those aspects of good governance that are most closely related to surveillance over macro-economic policies, the transparency of government accounts, the effectiveness of public resource management, and the stability and transparency of the economic and regulatory environment for private sector activity.3 Subsequently, taking note of the ‘significance of good governance for economic efficiency and growth’, the IMF felt the need for a broader range of institutional reforms, ‘to establish and maintain private sector confidence and thereby lay the basis for sustained growth’ in view of the ‘contribution’ that ‘governance issues could make to macro-economic stability and sustainable growth’. Governance issues came to be seen as improving the management of public resources; supporting development and maintenance of a transparent and stable economic and regulatory environment conducive to efficient private sector activities and aimed at curtailing state investment in development; and the removal of social regulation of the private sector in industry, commerce and finance. The IMF accepted that ‘it is difficult to separate economic aspects of governance from political aspects and it is legitimate for management to seek information about the political situation in member countries as an essential element in judging the prospects for policy implementation.’4 Considering that stemming corruption is projected as part of the USP of the governance agenda, what the IMF sees as a step in this direction is very revealing. Corrupt practices could include ‘government activities, including the regulation of private sector activities that do not have a direct impact on the budget or public finances, such as ad hoc decisions made in relation to the regulation of foreign direct investment’, since such practices would be counter to the IMF’s general policy aimed at providing a level playing field to foster private sector activity. Changes could be sought in the form of ‘removal of individuals from involvement in particular operations where corruption had occurred’; financial regulations; ‘weak administration of tax laws, procedural complexities or the widespread abuse of exemptions’. Failure to satisfy the IMF could result in withholding of financial support (IMF 1997).5 Clearly, in this vision, good governance is seen as that which promotes capitalist rationality in the global era. For the World Bank and IMF, the governance agenda is central to the strategy of enforcing shifts in macro policies through conditionalities attached at the time of disbursement of aid/loans. The ‘new emphasis on the market and civil society’, in the 1990s saw a retreat of the state (Jayal 2003). Interestingly, this shift from state-sponsored developmental

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policy occurred at the same time as the decentralisation agenda. Decentralisation, a key agenda of SAPs, transfers state responsibilities to lower levels, thereby reducing governmental expenses. As pointed out, ‘It may also be intended to deflect some of the dangers to the central government by making lower administrative levels the targets of popular protest and thereby weakening the ability of opposition movements to forge national campaigns’ (Isaac and Franke 2000: 250). Advanced in countries under structural adjustment, the World Bank and donors played a role in determining this reform agenda which ‘appealed to the imagination of analysts as well as practitioners’ and became a ‘focal point for intellectual and policy discourse’, though it lacked a firm commitment to more democratic or participatory political regimes (Doornbos 2003). There is a need to distinguish the neo-liberal agenda from democratic decentralisation based on alternate models of development as attempted in the Kerala model of decentralised planning in India and in similar attempts by social movements in other countries, Peurto Allegre being more well-known. While decentralisation is advocated by people of ‘widely different persuasions’ and projected as an ideal by several exponents, ‘its instrumental significance depends on the linkages with the larger sociopolitical context’ (ibid.). There is ‘widespread and deepening concern that neo-liberal economic policies are creating a disabling environment for women’s enjoyment of human rights’ (Elson 2002). Focused on strengthening of private property and profits, market fundamentalists see the state as a key threat to freedom and growth with the Bank and IMF propagating a policy of ‘grow first, redistribute after’. There is a reduction in the state’s provision of resources for redistribution and social protection and development within this framework. The ‘changing direction of public policy means that the poorest women in poor countries have been deprived of even the prospect of the progressive realization of a non-discriminatory system of decent jobs and public services and broad-based social security systems’, since that is no longer the object of public policy in most countries. Nevertheless, it is argued by some that ‘universal state-based entitlements which are equally available to all members of a society are more likely to be more accessible, more transparent, and more effective’ (ibid.). For this, hopes rest on the UN establishment for while the concept good governance has been widely adopted in donor agendas, UN agencies have tried to modify and broaden the debate on development to give it a ‘human(e)’ face.

UN AGENCIES AND ‘HUMAN’ DEVELOPMENT With the publication of the Human Development Reports (HDRs) and development of indicators to assess human and gender development since the mid-1990s, the UNDP has propelled the discussion on development and governance. This has generated euphoria in discussions on governance and engendered a debate on process and institution building, taking into its ambit academicians, activists and state agencies. In this context, it may be useful to examine the extent to which the World Bank, IMF and donors have influenced the debate on development within UN agencies.

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Significantly in 1994, the UNDP released a policy document titled Initiatives for Change, which defined the parameters of good governance and traced the evolution of its approach. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the UNDP had focused on participatory approaches to development, recognising the value of ‘local ownership’ in the development process to ‘achieve benefits for primarily rural communities’. This was reflected in conferences held in Alma Ata, Nairobi, Vancouver and Jomtien. It is claimed that since the mid-1990s the UN has been ‘leading the debate on the impact of governance on development, arguing specifically that sustainable human development and governance are indivisible’. Earlier, when development cooperation was viewed as a technical process to increase economic potential through transfer of aid, technology and political and economic processes, the vehicle for this was the state, seen as the prime organiser and provider of economic and social development. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the role of the state itself was placed in doubt and governments were thought to be pursuing economic policies which were too interventionist. With reorientation towards market economics, the role of the private sector increased and the state was no longer regarded as the provider of economic and social development. In a marked shift, governance came to be defined by UNDP as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels, comprising the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which that authority is directed. Good governance, seen as participatory, transparent, accountable and efficient, aimed at promoting the rule of law and equal justice as the responsibility of the private sector and civil society, as well as the state, all of which have important roles to play in promoting sustainable human development. While the UNDP still maintains that the goal is to develop capacities needed to realise development that gives priority to the poor, advances women, sustains the environment and creates needed opportunities for employment and other livelihoods, clearly there is a shift in agencies identified and in the role envisaged for the state. More emphasis is laid on the linkages between state, private sector and civil society since relationships between these determine whether a nation can create equitable opportunities for its people (UNDP 1997: Chapter 1). 6 Thus, since the late 1980s, policy prescriptions to improve economic performance emphasised reduced government intervention in the marketplace. The tilt towards free market economics envisaged an increased role for the private sector and called for widespread administrative and economic reforms aimed at reorienting the role of governments. This involved reducing the role of the state, removing subsidies, privatising state businesses, liberalising prices and opening borders to the flows of international trade and finance. By 1992, the UNDP was formally using the term ‘governance’ to describe policy actions required to translate economic growth into human development. With the publication of its governance policy in 1997, governance was explicitly confirmed as a programming objective within UNDP, being an outcome of several years of debate and discussion, not only on the role of the UNDP, but also on the factors which advance human development, the role of extra-governmental actors, and on the policy environment in the development process. This led to a change in the UNDP’s organisational role and perspective, giving it the status of a fund administration agency,

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not a development organisation. As SAP began to dominate the development agenda, developed countries gave low priority to international aid. Even as the annual HDRs promoted a debate on development, organisational agendas were under pressure from programme countries, coinciding with the global economic transition. However, given the distress resulting from free market reforms, some donor agencies reconsidered human-centred approaches bringing in the basic needs approach. Meanwhile, changes came within the UNDP with the setting up of technical divisions for women, NGOs, private sector and management development (UNDP 1997a: Chapter 2).7 The UNDP was under pressure to ‘reform the public administration to address these new relationships and to encompass an increased role for local authorities and the private sector’, leading to a new Management Development Programme. It admits to finding itself ‘at the crossroads in the early 1990s’, in the face of convergence of several factors, including the ‘external influences of economic liberalization and the internal forces of refocusing UNDP’s efforts towards human development’. This fundamentally altered the way in which UNDP approached technical cooperation, and the organisation found itself struggling to combine the goal of poverty alleviation with the new objectives. Through the HDR, its main contribution to the development debate, it also tried to ‘expose the myth that economic growth automatically leads to human development’. The tussle between different perspectives within the UN reflects the largely successful attempt of the Bank–IMF to determine the parameters within which the concept and strategy of development and governance are viewed. Integration with the World Bank– IMF position was facilitated by programme countries increasingly making demands for assistance in modem management sectors as transitional economies got under way. This directly affected fund allocations. In 1988–89, the first major global programme to support governance-related initiatives—the Management Development Programme (MDP)—was allocated US$ 60 million, followed by the establishment of a Management Development and Governance Division. Between 1992 and 1996, allocation for ‘good governance and public resource management programmes’, rose to US$ 1.3 billion to represent nearly one-half of total programming resources. While allocations for governance programmes varied, nearly 80 per cent were devoted to public and private sector management; 55 per cent to enhancement of economic and financial management; 36 per cent to public sector management (civil service reform); and the remainder to aid co-ordination. Undoubtedly, a crucial element of public sector reform includes macro-economic management and, the objective for the public sector in this new environment is to create the conditions in which markets can perform well, analyses of the speed and severity of macro-economic adjustments and greater attention to bringing business and government together. The struggle within is admitted: the UNDP continues to adopt a high profile in ensuring that issues of poverty alleviation are not left by the wayside as economies adjust; further, ‘programmes often touch on the sovereignty of individual states and established political and power relationships’, including evaluation of roles and capabilities of political parties (ibid.: Chapter 5).8 Finally, concern is expressed for gender equity to admit that current governance structures heavily favour men, since unequal sharing of power leads to unequal sharing of resources. The family and community are seen as ‘sites of governance, since they

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are places where people interact and power is exercised’, but they ‘exist interdependently with local, national, and international levels of government, and the state of gender relations between these two spheres of family and government must be recognized’ (UNDP 1997a: Chapter 8).9 While the comment on the gendered nature of power relations is pertinent, contestation of the same is limited by acceptance of the neoliberal developmental paradigm within which issues of governance are to be addressed, blurring inequalities at the social, national and international level. The weakening of the welfare state, as an institution that can be pressured to address inequalities, also results in reducing the capacity of social movements to struggle against these. The UN’s efforts to promote development thus appear to be caught in a time warp given the changed context. Development and governance, like the ideas and activities around civil society participation and ‘non-governmental organisations, constitute new weapons in the armoury of an anti-politics machine’ constituted by the practices of international development. Good governance is projected to mean government that is transparent and accountable, working within a clear and consistent legal framework. However, it is premised on an understanding that such governments must provide as well as survive amidst conditions for effective and efficient markets. This makes the ‘good governance’ agenda one of intervention aimed at transcending democracy to implement the Washington Consensus, with macro-economic policy being treated as a given parameter (Elson 2002: 108; Harris 2001). There is a need to examine the stance of the Government of India in the context of this larger picture, with attempts being made to pose micro issues as the only way out from the poverty and destitution women face. The response of the women’s movement to changes in the macro sphere shall determine its capacity to effectively intervene on behalf of women. This, of course, shall be determined by ideological responses, and trends and dynamics developing within the women’s movement and its links with other social movements.

WOMEN, GOVERNANCE AND THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA To analyse the implications of emerging agendas for women in the development processes within India, it is necessary to briefly understand the context in which women have been viewed within the planning process since independence. In the first instance, the approach to women’s development in the First Five-Year Plan (1951–56) was not clear. The women’s question was perceived primarily as a social one, and the role of the state in social issues was viewed with great hesitation and caution. Women were projected as being in need of education, health and welfare services only. Mahila mandals were promoted as the ‘delivery mechanism’ for essential services like education and health, especially for maternal and child health by the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) and the community development programme.10 The Third, Fourth and Fifth Plans, including the four years of Plan Holiday before the Fifth Plan, continued the same approach, with declining support for the strategies of organisation building and human resource development with some priority accorded to women’s education after the report of the National Committee on Women’s Education (1958–59).

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At the time of the Sixth Five-Year Plan in 1980, organisations lobbied with the Planning Commission to push for a specific focus on women, specifically with regard to anti-poverty measures. This yielded results, and in the anti-poverty programmes, the share of women beneficiaries was increased to 40 per cent of allocations (Agnihotri and Mazumdar 1995). The strategy of organising women around socio-economic activities was reiterated in the Seventh Five-Year Plan, and chapter 14 of the Plan document demonstrated some advance in the use of ‘feminist’ language. However, in Part I of the Eighth Plan, women were mentioned only in the context of (a) population control, or (b) women-specific programmes, ignoring demand for mainstreaming women’s issues. In the chapter on social welfare, some emphasis was laid on employment and education. At the time of the Ninth Plan (1997–2002), in the background of economic reforms, the Beijing Conference, and sustained efforts made by activists and scholars, a fresh attempt was made to focus on women in development leading to women’s allocated share in official anti-poverty programmes being raised to 50 per cent (UNIFEM 2000). A comprehensive review was also undertaken of women and development as it emerged through the Five-Year Plans and an approach spelt out for the coming years with ‘advancement, development and empowerment’ identified as central issues. After the Social Development Summit at Copenhagen, the Indian government resolved to ‘undertake special measures wherever necessary to eliminate all forms of discrimination or disparity’, and ‘making women equal partners in the national development process and equipping them to make informed choices in order to actualize their self-worth through empowerment are goals to which the government is committed’ (Government of India 1997: 1).11 The Ninth Plan aimed at a holistic approach to women’s development, to review laws, procedures, rules, policies and programmes, to ensure gender equality and equity. A ‘sub-plan approach to package all relevant resources and benefits for women’s development’ was put forward (Government of India 2000: Introduction, p. 16).12 This was also in response to lobbying by sectional/marginalised groups who demanded resource allocation in view of the retreat of the state. Women’s component plans along with sectoral plans were devised with earmarking of allocations in every department/ministry/programme along with an annual review planned in Parliament and state legislatures. With the resurgence of the women’s movement in India in the 1980s, pressure had been mounted on the state to act on behalf of women. The response of the political establishment was visible in the approach reflected in the Ninth Plan and in efforts to ensure women’s greater participation in decision making as also the drawing up of gender development indices for the country, with a special focus on the girl child. These were earlier reflected in the 73rd and 74th Amendments passed in 1993. Meanwhile, the economic aspects were spelt out: a focus on women in eradicating poverty, giving priority to programmes to address basic livelihood issues, and ensuring capacity building through education and training to empower women to become effective agents of change. However, as the political context changed rapidly, these measures came to be subsumed in the agenda of good governance, which was seen as crucial to achieving 10th Plan targets. With the state on the ‘retreat’ and government disinclined to being

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proactive, it is clarified that, ‘Governance relates to the management of all such processes that, in any society, define the environment which permits and enables individuals to raise their capability levels, on one hand, and provide opportunities to realize their potential and enlarge the set of available choices, on the other (Tenth Five Year Plan 2002–07).’ Further, the ‘efficient macro-economic management of the economy [which] is a necessary condition for mobilizing public resources to fund the development process’, and is defined in terms of the three elements of institutions, delivery mechanisms, and the supportive and subordinate framework of legislations, rules and procedures (Government of India 2001).13 Translated on the ground, the twin agendas of governance and reform hinge around fiscal sustainability and targeting, understood not in terms of expansion of existing facilities or rights, but, rather, provision of facilities deemed absolutely necessary to maintain large sections of the Indian people at a subsistence level. The mandate of the WTO ‘directly impinges on the sovereign rights of the member countries in domestic policy making’ (Womenspeak 2000).14 In this changed context, development is ‘viewed in terms of the efficiency with which it uses an economy’s productive capacities, involving both physical and human resources, to attain the desired economic and social ends (and not just material attainment)’. To this end, it is ‘absolutely essential to build up the economy’s productive potential through high rates growth, without which we cannot hope to provide expanding levels of consumption for the population’ (Government of India 2001–02).15 However, in the age of market reforms, a policy focus for exploiting synergies between economic growth, desirable social attainments and growing opportunities for all presupposes efficiency. This, in turn, depends on the ability to effectively target schemes/programmes towards the most deserving and depends critically upon the quality of governance. ‘The better the levels of governance the more precise can be the targeting. The corollary to this is that in the absence of acceptable levels of governance, it would be preferable to eschew targeted programmes in favour of more generally applicable schemes’ (ibid.: 180).16 As compared to the more comprehensive approach of the earlier period which aimed at ensuring rights and opportunities for all, there is a focus on efficiency, governance and management of resources for growth, which can be ensured by targeting specific schemes and development of individual capabilities. The framework has changed; so have the goals. Given the new paradigm and acceptance of market liberalism, it is expected that the state yield to the market and the civil society in many areas where it, so far, had a direct but distortionary and inefficient presence. Many development functions as well as functions that provide stability to the social order have to be progressively performed by the market and civil society organisations. This means extension of the market and civil society domain at the expense of the state with increase in overlap in some areas. The shift to management strategies is not difficult in view of the chant of ‘good governance’. Unlike the previous plan, in its discussion of dimensions and strategies, the Tenth Plan document hardly takes cognisance of women and barely refers to: separate component Plans for the disabled, with women, presumably, being subsumed in this category in the section on social justice; schemes for the reorganisation of family welfare

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personnel; for under-nourished and adolescent girls; and the National Plan of Action for Empowerment of Women (Government of India 2001–02: 218–20).17 These shifts need to be assessed in the context of the observation that the country is experiencing a shift or transition into a new paradigm of governance, which aims at the state losing its pre-eminence as an agency for development. Analysis focuses on the changing role of the state, decline of the welfare state and the influence of neo-liberal ideology, as well as its purposefulness for attaining better economic development (Shylendra 2004). There is evidence today to show that substantial numbers of women have been adversely affected by globalisation processes, which have resulted in serious gender imbalances, the extent being dependent upon the specificity of prevailing norms, institutions and policies in a country. The financial crisis generated by globalisation and cuts in social protection have been more disadvantageous to women. The reduced space for national macro-economic policy is an important component of this. Growth of public investment in the economy is tied to strengthening of the state and underlines the importance of domestic resource mobilisation. For this, attention needs to be paid to ‘the importance of strengthening national governance, achieving greater coherence in national policies on issues of global governance, adopting the goal of decent work for all as a central policy objective and of social dialogue in the policy formulation process’ (ILO 2004a). Reports point out that the new liberal cosmopolitanism promotes a global order that limits national sovereignty by strengthening the hold of international agencies seeking an enlarged role for market forces and pressurising states to decentralise responsibilities, leading to cutbacks on financial and administrative commitments. This is seen to accentuate inequalities and governance failures, and to enhance the influence of supposedly neutral technical institutions as against political structures. This has a tendency to replace collective entitlements with individual contributions, resulting in a widespread sense of powerlessness and insecurity (ILO 2004b).

PERSPECTIVE AND RESPONSE FROM THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT The women’s movement in India represents a vast and diverse canvas in terms of its social base, range of issues addressed, ideological orientation, as well as membership and mobilisation capacity of organizations, and it would be unfair to speak of it in the singular. However, one of the features characteristic of a sizeable and vocal section of the movement has been engagement with government policy and institution building. Spearheading this struggle on a long-term basis has been a coalition of national-level organisations networking with others. These have worked together on several issues, despite differences, for nearly two decades and a half. Interestingly, while the movement is seen to have gained visibility in the public sphere on issues of violence, one of the areas in which sustained effort has been made is in engagement with the larger framework of policy formulation on legislative aspects and livelihood issues.

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Starting with identification of the issues laid out in the CSWI’s report, Towards Equality, the economic status of women, and the impact of development strategies and processes have been issues of debate. One of the first joint documents that emerged from the Delhi-based network of national organisations marked an intervention before the finalisation of the Sixth Five-Year (Plan). 18 Since then, issues of women’s low workforce participation, impact of new technologies, discrimination in wages and labour policy, condition of women in the informal sector, critique of the National Perspective Plan, and impact of SAP and broader macro-level policy changes and institution building aimed at democratisation of the political processes have been central to the day-to-day functioning of many of these organisations (Agnihotri and Mazumdar 1995). While the movement has intervened on micro-level issues, it has also engaged in critiquing government policy at the national level, even as it has drawn on international conventions and declarations to allow for the widest possible frame of reference (Charter on Employment 1983; NPP 1988). 19 Both as part of joint networks and independent units, organisations have focused on the adverse impact of policies. These have ranged from mass-scale national-level campaigns on aspects such as the right to work, to struggles by women in agriculture, fisheries, quarrying, beedi, tobacco, coir, plantations, handloom, etc. apart from the organised as well as unorganised workers in the urban sectors. A comprehensive listing of the struggles even over the last 10 years is not possible here (CWDS 2005).20 Some of these address hierarchies based on caste, class and gender, as also regional unevenness. However, the fact that women still constitute the largest section amongst the poor in India speaks for the limits to which strategies adopted by the movement have made inroads into official policy or impacted the social climate to stem the oppression women are subject to. Meanwhile, the political climate has become increasingly more hostile with the increasing influence of anti-women, reactionary and sectarian-fundamentalist ideologies (Womenspeak 2000).21 These come into direct conflict with the movement’s efforts to democratise both the process of policy formulation as well as women’s role in decision making, so as to allow for incorporation of their perspectives and needs. Interestingly, while there is much activity around the theme of representation in decision making at the grassroots level, there is a closure sought to be imposed on the perspective and goals of policy making. This is an attempt at depoliticisation, which hinges upon enhancing participation of women at the lower levels alongside exclusion from discussions on macro policies and defeats the goal of democratization of society and structures. This is the central challenge confronting the movement with regard to the governance agenda. It has also been pointed out that the condition and position of women ‘cannot be assessed in a vacuum or confined in a narrow sectoral space. It is not only within the territorial area of the governmental ministry of human resource development, or the even smaller box of women and child development that its true measurement can be found. It is to be seen in the much larger frame of what is affecting the people of India, whereby, new centres of power and global control born out of globalization—such as the new infotech businesses and markets, and the WTO—can affect the least visible

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village in the poorest nation, and take the commodification of women to new depths.’ Meanwhile, ‘dialogue between the government and the women’s movement has been sporadic, good only in parts. A real partnership has not emerged. There is concern at the trend towards privatisation of social sector services and commitments, with public anxiety that the state may be abdicating its on role in these’ (India Task Force on Women 2000).22 Attention has been drawn to the marginalisation of women due to macroeconomic policies and their impact on women’s lives. Emphasising that women’s participation in the political process is central to the functioning and strengthening of democracy but it is equally crucial to their struggle against oppression, organisations have tried to identify the link between political representation and the struggle for equality to challenge the hierarchies and ideologies that hold them in bondage (Towards Beijing 1995: 89).23 These interventions address multi-level oppression and discrimination even as they seek immediate relief for concerned segments to counter the havoc caused by economic policies. At the same time, activists and academicians have sought to concretely engender both the methodology as well as processes of data collection in an effort to give visibility to women’s work and economic contribution. Starting with debates before the Census of 1981, these have moved on to concretely address issues of measuring women’s work time. Today, these efforts fall into place in a larger matrix of engendering policy making with a mandate to introduce a gender component plan and gender budgeting. Undoubtedly, the mode of engagement with issues at the level of macro policies has been varied. Resistance has sometimes taken a militant form, as in struggles on issues of privatisation of water, power and other natural resources over the last few years, and has met with severe repression, forcing women to question the neo-liberal agenda wherein the state retreats from its positive commitments on behalf of women even as it reinforces inequalities. Critical examination of issues of governance within the liberalisation framework is thus today seen as an imperative task for the movement if gains made over the last three decades at the national level have to be held on to. Amongst others, there are three major issues on which the present perspective on governance in an immediate sense is at variance with perspectives emerging from the women’s movement. These relate to food security, the Employment Guarantee Act and population. All three bring into the forefront conflicting perspectives emerging from within the government, as dictated by the neo-liberal agenda, and the equality/ entitlements framework within which the movement has sought to advance the debate on governance. On all three issues, the government has been pushing for a line of targeted interventions, while spokespersons, on behalf of women and social movements and coalition partners within the UPA government, have been arguing for a wider policy framework within a democratic perspective.

Food Security The right to food security is directly linked to trends in agriculture and diversion of land from labour-intensive crops like rice to prawn fisheries or from irrigated crops to horticulture. With expansion of cash cropping, glut and price crash often take place,

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aided and abetted by export agents: changes that have increased risks since international prices are notoriously volatile, lead to fluctuation and insecurity of income, resulting sometimes in indebtedness and suicides, including in the richer districts. Between 1990 and 1995 area under food grains fell by nearly 7 million hectares, and that, under raw cotton, soyabean and other oil seeds increased by almost the same extent (Patnaik 2004). Meanwhile, the issue of measuring poverty has continued to be debated. The Planning Commission has one set of estimates to decide the number of poor, while studies by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau show that 48 per cent of all adults are malnourished; the National Family Health Survey shows that around 47 per cent children are malnourished; according to data from the National Sample Survey the share of expenditure on food is 60 per cent or more for 90 per cent of the rural population, and 60 per cent of the urban population. It has been argued that food share is a relevant indicator of poverty to be taken into consideration for any food-subsidy programme to be effective since it shows that family budgets are sensitive to fluctuations in food prices and can make the difference between survival and starvation (AIDWA). 24 The present food policies of the Government of India, fashioned as per requirements laid down by the World Bank–IMF, include the dismantling of the universalised Public Distribution System (PDS) and allowing the profit-based free market to take over the distribution. Efforts are on to push the government to officially accept this perspective, with antipathy to corruption, leakages, low off-take, pilferage, cost of distribution and cost of holding food grains being arguments advanced in its support (Swaminathan et al. 2004). Despite widespread malnourishment, starvation deaths, suicides and distress sales, including of women and children, the NDA government chose to subsidise export of food grains while the rural poor faced cuts in food subsidies and targeted PDS. The Tenth Plan, notably, concluded: ‘having more or less achieved the objectives of food security, the development perspective towards agriculture needs to undergo a change’ (Government of India 2001: 147).25 Clearly, the perspective on growth today focuses on production figures with no consideration of the purchasing power of the wide mass of people. As a consequence, while 60 million tonnes of food grains rotted in godowns in the early years of the millennium, the government refused to distribute it at low prices, and a substantial portion became unfit for human consumption. During 2002– 03, 9.6 million tonnes was exported, mostly at a price lower than what families below the poverty line had to pay in ration shops. Reports also revealed that Rs. 32 billion worth of food grains, approximately 5.2 million tonnes was ‘missing’ or more likely stolen. This huge scam was indicative of the government’s callous approach, even as low off-take indicated the low purchasing power of people in view of loss of livelihood and financial earnings. Some agencies propagate ‘grain banks’ run by NGOs as a better way of ensuring access to food stocks by the rural poor, ignoring the fact that there is, and can be, no substitute to the state’s responsibility to feed, the poor and provision of infrastructural support by the government. While the UPA government has been cautious in its public statements on the issue of hunger, the ‘reforms’ agenda is all too dominant.26 Policy pronouncements continue to be in favour of targeting and are linked to budgetary cuts, restricted access to state subsidies and reduction of public

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expenditure to reduce fiscal deficit. In the current mode of thinking, food security is no longer seen as a fundamental right of all citizens. As activists point out, ‘targeting is not simply about ensuring that the poor get their due, but also about excluding those whom the state believes do not have the right to access the subsidized system’ (Moghe 2004: The Right to Adequate Food, www.thehindu.com).27 The failure of targeting has been one of the focal points of social movements’ response on this issue. Combined with administered hikes in the prices of foodgrains, targeting has virtually destroyed the rationing system. Given widespread poverty, targeting based on identification of families living in extreme poverty for entitlements under the Antyodaya, or the poorest of poor, who are at the starving threshold below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL), is intrinsically flawed and aimed at giving a rationale for cuts in subsidies even as it is defended by taking the plea that it brings more relief to the really poor. Based on arbitrarily decided numbers of BPL families in different states, it often becomes one of excluding rather than including the poor, a fact recorded by the government-appointed Sen Committee (Government of India 2002).28 While some remedial policy measures have been forced through a public interest litigation filed in the Supreme Court, attempts to obfuscate the issue continue by way of controversy around the method and measure of poverty, definition of poor, or even division amongst the extremely poor and not-so-poor. Campaigns on the issue across the country, continue to focus on the flawed methodology of assessing poverty, the caloric standard for measuring malnourishment, and the fact that 70 per cent women suffer from anaemia. Most agree that official poverty measurements in India have to be radically altered if the real poor are to be identified. Some have voiced the need to include other factors such as malnourishment and percentages of family income spent on food requirements, as well as collection of gender-segregated data (Women’s Equality 2003).29 In the absence of this, the BPL becomes a political strategy of the neo-liberal agenda to implement pro-rich policies, ‘a political line to derecognise the poor as being poor and thus deny them their basic rights’ (Swaminathan et al. 2000). It has earlier been argued that the costs involved in extending a universalised PDS would be less than the cost of holding and the subsidy provided for exports by the previous government, and that the food subsidy at just around 1 per cent of the GDP has not changed much over the last 20 years. The food subsidy at present is around Rs. 250 billion, much of which is simply going to pay for holding excess stocks. While the total cost of a universalised PDS would not be much more than what is already being spent, the gains from not dividing the poor would be enormous. In times when the politics of divisiveness is pervasive in its influence, targeting becomes another handy tool in the hands of such forces. At a Sangharsh Sabha held in New Delhi on 24 April 2003, women activists specifically identified the following demands: universalisation of the Public Distribution System and that the right to cheap food grain through a strengthened rationing system be made a fundamental right; as an interim measure, all BPL cardholders be given food grain at Rs. 3 per kg (rice) and Rs. 2 per kg (wheat) (Antyodaya scheme prices); widows, single adult women, disabled persons, persons over the age of 60 and female-headed

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families, regardless of whether they have BPL cards or not, be given immediate access to grain at these prices; and ration quotas be made individual rather than family-based. The declaration called for solidarity of social movements to defend the interests of the working people against the onslaught of liberalisation policies as these have ‘increased inequalities between the rich and the poor and—because of the prevailing male supremacist cultures—between men and women’. Participants in the convention, held on the 10th anniversary of the 73rd and 74th Amendments, asserted that when large sections of women are struggling just to ensure the survival of their families and themselves, the full potential of such measures cannot be realised (ibid).30 Thus, the demand for food and work is related to strengthening democratic processes and women’s participation in these.

The Right to Work The failure to generate employment needs to be tackled by state intervention, more so if it is to address gender and regional imbalances, and this cannot be left to market forces was the specific observation of the Human Development Report South Asia (UNDP 2003: Overview, Chapter 2).31 The Common Minimum Programme, adopted when the UPA government assumed power in 2004, highlighted its promise of the right to a minimum of 100 days of work. This is significant since current estimated rates for employment continue to be high and several committees set up by the Planning Commission in recent years have addressed this problem. However, the Bill introduced in Parliament after assuming power offered a considerably restricted ‘scheme’ rather than a ‘right’ to citizens. The watering down was defended on the basis of nonavailability of funds. Activists, in the meantime, highlighted the fact that subsidies to the corporate sector have been increasing with every budget along with the continued open loot of banks by the corporate sector through unreturned loans. The preamble of the Bill placed before Parliament declared that the Act would ‘safeguard livelihood of every household in the rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed employment at the statutory minimum wage to its adult members who volunteer to do casual manual work’ (NREG Bill 2004, Government of India). The legislation generated heated debate in view of attempts by government and the ‘reform’ lobby to restrict provisions of the proposed Act to sections of the poor rather than accept universal application. The Bill was considered inadequate on several other counts. First, its applicability was restricted only to rural areas, excluding the urban poor; it lacked assurance of an unemployment allowance in case the government was unable to provide work as well as accountability at the local level; it was restricted to only 150 ‘backward’ districts. Jean Dreze, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), drew attention to the fact that ‘universal allocation is not a ridiculous idea’ and that for a Bill that was supposed to bring security to people’s lives, it needed to be made ‘irreversible’. He asked; ‘What sort of guarantee is this if you can take it away? You can’t switch a law on and off’ (Frontline 2005).32

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On 10 December 2004, on the occasion of Human Rights Day, the AIDWA, the largest mass organisation of women in India, submitted a memorandum to the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development to argue that the draft Bill was ‘flawed’ in a manner that ‘dilutes the basic commitment made’ in the CMP. Thus, activists and academics addressed the issue from a range of perspectives, articulating strong reservations about the plea taken that an Act to assure employment guarantee to all adults was neither feasible nor could the central government shoulder the entire responsibility due to lack of financial resources. The draft National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2004, raised issues similar to those on food security since it was aimed at the enhancement of livelihood security provided to ‘poor households’, defined as ‘living during the relevant financial year, below the poverty line and included the households of all primitive tribal groups’. With reference to the proposed narrowed targeting of BPL households, it was once again pointed out that the present poverty line was flawed and under contestation both at the grassroot level as well as among expert economists. Further, upward and downward movements of households and people could never be captured by any given poverty line. Experience of such ‘BPL targeting in the case of subsidized food through the Public Distribution System, as opposed to the universal principle, only resulted in exclusion and not inclusion of large numbers of the poor and needy from access to food and led to growing hunger.’33 The objection was not to the prioritisation of the poor in the Bill, but to the restriction of the proposed guarantee to the ‘officially defined poor’ which would mean that ‘a much smaller number of households’ would be eligible for guaranteed employment as well as the unemployment allowance. If entitlements are to be based on the basis of such categorisations, the struggle shifts from asserting and enjoying rights as citizens to a struggle to be recorded as ‘poor’ in order to become eligible for benefits under poverty alleviation schemes. Further, specific points were raised pertaining to the definition of the household as members of a family related to each other by blood, marriage or adoption and normally residing together and sharing meals or holding a common ration card, along with the total absence of any specific guarantees for women. In the absence of the latter, the restriction of the scheme to one adult per household, defined as a common dwelling unit, would become another instrument of exclusion of women. It was proposed that the Bill should specify that one-third of the beneficiaries have to be women in view of Planning Commission guidelines that in all government employment and poverty alleviation schemes provision be made for 40 per cent of the workdays generated by the employment guarantee schemes to be earmarked for women by insertion of a special clause to such effect.34 There was recognition on the part of women’s organisations of the need to debate positive interventions based on the realisation that policy initiatives based on the exclusionary principle further enhance the vulnerability and process of marginalisation of women. The summer of 2005 also saw detailed surveys at the village level, public hearings and a Rozgar Adhikar Yatra to pressure the central government to revise the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill to guarantee universal and irreversible employment. The bus yatra, organised by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee, a

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conglomerate of over 150 civil society groups, covered 10 states—Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh—to culminate in Delhi, after 48 days on the road. The purpose of the yatra was specifically to put pressure on the central government to replace the draft Bill with an undiluted version based on the original draft prepared by the NAC. The standing committee to which the Bill was referred has reportedly accepted the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to all adult members per household for 100 days to 200 districts in February 2006 to be extended and removal of the BPL condition for entitlement. In 2007, the government announced that the NREGA would cover all districts however, the points of criticism that surfaced in the debate raised several issues of wider significance. The attempt on the part of government to restrict the provisions to the format of another scheme rather than make it an Act with universal application was part of the reforms agenda of governance, which aims at restricting efforts to ensure citizenship and sovereignty on a universal basis and favours selectivity. In the process, it also lends legitimacy to the idea of differential notions and categories of citizenship. The selectivity criterion, introduced by new governance policies, undermines the philosophical notion of equal citizenship to one of entitlement to beneficiary of schemes on the basis of belonging to separate categories. While these may be useful for demarcating the administrative scope and ambit of implementation of schemes, to elevate these to the status of being basic categories for entitlements at the political level is to elevate an administrative distinction to a philosophical proposition. In the process, what happens is that constitutional provisions as well as the promise of equality are diluted.

The Population Debate The issue of population, it has been argued, is one where rational and historical examination of facts is often clouded, or occluded. There is a widespread belief in the notion that population growth is the cause of poverty; that it constitutes a threat to environment; and that it can act as a security threat to the interests of powerful nations. Referring to the startling similarity between Malthusian times and neo-liberal ones, anxiety has been expressed about the evoking of neo-Malthusian policies in complicity with morally offensive policies among the people, including racist, communalist or anti-people agendas (Rao 2004). The long-standing debate on the issue of population seemed to have achieved a preliminary consensus evolved at the time of the Cairo Conference, the ICPD, 1994, as well as internal opinion building on the issue, which was apparently also reflected in the National Population Policy. Women’s organisations had their reservations on both these, but it appeared that the government had accepted that its policies would be formulated within a no-target, no-coercion framework. India is already in demographic transition and a declining trend in population growth rates is visible since 1971. This decline has been more pronounced during 1991–2001. The population growth rate, however, continues to be high due to a number of factors. However, the UPA government in 2004 proposed the Rural Health Mission that once again referred to a sharply targeted population control programme, with identification

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of 150 high fertility districts for which funds were to be set aside. Specified as a Mission Mode, the programme made no commitment to the institution of the now-dismantled primary health care system in the public sector. Instead, it sought to re-instate all the objectionable objectives of the earlier population policies in the name of rural health despite assurance by the minister for health and family welfare that no coercion would be considered as it would amount to a violation of fundamental rights. Contrary signals appeared to be gathering momentum along with reported moves to once again induct harmful long-acting hormonal contraceptives into the family planning programme. No thought is given for instance to close overlap between social deprivation indices, the spread of new technologies of both new reproductive technologies and assisted reproductive technologies, and the alarming adverse child sex ratio. There have been indications that sections within the government were for pushing an aggressive policy with a one-child norm and for linking it with conditionalities attached to access to PDS and other such beneficial measures/schemes, but these met with resistance from some political leaders. Referring to the expectation in the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government that women bear the full burden of population control, in a public meeting held late in 2004 activists drew attention to the now nearly half a century of population versus development debate, sedulously promoted by certain international and national lobbies, which has given political, social and economic legitimacy to projecting this enemy with a female face. They expressed concern at the alarmist response on the issue with constant mention of the population ‘bomb’ ticking away, in conjunction with widespread son-preference, both being responsible for the decline in the child sex-ratio (CSR) since 1961, and the masculinisation of the sex ratio at birth. Between 1991 and 2001, the CSR in urban areas declined from 935 to 903, and in rural areas from 948 to 934. Representatives demanded measures to reverse the alarming trends in health sector development in the country during the 1990s: that the proposed rural health/ tribal health/etc. Mission Plan of the Department of Family Welfare (which are only disguised attempts at population control) be first subjected to public debate; there be no place for harmful contraceptive technologies such as injectibles and implants, nor for sterilisation with the aid of incentives/disincentives, and that targets should not be specified for village-level or community-level health workers or private practitioners.35 In recognition of the gravity and social implications of the increasing gender imbalance among more than half of India’s population, the two-child norm had been abandoned from the official policy of 2000, along with the instruments of targets, incentives and disincentives. These were now sought to be brought back in another name. Several states had, in the meantime, already adopted the two-child norm in violation of the national policy. Thus, even as the Government of India earned tremendous admiration within and outside the country by reserving a minimum of onethird seats for women in all local government bodies, the pro-democracy objectives were being vitiated by several states introducing the two-child norm as a qualification for the sarpanch post. A study undertaken of invocation of the two-child norm to disqualify members from panchayats highlights this in a very significant way. (There is evidence of the misuse and adverse consequences on women of these laws which have,

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unfortunately, also been upheld by the Supreme Court.) Field investigations in a number of states reveal that this mandatory disqualification leads to a number of malpractices and human tragedies. It is the poorest and most socially marginalised women (and men), the dalits and adivasis, who are disqualified and removed from their seats. There is no evidence of such disqualifications improving preference for small family size. The desire for a son overrules people’s aspirations for wining elections. Instead of addressing the issue of the lack of, say, women in decision making with regard to family and children, leave alone the dangers of hazardous contraceptives, such policies strengthen an anti-women slant and defeat the purpose of the 73rd and 74th Amendments. 36 In response to social activists highlighting this issue, states revoked the decision to use the two-child norm as a disqualification for the present, and the prime minister has expressed disagreement with ‘coercive’ strategies. However, the danger of such policies lurks continuously and threatens to circumscribe women’s entitlements to other rights and beneficiary schemes on account of their specific reproductive capacity and role.

THE ISSUES AT STAKE The multiplicity of actors engaged in the discourse on governance, today, represent a range of institutions, ideologies and interests. Whilst the UNDP’s efforts to initiate a debate on gender and governance reflect a groping for certain common values, goals and strategies to rescue the values of gender equality and justice from the global politics, in the post-1989 phase, the Bank has been more brazen in criticising the behaviour of state classes; and felt free from compulsions to refrain from exercising political influence, according to its constitution (Tetzlaff 1995). Under these circumstances, there is every danger of the Government of India taking the cue from its financiers, losing sight of its constitutional commitments and goals. The discourse on governance highlights the role of civil society to argue that the government or the state alone cannot be the actors promoting change. The argument comes from funding agencies as well as the government. However, in the contemporary discourse on development, articulated by international agencies, notably the World Bank, there is a good deal of emphasis upon the virtues of ‘participation’, sometimes taken as implying also ‘empowerment’, and ‘decentralisation’, which is seen either as the key means of realising participation or sometimes as being more or less equivalent to it. ‘The ideas of civil society and social capital have been painted as being progressive and they are deceptively attractive. They are attractive because they imply active support for the ideas and the needs, and the aspirations of the common people. Can one possibly be against empowerment and participation? But these ideas are deceptive because they are used to veil the nature and the effects of power, and they hold out the prospects of democracy, without the inconveniences of contestational politics and the ideas and interests that are essential part of democracy’ (Harriss 2001).

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Recent writing has focused on the enhanced role of civil society and organisations representing the same. However, the existence of civil society and of a generalised trust in it presupposes an institutional framework put into place through the agency of the state. Further, ‘a vibrant civil society … implies the presence of a strong sense of civic and community responsibility amongst people, acts both as a vital check upon the activities of the state and as a kind of conduit between the people and the government’. Scholars have also pointed out that an area of society that in its core is as political as governance is now projected as being ‘completely apolitical, more techno administrative’, and in this way the door is opened to interference by the World Bank (George 1999).37 While recent attempts at reconceptualising governance agendas in terms of plurality of domains constitutes an improvement upon earlier state-centric notions, there is nothing ‘inherently gender-friendly in this widening ambit of governance because the focus in these new definitions, on the essentially public institutions of state, market and civil society, implicitly endorses the divide between public and private institutions, keeping the latter firmly outside the realm of governance concerns’ (Jayal 2003). Consequently: as states contend with internal and external pressures, it is women who are facing the primary risks and debilitations of shifts and failures in state commitments. Women are still largely dependent on the state for resources and services that make it possible for them, at least minimally, to cope with the discriminatory sexual division of labour, an inequality that in itself compromises any bid at material autonomy and accompanying freedoms. Withdrawal of the state from its welfare functions will burden women still further. (Tambiah 2003)

The very definition of governance needs to be engendered before embarking upon the project of engendering governance itself. Through their emphasis upon public institutions, current definitions reinforce the public–private divide, and make little or no attempt to recognise the private sphere as an arena influencing the exercise of social power and modes of governance. A study noted that: An ethical framework of gender sensitive governance is already provided within the Constitution of the Indian Republic which upholds the principles of gender equality, gender justice, and the dignity of the individual. Between them, these three subsume the concept of human rights from a gender perspective. The emphasis of the contemporary debate on instrumentalities of good governance in terms of transparency, accountability, participation, etc. without this ethical framework is self-defeating.38 (CWDS 2001: 4–5)

It pointed to ‘various sources of contradictions and conflicts between the normative/ ideological goals and the instrumentalities of governance’. These lay in the area of tensions between the electoral arithmetic and the power dynamics; the nature of economic development and enhanced inequalities; and marginalisation of people, including women, and an expanded base for continuation of a culture of dominance. The women’s movement in India is committed to national sovereignty and opposed to new methods of colonisation even as it pushes for greater sensitivity and political

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will to erase social inequalities. Its perspective is that of sustained constructive criticism. To the extent that people’s protests influence official negotiations, it must also establish contact with like-minded civilian groups in other countries and evolve a pro-people common agenda. These activities are not to be seen as separate from the more wellknown efforts of women’s organisations aimed at countering the violence women are exposed to, both in the public and the private spheres. The links between violence, poverty and globalisation need to be drawn at all points of time. The movement sees highlighting these issues and critiquing macro policy frameworks as part of the positive agenda of demanding equality for women so that they may live a life of dignity (Womenspeak 2000).39 Activists see the spread of violence against women and continuing inequality within the family as linked to wider processes in society. These include the social impact of liberalisation processes. Attempts have been made to focus on the cultural politics of globalisation and how consumerism fosters practices including in the manner of revalidation of tradition even as it promotes modernist lifestyles (Palriwala 2005). It is widely perceived that policies promoting strategies of imperialist globalisation perpetuate, preserve and advance social inequalities, and the processes of exclusion specifically target women. The movement is committed to challenging cultural codes that allot women a: subordinate status in the household and elsewhere… [and a] struggle to give women a rightful place in the political and public domain. The former struggle involves a recasting of codes which structure a woman’s place in family, the latter involves a similar recasting of those codes which have denied women access to the public space of civil society. Both these sets of codes constitute gendered identity and the struggles attempt to dismantle both. (Chandhoke 2004)

Vested interests maintain their control over society through structures that act as instruments of wielding and asserting power, both by way opposition as well as cooption. To assume that the role of political structures in perpetuating hierarchies, be they based on class, caste, gender, nation or ethnicity, can be merely wished away by making governance more participatory in the sheer physical sense is to display naivety. As the experience of the 73rd and 74th Amendments in India shows that to make even women’s participation more visible is a struggle; to expect it to yield results in terms of interventions to undermine vested interests is an even longer process. It is not just a question of time; rather, there is possibility of a backlash against any challenge to the authority of these entrenched interests. This lends urgency to addressing the threat to the gains made over the years. The reality confronting the women’s movement today is that of a threat to the commitment to equality through the agenda being projected by the Bank, the IMF and donors, and its espousal by governments at the centre. In the instance of its failure to do so, the hope that participatory forms of governance and representation in decision making bodies may address inequalities and discriminatory practices may prove to be of no avail. A more meaningful engagement with issues of class and ideology, arising out of the non-homogeneity of the category of women, needs to be consistently pushed into the forefront. The women’s movement, along with other social movements,

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stands on the threshold of a long struggle ahead. In this struggle, its ideological moorings shall determine whither it shall head. This paper, in an attempt to trace the links between the present discourse on governance and its influence on national policies, focuses on critical perspectives based on the experience of the women’s movement in India. It foregrounds the need for adoption of a historically analytical approach to issues of governance and examination of the social, economic, political and institutional context in which concepts are embraced as well as their ramifications in the ideological domain in view of a conscious attempt to assume a seemingly incontestable consensus.

NOTES

1.

2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12. 13. 14. 15 16. 17.

I would like to thank Indrani Mazumdar for her ideas and patience and Paulomi Pal for logistic support. Based on a positive assessment of women’s experience in local representative bodies organisations have been demanding reservation at higher levels. Legislation on this is still pending despite the report of a Joint Select Committee of Parliament. See Womenspeak 2000; Kasturi 1999; Seminar 1997. Barber B. Conable, ‘Opening Remarks in World Bank’, Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics, 1991; Washington DC: 1992; www.imf.org. For this, see remarks of Michael Camdessus, IMF Managing director, Address to the UN ECOSOC, 2 July, 1997; www.imf.org. This discussion is based on a document IMF Guidelines. IMF, Washington DC, 1997; also see Jack Boorman, Director, Policy Development and Review Department, in Preface to Guidelines. Henceforth referred to as ‘ IMF Guidelines’; www.imf.org. See IMF Guidelines, op cit. For this section, see UNDP and Governance, Experiences and Lessons Learned; Management and Government Division. Lessons-Learned, Series No. I, 1997, Chapter I, the Emergence of Governance in Development Cooperation; www.undp.org. See Chapter 2, op cit; also see UNDP, Reconceptualising Governance, Discussion Paper 2, Management Development and Governance Division, 1997, New York; www.undp.org. See Chapter 5, op cit. See Chapter 8, Conclusions, op cit. For a more comprehensive picture and the debates, see Gender and Governance: A Country Paper, India, CWDS. New Delhi, 2001, unpub. Report of the Working Group on Women’s Development, Department of WCD, MHRD, GOI, New Delhi, 1997, p. l; the report offers a comprehensive review specific immediate and long-term goals with regard to women’s concerns not seen in GOI’s documents since CSWI’s Report Towards Equality, Report the Committee on the Status Women in India, 1975. See Ninth Plan 1997–2002, Planning Commission, GOI, see Introduction and p. 16, GOI, New Delhi, 2000. Approach Paper to the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002–2007), Planning Commission, New Delhi, 2001; also see Annual Report, DWCD, MHRD, GOI, New Delhi. See Womenspeak, op cit. For this section, see Chapter I. Perspectives, Objectives and Strategy in Tenth Plan. Dimensions and Strategies; Vol. I; pp. 1–2; op cit. Ibid., Chapter 6, Governance and Implementation, p. 180. Ibid., pp. 218–20.

246 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

34. 35. 36.

37.

38. 39.

INDU AGNIHOTRI Development Imperatives, Memorandum submitted to the Planning Commission by women’s organisations, 1980, New Delhi. See NPP: A National Debate, 1988, New Delhi (unpub) and Charter on Employment, 8 March 1983, New Delhi. See Proceedings of the Seminar on Globalisation and the Women’s Movement in India, CWDS, New Delhi, 2005. Womenspeak op cit. India Task Force on Women 2000: What has Changed for Women and Girls in India Since 1995? NGO country report on Beijing Plus Five-from the Indian Women’s Movement, 2000. Towards Beijing: A Perspective from the Women’s Movement, New Delhi, 1995, p. 89. From AIDWA, Note on Food Security, New Delhi, See Dimensions and Strategies, op cit., p. 147. See Text Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation, 24 June 2004, http//:meaindia.nic.in. Kiran Moghe, Background Note, Convention on Right to Food and Work, Bhopal, 11–13 June, 2004 (unpub); also the Right to Adequate Food, see www.thehindu.com. Report of the High Level Committee on Long Term Grains Policy, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, GOI, New Delhi, 2002. See report on Sangharsh Sabha in Women’s Equality, July 2003, New Delhi. See Sangharsh Sabha, op cit. Human Development Report of South Asia, 2003, see Overview and Chapter 2, A Profile of Employment Challenge in South Asia, OUP, Karachi, 2003. Frontline, Volume 22, Issue 12, 4–17 June 2005. CWDS Memorandum on the NREG Bill, 2004, to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, New Delhi, 2005; also see resolution adopted by the Xl National Conference of the IAWS held in May 2005 in Goa on the subject. AIDWA Memorandum to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, 31 May 2005. Memorandum on Gender Justice vs. Population Control, submitted to the Honourable Prime Minister of India by Women and Health Organisations on 21 January 2005, New Delhi. Some of the findings this research in progress were shared at a public meeting organised at the initiative the CWDS on 9 November 2004 in New Delhi; also see Memorandum from women’s organisations to the Hon’ble Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, 15 April 2005. Susan George, ‘A short history of neo-liberalism: Twenty years of elite economics and emerging opportunities for structural change, conference on economic sovereignty in a Globalising World’, http//www.zmag.org; Bangkok, 24–26 March 1999. Gender and Governance: A Country Paper, India, CWDS, 2001, pp. 4–5. Womenspeak, p. 42.

REFERENCES Agnihotri, Indu and Vina Mazumdar. 1995. ‘Changing the Terms of Discourse: Women’s Movement in India 1970–1995’, Economic and Political Weekly, 30(49): 1869–78. Bhattacharya, S. 2004. ‘The Colonial State: Theory and Practice’, Presidential Address, Indian History Congress, 65th Session, Bareilly. Chandhoke, Neera. 2004. State and Civil Society: Explorations in Political Theory. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI). 1975. Towards Equality. New Delhi: Government of India.

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Doornbos, M. 2003. ‘Good Governance: The Metamorphosis of a Policy Metaphor’, Journal of International Affairs, 57(1): 13–17. Elson, Diane. 2002. ‘Gender Justice, Human Rights, and Neo-Liberal Economic Policies’, in M. Molyneux and S. Razavi (eds), Gender Justice Development, and Rights. New York: Oxford University Press: 78– 112. George, Susan. 1999. ‘A Short History of Neo-liberalism: Twenty Years of Elite Economics and Emerging Opportunities for Structural Change’. Conference on Economic Sovereignty in a Globalising World; Bangkok, 24–26 March. Government of India. 1997. Report of the Working Group on Women’s Development. New Delhi: Department of WCD, Ministry of Human Resource Development. ———. 2000. Ninth Five Year Plan 1997–2002. New Delhi: Planning Commission. ———. 2001. Approach Paper to the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002–2007). New Delhi: Planning Commission, New Delhi. ———. 2002. Report of the High Level Committee on Long Term Grains Policy. New Delhi: Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs. ———. 2004. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Draft). New Delhi: Government of India. Centre of Women’s Development Studies (CWDS). 2001. Country and Governance: A Country Paper. New Delhi: CWDS. ———. 2005. Proceedings of the Seminar of Globalisation and the Women’s Movement in India. New Delhi: CWDS. Harriss, John. 2001. Depoliticising Development: The World Bank and Social Capital. New Delhi: Leftword. Hindu: ‘The Right to Adequate Food.’ India Task Force on Women. 2000. ‘What has Charged for Women and Girls in India since 1995’. NGO Country Report on Beijing Plus Five. International Labour Organisation, 2004a. A Fair Globalisation: Creating Opportunities For All. Geneva: World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation. ———. 2004b. Economic Security for a Better World. Geneva: ILO Socio-Economic Security Programme. International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1997. IMF Guidelines. Washington, DC: IMF. Isaac, T.M. and R.W. Franke. 2000. Local Democracy and Development: People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning in Kerala. New Delhi: Leftword. Jayal, Nirija G. 2003. ‘Locating Gender in the Governance Discourse’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: UNDP (HDRC). Kasturi, Leela. 1999. ‘Pernicious or Necessary: Women’s Reservation Bill’, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 6(1): 123–28. Moghe, Kiran. 2004. ‘Background Note: Convention on Right Food and Work’, Bhopal, 11–13 June. Palriwala, Rajni. 2005. ‘Dowry and Globalised Capitalism’, in Proceedings of the Seminar on Globalisation and the Women’s Movement in India. New Delhi: Centre for Women’s Development Studies. Patnaik, U. 2004. ‘The New Colonialism: Impact of Economic Reforms on Employment and Food Security in India’, in M. Bhattacharya (ed.), Perspectives in Women’s Studies: Globalization. New Delhi: Tulika. Rao, Mohan. 2004. From Population Control to Reproductive Health: Malthusian Arithmetic. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Shylendra, H.S. 2004. ‘The Emerging Governance Paradigm and its Implications for Poverty Alleviation and Equity’, Working Paper no. 182, Institute of Rural Management, Anand. Seminar, 1997. No. 457. Swaminathan, M.S. et al. 2000. Weakening Welfare: The Public Distribution of Food in India. New Delhi: Leftword. ———. 2004. National Food Security Summit 2004: Selected Papers. New Delhi: World Food Programme. Tambiah, Yasmin. 2003. ‘The Impact of Gender Inequality on Governance’, in Essays on Gender and Governance. New Delhi: UNDP (HDRC).

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Tetzlaff, Rainer. 1995. ‘Good Governance: A Useful Concept for Change’, Development and Cooperation. UNIFEM, 2000. India: Engendering the Ninth Five year Plan—The Think Tank Process. New Delhi: UNIFEM. UNDP. 1997a. ‘Reconceptualizing Governance’. Discussion Paper 2, Management Development and Governance Division, New York. ———. 1997b. ‘UNDP and Governance: Experiences and Lessons Learned’. Lessons Learned Series No. 1, Management Development and Governance Division, New York. ———. 2003. Human Development Report of South Asia. Karachi: Oxford University Press. Womenspeak. 2000. United Voices Against Globalisation, Poverty and Violence in India: Six Women’s Organisations. New Delhi. Women’s Equality. 2003.

11 Engendering Governance: A Preliminary Enquiry into Formal and Informal Institutions Ratna M. Sudarshan INTRODUCTION

T

HE term ‘governance’ has been defined in many ways, and in common parlance is often equated with government or the institutions of government. In its wider interpretation, the term includes all of the various institutions in a country through which economic and political decisions are taken. A further widening of the term allows us to include both formal and informal institutions that have a bearing on how resources are allocated and power exercised. Governance, thus, is a term that tries to capture the fabric of decision making and participation in a society. As Nussbaum (2003: 5) put it, ‘A study of governance must include not only economic management but also political participation very generally—and participation in both formal institutions of the state (including legislative, legal and administrative institutions) and the informal groups, movements and institutions of civil society.’ The quality of governance in any place is associated with the level of transparency, the presence or absence of corruption, the extent to which the ordinary citizen has easy access to institutions, the level of responsiveness to concerns that people have, and so on. Good governance is seen as being essential both to economic development and political democracy. One aspect of good governance is that of its sensitivity to gendered concerns. Traditionally, in most societies, women have played a very small role, if any, in formal structures of governance. It has been argued that it is important to give women greater visibility in formal structures so as to allow them to influence decisions and to be able to mainstream gender concerns. Women’s presence has been

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more marked in some of the informal institutions, groups and movements within civil society. This chapter is based on two case studies of women from Shilling district in Almora, Uttaranchal, and from selected slum clusters in east Delhi. The choice of areas is intended to allow some comparison of rural and urban experiences. Of course, it needs to be emphasised that these are case studies, conducted so as to examine the issues from a micro perspective, and the findings cannot be generalised. The first section of this chapter discusses the concept of engendering governance and spells out the approach of the chapter. The next two sections present the two case studies. Finally, the last section pulls together some conclusions.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE’? There are three distinct ways in which we could define engendered governance. The first is the numbers of men and women who are seen as being active participants in processes of governance, behind which there is the sense of ‘critical mass’ as a necessary ingredient. Examples given as confirmation of the need for critical mass are often drawn from Scandinavian countries, and the fact that it became possible to increase spending on childcare, parental leave, and so on (UNRISD 2005:149). The use of quotas and reservations to bring in women in large numbers into legislative assemblies is based on the understanding that a few women, no matter how strong they might be, cannot ‘engender’ a system, and that equal or roughly equal participation is needed to ensure that both men and women’s voices are heard. A recent study suggests that gender balance or organisational dynamics might be a critical requirement in bringing down the level of corruption.1 But what exactly do we expect to see as different if we are able to accomplish the numbers dimension of the engendering process? The second dimension of engendering governance would be the sensitivity of processes and systems to gender concerns. For example, do we recognise and allow for constraints that women face as a result of their reproductive responsibilities? Can systems allow for different characteristics of male and female participants, or is there an expectation of androgyny? The third aspect is that of the agenda itself. Do the issues change? Are the resource allocations any different once we have better gender balance in the decision making process? So far there is little evidence to suggest that having more women in parliaments has been able to make a significant difference to priorities and allocations. One area in which a strong association has been found is that between women politicians and abortion rights. Another in which there is very weak association is that between numbers of women legislators and violence against women (ibid.: 163). But influence on the agenda is clearly an expectation from engendering. I would argue that governance can be said to be engendered only when all three indicators are present—numbers, sensitivity and agenda. Numbers alone are not enough even though it would certainly have an impact on ‘organisational dynamics’. Without sensitivity of processes, the participation of women may be nominal and half-hearted.

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And ultimately it is only with a change in the agenda, with a new and wider range of issues and concerns becoming a part of regular debate and decision making, that we can say that governance has been engendered. With this understanding, the case studies presented here are an attempt to understand the enabling and disabling factors in the quest to engender governance. In India, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments passed in 1993 have brought in over a million women into institutions of local governance. The criterion of numbers has thus been largely met for these institutions. There is considerable controversy and doubt on the other two aspects—how sensitive the process is and how much difference has been made to the agenda. Experiences vary, and hence the need for empirical verification. It has been well said that ‘in a country as geographically and culturally diverse as India, the character of Gram Panchayats naturally varies significantly, as do the women themselves’ (Vyasulu and Vyasulu 2000: 42). As a result of reservation, women now occupy a public space to which they did not earlier have access. The background of the elected women varies. A few have been active members of women’s groups and have acquired experience in the exercise of leadership prior to their membership of the panchayati raj institutions. The large majority are completely new to the system, unfamiliar with processes, and are content to be guided by their spouses or sons. Quite apart from the individual qualities of the women is the question of how far the structure itself is amenable to change, how deeply entrenched systems of corruption are, and how much space there is to introduce new items on the policy agenda. For example, one view holds that: Today, PRIs are not a third tier of government but only an extension of the second, functioning not as institutions of self governance but as agencies for executing a few programmes of the state government /GOI…. Panchayats are mostly busy implementing construction oriented schemes which promote a contractor–wage relationship…rarely are Panchayats active in education, health, SHGs, watershed, nutrition, pastures and forestry programmes which require people to come together as equals and work through consensus. (Saxena 2004: 53)

If this assessment is correct, the ability of the system to be responsive to local concerns is low, and the possibility of further sensitising the system to gender concerns is remote indeed. No one, whether male or female, would be empowered by their participation. It is sometimes assumed that it is only the formal institutions that really matter— that this is the arena in which hard decisions on resource allocation are taken. But we also know that women have a stronger presence in informal associations. In the case studies that follow, women’s experience with both formal and informal associations was investigated. The relation between the two—complementary, competitive or unrelated—was also examined. The case studies have, therefore, tried to understand: what motivates the presence and participation of women in formal and informal systems of governance; what evidence there is to suggest that either or both of these systems are sensitive to gender concerns; and to what extent the agenda itself has been influenced by the stronger presence of women. What, in other words, has been the experience and outcome of greater participation by women, and can the findings be used to say that governance in the areas studied has indeed been ‘engendered’?

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A PERSPECTIVE FROM UTTARANCHAL The state of Uttaranchal was formed on 9 November 2000 and has been carved out of the state of Uttar Pradesh. It borders Himachal Pradesh in the north-west and Uttar Pradesh in the south. It has international borders with Nepal and China. The state can be divided into three distinct geographical regions, the high mountain region, the mid-mountain region and the terai region. According to the 2001 Census, male literacy is 84 per cent and female literacy 60 per cent; non-enrolment of children in schools is practically negligible. Good performance on standard educational indicators goes alongside serious lack of infrastructure and access to facilities for health. With very limited industrialisation, the population is heavily dependent on the land for subsistence. With ecological degradation, decline of forest cover and increasing population, male migration to other parts of the country has been frequently resorted to as a strategy to cope with inadequate earnings. In consequence, women carry a heavy burden of work, as they have to manage land, livestock, housework and children all by themselves for much of the year. The experience with panchayat institutions now extends over several years, and two rounds of elections have already been held. Uttaranchal has a three-tier panchayat structure with 13 zilla parishads, 95 kshetra parishads and 7,055 gram panchayats in existence. The initial legal basis of the system was laid out by the UP Kshetra Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat Act of 1961 and the UP Panchayat Raj Act of 1947. Following the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1992, these acts have been amended. This section is based on discussions held with women from the villages of Kande, Kaura, Rana and Chaura, all in Shilling district, Almora. The women interviewed were all active in village affairs and members of an informal association, the Mahila Mangal Dal (hereafter MMD), which had been set up in each of these villages. It emerged that several women from the MMDs had contested and won panchayat elections. A comparison and contrast between the experience with the MMD and panchayats emerged out of the interviews. The interviews sought information on the nature of problems faced by the women and by people generally in the villages; the forums that were available to raise concerns and seek solutions; and women’s role and participation in articulating and finding solutions to these problems, and in general in the processes of decision making that were in force within the village. This included the experience with panchayats as well as more generally. The women explained the manner in which their lives were dependent on the quality of the natural resource base in the village, their concerns with fetching water, fuel wood and fodder, time spent in caring for cattle, and managing the small and scattered fields that are owned by most households in the hills. Much of the daily work relating to land, cattle and home is shouldered by women. The panchayats were present and active in all the villages and women were represented on them. But the women pointed out that the jurisdiction of the panchayat was somewhat different from the problems and concerns that they face every day.

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In their experience, the primary concern of panchayats was the allocation of money for construction of roads and buildings. The resources available to the village through the panchayats were already earmarked for certain schemes. The panchayat was, thus, not in a position to respond to other felt needs of local people, for health facilities, schools, and so on. Within its sphere of jurisdiction, the allocation of resources had to conform to established government procedures. Unfortunately, it also seemed to be inextricably linked to deeply entrenched patronage networks. Construction works require expenditure on both labour and raw materials. The women pointed out that the labour was generally hired through a contractor, and often from outside the village. Building contracts were also usually given to contractors from outside the village. The chain of intermediaries and relevant officials whose signature was required to complete a deal— all extracted their ‘commissions’. As one woman put it, ‘The amounts are all known in advance; the JE will take 8 per cent, BDO 2 per cent and pramukh 2 per cent of contracts’. Perhaps as a result of finding themselves—willing or unwilling—as a part of these patronage networks, secrecy and lack of transparency seems to characterise the functioning of the panchayat. Other studies have shown that there is a limited correlation between female participation and levels of corruption, for one reason because of the deeply entrenched nature of corruption networks (Vijaylakshmi, cited in UNRISD 2005: 183). As a result, those who are not a part of these networks (which includes most women for whom these are new roles and new spaces) are totally excluded, and the panchayat constitutes a closed rather than an open forum. The panchayat elections are strongly politicised, and votes captured through the distribution of money and liquor. Canvassing is directed towards men, and women are expected to follow the lead of the men of the family. It might well be queried whether these comments, made by a handful of women, reflect only the experience of a particular village or group of persons. How much validity can be given to such comments? The report of the Uttaranchal State Finance Commission throws interesting light on these perceptions. It seems that the panchayat system in Uttaranchal has not yet been able to devolve authority and resources adequately in the manner necessary to have an effectively functioning third tier. The following is an extract from the Commission’s report: 17.10 Powers and functions of Gram Panchayats: The UP Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, read with the changes made in 1999, assigns 30 functions to the Gram Panchayats. These cover a wide range of activity like agriculture, industry, land reforms, soil conservation, water management, watershed management, roads and bridges, rural housing, rural electrification, education, culture, sports, health, sanitation, child health and nutrition, drinking water, social welfare, welfare of weaker sections especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Public Distribution System, etc. In most of these areas the role assigned to them is that of promoting and assisting in the implementation of programmes and government efforts in these areas.

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17.11 It is only in a few areas that the Gram Panchayat may initiate activities. These are enumerated in Section 15 of the Act as follows: • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Development of wastelands and grazing lands and preventing their unauthorised alienation and use. Construction, repair and maintenance of minor irrigation projects, regulation of supply of water for irrigation purpose. Development of fisheries in the villages. Planting and preserving trees on the sides of roads and public lands. Implementation of rural housing programmes. Distribution of house sites and maintenance of records relating to them. Construction, repair and maintenance of public wells, tanks, and ponds for supply of water for drinking, washing, bathing, and regulation of sources of water supply for drinking purposes. Development of grasses and plants for fuel and fodder. Control on irregular transfer of fodder land. Construction and maintenance of village roads, bridges and ferries and culverts. Maintenance of waterways. Removal of encroachment on public places. Provision for, and maintenance of, lighting of public streets and other places. Establishment and maintenance of libraries and reading rooms. Organising cultural seminars on different festivals. Establishment and maintenance of rural clubs for sports. Regulation of melas, markets and haats in Panchayat area. Registering births, deaths and marriages. Preparation of plan for economic development of the area of the Gram Panchayat.

17.12 In all the above areas the powers of the Gram Panchayats to actually initiate activities are subject to the necessary powers being transferred to them by the relevant Departments of the State Government. As yet, very few of these powers have been transferred to them. The areas in which the Gram Panchayats have been actually exercising the transferred powers include distribution of scholarships to students belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Minority, Handicapped, Backward Class, and girl students; and monitoring and supervision of Fair Price Shops under the Public Distribution System. In 1999, the Government of Uttar Pradesh transferred some functions like primary education to the Gram Panchayats. Primary school teachers were also placed under the administrative control of the Gram Panchayats. Faced with stiff opposition from the teachers unions the government soon withdrew the orders regarding the transfer of teachers to the supervision of Panchayats. In principle, village level civic-type functions (sanitation, lighting, encroachments, construction) can be undertaken by the Gram Panchayats, but no such initiatives have come to the Commission’s notice. The wide distance between intentions and the realities of

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GPs has very seriously eroded the creditability of these institutions, among residents, office bearers, government functionaries, and the public at large. The women interviewed were enthusiastic in their descriptions of the activities of the groups to which they belonged, the Mahila Mangal Dals. The formation of these groups had been facilitated by the Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Kendra, a non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in Almora. Village-level MMDs have been federated into the Mahila Ekta Parishad, which now includes 44 groups and was formed in 1998. Both the panchayat institutions in their new form (subsequent to the constitutional amendment) and the MMDs were started roughly around the same time, that is, the second half of the 1990s. The focus of the MMDs has been on environment-related activities. The approach has been to organise women into village-level groups (that is, with one group per village) in which every effort is made to bring in all the women in the village. The group leaders are responsible for ensuring the unity of the group, and to lead the way for cooperative action for common problems being faced by the women. This is done with a strong dose of information and basic environmental education. The actions themselves put emphasis on locale-specific solutions. The development of the MMD in each village has followed a slightly different trajectory, reflecting the quality of leadership, village homogeneity, and the particular issues being addressed. However, the women interviewed felt that all the groups are able to mobilise and organise women for cooperative action, and that in all the villages, it has been possible to undertake several activities related to the management of natural resources in a spirit of cooperation and volunteerism. The development of group action appears to have started everywhere with an initial articulation by the village women of their immediate and practical needs. These include the daily drudgery involved in fetching water and fodder from some distance. Other issues that have been raised by women in most villages include the issue of violence. Violence emerges as a frequently faced problem, something that almost all women have had to learn to live with. According to the women interviewed, there is a strong correlation between the consumption of alcohol and violence against women. So, women get together often to stop the sale of alcohol. Village marches or andolans have been organised; in one village, the women declared that a fine would be imposed on any man who was seen to be drunk in a public place. More significantly, women have been willing and prepared to intervene in case there is an incident of domestic violence that takes place and they get to know about it—a significant reversal of the traditional silence that surrounds such matters and the reluctance to intervene in the private space. The women pointed out another recurring problem in their villages which was the breakdown of marriages, but without formal recognition of this fact or any legal settlement to provide some financial support to the woman. The social and economic vulnerability of women whose husbands wander away and the disputes over the custody of children was an issue that women felt they had to address. The MMDs have, thus, included legal literacy and processes of dispute settlement within the ambit of their work.

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The interviews brought out an interesting picture in which the two village-level fora, the gram panchayat and the MMD, seem to be operating in largely non-overlapping spheres. While the gram panchayat is mandated to allocate resources for village development, this basically means accepting and implementing certain schemes which are centrally designed and developed, and most of which are related to construction of infrastructure—there is no flexibility to design locally relevant schemes. The MMD, which started as an attempt to bring women together around issues of resource management, has expanded its concerns to include on the one hand violence within the home, and on the other, village-level development activities. Women in the panchayat had different backgrounds. Some had previously been active leaders of the MMD, who responded to the opportunity opened up by the panchayat reservations (although the women pointed out that some of their leaders had contested and won elections in non-reserved constituencies as well). Others were able to win the elections through a combination of reservation and the political clout of their husbands/families. In contrast, while the MMD seeks to be a non-hierarchical and inclusive village-level body, the expectations from the leader is high; considerable nurturing and training of the leaders take place through the support provided by the Uttarakhand Sewa Nidhi (UKSN). The success of this training lies in the ability of the leader to hold together the group and develop and maintain cooperative relationships. To explore further the nature of the interaction between women in the MMD and the panchayat at the level of the village, women from the village of Shilling were interviewed in greater depth. The MMD in the village is seven years old. There was no such women’s group before this. Women did not participate in community activities. The MMD was formed because a margdarshika, who had been working with a UKSN-supported balwadi (a pre-school centre), married a young man from the village. With her previous experience of working with women, she was encouraged to form a women’s group in the village. Men cooperated in its formation. As Shilling is a single-caste village, inter-caste conflicts did not arise. There are now 50 women in the group. The women identified afforestation as a priority, and over the years, they have been able to develop a nursery. The formation of the group and women’s greater visibility in village activities has contributed to a considerable change in the environment of the village. Fewer incidents of liquor-related violence take place now. Men are aware of the subtle pressure of the group, and aware that other women will intervene should there be any violence within the home. Women have earned respect within the village with their hard work and contribution to village development. They are pleased that they have been able to bring in new ideas into the village without a backlash from men or elders. They were conscious that some of the ideas they had been trying to implement were ‘new’, but happy that this had not threatened the family or community structure that formed the framework of their lives. As a result of the formation of the MMD, several young women had acquired confidence and leadership skills, and were natural choices when reservations were announced for the panchayat elections. But joining the panchayat appears to have led to parting of ways from the MMD. For example, one woman, currently a gram pradhan, who had previously been in the

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MMD, was now completely estranged from it. As a member of the panchayat and the Congress party, she found her hands tied and with little flexibility to respond to concerns raised by women in the village. Not surprisingly perhaps, it was, therefore, more comfortable to stay away. She was unable to help in the articulation or development of plans and programmes to deal with the felt needs of the village women, since these could not be accommodated in the rigid structure of the panchayat budget lines. The MMD, for its part, claims that it has continued to keep her abreast of activities and issues, although without any active response on her part.2 It is important to note, however, that in discussing the MMD and the panchayat, we are discussing two new formations, one formal and one informal. Both are distinct and different from traditional groupings. The new panchayat structure (unlike the traditional one) is inclusive of lower castes and women. Formerly, the gram pradhan was generally a Brahmin, and the Scheduled Castes had little voice. However, the gram panchayat meets infrequently and, as discussed earlier, has a fixed agenda. The MMD too is new. It seeks to develop new strengths among women, not reinforce stereotypes of weakness and passivity. In fact, in Shilling village, the gram sabha3 had been held in the village largely because of demand from the MMD. The working of the Mahila Dal is flexible and responsive to needs. The frequency of meetings is not determined in advance, and women can meet as often as needed. The strong community base that has developed has resulted in several new activities, including, for example, access to credit. Loans are given against the savings of the group, at a low rate of interest (Re. 1/100). A reasonable expectation from a village-level forum is that it would provide the space for local concerns to be voiced freely. There is evidence that the women in MMDs do not feel constrained in talking about any issue that concerns their members. This is not true of the panchayats, mainly because there is an ever-present concern that political bosses might be offended if it seems that a sympathetic ear is being given to issues that question the stated party line. The women interviewed gave as an example, an ongoing dispute over the midday meal programme. The Supreme Court in November 2001, had directed state governments to introduce cooked midday meals in all government and government-assisted primary schools within six months. Subsequently, most state governments have introduced the programme. In April 2004, the Supreme Court noted that there was full implementation in Uttaranchal (data being for the government schools), while in Uttar Pradesh, there was no implementation. Further, ‘In respect of the State of Uttaranchal, it has been represented that the scheme is being implemented in all the schools. It would be open to the Commissioners to inspect and bring it to the notice of the Court, if it is otherwise.’4 The women interviewed said that they had strong reservations about the manner in which the programme was introduced. Due to the difficulties in finding a helper, time spent on teaching and learning activities has come down in order to ensure that cooked meals are given to the children. Due to the difficulties in finding a helper to cook midday meals, children have to help the teacher prepare the meals. The opposition to the programme is also a strong statement on the high value placed on formal teaching in schools. The panchayat, as a village forum, could have provided space for articu-

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lation, questioning and ultimate consensus being reached; instead, the panchayat members had simply refused to engage or participate in this debate. The existence of an MMD in a village has implications for the functioning of the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs). The MMD members demand a level of accountability. They play a role as pressure groups. For example, in Kande village, the women observed the contractor mixing cement and sand in inappropriate proportions while constructing a road to the village, and insisted that action be taken against him (and the gram pradhan), alleging corruption. Based on the interviews a quick comparison of the revealed performance of the MMDs and the panchayats is presented in Table 11.1. Table 11.1: Experience of Gram Panchayat Compared to MMD: Level of Impact Issue Inclusion: Bringing together women/ persons of different castes Group cohesion: Building up a sense of solidarity Political influence Transparency, sharing of information, especially in regard to financial decisions Level of corruption

Panchayat

MMD

Observed

Observed

Weak

Strong

Strong Weak (but control over more financial resources)

Weak Strong (but very limited financial resources)

High

Nil (even a hint of corruption will break up the group) Strong

Ability to articulate and confront issues like violence Personal development through access to information

Very weak

Ability to make independent assessments based on local situation

Weak (schemes taken as given, concern with implementation)

Ability to access resources from outside village

Strong

Limited

Stronger (reflecting strong connections with supporting NGO) Strong (focus on identifying problems and developing locally relevant solutions) Weak

Source: Field survey 2004.

A PERSPECTIVE FROM AN URBAN SLUM The Uttaranchal fieldwork brings to the forefront the embeddedness of women in family and community, and some different ways in which they are beginning to play a more active role in engendering governance in all the three senses outlined earlier.

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This section presents some observations from an urban context. It is based on interviews and experiences in selected east Delhi slums.5 It is estimated that about 30 per cent of the population of Delhi lives in slum clusters. These slums have been categorised by official agencies into different types. Some are authorised and others not, and have varying entitlements to public services. The majority of the slum residents in the east Delhi slums on which this section is based are migrants from neighbouring states, who came into Delhi initially as construction labour. After 10 to 15 years of living in Delhi, some have been able to achieve a degree of occupational mobility, and are now working as vendors, auto drivers, and so on. The women followed their husbands, and are found to be working as domestic workers, or in some cases in garment factories, and often as home-based workers. They do not have much freedom of movement apart from what is necessitated by their work. So they are largely confined to the private spaces of the home. These are ‘unauthorised’ slums, and hence, there is no formal system of representation in force here. But fieldwork showed that informal systems of governance do exist. Each settlement elects a leader, a ‘pradhan’. The term is the same as that used in formal institutions. The process of electing a pradhan varies from one area to another. Some slums have more than one pradhan; sometimes the pradhan simply appoints himself/ herself into the title. Women pradhans were present in some places. Women also participate in the process of electing a pradhan in those slums where elections were conducted for the post. The first criteria of being engendered—that of numbers—is difficult to establish in the absence of a much larger survey. However, it was clear that women were present in these positions and there was no exclusion of them. But on the other two criteria— of process and agenda—their influence seems to be less strong. The role of the pradhan seems primarily to be one of interfacing with outside agencies, which could be government agencies and officers, but much more often seems to be the local councillor or the local MLA. Women, or men, who were pradhans were responsible for acting as a bridge between the slum residents and the councillor, with the understanding that the latter would help with problems related to civic amenities, either finance their construction or help with getting required permissions, and so on. Perhaps the other part of the bargain is the tacit one of political support. The pradhans, male or female, are generally connected with a political party. The women whom pradhans met were articulate and forceful women, but not necessarily concerned with the specific issues of women. Their primary concern, along with men, was to gain protection for the slum from threats of eviction and to facilitate the basic provision of amenities. Beyond that, people have migrated to the city in search of better income, and do not have the same sense of belonging as is seen in the rural communities discussed earlier. This system of representation and informal governance that has developed serves to ensure a niche for the slum dwellers who are migrants into the city and do not have any other source of social or political clout in the city. There is no natural bonding between slum dwellers, coming as they do from different places and having in common only the place where they live. However, in several slums, we find the presence of

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voluntary and non-government organisations, some of which have a specific mandate—education, health and others that are more holistic in their interaction. Yet, another kind of governance might be developing around the interventions of these NGOs. The people who have been drawn into their work have often acquired new skills, greater confidence, and have taken action to try and improve their own situation. Based on conversations with the women who were able to take the lead, either as pradhans or in other activities, two issues emerged that they felt hampered their abilities in being more active within the community. The first was a lack of literacy/schoolingrelated skills, which they said put them at a disadvantage, and meant that they had to depend on others, often men. The second was the extent to which other women supported them. In most places, there were no organised women’s groups. But in some slums in which NGOs had been active over many years, such groups had emerged, and their presence was counted as a source of strength.

CONCLUSIONS This chapter has briefly reviewed three situations to examine what factors have enabled engendering of governance. These include women’s groups or the MMD and panchayats in a part of Uttaranchal, and informal groups in some slums in Delhi. Three criteria are suggested as a measure of ‘engendering’. The first is that of numbers. In the case of women’s groups, by definition, these have drawn in women in large numbers. The panchayats have been able to do this through the system of reservations. In Delhi slums, the presence of women as pradhans appears to reflect individual attributes and willingness to take on the responsibility, but there is no system of ensuring numbers. When it comes to process and agenda, it is only the women’s groups that show a high level of sensitivity on both counts. 6 The panchayat does not appear to be engendered in either respect (but it needs emphasis that this is a case study, not a general finding). Neither do the activities and informal institutions of the Delhi slums show much responsiveness of this kind. From these findings, it can be argued that women’s groups play a critical role in allowing issues and concerns of women to be taken from the purely private, domestic and rather invisible sphere, to a public space where joint action becomes possible. There is also evidence that the presence of a woman’s group in a village makes the panchayat more responsive, more transparent and more accountable in its actions. However, so far, the agenda of the panchayats has not gone beyond the stipulated schemes and development agenda that is given to them by the government. Interestingly, while the importance of having the support of other women was reinforced in discussions with the Delhi women, other inputs (education, training) were mentioned less frequently. The initial hurdle that all women have to face is to overcome constraints within the household and family, and the implicit or explicit assumption of their role before they can play substantial or positive part in formal or informal institutions. The need for a women’s group or movement in helping to overcome this hurdle cannot be substituted by training or capacity building.

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The case study also shows that while women elected to the panchayats have an affiliation to a political party, they are uncomfortable about showing allegiance to a women’s group for fear that this might be seen as a form of challenge. It has been suggested that this is a result of weak institutionalization: One of the few routes open to women in such systems is to exploit their kinship connections to prominent male politicians to secure leadership positions. Where a woman has gained position within a party via such a route, there is less chance that she will seek connections with organized feminism or other expressions of women’s concerns in civil society, or challenge the masculine party hierarchy by supporting gender causes. (UNRISD 2005: 159)

Another issue that emerges from the Uttaranchal case study is that engendering local institutions also requires that the institutions be locally responsive, but for various reasons, this condition has not yet been met. The intention behind the panchayat system is no doubt different from the practice as described previously. Panchayats were provided for in Part IV of the Constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 40, which contains the Directive relating to panchayats, reads: The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

In practice, the functions performed appear to have largely been confined to identification of beneficiaries and the implementation of development schemes. This has led to a culture of dependence, looking to the central and state governments for funds, but also for directions on how to spend these funds. Both decentralisation and the enlargement of women’s political participation have been encouraged by the central government, but at the same time, there is an unwillingness to let people—or women— articulate their own needs and priorities. Letting this happen requires both patience, and the ability to let local knowledge and understanding determine the outcomes. In practice, de jure decentralisation and encouragement of women’s participation has been accompanied by directives on how and what needs to be done. ‘Both decentralization and the enlargement of women’s political participation have been “top down” revolutions closely bound to one another’ (Vyasulu and Vyasulu 2000: 42). It follows from this that even though the system of decentralised governance provides an enabling framework, and through reservation, creates and guarantees space for women’s participation, women (and, indeed, men who have not previously been a part of the system) are entering a system in which the rules are already set. The less the flexibility of the formal system, and the more deeply rooted the corruption networks are, the more important it would be for the persons who enter it to have had a prior degree of empowerment and capacity building. This, precisely, is the achievement of the women’s groups in the case study. This has been observed in other places. Vyasulu and Vyasulu conclude that: To date, certainly, the most valuable contributions of NGOs to engendering the PRIs has been the organizing of women in various social sectors, whether health, housing, sanitation, education or

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watershed management. The opportunities provided in small groups dealing with such issues has been a kind of testing ground for women to enter a larger arena after having been initially empowered. Various reports indicate that women PRI members who have been supported and nurtured by NGOs and those who have been involved in larger people’s movements are more assertive than others. (Vyasulu and Vyasulu 2000: 47)

Similarly, Amrita Basu (2003: 41) points out that there have been ‘numerous accounts of women’s activism in social movements translating into their activism in the Panchayats’. The empowerment provided by participation in such groups does not always feed easily into panchayat structures. Basu has suggested that this would happen only under certain conditions: Feminist activism is only likely to have salutary consequences for women’s institutional participation if several other conditions exist. First, since individuals are more susceptible to co-optation than groups, women are most apt to fruitfully work within the system, if they constitute a critical mass within the institutions they enter. Second, women who enter institutions must retain a connection to movements, or movements must place continuous pressure on institutions in order to keep them accountable to grass root constituencies. Third, the state within which women become active, must be broadly sympathetic to the equity, social justice and democratic demands of movements. (ibid.)

There is perhaps no single or unique connection between the emergence of women’s groups and the empowerment they are able to achieve, and the manner in which formal institutions of governance (such as panchayats) perform. But much of the discourse around gender and governance suggests that the role of women’s groups, such as the MMDs in our case study, is to provide the basis for a more effectively functioning formal system. There is an assumption that the movement from informal women’s groups to formal political institutions is a necessary part of making women’s presence visible and effective. Less attention is, however, given to the need for the informal groups to continue in existence, to remain strong and independent entities, able to critique or cooperate, as the situation demands. Responsive and effective local self-government (which must be seen as the ultimate objective of the PRI system) needs to build upon local initiatives and local movements. Similar discussions on scaling up and the importance of local ownership have taken place in other contexts. In a discussion on education reform, Samoff et al. (2001) have pointed out that it is not the specific aspects of any process of reform that should be replicated, but rather, the conditions that allowed the reform to work successfully, and the local roots that sustained the process. This comment appears to be equally valid in our context. Local self-government requires local roots, and given the wide diversity of experience with PRIs within India, we need to find ways of replicating the enabling conditions rather than imposing a uniform structure across the board. A federation of village-level MMDs makes it a strong movement within the state. Instead of imposing a structure of decentralised governance and then seeking to help it find ways of

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acquiring local roots, it is also possible to look for institutions of local governance that do have local roots and help them acquire a broader mandate. The case study of MMDs suggests that this is very much a possible route both to empowering women and to engendering governance. One of the expectations from the PRIs was that they would be able to ‘mainstream’ gender concerns. By being an integral part of the formal system, and by ensuring a sizeable representation of women, they are well placed to give voice and centrality to the concerns of women as well as men. But our case study suggests that if for whatever reason the PRI is unable to function autonomously, and to be able to query and question received wisdom, they are unlikely to provide the space for women and men to be able to debate and think through local issues. Their role in mainstreaming gender concerns would then also be low. It follows then that there are different ways of seeking to engender governance, and perhaps we need to ensure that the flow of resources and other kinds of support encourages all these different ways to function simultaneously. It is fairly clear that although a decentralised system of governance is now in place, with reservations for women, there are serious limits to the extent to which the decentralisation brings with it autonomy or a greater ability to respond to local concerns. To engender, this system will also require that it be allowed or enabled to be more locally responsive. The investment in training, awareness raising, mobilising and networking elected women representatives is one way of trying to engender the system, presumably with the expectation that empowered and articulate women will demand responsiveness from the system. Focusing exclusively on PRIs and the potential, though not current, role of women in that system runs the risk of forgetting that there might be an active women’s movement that is simultaneously leading processes of empowerment but outside this system. It is of course true that women who have had this experience are in a position to contribute and strengthen the PRI system, and will in all likelihood do so. However, it is important not to see such movements as transitional. They need to be nurtured, to have access to resources, both financial and human, and to provide an active and continuous critique as well as support to the formal systems. Our fieldwork, both in rural parts of Almora and in slums in Delhi, confirms the independent value and contribution of women’s groups. The spaces provided by these groups in which women are able to meet, articulate their problems and speak up about difficult domestic situations do not lose their value or significance in the presence of well-functioning mixed group forums like the PRIs. In the situation that most Indian women are in, our interactions confirm the need to encourage and facilitate the formation of women’s groups. Their ability to influence and feed into other kinds of institutions including governance institutions is a useful by-product, but cannot be seen as the sole or primary value of such groups.

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NOTES

1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Without in any way implicating them in the final product, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Lalit Pande and Anuradha Pande of the Uttarakhand Sewa Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan, Almora, in enabling me to meet with and talk to the women whose views are recorded here, and for very helpful discussions. ‘The work of Mukherjee and Gokcekus suggests that while gender does affect corruption, the reason may have more to do with organisational dynamics than with gender-specific characteristics. Either a low proportion of men or a low proportion of women in a public organisation can foster corruption. Thus, what may be needed to reduce corruption is a better balance of male and female employees in an organisation. See Zoido and Chavis (2004: 280). The disjunction between ‘party politics’ and ‘representation’ suggests that while women are represented through quotas, they are inadequately integrated into the political system per se. Thus, their discomfort with ‘politics’ even while they are playing a political role. The membership of the gram sabha consists of all persons registered as voters within the area of a gram panchayat. See the website of the Right to Food Campaign http://www.righttofoodindia.org/, and the page on midday meals, http://www.righttofoodindia.org/mdm/mdm.introhtml. These comments are based on fieldwork conducted as part of an ongoing study at Institute of Social Study Trust (ISST), ‘Ensuring Public Accountability Through Community Action’. To emphasise once more, this observation is limited to the women’s groups observed in this case study. It is clear that not all women’s groups need be progressive in their thinking or sensitive to gender needs and concerns.

REFERENCES Basu, Amrita. 2003. ‘Gender and Governance: Concepts and Contexts’, in Martha Nussbaum, Amrita Basu, Yasmin Tambiah and Niraja Gopal Jayal (eds), Essays on Gender and Governance. UNDP India, Human Development Resource Centre. Government of Uttaranchal. State Finance Commission Report, http://ua.nic.in/sfc/SFCEnglish/a1.htm, accessed August 2004. Nussbaum, Martha. 2003. ‘Gender and Governance: An Introduction, in Martha Nussbaum, Amrita Basu, Yasmin Tambiah and Niraja Gopal Jayal (eds), Essays on Gender and Governance. UNDP India, Human Development Resource Centre. Samoff, Joel and E. Molapi Sebatane with Martial Dembele. 2001. ‘Scaling Up by Focusing Down: Creating Space to Expand Education Reform’. ADEA Biennial Meeting, Tanzania, 7–11 October. Saxena, N.C. 2004. ‘Improving Programme Delivery, Seminar, 541: 49–54. Sudensham, R.M. and Sushi Pande (eds). 2007. Ensuring Public Accountability through Commity Action: A Case study in East Delhi. New Delhi: Institute of Social Studies Trust. UNRISD. 2005. Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. Geneva: United Nations. Vyasulu, Poornima and Vinod Vyasulu. 2000. ‘Women in the Panchayat Raj: Grassroots Democracy in India’, in Women’s Political Participation and Good Governance: 21st Century Challenges. UNDP, http:/ /magnet.undp.org/new/pdf/gender/wpp/women_book.pdf, New Delhi. Accessed August 2004. Zoido, Pablo and Larry Chavis. 2004. Corruption Research in Global Report 2004 on the Transparency International website at www.global consumption report.ogr/download/gcr200412_ comptionresearch_1/d. Accessed on Agust 2004.

12 Engendering Cooperative Governance: Case of Women Dairy Cooperative Societies in Gujarat Smita Mishra Panda

INTRODUCTION

C

OOPERATIVES are autonomous institutions where people join together to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs through collectively owned and democratically controlled enterprises (Nippierd 2002). Being part of civil society, cooperative institutions over the years have come to play an important role in employment creation by directly providing productive self-employment for several hundred million worker-owners of production. Although cooperatives are not instruments of employment promotion per se, they do create and maintain employment particularly for small and medium producers in both urban and rural areas around the world and thus provide income to both members and employees in the form of shares of surplus (profit), wages and salaries depending on the type of cooperative. The cooperative movement in India is one of the largest in the world. There are about 545,000 cooperative societies with an estimated membership of over 236 million (Rao 2004). Further, the number of all-women cooperatives is not only growing in number, but also diversifying into many areas, thereby providing a space for women to earn a livelihood and also renegotiate public–private boundaries for a better life. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. The seven cooperative principles are guidelines through which cooperatives put their value into practice. They are as follows:

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y and open membership 1. Voluntar oluntary membership: Cooperatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination. 2. Democratic member control control: Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, they have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and, therefore, a democratic functioning. 3. Members’ economic participation participation: Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. They allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership. 4. Autonomy and independence independence: If cooperatives enter into agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy. 5. Education, training and information information: Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to its development. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation. 6. Cooperation among cooperatives: Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures. 7. Concern for community community: While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by members. (Approved by the 31st International Cooperative Congress and by the General Assembly of the International Cooperative Alliance, held at Manchester, England, 20–23 September 1995.)

Cooperative Governance It is a well-accepted fact that cooperative institutions operate within the framework of principles of cooperation (mentioned previously). It would be useful to have an understanding of the ‘Anand Pattern’ of cooperative dairy governance, which is a true representative of cooperative functioning which started in Gujarat in the year 1960.

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The basic unit in the Anand pattern is the village milk producers’ cooperative society, a voluntary association of milk producers at the village level who wish to market their milk collectively. The village-level dairy societies in a district are members of their district cooperative milk producers’ union. Any milk producer can become a member of the cooperative society. At a general meeting of members, representatives are selected to form a management committee, which frames the policies of the society to govern day-today affairs relating to milk. Concerns of equity are taken care of to ensure that all sections of the village community are represented in the committee. Milk collection, testing for milk fat content, sale of cattle feed, and so on, is handled by paid employees from the same village. Each society also provides artificial insemination (AI) services and veterinary first aid (VFA) to its members. Each producer’s milk is tested for fat percentage (many also measure solids-not-fat) and is paid for on the basis of the quality of the milk. The primary milk producers’ societies are affiliated to a district union, which owns and operates a feeder/balancing dairy cattle feed plant and livestock development facilities that has ensured good return from the sale of milk. The union also operates a network of veterinary services to provide routine and emergency services for animal health care. The chairpersons of village societies elect the board of directors of the union, which formulates the policies for the day-to-day management of the union’s centralised facilities for milk collection, processing and marketing, and also technical inputs. Each union is managed professionally by a managing director who reports to the elected chairman and a board of directors. The dairy, owned by a union, usually has a milk processing plant to convert seasonal surpluses of liquid milk into milk powder and other conserved products. With the help of the dairy plant, the union is able to ensure that the milk producers get 80 to 90 per cent of the lean season price even in the flush season. This has enabled the farmers to get 20 to 40 per cent higher prices than they would have if they had not been a part of the cooperative system. The milk collected from the village is usually sent to the cooperative dairy using trucks hired by the cooperative union. Each cooperative dairy attempts to market the bulk of its milk in liquid form and converts surplus milk into products with a longer shelf life. Professional managers employed by the cooperative ensure that they get the best returns for their produce. The profits made by the dairy are redistributed to milk producers as a subsidiary payment. Many societies are able to pay substantial amounts as bonuses to their milk producers based on the proportion of business contributed to the cooperatives (Vyas 2001).

Management of Dairy Cooperatives In the ‘Anand Pattern’ dairy cooperatives, while the producers themselves determine the policies, the opportunity is provided to the professionals to implement them as well as to manage operations. At the village dairy society level, the nine-member management committee determines how best they should function within the prescribed framework, how best its members’ interests can be protected, and how best the societies can function as viable business units. However, at this stage, the managing committee of nine members does the routine work of management itself. For carrying

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out day-to-day work, necessary manpower from the same village is trained and deployed. These people are the employees of the respective village cooperatives. At the district union level, the board includes the chairpersons from only the affiliated milk cooperative societies, which are qualified to send their representatives (of the 17 members on the board, 12 are chairpersons of the affiliated primaries). One of them is elected as the chairperson of the board. While this board formulates policies at the district level, the qualified professionals headed by a managing director carry out the daily management. The primary societies federate and form a dairy cooperative milk producers’ union. As more district unions were organised in Gujarat state, it was felt necessary to organise a federal body at the state level. This body exists to coordinate the overall activities of the district unions, provide a platform for sharing common benefits, avoid competition between the district unions, and ensure rigid quality control for the production of top-quality milk products. The state federation provides the direct link between the district milk cooperatives and the National Milk Grid (NMG). The NMG coordinates, at the national level, the supply of milk from the surplus-producing areas to the potential urban consumer markets. It helps moderate the seasonal and regional imbalance between demand and supply of milk. This chapter discusses women’s role in governance of selected women dairy cooperative societies (WDCS) in the Valsad Milk Union area of Gujarat. After this introduction, the second section dwells on the gender question in cooperatives and its governance, followed by the rationale and methodology of the study. The third section gives an idea about the approach of the milk union in establishing a WDCS and some factual details. The fourth section goes on to analyse women’s role in governance of the WDCS and its implications for the larger community. The last section provides some remarks on engendering cooperative governance.

THE GENDER QUESTION IN COOPERATIVES AND THEIR GOVERNANCE Cooperatives, like any other form of enterprise, reflect the broader society of which they are a part. Gender differentiation is also reflected in them, despite the cooperative principles and values that proclaim equality and equity. Among the most important gender issues in cooperatives today are inadequate participation of women and their under-representation in decision making and leadership positions. At times, women do make up a large proportion of the membership, such as in credit and consumer cooperatives. However, their active participation is particularly crucial as the cooperatives cannot claim to be truly democratic if women (belonging to all sections) do not participate in decision making. Further, women’s needs and interests are typically not adequately addressed. Such generalisations are, however, not applicable to all cooperatives. Women in developing countries, including India, are faced with formidable constraints that prevent their active participation in cooperatives. The most important of these is their traditional role in society and the prevalent misconception that women’s

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reproductive responsibilities at the household level constitute their main role, associated with femininity and the private domain. Such views place women at the margins of the cooperative world, which is clearly part of the public domain and associated with masculinity. It restricts women’s choice of economic occupations and opportunities, and is the primary cause for their heavy work burdens and time constraint. Further, women’s lack of access to resources—land, credit or productive inputs, low literacy levels, lack of business experience and limited knowledge of cooperatives, places them at a disadvantageous position compared with men. Consequently, women find it difficult to negotiate in the public domain. Because they are unable to participate in cooperatives, they are excluded from the benefits that cooperatives and their support structures often provide to their members, such as independently accessing credit, education and relevant training, production inputs, technology and marketing opportunities. Legal constraints can also hinder women’s participation in cooperatives. Some ILO studies have indicated that cooperative laws are generally ‘gender neutral’ and do not discriminate directly against women (ILO 2001). They can be at times gender proactive. However, women face barriers to their participation in cooperatives as a result of related laws that discriminate against women with regard to property ownership and inheritance. Women may find it difficult to conduct business by themselves without the support of their male kin. In some cases women’s legal rights may be stipulated in a law, but not necessarily enforced or they may be superceded by customary law (Nippierd 2002). The cooperative laws and regulations can have a discriminatory effect on the participation of women—for example, in agriculture cooperatives ownership or control over land or property is often stipulated as a condition for membership. In some cases, the cooperative allows one member per family to be represented, and the general tendency is to select the head of the household (man). Therefore, the lack of social, economic and legal rights also partly explains women’s low participation in cooperative decision making and leadership positions. In the recent past, there have been several efforts by the state as well as non-state agencies to bridge the gender gap in cooperatives in different sectors, through programmes directed specifically towards engendering cooperative organisations and promoting women’s empowerment. One of the most widely acclaimed efforts has been to form women’s cooperatives that allow membership only to women, for example, women’s dairy cooperatives. The rationale for promoting such cooperatives is that although women are engaged in all activities related to livestock rearing, they have no institutional support to venture into the dairying business and make profits independently. What is generally observed is that ‘mixed’ cooperatives have tended to be synonymous with ‘men’s’ cooperatives. In India, the rate of success of women’s dairy cooperatives in different states encouraged milk unions as well as some non-governmental organisations to go for its expansion on a wide scale. Support from the government also facilitated the increase in women’s dairy cooperative societies (henceforth WDCS) all over the country. Such expansion has taken place in the last decade or so. In addition, there has been an enabling environment created through the advancement of the status of women in cooperatives and in society in general by several affirmative and forward-

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looking strategies by national and international bodies such as the international cooperative movement. In 1995 the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) passed a resolution on ‘Gender Equality in Cooperatives’ in which members of the ICA noted that gender equality is a global priority for the cooperative movement (Nippierd 2002). Since the World Summit on Social Development and the Beijing Conference in 1995, promotion of gender equality has been particularly high on its agenda through what is called the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). Complementing the BPFA is the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that has been ratified by 179 countries around the world, including India. It is one of the most important international human rights instruments having a legal binding. These two mandates have informed the most recently proposed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that resolves to promote, among others, gender equality and women’s empowerment to combat poverty, hunger, disease and to stimulate development that is sustainable (United Nations DAW 2005). Several efforts by various agencies have been made to develop training materials in different languages, such as leadership development manuals for women members of cooperatives. Attaining equality of opportunity between women and men is a long-drawn process and cooperatives in all parts of the world still have a way to go. Promotion of women’s cooperatives is an effort towards attainment of equality between the two genders. The study at hand makes an attempt to explore some of these issues in connection with WDCS with a focus on governance. At present, there is enough evidence to show that women’s groups and collectives are actively participating in the public domain in various activities for a common purpose, be it income earning or lobbying for revamping existing laws and regulations. To give an example, the SEWA, a trade union and NGO based in Gujarat, strongly believes that organising women workers into cooperatives is a viable development strategy. Within a cooperative, the worker is herself the owner of the means of production and she directly links with the buyer or the consumer, thereby eliminating the middlemen. At present SEWA has established five different types of cooperatives— artisan, dairying, trading and vending, services and labour, and land-based. Further, SEWA has facilitated the registration of small women’s groups as Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) with the Ministry of Rural Development. Their savings and credit groups have registered as associations. The success of most of the programmes of SEWA can be wholly attributed to the women’s groups and cooperatives established in both rural and urban areas. Self-employed women workers have been able to sustain the programmes through collective action and cooperation with each other. Within the cooperative system the question, therefore, arises: what is engendered governance? Women in mixed cooperative societies are unable to participate in the governance due to their subordinate position at the household, community, as well as in relation to state and market institutions. Further, rural women are constrained by patriarchal traditions and succession laws that exclude women from inheriting and owning land. Consequently, women find it difficult to obtain institutional support for credit, and so on. Therefore, in order to engender governance in cooperatives, or in WDCS for that matter, it is imperative for an external agency to intervene for directed change.

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Engendering governance is not a goal, but a process of governance that is equitable and ensures that the voices of women are heard in decision making over the allocation of development resources. Engendered governance implies that both men and women representatives need to put women’s interests centre stage while they look at the common good of the communities they represent. There is a need to give special focus to women’s interest as they face several cultural and historical disadvantages as a result of which, so far, their interests have not been given due importance (Mohan 2004). The indicators of engendered governance are that it is transparent for women, accountable to women, equitable for women, have lasting, sustainable changes for women, and invites not just community participation, but women’s participation in particular (Purushothaman and Vedanth 2004). What was observed is that, mixed cooperative societies do not possess the potential for women’s interests/voices to be represented in decision making. Women’s voices are, by and large, made invisible in male-dominated structures. Therefore, most interventions at engendering cooperatives, planned for establishing separate women’s cooperatives, including those of dairying. Table 12.1 makes a differentiation between participation and governance. The latter entails a transformational agenda, in which change mechanisms are institutionalised like gender equality and women’s empowerment. Table 12.1: The Shifts from Participation to Governance Participation Increasing involvement of ‘primary stakeholders’ (as users and choosers) Focus on poor people’s contributions and impact of development on these groups Focus on methods, skills and tools Project orientation

Governance Beyond participation to transforming systems of decision making (as makers and shapers) Focus on relations between more and less powerful groups Political focus: agenda setting, changing institutions and organizations Broader focus: programmes, partnerships, policy processes and agencies themselves

Source:: Kanji (2003).

Women’s participation in governance is often ignored as it is considered to be part of the public domain. Therefore, any form of association with the public domain is considered as an encroachment on the male space. Historically, in rural India, women have been accorded a secondary status with respect to community or public decision making. For example, in the traditional village council or the panchayat, the absence of women is a norm. Further, such norms are manifested in the modern forms of governance as well, unless there is a stipulated reservation or quota for women. The 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendments of India are a testimony to this fact.

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RATIONALE AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY Most of the studies done so far on women dairy cooperative societies have dealt with the impact on women in terms of their empowerment (social and economic). Their participation in the cooperative governance system is not emphasised specifically. The study at hand focuses on governance in selected WDCS in the Valsad milk union area of Gujarat. The main objective of the study is to understand governance in the WDCS, specifically focusing on women’s role in the process. There are 467 WDCS in the Valsad Union area. Certain criteria were followed in selecting them for empirical study, such as age of the milk society, caste/tribal composition, topography and geographical spread in the area. Besides, two mixed societies (Sarpor and Tejlav Adivasi) were deliberately selected to compare them with the WDCS. In Sarpor dairy society, there are no women in the committee, whereas in case of Tejlav Adivasi, there are four. Rabdi and Jamanpada WDCS were earlier mixed societies. Rabdi was converted to a WDC in 1991 and Jamanpada in 1989. Table 12.2 gives a brief profile of the WDCS selected for the study in different villages and talukas of Valsad Union. The data was collected through both primary and secondary sources. The latter was mostly gathered from the Valsad Milk Union. Primary data was collected through a survey conducted in seven villages. Apart from interviews with the key persons in the village, questionnaires were also administered to different sets of respondents (all women) such as committee members of the WDCS pouring members,1 non-pouring2 members and non-members. Structured interviews were conducted with the secretary of the Women Dairy Society, which is a key position in the system. Table 12.2: WDCS and DCS Selected for the Detailed Primar y Sur vey Primary Survey Name of village

Taluka

Kakadmati Sarpor Jamanpara Motaphalia (Pratapnagar) Tejlav-Adivasi Rabdi Sabarsingi

Valsad Navsari Chikli Vansda Chikli Pardi Dharampur

Year of establishment 1996 1984 1990 1993 1979 1989 2002

Nature/characteristics WDC, mostly tribal Mixed, Hindu castes WDC, tribal WDC, mostly tribal Mixed, tribal WDC, tribal & non-tribal WDC, purely tribal

Source: Primary survey, 2004.

Certain indicators were developed to understand the governance process in the women dairy cooperative societies. The nature of governance should not be considered to be synonymous with quantum of milk procured only. In case of the WDCS, the nature of involvement of women committee members in the governance of the society is important to understand. Besides, the commitment of women members to the functioning of the society also contributes to the governance of the society. Governance should also reflect how much the WDCS has absorbed the principles of cooperative identity as well.

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Indicators of Engendered Governance in WDCS Five main indicators have been used to capture engendered governance in WDCS. They are participation, transparency, accountability, sustainability and resource mobilisation. Table 12.3 gives a detailed picture of the indicators and sub-indicators of engendered governance applicable to committee members of the WDCS. All committee members were interviewed for the purpose. Table 12.3: Details of Indicators to Ascertain Engendered Governance (Committee Members) Indicators 1. Participation of women committee members in 1.1 Decision making of WDC

1.2 Programmes of WDC

1.3 Day-to-day activities of WDC

1.4 Other programmes of the union (SHG, etc.)

1.5 Other public institutions village

1.6 Involvement in the election process

Description

‘Decision making’ ability of the committee members in the WDC is reflected from attendance in monthly meetings and issues raised during such meetings. Where the majority of committee members show a high attendance and awareness about issues raised during the meetings in such WDCs, the ranking given is high. ‘Involvement in programmes of WDC’ implies whether committee members accept and help to propagate/promote the programmes of WDC. High, medium and low values are used to ascertain their involvement. Whether committee members shoulder day-to-day activities (like going to banks, union meetings, etc.) showing the extent of ownership and involvement. A high ranking on this indicator means that committee members take an equal responsibility as chairman in shouldering daily activities. This also reflects on a related indicator control and management mostly by the chairman. High, medium and low values are used. ‘Involvement in other programmes’ indicates as to whether committee members take interest in accepting and promoting other related programmes liks SHGs, etc. initiated by the union. High, medium and low values are used. ‘Involvement in other public institutions’ indicates whether the committee or some of its members are involved in the management of other public institutions like village councils, other cooperatives, etc. This is sometimes not possible as there are less number of public institutions per se in some tribal villages, as in the case of Sabarsinghi. In such cases, participation of women members in local public forums is considered. High, medium and low values have been used. ‘Involvement in the election process’ indicates whether the member herself was involved in the election process or got elected on account of campaigning, negotiation, etc. done by a male relative. A high ranking on this indicator means that the women members themselves were involved in the activities concerned with elections and there was less influence of any male relative. (Table 12.3 Continued)

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(Table 12.3 Continued) Indicators 2. Transparency 2.1 Information available to committee members

2.2 Frequency/extent of` communication among the committee members

2.3 Access to records by committee members

3. Accountability 3.1 Openness to members’ grievances/suggestions

3.2 Follow most of the principles of cooperatives

3.3 Accessibility of committee to WDC members 3.4 Active involvement of committee members in conflict resolution 3.5 Image of WDC chairman among members 4. Sustainability 4.1 External political interference

4.2 Control and management mostly by the chairman

Description Information with regard to profits, programmes, etc. is supposed to be equally available to all committee members. The extent to which it is available is checked, based on their awareness about the latest status of programmes and profit levels of WDC. High, medium and low values have been used. Frequency or extent of communication among committee members based on the FGDs and observations of how the committee members interact both in informal and formal ways. A high ranking on this count indicates that informal and formal interactions are evident from local practices for conveying information. WDCs make use of informal letters, network of personal contacts, regular meetings and other forums like local religious groups for effective communication among members. Access to records is a mandatory requirement that is measured based on their awareness about what is represented in them. The access can be low or limited due to illiteracy, non-cooperation from chairman/ secretary, lack of initiative on the part of member, and so on. An indicator of accountability is how open the chairman and committee are to members’ grievances or suggestions to improve the programme. This also reflects their communication ability and grievance redressal/conflict resolution aspects with the members at the WDC level. High, medium and low values have been used. Some of the cooperative principles are implemented by default because these are legal requirements. Those that are not implemented by default but one implemented as part of the working culture are considered for assessment in case of thisindicator. High, medium and low values have been used. Accessibility of committee to members is another indicator of equity and transparency to be checked based on responses given by general members. High, medium and low values have been used. Active involvement of the committee members in conflict resolution is assessed based on the responses of members with regard to prevailing conflicts. High, medium and low values have been used. Image of the chairman among the committee is a crucial aspect that reflects trust and accountability within the system. It also reflects on the equity aspect in the WDC. External political influence is the major factor influencing the sustainability aspect of a WDC. Such influence is mostly observed by the male members of the family involved in other public institutions. High, medium and low values have been used. Political affiliations of the chairman and secretary also have an impact on the functioning of the WDC. Such affiliations can be (Table 12.3 Continued)

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(Table 12.3 Continued) Indicators

4.3 Political affiliations of the chairman/secretary

5. Resource mobilisation 5.1 Networking at the local level for strengthening WDC programme

5.2 Coordination with banks, union and other agencies 5.3 Increase in membership

Description both a positive and a negative factor affecting the governance of the WDC. Thus, without qualifying it as good or bad it has been included as an indicator affecting governance. Control and management mostly by chairman indicates whether she manages a majority of functions (i.e., the committee is for name sake only). It reflects on whether the WDC follows a democratic way of functioning. This indicator has been included because examples have shown that in the absence of effective control and involvement by other committee members, sustaining any good performance of WDC is short-lived. This indicator reflects the involvement of the committee members in networking with political leaders, entrepreneurs and different groups (castes and others) to strengthen the WDC to procure more milk and sustain the activity without complications. High, medium and low values have been used. This indicator reflects to what extent the WDC is outward looking for its sustenance and growth. High, medium and low values have been used. This indicator is self-explanatory, as it clearly indicates whether there is growth or decline in membership. At times there may have been a saturation in membership over the years.

Similarly four indicators—participation, transparency, accountability and resource mobilisation—have been applied to pouring members with a different set of subindicators that would adequately capture their involvement in governance of the WDC. Details are given in Table 12.4. Table 12.4: Details of Indicators to Ascertain Engendered Governance (Pouring Members) Indicators 1. Participation of women committee members in 1.1 Decision making of WDC

1.2 Electoral process

1.3 Acceptabilty of programmes promoted by the WDC 1.4 Programme promotion

Description

The pouring members are usually not involved directly in decision making except in the general body. So this indicator is reflected from attendance in general body meetings, issues raised and awareness about programmes. High, medium and low values have been used. Involvement in electoral process shows whether the members take interest in voting and are in contact with elected representatives. High, medium and low values have been used. Involvement of the members in the programmes promoted by the WDC in terms of acceptability and implementation. Involvement in the promotion of WDC programmes at the community level. (Table 12.4 Continued)

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(Table 12.4 Continued) Indicators 1.5 Ownership/loyalty towards the WDC 2. Transparency 2.1 Information available to members—profits, programmes, etc.

2.2 Frequency/extent of communication among committee members and general members 2.3 Access to records by committee members

2.4 Voicing their own and community needs 2.5 Providing feedback for improving programmes 3. Accountability 3.1 Seek clarification on comdecisions taken

3.2 Check the records of the WDC

3.3 Presence of a two-way communication 3.4 Pouring in one’s own WDC 3.5 Image of the chairman/ secretary among members 4. Resource Mobilisation Members’ involvement in mobilising tangible and intangible resources

Description Ownership or loyalty is reflected from their views on pouring and practices adopted with respect to buying inputs like fodder, etc. Information with regard to profits, programmes, etc. is supposed to be available to all members. The extent to which it is available is checked based on their awareness about the programmes, their rights/responsibilities, information about currently available inputs and last year’s annual profit of WDC. High, medium and low values have been used. Frequency or extent of communication between committee members and general members is based on FGDs and observations of how the members interact in informal and formal ways. Also, this is reflected from the awareness levels of the members about the WDC and its programmes. High, medium and low values have been used. Access to records is a mandatory requirement that is measured based on whether they receive annual reports of the WDC and their awareness about what is represented in the report. High, medium and low values have been used. Proactive role of the members in drawing attention of the committee members to their individual as well as community needs. High, medium and low values have been used. Proactive role of the members in providing feedback to WDC governance on how to improve the quality of programmes. High, medium and low values have been used. Seeking clarifications is a check on the decisions taken by the committee members. This is done informally and during the general body meeting. This indicator reflects whether the pouring members question the decisions of the committee or crosscheck the information given to them vis-à-vis the annual report. High, medium and low values have been used. This indicator reflects the attempts made by the pouring members to check the records of the WDC (other than the annual report). It also indicates their proactive role in seeking accountability. High. medium and low values have been used. This indicator reflects the communication strategies adopted by the members and the committee towards each other. High, medium and low values have been used. This clearly indicates the sense of ownership with respect to the WDC to which they belong. High, medium and low values have been used. Image plays an important role in mobilisation of the members and in maintaining their trust towards the governance of the WDC. This indicator reflects on how members play a role in mobilising resources to strengthen the functioning of the WDC. High, medium and low values have been used.

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Impact Indicators Besides the two sets of governance-related indicators, impact indicators have also been used to assess the impact of the WDC on the committee members as well as pouring members. For committee members, they are follows: 1. Increase in physical mobility: This is based on whether the women travel outside the village, and, if they do so, whether they are accompanied by male members. In this case, the travel for purposes of union meetings, marketing, social visits, etc. is considered. 2. Decision making at household level: This reflects women’s say in: (a) use of income gained from WDC activities, (b) health-related decisions; (c) educationrelated decisions (particularly of the girl child); and (d) use or sale of assets like house and land. 3. Participation in public affairs: This shows whether members participate in any other public forums other than the WDC. Note that the same is also seen in indicators of governance, but in that case all committee members, including the chairman, are considered. In this particular case, the chairman’s role is not taken into account. 4. Leadership quality: This relates to matters of the community and the milk society. 5. Access to resources: This includes both tangible and intangible resources. 6. Increase in self-confidence: This is reflected in how they conduct themselves both within the WDC and outside. For pouring members, the indicators are as follows: 1. Increase in physical mobility: This is based on whether the women travel outside the village and if they do so do, are they accompanied by male members. In this case, the travel for purposes of marketing, social visits, postal services, etc. is considered. 2. Decision making at household level: Reflects the women’s say in: (a) use of income gained from WDC activities; (b) health-related decisions; (c) educationrelated decisions (particularly of the girl child) and (d) use or sale of other highvalue assets like house and land. 3. Increased access to economic resources/assets: This shows the women’s access to such resources as credit, and assets like agricultural implements, etc. 4. Increase in self-confidence: This is reflected in how they conduct themselves within the WDC and outside 5. Involvement in other economic activities: This shows the women’s involvement in economic activities other than the milk business. The purpose of applying the impact indicators to the committee members as well as the pouring members is to get a well-rounded picture of the governance of the WDC and involvement of women in its functioning. From each WDCS, 20 pouring members belonging to different social groups were interviewed to assess the impact.

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VALSAD MILK UNION AND INTERVENTIONS The Valsad District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited (VASUDHARA) was registered in 1973 and it initiated dairy development activities based on the Anand Pattern from 1975. They established their own plant only in 1981. Expansion of the plant was done in the year 1993–94 under the ‘Operation Flood III’ programme with the financial and technical support of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The NDDB launched the Women’s Dairy Cooperative Leadership Programme (WDCLP) in 1995 as a pilot in four milk unions with the objective of strengthening the dairy cooperative movement by significantly increasing women’s participation as active members and as leaders in the governance of cooperative societies, unions and federations. The NDDB provides assistance to milk producers’ cooperative unions in conducting several activities to achieve WDCLP objectives. Key activities include— awareness generation in health and sanitation, as well as improved animal husbandry practices; socio-economic activities include organising mahila mandals’ (women’s clubs), women’s literacy programmes, and thrift and credit groups; leadership development, including training and exposure visits for potential leaders, and training of village resource persons; and cooperative governance, including educational programme on DCS activities, member responsibilities and rights, managing committee member duties and tasks, and training of women and DCS management committee members. The WDCLP did provide some impetus to the WDCS and had very encouraging impacts. Some of them are women’s leadership development at the initial stages of intervention, success of SHG programmes that provided a public space for women to foster further solidarity amongst themselves, expansion of credit and income enhancing activities, and linkages among different public institutions that had potential to contribute to the empowerment of women. The Milk Union’s area of operation is spread in two districts, namely, Navsari and Valsad. The union realised very early that it is the women who are the backbone of the milk production as they are engaged in all activities relating to cattle rearing. They believed that by providing institutional support, women not only become part of the cooperative system, but also economically independent and empowered. The first women dairy cooperative society was established in the year 1984, which was registered in 1986. Within one year of its establishment, milk procurement increased from 27 to 600 litres. After this success, Valsad Union decided to establish a WDCS in each village in the year 1985. They promoted these societies in a big way in the 1990s without any outside support. Table 12.5 gives a picture of the growth of WDCS in the area. In 2004, out of a total of 681 dairy societies, there are 457 WDCS from where 60 per cent of the total milk is procured. The milk union board has four women directors, all of them belonging to the upper caste. The reason for the growth of WDCS is the success in sustenance of milk production. In some cases, erstwhile mixed societies were converted into WDCS, whereby women were encouraged to become members by providing them credit and other forms of institutional support for increasing production. Besides the WDCS in the area, several

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Table 12.5: Growth of WDCS in the V alsad Milk Union Area Valsad Year 1984–91 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–2001 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04

Number of WCDs 174 246 274 298 315 334 378 419 457

Source: Valsad Milk Union, 2004.

other women-related programmes were also designed by the union to bring in synergy with milk production. These are as follows: 1. Swavlambhi Gramin Nari programme: This aims at empowering rural women through the milk business. In this programme, women are provided loans to procure hybrid cows. So far 8,434 women members have been covered and the recovery rate is 85 per cent, which is good enough for the milk union to continue with the programme. 2. Self-help Groups: These are primarily thrift and savings groups where women can save, borrow and use finance whenever required. This is one of the prominent programmes of the Valsad Milk Union. It has, so far, established 421 groups, covering 7,169 women members and a savings of about Rs. 15.5 million and an internal lending of Rs. 7.8 million for 86 different purposes. There is another SHG programme where women members are provided with funds to purchase cross-bred cows. 3. Calf-rearing scheme: This programme is aimed at improving the breed of the cows at the farm level in a scientific manner. In three years, 2,590 women have been given support for their cattle in terms of vaccination, insurance coverage and nutritional feed. So far this is one of the most successful programmes. 4. Biogas plant: This programme serves multiple purposes—hygiene, savings on fuel, and protection of the environment. So far 3,750 women members have benefited through finance from the milk union, and the recovery rate is very high. 5. Low-cost toilets for women: This is mostly in the form of low-cost toilets for women, and the recovery rate so far is also high. Besides the above mentioned programme, the milk union has initiated several other to develop leadership qualities among women with the support of the NDDB’s WDCLP (1995–97) in which members were given training on a range of subjects—animal husbandry, literacy, health and hygiene, schemes of the milk union, and different activities of the dairy cooperative society such as milk testing, pricing, calculation of

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price differential, bonus, credit facilities, fodder demonstration plots, clean milk production, and so on. The leadership programme helped women to come out of the private domain and actively participate in the public domain.

GOVERNANCE IN WDCS Each women’s dairy cooperative society in the Valsad Union has a management committee comprising a chairperson, a secretary and eight members. All committee members including the chairperson are democratically elected and should ideally represent all sections/groups of the village. According to the cooperative regulation, elections have to be held every year. The secretary of the milk society and two others— milk tester (to ascertain fat content) and artificial inseminator (AI) are the only paid positions appointed by the WDCS, and they belong to the same village. Salaries of these positions are derived from the milk sold and it depends on the number of pouring members of each society. In a typical WDCS, a woman would be the chairperson along with eight other women in the committee. All pouring members are women, who receive the milk money directly from the society. The secretary is the key position in the milk society as he/she is in charge of maintaining a record of the milk poured by each member on a daily basis, credit to be advanced to members, payment of price differential, releasing the bonus and, above all, interfacing with the milk union, banks and other public institutions on activities relating to day-to-day functioning of the dairy society. Although the WDCS has an all-woman committee, the secretary in most societies is a man, except for two or three cases. Similarly, the AI and the tester are always men. Governance in women’s dairy cooperative societies would imply that women participate in all processes related to the functioning of the society, and have a sense of ownership of the society. It would also imply that women are able to decide what is best for them in terms of benefits, future course of action, are able to minimise conflicts, are part of the management committee, and are pouring members of the society. Apart from these specific issues relating to women’s participation in governance, other aspects relate to adherence to cooperative principles regardless of the composition of the society. The all-women management committee is the most important unit in the governance of the WDCS. Emphasis has been on the committee’s involvement in the governance of the milk society. Besides, the involvement of legitimate pouring members has also been considered in assessing governance of the WDCS. The role of the milk union is clear as it directs the formation of the society and also decides on the nature of programmatic inputs. The day-to-day functioning rests with the WDCS at the village level. Table 12.6 gives an idea of the governance structure of the seven dairy societies studied.

Governance of WDCS: The Milk Union’s View The main objective of the Valsad Milk Union is to increase milk production steadily in a cost-effective manner. There are several mixed societies in the area that are on the

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Table 12.6: Governance Structure and Other Details of WDCS/DCS Studied in V alsad Milk Union Valsad Village/ society

WDC/DC

Kakadmati

WDC

Sarpor

Mixed

Jamanpada

WDC

Motaphalia (Pratapnagar)

WDC

Tejlav-Adivasi

Mixed

Rabdi

WDC

Sabarsingi

WDC

Committee composition

Secretary/AI/ tester

Total members

Pouring members

Per day current milk procurement

1+8 women members No women members 1+8 women members 1+8 women members

All male*

116

25

300 litres (started to revive)

All male

100

58

All male

184

150

250 litres (on the decline) 400 litres (on the rise)

All male

72

21

4 women members 1+8 women members

All male

227

160

All male

124

76

All male*

83

40

1+8 women members

585 litres (on the rise due to pouring from outside the village) 240 litres (started to revive) 790 litres (constant, with 40% pouring from outside) 190 litres (on the rise)

Source: Primary survey, 2004. Note: * All public dealings are done by the chairperson. The secretary sits in the dairy during the time of milk collection.

decline in terms of milk procurement. The union has attempted to revive these societies by bringing in more women into the membership. What they do is identify women in those villages who could be given credit for cross-bred cows and other inputs for dairying. Women are encouraged to become members of the dairy society. Some of the non-performing mixed societies in the process have been converted to WDCS in this manner. Subsequently, their milk procurement has increased and they have been able to survive. An example could be cited here of how a mixed dairy society in village Ponsra had closed down because of no milk procurement. The chairperson was an influential person as he was also honorary secretary of the district cooperative union. He was keen that the society should be revived as he had an image to protect. The milk union suggested that he could mobilise women in the village to whom support could be given in the form of credit to purchase cross-bred cows. The union made it very clear that participation of women members in the society was the only solution to revive the society. There are many such examples in Valsad rural areas.

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An activity in which the union has used the ‘collective agency’ of women is establishment of SHGs in those villages where WDCS are present. It is observed that 70 to 80 per cent of the members of the SHGs are also members of the WDCS. The intention of the milk union was to bring women together into a collective so that they may generate finance for purchasing high-breed or cross-bred cows and increase the production of milk, thereby bringing in synergy between the dairying and the SHGs. The response towards the SHG programme has been very encouraging so far. Such investments by women also prevented their menfolk from taking control over the milk money. At present, there is a steady rise in the number of SHGs and the milk union is paying special attention to the programme. Women members have expressed that had the SHG intervention introduced before, they would have benefited much more and the savings would have been substantial. Such an observation reiterates the fact that women find it convenient to come together as a collective for a common purpose. The milk union is very forthright in stating that they do not want women to engage in any other public institutions in the village other than the dairy society. According to their experience, once women are part of the panchayat, it is likely that they may get influenced by politics, which could affect functioning of the dairy society. In many multi-caste villages, educated women are now taking an active part in panchayat affairs. Some of them get elected and the milk union considers this as a disadvantage as they are then unable to give undivided attention to society affairs. It is precisely this reason why the milk union is of the view that women in tribal villages are doing well and the performance of those WDCS is better than in caste villages. Tribal women have less education and exposure, and the Milk Union considers it an advantage for smooth functioning of the cooperative society. The nature of conflicts in dairy societies are mostly related to its functioning and are wide ranging—bungling of money by the secretary or the chairperson; changing the fat content and hence price of the milk; no clarity on the price differential and bonus to be paid to the members; non-repayment of loans to the society; pouring milk in other societies other than their own for various reasons; and village-level politics that divides different groups on the basis of caste/class or some other factor. Such conflicts are brought up in the annual general meeting of the society where it takes a long time to arrive at any consensus regarding the functioning of the dairy society. It is observed that, by and large, these conflicts either do not exist or are minimal in the WDCS. Where they do exist, it is easier for the milk union to handle them. However, there is a variation among the WDCS regarding the nature of conflicts—for example, tribal villages located in remote areas are generally better compared to those where agriculture is the primary occupation of the people. In case of mixed-caste villages caste/ class politics is very prominent and takes a toll in the functioning of the WDCS, as men also start interfering. Whereas, in tribal villages located in agriculturally backward areas, dairying is the primary occupation and, therefore, the only source of income for poor tribal women. Hence, conflicts are almost non-existent and rate of success of the societies in terms of milk procurement is much better compared to the caste villages. Milk collection is also increasing at a fast rate in tribal villages. Milk pouring by members in their cooperatives is a clear sign of ownership. Further, encouraging fellow villagers to become members is what the cooperative principle stands

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for. However, there are many cases where members default and start pouring in other societies where they do not have membership. Such cases happen mostly where members want to avoid repayment of loans that they have incurred in their own dairy societies. Tables 12.7 and 12.8 give an idea of the engendered governance with respect to the dairy societies in the seven villages selected for the study, applying the indicators relating to governance discussed in the methodology section. Based on the ground-level observations presented in Tables 12.7 and 12.8, the nature of governance is discussed in the following paragraphs. Sabarsingi WDCS is the best performing among all the societies studied. It is located in a tribal village that is agriculturally poor and the average landholding size is small. The society is relatively new and was established in 2002 by the milk union. The chairperson is an educated woman holding a bachelor’s degree. She has been primarily responsible for the growth and success of the society. She has proved to be a successful leader in encouraging women to participate in the WDCS as members. Although the committee members are mostly illiterate, they are outspoken and are aware of the functioning of the society. For instance, in one case, the former secretary of the society was removed due to irregularities which were brought to the attention of all members at the AGM by the committee and the chairperson. Dairying has been the primary occupation of most villagers. After the milk business picked up, male migration has reduced considerably. Traditionally, the tribal population is egalitarian as compared with the caste population. Women play an equally important role in agriculture production, decision making regarding sale of produce and fixing the price, and so on. They are active in the public domain and are keen to contribute to the growth of the WDCS. A sense of ownership of the society is very high. Unlike multi-caste villages, in Sabarsingi, there is no political interference in the functioning of the society. Societylevel conflicts are non-existent, although it is too early to presume that there will be none in the future. The Valsad Milk Union is of the view that due to the remoteness and social composition of the village, the society has good potential to grow and increase its milk procurement. The next best society studied is Jamanpada Jamanpada. It is a society that has been converted from a mixed one to a WDCS in 1989. It is a large village with a population of around 10,000, with a majority of the farmers belonging to the small and medium category and with a strong sense of ownership of the WDCS. Being a dry area, dairying is the mainstay of the people. Although the WDCS has political affiliations, it has not affected the functioning of the society. Conflicts relating to fat content and solid-nofats (SNF) readings and loan disbursements often crop up and are solved in the regular monthly meetings of the committee members. The procurement of both cow and buffalo milk is on the rise. Women members have formed a savings group as they receive regular payments from the sale of milk, and this has also given a boost to their selfconfidence. Although the chairperson of the WDCS has been in the post for more than 13 years, she has contributed to the growth of the society by using her political affiliations. People are convinced about her abilities and leadership qualities. She has earned the support of the members. She has also been able to keep private traders from entering the village. Committee members are aware of the roles and responsibilities of

3.2 Follow all cooperative principles 3.3 Accessibility of committee to members

3. Accountability 3.1 Openness to members’ grievances or suggestions

2. Transparency 2.1 Information available to committee members 2.2 Frequency/extent of communication among committee members 2.3 Access to records by Committee members

1. Participation of women committee members in 1.1 Decision making of WDC 1.2 Programmes of WDC 1.3 Day-to-day activities of WDC 1.4 Other programmes of the union (like SHGs, etc.) 1.5 Other public institutions in village 1.6 Involvement in the election process

Indicators

Low Low

Medium

Low

Low

Low

NA

Medium

NA

Low

NA

NA

High

Low

NA

Low

NA

NA NA

Medium Low

Medium

NA*

Sarpor

Medium

Kakadmati

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

High

Low

Medium

Medium Low

Low

Medium Low

Low

Medium

High (but only high-caste members) Very low

Low

Low

Low

Low

Medium

Medium

Low

Medium

Medium

Nil (no Low involvement)

Low

Medium

Low Low

Low

Motaphalia Tejlav-Adivasi (Pratapnagar)

High Medium

High

Jamanpada

Table 12.7: Governance Indicators for WDCS Committee Members

Low

Medium

Medium

Low

Medium

High

Low

Low

Low

High Low

Medium

Rabdi

High

High

High

Low (on account of illiteracy)

High

High

Medium

Medium (but picking up) Medium

High Low

Medium

Sabarsingi

High Stagnant

High Reached a peak

Yes

Yes

Low

To some extent

Yes

Medium

High

Good

Best

High

Low

High

Source: Primary survey, 2004. Notes: Not Applicable as there are no women in the committee.

5. Resource Mobilisation 5.1 Networking at the local level for strengthening WDC programmes 5.2 Coordination with banks, union and other agencies 5.3 Increase in membership

4. Sustainability 4.1 External political interference 4.2 Control and management mostly by the chairman 4.3 Political affiliations of the chairman/secretary

3.4 Active involvement of committee members in conflict resolution 3.5 Image of Chairman among committee

Increasing

High

High

Yes

To some extent

High

Okay

Medium

Reached a peak

High

Low

No

No

Low

Okay

Low

Reached a peak

Medium

Medium

Yes

Yes

Medium

Good

Low

Reached a peak

Low

Low

No

No

Low

Okay

Medium

Steadily increasing

Medium (physically distant) Medium

No

Yes (low literacy)

Nil

Best

Medium

None

Very low

Low

Low

Very low Low

Low Medium

Low

Low

Medium

High

Low

Low

Medium

Medium

Low Medium

Medium

High

Medium Medium

Nil Low

Low

Low High

Nil Nil

High Low but rising Nil Low

Medium

Jamanpada

Nil

Sarpor

Low

Kakadmati

3. Accountability 3.1 Seek clarifications on decisions taken 3.2 Check records of the WDC

2. Transparency 2.1 Information available to members—profits, programmes, etc. 2.2 Frequency/extent of communication between committee members & general members 2.3 Access to records 2.4 Inform office bearers about their own or community needs 2.5 Give suggestions to mould/improve the programmes

1. Participation of women members in 1.1 Decision making of WDC 1.2 Electoral process 1.3 Programmes promoted by WDC 1.4 Programme propagation 1.5 Ownership/loyalty towards the WDC

Indicators

Table 12.8: Governance Indicators for WDCS Members

Low

High

High

Low High

Low

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium Medium

Low Medium

Medium

Tejlav-Adivasi

Nil High (but changed economic condition)

Nil Low

Low

Motaphalia (Pratapnagar)

Low

Medium

Low

Low Medium

Low

Medium

Low Medium

Low Medium

Low

Rabdi

Low

Medium

Medium

Very low High

High

Medium (low literacy)

Medium Very high

Medium High

Medium

Sabarsingi

Source: Primary survey, 2004.

3.5 Image of the chairman/ secretary among members 4. Resource mobilisation 4.1 Members involvement in mobilising tangible and intangible resources

3.3 Presence of two-way communication 3.4 Pouring in one’s own WDC

Okay

High

Low

Low

Low

Good

Very low

Low

Low

Low

Medium

Low (mostly outsiders) Not so good Okay

Medium

Medium

Medium

Okay

Medium

Medium

Low

Okay

High

Medium

Medium

Best

High

High

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the chairperson, secretary and other members. WDCS members are also aware about their rights and they raise relevant questions concerning the profit sharing and obtaining loans in the AGM. Kakadmati and Rabdi are the two next best performing WDCS studied. The chairperson in Kakadmati (a woman) and the secretary in Rabdi (a man) have played major roles in gaining the members’ confidence and also in governance. Rabdi was converted to a WDCS in 1989, after it showed poor performance in terms of milk procurement. The governance in Kakadmati had got into problems a few years ago and the chairperson was asked to step down by the milk union to make people realise her importance (as she was being implicated on some false charges). Although there is a secretary, the chairperson of Kakadmati is very active and is engaged in all public dealings. Rabdi village has a sugarcane lobby which comes in direct conflict with the interests of the WDCS as they tend to extract all the ground water thereby affecting the cultivation of fodder for cattle. Tejlav-Adivasi ejlav-Adivasi, a mixed society, can be described as the next best performing WDCS studied. It has four women members in the committee, but they have very little voice in the governance of the society. All committee members belong to one tribal community. The WDCS was once a model society and is now on the rise after a decline for three to four years in between. The milk business is the mainstay of the people and members have a sense of ownership towards the WDCS. Motaphalia (Pratapnagar) is a WDCS doing well in terms of milk collection, although it is ridden with caste politics. The society operates like any other business enterprise, competing with the other WDCS. It does not follow cooperative principles. It uses its economic strength to lure members from other societies to pour milk in the society. The Patel castes project a sense of ownership of the dairy society, which is more of a show of power. They do not allow other castes to become members of the society. The milk business is a secondary source of income for most people as they are into horticulture and paddy cultivation. The average landholding size is high compared to many of the surrounding villages. Male interference is also seen, and women committee members do not have much say over governance of the society.. Sarpor is a mixed society and is the worst performing in terms of governance and gender point of view as there are no women members in the committee. It is dominated by the upper castes (Rajputs and Patels), and caste politics is rampant. A gender-specific feature seen in Sarpor is that of vulnerability of widows (small farmers and landless) whose spouses were members of the WDCS. The sugarcane lobby in the village does not allow small farmers to use water and, hence, they are unable to grow fodder crops and sustain the milk business. This lobby is also responsible for caste politics in the village. The society, however, has the potential to become a successful dairy if converted into a WDC. The Valsad Milk Union is keen to support such a move. However, the sugar lobby has to be diluted so that other crops, including fodder, may be cultivated by people interested in the dairying business. From these observations, it is clear that the performance of the WDCS is dependent on the role of the chairperson, secretary and committee members. Many times, it is observed that the chairperson and the secretary play an important role in governance

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of the society. Although the functioning of the society is directly dependent on the directions provided by the chairperson, the secretary being the account keeper too has a critical role in its management. The latter is more prone to corrupt practices, either independently or in connivance with the chairperson. There are many instances to corroborate this fact in the union area. The secretary is also an interface between the WDCS and the milk union and banks. The relationship and trust between the chairperson and the secretary has an impact on the functioning of the society as they decide the involvement of members in terms of availing loans for increasing their milk production. Conflict is an important issue linked to caste and class dynamics at the village level, which determines the functioning of the WDCS. The eight-member committee has an important role in terms of a check within the system. They are responsible for bringing in transparency and accountability in governance, as they can question the functioning of the chairperson and the secretary in the public meetings. In many cases, the same chairperson and committee members continue for a long time. This reflects on the milk union as they have made no effort to train second-level management who have the capacity to replace the chairperson and the committee after completion of their tenure. At present, the WDCS have full support of the milk union and conduct most activities under their direction and supervision. However, the larger question is whether the milk union can withdraw itself to allow independent functioning of the WDCS.

IMPACT OF WDCS ON WOMEN In all the WDCS villages studied, except Sarpor, the impact on women members has been positive, and they are very forthright about this fact. This is also evident in the manner in which women members interact with outsiders and are able to express themselves. They have gained confidence in negotiating in the public domain (in terms of mobility) and are interested to get exposure on banking, development programmes, as well as technical issues relating to cattle rearing, which was earlier not available to them. The increased economic benefits have given them security and reduced their vulnerability. Savings from the milk business helps them during illness and nonavailability of credit and wage work (during the lean months of the year), and thereby, they are no longer at the mercy of middlemen/moneylenders or landlords. Tables 12.9 and 12.10 provide empirical observations on the impact of WDCS on women committee members and pouring women members. Women’s creditworthiness has boosted their confidence in both the private and public domain. They have started asserting themselves particularly in the private domain—taking decisions regarding health and education of the girl child in particular, decisions on purchase of big items such as cattle and land, and also about their own welfare. Sharing of household work by male spouses is evident in the caste villages where milk business, and not agriculture, is the primary source of income. In tribal villages, sharing of work among women and men already existed and has been further reinforced, with women being encouraged to participate in activities in the public domain. As a result, tribal women have realised the importance of being literate.

NA

Medium Medium Low

Access to resources Increase in confidence

Medium Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

High

Jamanpara

High Low

Low

Low

Medium

Medium

Motaphalia

Medium Low

Low

Low

Medium

Medium

Tejlav-Adivasi

Medium Low

Low

Low

Medium

Medium

Rabdi

Source: Primary survey, 2004.

Involvement in other economic activities

Physical mobility Decision making at household level Increased access to economic resources/ assets Increase in confidence

Increase in

Low

Low Low

Low

Low

Low

Low Low

Sarpor

Low Medium

Kakadmati

Medium

Low

High

Medium Medium

Jamanpara

Low

Low

High

Low Low

Motaphalia

Low

Low

Medium

Medium Low

Tejlav-Adivasi

Table 12.10: Impact Indicators for W omen Members (in case of Sarpor omen in the Family) Women Sarpor,, W Women

Source: Primary survey, 2004.

NA

Low

NA NA

NA

Low

Decision making at the household level Participation in public affairs/access to other public institutions Leadership quality

NA

Sarpor

High

Kakadmati

Physical mobility

Increase in

Table 12.9: Impact Indicators for W omen Committee Members (Excluding Chairman) Women

Low

Low

Medium

Low Medium

Rabdi

Cannot be gauged High

High

Medium High

Sabarsingi

Not yet evident as new WDC High Not very evident as new WDC

Medium (no other public institutions in village)

Medium (even though physically distant, the mobility was traditionally high) High

Sabarsingi

ENGENDERING COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE

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The synergy between the dairying, and savings and credit through SHGs has motivated them to think of undertaking other economic activities on an individual and collective scale. The confidence in managing the milk business and money has given them a basis to venture into other economic activities. Women committee members who have some power within the WDCS have been able to influence other women in the village to come forward to engage in dairying. The change in the socio-economic status of women members has an impact over other women, and they feel motivated to be a part of the society.

IN LIEU OF A CONCLUSION The increase in WDCS in the Valsad area has brought a large number of women into the cooperative fold. Valsad Milk Union has played a catalytic role in bringing about change in the lives of women, but their sole objective is to increase the milk production in a cost-effective manner. The expansion of WDCS in the area has served the purpose. The milk union has capitalised on women’s collective agency to strengthen the WDCS, by promoting a synergy through establishing self-help groups (savings and credit). Gender as a constituency within the union is rather weak and this is clear from the fact that empowered women with independent minds are seen as a threat to the smooth functioning of the dairy society. This implies that the union is not concerned with structural inequalities in the society. However, it is the support of the milk union that has sustained the WDCS, which is not so successful in case of the mixed societies. The union, therefore, is of the view that the milk procurement should be promoted only through the WDCS. The impact of WDCS on women is clearly seen in terms of economic security. Visibility of women in the village public domain is evident due to participation in the the WDCS. Some women have also gained the confidence to move out of the village to the outer public domain like independently interacting with the milk union, banks, cattle market and so on. Wherever dairying is the primary source of income in the village, women in the WDCS participate fully in the governance, have a sense of ownership of the society, and are able to derive benefits on their terms, and also motivate and facilitate the process of bringing in more women members into the dairy society. Although women are visible in positions of decision making in the WDCS, does it necessarily guarantee a transformational agenda for them? Unless they are able to independently take decisions with respect to not only the functioning of the society but also social, economic and political issues affecting their lives, their role in governance will remain partial. The milk union claims that they have adopted an integrated approach to involve women in dairying through different programmes. It does not, however, challenge the discriminatory social stereotypes in which women are relegated to in the private domain at the household level. Increase in milk procurement is the sole objective of the union. In addition, involvement in milk business only increases their work burden as men are not so much involved in livestock care.

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Adherence to all the cooperative principles by the governing body and members of WDCS is far-fetched as there are several factors that have an influence on the governance and management of the WDCS at the micro level. Further, if women are to participate in governance effectively, there is a need to have multi-pronged interventions that lead to enabling policy, institutional and social environments. Among other things, appropriate capacity building to develop leadership qualities among women, encouraging families and communities to have trust in women’s leadership, develop a culture of shared household responsibility between women and men, training women in political structures and processes, and providing adequate funds for women to take up responsibilities independently would go a long way in ensuring women’s participation in governance in dairy cooperative societies. The role of the milk union also needs to undergo transformation by catalysing institutional mechanisms to ensure that there is support from the community to women leaders with a transformational agenda. In doing so, it will be possible to put women’s concerns in dairying and decision making in cooperative structures centre stage, which represent people’s institutions at the grassroots level, thereby transforming the mainstream in the direction of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

NOTES 1. 2. 3.

Pouring members are those who pour milk on a regular basis in the cooperative society. Non-pouring members are those who are not powering due to some reason (not among milk for sale, etc.). I would like to thank Ravi Sannabhadti for the research assistance that he provided for the study. I am grateful to IRMA for providing funds in conduct of the research study.

REFERENCES ILO. 2001. Promotion of Cooperatives, Report V(1). Geneva: International Labour Organisation. Kanji, N. 2003. Mind the Gap: Mainstreaming Gender and Participation in Development. London: International Institute for Environment and Development. Mohan, N. Shantha. 2004. ‘Engendering Governance in PRIs’, in Proceedings of Silver Jubilee Symposium on Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies, 14–19 December. Anand: IRMA. Nippierd, Anne-Brit. 2002. ‘Gender Issues in Cooperatives’. Geneva: International Cooperative Alliance. Purushothaman, Sangeetha and Suchitra Vedanth. 2004. ‘Role of Grassroots Women’s Networks in Engendering Governance’, in Proceedings of Silver Jubilee Symposium on Governance in Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies, 14–19 December. Anand: IRMA. Rao, V.M. 2004. ‘Enterpreneurship through Cooperatives: An Experience of Women’s Dairy Projects in India’, Kurukshetra, October: 50–54. United Nations (DAW). 2005. ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’. New York: Division of Advancement of Women. Valsad Milk Union. 2004. Annual Report. Valsad: Vasundhara. Vyas, B.M. 2001. ‘Institutional Structure to Sustain Small-holder Dairy Marketing: The Amul Model’, in Proceedings of a South-South Workshop (13–16 March). Anand: NDDB.

SECTION V

ASSESSMENT

OF

GENDER SENSITIVITY IN GOVERNANCE

13 Gender Audits as an Input to Engender Governance Vibhuti Patel INTRODUCTION

A

‘gender audit’ is referred to as ‘mainstreaming’ public policy, including legislation, regulations, allocations, taxation and social projects, from the point of view of their effect on the status of women in a given society. Gender audits also analyse the income and expenditures of the government from a gender perspective. The basic assumption of a gender audit is that public policy impacts differently on men and women. The variance stems from the different roles of women and men in the family and from the lower economic status of women. The purpose of gender audits is to lead to changes in public policy that contribute to an increase in gender equality (Swirski 2002). The concept of gender audit has gained popularity among development economists, social scientists, policy makers and practitioners in the new millennium. It is perceived as crucial from the point of view of equity and efficiency. Increasingly, scholars and the decision makers in the government as well non-government organisations are accepting that gender bias is not only harmful and costly for women, but also for children and households. If women were given equal opportunities, treatment and remuneration/share in property, it would be possible for the country to have more output, more development of capacities, more well-being and more leisure due to combined contribution of men and women. Gender audit does not consider women as passive beneficiaries, but as active participants in the development process and as citizens. For healthy governance, therefore: We need a vision of mankind not as patients whose interests have to be looked after, but as agents who can do effective things—both individually and jointly. We also have to go beyond the role

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of human beings specifically as ‘consumers’ or as ‘people with need’, and consider, more broadly, their general role as agents of change who can, when given opportunity, think, assess, evaluate, resolve, inspire, agitate, and through these means, reshape the world. (Sen 2000)

Gender audits, as an input to engender governance, must be made an integral part of all development efforts by state and civil society initiatives. In this chapter, an effort is made to give an overview of gender audits of policies and programmes that have deconstructed and reconstructed gender relations in India in the post-Independence period, and that have implications for engendering governance. It is divided into seven sections. After the introduction, there is a discussion on gender audit of constitutional guarantees followed by gender audits of macro policies within which economic reforms, globalisation and structural adjustments programmes are discussed in detail. This is followed by gender audits of mega development schemes. The fifth section deals with gender audits of several state policies that have implications for women’s empowerment and gender equality. This is followed by a section on gender audit of budgets. The last section provides some concluding remarks.

GENDER AUDIT OF CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES In 1972, the Government of India constituted a Committee on Status of Women to examine multifaceted problems of India at every stage of their life cycles. This was the first comprehensive gender audit of the constitutional guarantees in the context of unfolding issues facing women in India such as poverty and deprivation, participation in the workforce, political governance and decision making processes, access to justice, personal laws, sex ratios, lack of social security and exiting legal framework.. The report of the committee, in 1974, titled Towards Equality, touched upon all issues concerning women’s survival struggle but violence against women (Government of India 1974).. Articulation of the demands and alternatives suggested by the women’s movement constantly refer to the Fundamental Rights in the Constitution of India, such as: 1. Article 14: Equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the political, economic and social sphere. 2. Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex, religion, caste, etc. 3. Article 15(3): The state shall take affirmative measures for women. 4. Article 16: Provision for equality of opportunities in the matter of public appointments. When the Government of India signed the UN Charter on Equality, Development and Peace in 1975, the process of gender audit in governance got an official stamp. In 1976, the Equal Remuneration Act was enacted to provide equal opportunities, equal treatment and equal wages for work of similar nature. NGOs have been consistently doing public scrutiny of the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 and specific provisions for

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women in general in case of labour laws. The Factories Act, 1948—Section 34 provides that the state government can lay down rules prescribing weights that may be carried by men and women. The Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act and Rules separate provision of utilities for women and fixed working hours. Though these laws have proper implementation mechanisms, there is no provision for monitoring their effect on women. Allowance for special provisions for women has often proven to be detrimental to their employment opportunities. Participation of working women in the decision making processes in the industrial and agrarian relations is abysmally low. Women’s access to legal service largely remains inadequate in spite of the Legal Service Act, 1987 (Women Networking 2004). For the past two decades, women’s groups providing support to women in distress have been demanding gender-just family laws (Patel 2002). In India, the majority of secular women’s groups support reforms in family laws to ensure gender justice to women of different religious groups (Agnes 2003). Some organisations are demanding a uniform civil code. Due to pressure of women’s groups, there has been reform in the antiquated Christian Divorce Act. The Hindu Undivided Property Act has been reformed to give a share in ancestral property to daughters. The state of Andhra Pradesh has granted land rights to women. In the post-Independence period, the only Act passed directly concerning Muslims is the notorious Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. The Act takes Muslim women out of the purview of Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code that ensures maintenance to a divorced wife. ‘The 1986 Act empowers the magistrate to order mehr, maintenance during iddat (3 months following divorce) and a fair provision to be paid within a month of application. Following this payment, the husband is absolved of any financial responsibility and the onus of maintenance of the woman falls on the parental family, or as a last resort, on the Wakf Board’ (WRAG 1997). Hence, the secular women’s rights groups have evolved a slogan: ‘All women are Hindu, all minorities are men, but some of us are brave’. It signifies ‘double burden of patriarchy that controls women’s sexuality, fertility and labour’ and ‘communalism that brutalises minority and dalit women’, shouldered by women in the identity politics. The current debate on triple talaq has made progressive forces take a public position in favour of gender justice. There have been suggestions made by women scholars and activists lately to strengthen the personal laws of all communities to make them more gender-just and weed out gender discrimination. Similarly, the Protection of Right on Divorce Act of 1986 for Muslim women should be strengthened to uphold positive and gender-just interpretation. The Domestic Violence Bill, 2002, generated heated debate on whether casual/ occasional beating should be considered as ‘domestic violence’ (Basu 2003). During last two decades, a set of legal provisions (Table 13.1) to deal with violence against women have been debated threadbare. There has been consistent gender audit of the following legislations: 1. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

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Table 13.1: Legal Provisions for V iolence against W omen Violence Women IPC Section 304B 354 366 366A 366B 376 376A 376B 376C 376D 498A 509

Nature of offence Dowry death/murder Criminal assault of women to outrage modesty Kidnapping, abduction and marriage of a women by force Procurement of a minor girl Import of girl from a foreign country Rape Intercourse by a man with his wife during judicial separation Intercourse by a public servant with woman in his custody Intercourse by superintendent of jail or remand home with women in his custody Intercourse by any member of the management or staff of a hospital with any woman in that hospital Husband or in-laws subjecting a woman to cruelty Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman

Source: Government of India (Indian Penal Code).

2. Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, to take action against sexist portrayal of women in the audio-visual, print and electronic media, pornography and cyber porn. 3. Prevention of Immoral Traffic (in Women and Children) Act, 1987, to crack down on prostitution. 4. Commission on Sati Prevention Act, 1987, to fight widow burning and its glorification. 5. Supreme Court Directive Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace, 1997. 6. The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2002, to stop sex selection at preconception stage as well as of an unborn foetus. As a result of the pressure of women’s groups and judicial activism, new legal provisions such as recognition of the right to residence of a woman in the parental or matrimonial homes, provision for the appointment of protection officers and the recognition of service providers, gender sensitisation trainings for protection officers and judges with regard to the criminal legal system—substantive law, procedural law, rules and infrastructure—and budgetary allocation for strengthening the structures and mechanisms for implementation of laws have been provided.

Gender Audits of the Five-Year Plans of the Government of India Gender audits of Five-Year Plans have been done by Women’s Studies scholars to identify conceptual and operational biases in the approach, design and implications. It is important to understand historical evolution of gender concerns in the planning process in independent India.

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The First Five-Year Plan (1951–56) was set up the Central Social Welfare Board in 1953 to promote welfare work through voluntary organisations, charitable trusts and philanthropic agencies. India was the first country to introduce family planning programmes during the First Five-Year Plan. Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, who had only one daughter, was a role model and men were encouraged to take the lead in birth control practices. The Second Five-Year Plan (1956–60) supported development of mahila mandals for grassroots work among women. It also introduced barrier methods of contraception for both women and men. The Third, Fourth and Interim Plans (1961 – 74) made provisions for women’s education, prenatal and child health services, and supplementary feeding for children, nursing and expectant mothers. In this plan, women’s health needs were merged with their children’s needs. Invasive methods of contraception and reversible (IUDs) and irreversible (sterilisation for men and women) methods were promoted. The Fifth Plan (1974–78) marked a major shift in the approach towards women from welfare to development. It acknowledged the fact of marginalisation of women from the economy and also accepted the need for special employment generation programmes for women in the poverty groups. In terms of population policy, this period proved to be disastrous because forcible vasectomy of men during the emergency rule of 18 months generated permanent erosion of faith in the top-down and bureaucratically managed population policy. The Sixth Plan (1980–85) accepted women’s development as a separate economic agenda. It allotted a separate chapter to focus on women’s concerns in the economic development. A multidisciplinary approach merged with a three-pronged thrust on health, education and employment. It introduced family welfare policy that targeted women for birth control. Promotion of male contraception was found politically harmful by the ruling party. It also netted unpaid family work of women that augmented family resources due to women’s efforts of collection of fuel, fodder, water, kitchen gardening, livestock rearing and work in the household enterprise. The Seventh Plan (1985–90) declared as its objective to bring women into the mainstream of national development. On the population control front, clinical trials of long-acting and hormone-based oral and injectable contraceptives were targeted to women from marginalised communities. The Eighth Plan (1992–97) projected a paradigm shift from development to empowerment, and promised to ensure flow of benefits to women in the core sectors of education, health and employment. Outlay for women rose from Rs. 40 million in the First Plan to Rs. 20 billion in the Eighth Plan. Anti-pregnancy vaccines, EstrogenProgestron (E-P) combinations, Depo-provera, Net-O-en were introduced with blessing of USAID and WHO in the form of a ‘cafeteria approach’ to birth control. The Ninth Plan (1997–2002) stated that empowerment of women was its strategic objective. It accepted the concept of the Women’s Component Plan to assure that at least 30 per cent of funds/benefits from all development sectors flow to women. Gender audit of the budget during the Ninth Plan period has revealed that the budgetary allocation for women-specific schemes increased only in the area of family planning.

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The family planning schemes got additional Rs. 7 billion in the budget (Patel 2002). The strategy of organising women in self-help groups during this plan period paid good dividends for expanding micro-credit. This should be extended not only for reaching out to larger numbers of women, but also for increasing awareness of and access to social development, apart from encouraging a process of convergence in the delivery of services in a decentralised set-up. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002–09) has suggested specific strategies, policies and programmes for empowerment of women. They are as follows: 1. Measurement of development has to go beyond achievement of GDP growth to indicators of distributive justice and their monitoring. 2. Women-headed households have to be specifically targeted, identifying added disadvantages in rural and urban locations with reference to different parameters of deprivation. 3. Formulation of gender development indicators to measure human development and their use as a tool for monitoring development needs to be hastened. 4. The component plan approach, which did not address compartmentalisation of government functioning, should be replaced with a mandated approach of convergence of services at all levels of governance, through inter-sectoral committees of all ministries/departments at the centre and the states, with specific responsibility given to the panchayats and municipalities to administer at the grassroots level. Women’s groups have demanded allocations for women-specific programmes of strategic nature to arrive at the desired goals in a shorter time span. They should target women of different age groups in terms of strategic interventions to take specific notice of adolescent girls, older women and women in difficult circumstances. Strategic gender tools such as gender audits, gender impact assessments, gender analysis and gender budgeting to monitor implementation and impacts must be developed. Gender audit of plans, policies and programmes of various ministries with pro-women allocations has to be part and parcel of the monitoring process. There is a need for provisions in composite programmes under education, health and rural development sectors to target them specifically at girls/women as the principal beneficiaries and disaggregated within the total allocation. It may also be necessary to place restrictions on their reappropriation for other purposes. To effectively attain population stabilisation, policies and plans need to empower women, promote their reproductive rights and involve men in reproductive decision making and household responsibilities. Particular attention should be given to improving women’s access to quality reproductive health services, including adolescent girls to counselling on reproductive health and sexuality issues. Professional organisations including universities should be included for the purpose of undertaking monitoring, evaluation and research studies for identifying issues requiring special attention. The Five-Year Plans prior to 1975 treated women as supplementary earners, while in the post-1975 period women have been treated as active economic agents.

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GENDER AUDIT OF MACRO POLICIES The purpose is to improve women’s living standards and their prospects for economic empowerment. In 1991, at the behest of World Bank and International Monetary Fund, India adopted the New Economic Policy (NEP) that has intensified the processes pursued in the last decade and a half (mainly in the post-emergency period), as a result of a new international division of labour between the advanced capitalist economies and the post-colonial economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the late 1970s, transnational and multinational corporations in the USA and Europe realised that the best way to reduce the wage bill and to enhance the rates of profit was to move industrial plants to poorer countries like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The cheap labour of ‘docile’, ‘nimble-fingered’ and ‘flexible’ Asian women was found to be a most attractive step to enhance profit margins. This policy was given the appealing title of ‘Integration of Women in Development.’ In 1993, systematic critique of this policy was made by Indian Association of Women’s Studies (IAWS) and women economists prevailed upon the architect of the NEP, Professor Manmohan Singh, to make the provision of a safety net for women and children.1 Gender audits of statistics and indicators provide visibility to women’s contributions and stakes, and a realistic picture for allocation of resources for women-specific projects and gender-neutral projects. Gender audits of documents of state and central governments such as Towards Equality (1974), Shram Shakti Report (1988), National Perspective Plan for Women (1988–2000), State Policies for Women, Women’s Empowerment Policy, 2001, amendments in the Panchayati Raj Institutions Act to grant 33 per cent reservation of seats for women, II National Commission of Labour (2002) and Various Human Development Reports have to a great extent sensitised administrators, politicians and social movements to women’s needs, aspirations and demands.

Economic Reforms, Globalisation and Structural Adjustment Programmes In response to a mounting burden of debt leading to a balance of payment crisis, the Government of India adopted a structural adjustment programme (SAP) in 1991. It included reductions in public investment, devaluation, cutting food and fertiliser subsidies, the reduction of budgetary provision for developmental planning, capitalintensive and hi-tech productive activities, economies in government expenditure, and an increase in the bank rate, insurance charges and rail tariffs. Simply put, the policy aimed at capital, energy and import-intensive growth with the help of the four ‘Ds’— devaluation, deregulation, deflation and denationalisation. Integrating women into development implied engaging them in some income generating activities, integrating them into market-oriented production, and thus, integrating them into the world market economy. It was not meant that women should expand their subsistence production and produce more for their consumption—food and clothes. Income generation in this approach meant money income. Money income could be generated

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only if women could produce goods to be marketed in developed countries or exportled production.

Budgetary Allocations and Women in the Post-reform Period Post-1991–92 budgetary allocations have had a direct bearing on women’s survival struggle. Fiscal and monetary policies pursued under the stabilisation programme demand ‘item-by-item’ closer examination in terms of their gender implications.

Prices of Essential Commodities and the Public Distribution System (PDS) An IMF survey, in its report on Asian Developing Countries, commented that South Asia recorded the highest inflation rates in the region, with Pakistan in particular, plus Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal, all recording higher inflation rates during the last decade. India had faced a steep rise in the price of essential items. Women, being caretakers of the households, are adversely affected due to inflation.

Health Care Studies on intra-household distribution of resources reveal that among the poorer households with gross malnutrition and nutritional deficiency, the problem among girls and women was 25 per cent more than among men. For every three men using health care facilities in India, only one woman does so. According to the 2001 Census, the child sex ratio showed there were 927 women for every 1,000 men in India, the lowest in the history of censuses in India. Economic reforms have made import of portable ultrasound machines very easy and the techno-docs throughout the country are identifying the sex of foetuses and facilitating selective abortion of female foetuses. In the 0 to 19 age group, the death rate of girls is higher than that of boys. In this context, budgetary cuts in public health expenditure will have dire consequences for women and girls in India. In the budget, funds for the treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, phyleria and goitre eradication programmes have been reduced compared with previous years. Inadequate funds for the rural sanitation programme in each and every budget throughout the 1990s for provision of clean water, toilets and sewerage have given rise to higher incidents of water-borne diseases and has increased the burden of women in terms of nursing. Also, the reduction in the quota of clean water resources by 38 per cent in the urban areas and 36 per cent in rural areas has increased the drudgery of working-class women who have to stand in long queues for many hours to obtain one bucket of water. Concrete programmes for water management have to be given top priority in the annual budget. The only items, for which budgetary provision has increased in the post-1991–92 period have been family planning (34 per cent), defence expenditure (7 per cent) and the police force (14 per cent). It is justified in the name of cross-border terrorism. Much has been documented on the coercive aspect of population control programmes that force poor women to adopt contraceptives without informed consent or proper followup by medical staff.

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Educational Facilities As per the 2001 Census, the literacy rate for women and girls have improved to 54.16 per cent with 227 million Indian women being literate. However, with privatisation of educational institutions promoted by the SAP, it makes education an expensive proposition for poorer households who are already disinclined to allow their girls to pursue higher education, instead of helping in domestic chores and/or earning. Cuts of 17 per cent in budgetary provision for non-formal education has forced the closure of many night schools and adult education programmes in which working-class women participate. Quality of education is extremely poor in the non-formal educational institutions. It badly needs an introduction of new information technology and distance education by television and radio programmes. According to the 2001 Census, 51 per cent of Indian women are illiterate. In 1998–99, the school enrolment ratios for primary classes were 100.86 for boys and 82.85 for girls, and for secondary classes, it was 65.27 for boys and 49.08 for girls. Privatisation in education promoted by the SAP will increase the dropout rates for girls. In higher education, women are segregated into traditional streams such as humanities, arts and commerce. Women constitute 43 per cent of the total faculty enrolment in arts and only 6 per cent in engineering courses. Reduction in government expenditure on higher education and encouragement towards private colleges will reduce women’s opportunities for higher education, as private education promotes only the more lucrative professional and technical courses. Special scholarships, fellowships and study grants for women and girls are therefore needed.

Poverty Alleviation Programmes Economic reforms rest on feminisation of poverty. The poorest of the poor households are female-headed households. Still, the budgetary provision for poverty alleviation programmes and for the welfare and economic security schemes for working people have been slashed by 12 per cent. In drought-prone districts and desert areas, various schemes for poverty alleviation are not finding better budgetary allocation. In an appeal to Members of Parliament on the NEP prepared by economists, trade unionists, social scientists, media persons and social activists, this was the most criticised aspect.

Employment of Women The 2001 Census showed the work participation rate (WPR) of women as 23 per cent. For rural women, it was 27 per cent and for the urban women, 10 per cent. Compared to the 1971 and 1981 Censuses, the rise in WPR is considerable. A sectoral profile shows that most women workers in rural areas are in occupations such as weaving, handicraft, tailoring, forestry, sale of fish, silk and poultry farming. In urban areas the majority of women workers are either in the construction sector, or in the nursing and teaching professions, working either on a contract basis or are self-employed. The rise of work participation rate is not a sign of empowerment, but a sign of sheer helplessness and economic distress. Subcontracting, home-based production, family labour system and the payment of wages on a piece-rate basis are earmarked for women. According to the

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1991 Census, 19 per cent of the total female workforce constitutes unpaid family labour. Even in a state like Kerala, only 17 per cent of the women are gainfully employed (see Table 13.2). Table 13.2: Decadal Female W ork Participation Rate Work Year 1911 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Female WPR (%) 33.73 27.96 11.86 14.44 22.69 23.00

Source: Census of India, 2001.

In the unorganised sector, 94 per cent of the total women workers are in the ‘informal’ (dependent) sector. Economic reforms reinforce the trend of informalisation and flexibalisation for the female workforce. The formation of a ‘flexible’ labour force is the key concept of the NEP. A shift from a stable/organised labour force to a flexible workforce has meant hiring women on a part-time basis and the substitution of highlypaid male labour by cheap female labour. The NEP provides congenial state support for the large corporate houses that are closing down their big city units and using ancillaries that employ rural and tribal girls (without responsibilities for families and children) on a piece-rate basis. In the name of increase in ‘efficiency’ and ‘productivity’ of labour, home-based work by women and girls get easily legitimised. In the name of increasing marginal efficiency of financial capital, there have been attacks on women’s access to credit, extension services and input subsidies. The same concern for efficiency and the proper management of public funds, however, was not to be seen when it came to stock market speculators. The banks that were indicted in the country’s biggest financial scam talked of increasing their interest rates to the detriment of self-employed women who are dependent on loans. This had affected the small businesses of self-employed poor women. To continue their business, these women now have to approach private moneylenders who charge compound rates of interest. The liberalisation of the economy has not liberated working women. The elimination of 7,000 licences, the scrapping of MRTP limits and the reduction in customs duty on capital goods has given free grazing grounds to foreign capital. Following the liberalisation of the economy, the right to fish in Indian waters has been given to several foreign firms, including Union Carbide. As a result, 50,000 fisher families have lost their jobs. Food processing industries with foreign collaboration are being established. Use of women in the informal sector of electronics, diamond, garment manufacture and pharmaceutical industries has increased. Here, again, the underlying reality is disturbing. With globalisation of production and the introduction of assembly-line production, research and management is being controlled by the first world, while

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strenuous, monotonous, ‘unskilled’ or ‘semi-skilled’ work is being done by third world women. Commenting on this situation, the UN report, Third World Women, 1970–90, states that: ‘The informal sector is by no means a panacea for women. It is far less secure than formal sector work and it generally pays less than the minimum wage.’ The employment profile in the public sector shows that the NEP has declared 200 public sector units ‘economically unviable’ and ‘sick’. Consequently, millions of workers have lost their jobs. Disinvestments in public sector units, closures and retrenchment rendered 6.6 million workers (7 to 9 per cent women) unemployed within a year of the introduction of SAP, according to the Annual Survey of Industries, 1991. Around 50 per cent of the factory employees, who were supported by the National Textile Corporation, are now unemployed. New job opportunities are provided by the information technologies. The information technology (IT) profession has created an army of tele-workers. Reduction in educational funds by the government has created job-redundancy in the teaching profession, where women constitute 22.8 per cent of the total. Encouragement to the private sector in education has eroded the rights provided by the labour laws, as private institutions hire teachers on a contract basis and often terminate employment before staffs become legally entitled to a permanent post. In the organised sector of the overall economy and in the private enterprise, the growth rates of employment during 1980–90 were 2 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. At present it has been reduced to 0.60 per cent. The employment profile in agriculture shows that the employment elasticity of output in agriculture has reduced to 0.64 per cent. Reduction of subsidy and credit in agriculture has affected small and marginal farmers negatively. Unemployment and underemployment in the rural areas have gained serious proportion because in the NEP schemes for rural development and rural industrialisation have not been given any importance. As per the Economic Survey 2000–2001, budgetary allocation under several employment schemes has to absorb the backlog of the unemployed and the new additions to the labour force. There has already been a major shift in the cropping pattern from subsistence production like rice, millet, maize, wheat to cash crop production such as fruit, mushrooms, flowers and vegetables. This process has affected women’s employment in the agrarian sector. Several studies have shown that a shift from subsistence to cash crop production invariably leads to women being the first to lose their jobs. As a result of shrinking self-employment prospects for women, the large majority of them join the rural and urban reserve army of labour. In rural India, 31 per cent of the total female population is employed as per the 2001 Census. The opening up of market since 1 April 2000 for 729 new commodities (240 are agrarian products including rice, meat, milk powder and fruits) that can be imported unrestrictedly have resulted in enormous tragedies, and into suicides and starvation deaths among farmers and weavers. Prices of rubber, cotton, coconut, coffee, cardamom, pepper, tomatoes, sugarcane and potatoes have crashed. Urban poor women in Kerala and Karnataka are fighting desperate struggles against imports of these items to express their solidarity with their rural and tribal sisters.

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In case of urban unemployment, at present India has 34 million registered unemployed and every year it increases by 12 per cent to 13 per cent. The number of professional women workers, such as executives, decision makers in government departments, lawyers, doctors and engineers has increased and will continue to increase, but their strength in the overall economy is miniscule. The government finds it difficult to dismiss permanent staff in public sector enterprises as they are well organised, vocal, articulate and visible. To create an ideological justification for segmentation in the labour market on the grounds of gender relations, a debate on the issue of part-time work for women employees has begun.

Environment and Forest Development The most ironic impact of the SAP is on the environment and forest development. In the past few years the environment has become one of the most debated political issues. At the Rio Summit, government organisations and non-government organisations from India made their presence felt by making passionate presentations. In reality, however, there has been an overall budgetary cut of 18 per cent for the environment and forest development. Women are employed in wasteland development, social forestry and desert development programmes on a large scale. In these areas, the budget has been cut by 23.5 per cent. Smokeless stoves (chulhas) have been enthusiastically promoted among rural and urban poor women because they are less harmful to health. The government’s budget for funding this project has reduced by 18.5 per cent. In the context of a wood fuel crisis, alternate energy resources such as biogas and solar energy equipment gain major importance. The government, however, has reduced the budget for these alternate energy sources by 26.3 per cent and 25.4 per cent respectively. Further, funds allocated for research on alternate energy resources have been reduced by 26.3 per cent. On the one hand, a resource ‘crunch’ is created where environmentally regenerative programmes are concerned, while on the other hand, millions of rupees are made available for controversial mega projects like the Sardar Sarovar, Dabhol Power Plant and Narmada Dam. The Morse Committee, noted environmentalists, most NGOs outside Gujarat, within India and internationally, have criticised the projects that are supported by the World Bank. This is because they will harm 240,000 people and create major environmental problems.

Female-headed Households (FHHs) Studies have shown that the burden of poverty falls more heavily on women than on men. Of the total households, around 11 per cent are supported by women’s income alone. In other words, they are female-headed households, supported totally by widows, single unmarried women, and deserted or divorced women. Feminisation of poverty has been enhanced due to the combined effects on these households of price rises, reduced quotas for PDS, and reductions in health care and educational facilities.

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Children of FHHs suffer more from nutritional deficiency, inadequate primary health care facilities and cuts in expenditure for primary and non-formal education. State support to FHHs had been one of the central demands of the women’s movement since 1975. In the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for Women (1988–2000) and Women Empowerment Policy (WEP), 2001, of the Government of India there was great concern expressed for FHHs. But economic reforms have worked against the objectives of the NPP and WEP. SHGs of women are supposed to be the solution as per the World Bankpromoted agenda for women in poverty groups.

Sex-Tourism as an Integral Part of Globalisation Sex-Tourism in India has reached massive proportions with globalisation. A new type of publicity material for foreign tourists show scantily dressed women waiting for tourists at the beach or in the foyer of five-star hotels. Worsening economic conditions force young, poor and lower-middle-class women to become sex workers—either for survival or by force. Child prostitution has drastically increased due to pauperisation of rural and urban masses caused by economic reforms.

SAP versus SAARC Decade of the Girl Child (1991–2000) In terms of educational opportunities and health care, SAP has done great damage to female children. During the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child, millions of young girls were forced to do back-breaking work in hazardous and inhuman conditions. 1. Girl child labour and globalisation: Nearly 10 per cent of girls were never enrolled in schools due to paid and unpaid work they had to do in homes, fields, factories and plantations, and in the informal sector. Sexual abuse at the work place is a hidden burden that a girl worker endures. Child labour policies, however, do not spell out anything specific to girl child workers. There is no implementation of prohibition of girls working in hazardous occupations as per Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. About 6 per cent of the males and females in rural areas, and about 3 per cent males and 2 per cent females in age group 5 to 14 in urban areas were found to be working during 1993–94. 2. Declining juvenile sex ratio: The declining juvenile sex ratio is the most distressing factor reflecting low premium accorded to a girl child in India (Patel 2003). As per the Census of India, juvenile sex ratios were 971, 945 and 927 for 1981, 1991 and 2001 respectively. In 2001, India had 158 million infants and children, of which 82 million were males and 76 million females. There was a deficit of 6 million female infants and girls. This is a result of the widespread use of sex determination and sex pre-selection tests throughout the country (including in Kerala), along with high rates of female infanticide in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, rural Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Millions of girls have been missing in the post-independence period. Around 70 districts in 16 states and Union Territories recorded more than a 50-point decline in the child sex ratio in the last one decade (UNFPA 2003).

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To stop the abuse of advanced scientific techniques for selective elimination of female foetuses through sex determination, the Government of India passed the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PNDT) Act in 1994. But the techno-docs based in the metropolises, urban and semi-urban centres, and parents desirous of begetting only sons have subverted it. Since the PNDT Act passed by the Centre, similar Acts followed by several state governments and Union Territories of India during 1988 (after the Maharashtra legislation to regulate prenatal sex determination tests) as a result of pressure created by the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-selection. But there was a gross violation of this central legislation. In response to the public interest petition filed by Sabu George at the Centre for Inquiry into Health and Allied Themes, Mumbai, and MASUM, and fought on their behalf by the Lawyers Collective, Delhi, the Supreme Court of India gave a directive on 4 May 2001 to all state governments to make an effective and prompt implementation of the PNDT Act (enacted in 1994 and brought into operation from 1 January 1996). Now, it stands renamed as the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 2002, which is stricter than the previous one. It has received the assent of the President of India on 17 January 2003. The Act provides ‘for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting genetic abnormalities or metabolic disorders or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto’. Under the Act, a person who seeks help for sex selection can face, at first conviction, imprisonment for a three-year period and be required to pay a fine of Rs. 50,000. The state medical council can suspend the registration of the doctor involved in such malpractice and, at the stage of conviction, remove his/her name from the register of the council.

Displacement in the Name of Development Throughout the 20th century, urban poor women have been employed in food, beverage, tobacco, textiles, wood/bamboo/cane and ceramics industries. Here, too, they have been targets for retrenchment and forced to join the unorganised sector. Women are squeezed out of the marketing and vending spaces because global traders have made local labour and skill obsolete. A sizeable section of the informal sector’s goods and services is produced by means of contracting and subcontracting, for which payment is based on piece-work rather than a time-rate basis. Much of the economic activity in the informal sector is founded on capital from the formal sector and, given the low cost of labour and taxed minimally or not at all, return to where it came from with tidy profit. Primitive accumulation in its classical form included plunder, slavery and colonialism, while primitive accumulation in the contemporary period includes sweatshops, labour concentration camps and criminalisation of the working class. In 1998 the world economy had 1.2 billion poor, that is, population with an income of less than US$ 1 per capita per day.

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Labour Standards by ILO The ILO’s labour standards have been violated resulting in erosion of workers’ rights and collective bargaining process due to informalisation, casualisation and marginalsation of the working class due to economic liberalisation policies adopted by the nation states in Asia. Trade union workers from all Asian countries expressed their anxiety about countries competing with each other to cut costs by compromising labour standards. In the name of labour flexibility, exploitation of the workers is enhanced and feminisation of poverty has taken place. Social action groups must demand for uniform labour standards for all countries that are part of World Trade Organisation so the nation states stop competing for cutting cost by violating workers rights.

GENDER AUDITS OF MEGA DEVELOPMENTAL SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES Gender audits of mega development schemes have been extremely useful to seal leakages that disempower women and bring to the fore women’s component in terms of employment, educational opportunities, skill development, entitlement and assets ownership. Capital-driven growth has perpetrated tremendous human miseries by resorting to forced eviction of poor people from their dwellings and workplace. While commenting on the forced eviction to accommodate mega projects, the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 16th Session, 1997, stated: Women and other vulnerable individuals and groups suffer disproportionately from the practice of forced eviction. Women in all groups are especially vulnerable given the extent of statutory and other forms of discrimination which often apply in relation to property rights (including home ownership) or rights of access to property or accommodation, and their particular vulnerability to acts of violence and sexual abuse when they are rendered homeless.

Women are victims of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and social disasters such as caste, communal and ethnic conflicts, and war and economic disasters in the name of development (for example building 350 flyovers in Mumbai, mega plants and shopping plazas, all displacing people). They need rehabilitation in terms of proper housing, civic amenities, safe transport and work. Similarly, tourism driven by globalisation has promoted sex-tourism and child prostitution. Tourists seeking uninfected short-term sex partners increasingly pursue young girls based in the urban centres as well as on the national highways, and have paid sex with child prostitutes. Young girls may be forced into prostitution or otherwise have little power in sexual relationships to negotiate condom use, particularly if their sexual partner is older—a double risk since older men are more likely to be infected. Belief that sex with virgin girls cures STDs among men has intensified trafficking of girls from rural hinterland to urban redlight areas.

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Women Beneficiaries of the SAP In India, upper-middle-class, educated, city-based women with substantial salaries were very enthusiastic about the new budget as it gave more tax exemption to them. These women—in the higher echelons of the public service, top executives in private business, local agents of foreign business, partners and consultants to foreign businesses, MNCs and TNCs, advertisement industries, owners of export industries (such as government, diamond and food processing units who get benefits of the higher producer prices, low wage policy and privileged access to state-provided infrastructure services and inputs) have definitely benefited from SAP. Wide ranges of consumer goods from the international market have pleased these women (both middle-class housewives and professional women). Thus, austerity for a majority of Indian women has existed side by side with higher luxury consumption of a few rich women. As already mentioned, SAP has increased women’s drudgery and hardship in the struggle for survival. The inflationary impact of SAP reduces the purchasing power of a household, which in turn, increases unpaid labour of women. GATT’s pressure to amend the Indian Patent Act that is based on process patenting will make essential drugs very expensive. Poor women will find it impossible to avail themselves of medical facilities. Finally, 10 case studies based on the experiences of Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Jamaica, Peru, the Philippines, Korea, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe suggest that unless the governments ensured compensatory policies in terms of public works, nutritional support and public education alongside SAP, women suffered the most. ICE policy, that is Information, Communication and Entertainment, in favour of economic reforms has nothing to offer the common woman except deprivation, degradation and dehumanisation. Free play of market forces unleashed by the economic reforms have made the majority of Indian women more vulnerable in the factory, labour and product markets. The Government of India appointed the second National Labour Commission (NLC) in 2000 to focus on five aspects—review of law, social security, umbrella legislations for the unorganised sector, impact of globalisation on women workers, child labour and health care. Its recommendations serve the interest of economic reforms that benefit world capital, MNCs and TNCs.

GENDER AUDITS OF STATE POLICIES Housing Policy Housing rights have been major concern of the women’s movement in India for over two decades. When women’s groups started providing support to women in distress, it was relatively easier to find jobs and school admission for children. The most difficult task was to get accommodation for women victims of violence, desertion, rejection from natal or matrimonial family and cheating by their relatives. Questions that need to be answered are:

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1. Do women utilise space differently? 2. Can we create environments that are more gender sensitive? 3. Can we make policy makers and planners who are working at the state level understand the politics of built environment and gender rules? 4. What are our alternatives to the existing approach adopted by Sight and Service Schemes (SSS) and Slum Rehabilitation Schemes (SRS)? 5. What interventions can we make in city planning that involves physical, economic and social access? Women’s right to housing (WRH) is linked with women’s right to property, land and inheritance. As primary users of housing, women’s stakes and requirements are the highest in housing. For women, beyond shelter, a house is a place of employment, a place for social interaction, a place for childcare, and a refuge from social instability and sexual violence. In the peaceful areas of India, a tenth of the households are headed by divorced, deserted and single women. In conflict-prone areas over 30 per cent households are headed by women. In WHHs, women shoulder main economic responsibilities, including house hunting. Even if they have money, they face hurdles while looking out for a rented place or a house on an ownership basis. Nearly one-third of households worldwide are now headed by women; in certain parts of Africa and Latin America, as much as 45 per cent is FHH. Households headed by women tend to be poorer than male-headed households. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS Habitat) estimates that at least 600 million people in the cities of developing countries live in shelters that are life or health threatening. In the last 20 years, many women have filed petitions in the high courts and the Supreme Court of India demanding a wife’s right to live in the matrimonial home and daughter’s right to stay in the ancestral home. As per the Mitakshara laws applicable in the Hindu Code, only sons get coparcenery rights over ancestral property as they are considered karta. Lata Mittal challenged the Mitakshara laws applicable to Hindu daughters who are deprived of right to stay in the ancestral home. A woman’s identity is entwined with a house, but the housing identity as a capital investment and the largest outlay in the household budget lies with male head. Whether women are property owners, their place of sphere is considered to be within the house. Domesticity does not help women as it perpetuates the low status of women. Market economy devalues domestic work, and mainstream planners and policy makers consider it ‘non-work’ and subdue women’s housing concerns. The gendered construct of social and economic relations within and outside the household and deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes in the civil society discriminate against women in virtually every aspect of housing, be it policy development, entitlement in government projects, control over household resources, right of inheritance and ownership, and the construction of housing. There is a need to focus on housing in terms of ‘personal meanings’ as well as affordability, women’s role and the housing industry. The state must take affirmative action to empower women in exercising their housing rights because men as property

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owners enjoy a privileged position and control the housing delivery system. Moreover, general subordination of women is also reflected in women’s lack of representation in the higher echelons of political bodies. Societal restrictions reinforce women’s status as second-class citizens. As a result, women professionals in the housing industry that is, engineers, architects and agents have to subserve the interests of the male-dominated construction industry. A gender-neutral approach to housing goes against women’s interest. Hence, there is a need to introduce a gender-aware approach instead that takes women’s strategic and practical needs, concerns and rights into consideration. For that, we will have to sensitise all stakeholders in the housing industry, that is, land surveyors, builders, developers, designers, financiers, mortgage bankers, lawyers, credit unions, government officers, material suppliers, real estate brokers, appraisers, contractors, interior decorators, gardeners, landscape architects and cooperative societies. In the language of economics, both supply-side production, construction, management, maintenance, rehabilitation, and demand-side community groups, consumer forums and cooperative societies need to be sensitised. International human rights law on security of tenure demands that a person has a secure tenure if he/she is protected from being removed arbitrarily and involuntarily from their homes and lands. Tenure is secure if it is protected by legislation rather than merely through customs and traditions. Circumstances and conditions that threaten women’s security of tenure are as follows: 1. Gender-biased laws preventing women from owning, inheriting, purchasing, leasing, renting and bequeathing housing, land and property. 2. Judicial interpretation of the law where there is no explicit forbidding of WRH in gender-neutral laws, yet there are obstacles because of male-biased interpretation of laws. General statements are considered to be applicable to only men. 3. Land and housing systems grant titles to private property to ‘heads of households’ who are often deemed to be men. 4. Many cultures and customs do not grant women’s independent existence, such women living alone, without male protection, are punished severely due to sexist attitudes. Such laws are not codified. In polygamous and polyandrous communities, shared community values go against individual women leading independent lives. Major hurdles faced by women in the housing market are due to gender-biased policies in financing of housing, availability of services, material and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy to handle political economy of housing. Women face major difficulties in securing loans for purchase of quality housing. It is not easy for single women or WHH to get rental housing. Even if they manage to get rented homes, they have to face harassment of various sorts. Unmarried single women are perceived as a threat to sexual morality. In

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the absence of old age homes for women, the plight of women senior citizens is deplorable. Women’s housing needs must be understood from the point of view of women’s right to dignified life. They should not face any discrimination in exercising their housing rights due to their caste, race, age, religion and ethnicity. State and civil society initiatives must facilitate the process of women’s empowerment through guaranteeing housing rights. Local self-government bodies should reserve 10 per cent of all houses/ flats/industrial units/shops in marketplaces for women. Schools of architecture, engineering colleges and institutions for interior designing should organise capacity building workshops and training programmes for women. Gender sensitisation of decision makers in the housing industry and the elected representatives of the mainstream political bodies should be given priority. For formulation of gender-sensitive policies, experts on the subject should be inducted in the apex bodies of urban, rural and tribal housing projects.

Energy and Environment Policy In the 1980s, governments and development agencies became much more aware of the need to consider gender issues in their environmental and natural resource management programmes. This led to changes in project design and implementation. Eco-feminists have played a crucial role in the evolution of a new gender-sensitive approach among policy makers (Shiva 1988). However, in actual practice economic vested interests have reigned supreme.

Water Policy Gender audit of water policy has critiqued the watershed management and rainwater harvesting programmes that focus solely on water utilisation for agriculture and industry, even though rural and urban poor women have to spend many hours to acquire drinking water for household consumption. Policy makers first came to appreciate that women play an essential role in the management of natural resources, including soil, water, forests and energy... and often have a profound traditional and contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them (World Bank 1991). The exclusion of women from environmental projects—through outright neglect or belief in the gender neutrality of projects—would thus be a recipe for project failure. Subsequently, donor agencies have come to see women as especially vulnerable: ‘Their responsibilities as day-to-day environmental managers make women both victims of and contributors to the natural environment’s degradation and pollution.’ On the other hand, gradually, awareness has been growing thanks to many grassroots success stories of women fighting to conserve local resources—such as greening of deserts in Rajasthan, Appiko in Karnataka, Chipko in Tehri Garhwal and Junagarh in Gujarat, and Narmada Bachao Andolan in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

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Population Policy The focus of health programmes should change from a population control approach of reducing numbers to an approach that is gender-sensitive and responsive to the reproductive health needs of women/men. Women’s groups worldwide have raised a hue and cry against sexist, racist and class biases of the population control policy, which perceives the uterus of coloured women as a danger zone. They have opposed genetic and reproductive engineering, which reduce women to reproductive organs and allow them to be used as experimental subjects by science, industry and the state.2 They believe that instead of abusing reproductive biology, responsible reproduction is an answer to overpopulation and infertility. Any coercion, be it through force, incentives or disincentives in the name of population stabilisation, should be rejected. Instead, enabling women to have access to education, resources, employment, income, social security and safe environment at work and at home are preconditions to a small family norm. Reproductive rights of women that guarantee healthy life, safe motherhood and autonomy in decision making about when, how many, and at what intervals to have children are a central axis around which a discourse on population policy should revolve. Several groups have prepared manuals to assist women leaders to reach out to poor illiterate women and teach them about fertility and infertility, giving them knowledge of their anatomy, to teach them fertility awareness as a means of family planning and to use natural family planning, as an entry point to their health and development (Jagori 1995). Scientifically accurate books for sex education and fertility awareness are now available (Nadedkar and Rajadhyaksha 1999). Sex education for women becomes meaningful only when it is linked with assertiveness training. Girls and women who are unable to handle gender-based power relations end up as victims even after receiving thorough physiological, anatomical, scientific and medical details of sex education (Sadgopal 1995).

National Health Policy, 2001 To address the problems concerning women’s health, a holistic life span approach is needed (Gupta 2001). Women as growing human beings, homemakers, workers, mothers and elderly citizens face different types of health-related issues. Women’s health is determined by the material reality generated by socio-economic and cultural forces, as well as gender relations based on subordination of women. It is important to make men aware of women-specific health needs. Improvement in women’s health is a precondition for the development of her family. How to engender medical education is a question that needs to be addressed. There is also a need to make available gendersensitive books for health practitioners.

Mental Health Policy A fire in Moideen Badusha Mental Home in Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, on 6 August 2001, that killed 28 inmates who were chained and hence could not escape has once again

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invited attention of all concerned citizens to the condition of women in mental homes. Surviving patients of the tragedy were transferred to the Institute of Mental Health in Chennai. Now they are no longer in chains, but their condition is not different from the earlier home (Krishnakumar 2002). Pathologisation of women by using diagnostic labels is a major cause of stigmatisation and ostracism. Women’s groups are demanding that pigeonholing of people into set slots must stop. Interaction with the mental health professionals is used by family members and the community to declare the concerned women unfit to live in the family, to be a parent, function as an autonomous individual or take up a job. The husband’s family uses ‘mental disorder’ to dispose of her or debar her from property rights or the right to live in a matrimonial or parental home. A certificate of insanity from mental health professionals is used by husbands/in-laws to divorce, desert or throw out wives from their matrimonial homes. Women are admitted to mental asylums as per the directives of the Mental Health Act, 1987, and Lunacy Act, 1912. Saarthak, a voluntary organisation, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court (WP © 334/2001 with WP © 562/2001) requesting the apex court to issue directives banning direct electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), popularly known as shock therapy, in the mental hospitals, psychiatric nursing homes and government/municipal hospitals with psychiatric wards. Several groups have started signature campaigns in support of the petition. Once dumped in a mental asylum, it is impossible for women to get out, even after complete recovery. Women in the mental hospitals have fewer visitors, are abandoned or tend to stay on longer than men within the institution. There are fewer voluntary patients among women than among men. Even in adjudication for a woman’s institutionalisation, the official discourses are often coloured by the sex role stereotypes that the judges, police officials and the staff in mental hospitals uphold. (Pathare 2003)

The remarks of a social worker after a visit to a mental hospital are apt: The interaction with female patients made me sadder. Almost all of them were abandoned/dumped by families or the police and court got them admitted after they hit the rock bottom. Most of them were forced to face violent situations in their lives and had painful and atrocious accounts to tell. In many cases, one could see (although without an in-depth study, one can not claim and prove) that the mental distress and ill health had its roots not in a person’s biology or psychology, but in society, in our social environment. (Davar 2001)

The iron wall of secrecy about the administration of drugs, surgery and ECT, and their side effects needs to be condemned by citizen’s initiatives and ethical medical practitioners. Long-lasting side effects of the biomedical approach need to be highlighted. Mental hospitals need to pay attention to psychotherapy and counselling which involve therapies that produce positive results and no negative side effects. Longterm stay in mental hospital leads to chronicity. Hence, there is a need to promote halfway homes, hostels and most importantly, the treatment of women patients in their family settings through follow up visits by nurses and social workers (Kapoor 2001).

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GENDER AUDIT OF BUDGETS Gender audit of budget provides policy framework, methodology and a set of tools to assist governments to integrate a gender perspective into the budget as the main national plan of public expenditure. It also aims to facilitate attention to gender analysis in review of macro-economic performance, ministerial budget preparations, parliamentary debate and mainstream media coverage. It does not mean separate budgets for women, but that all budgets (Union, state and PRI) be analysed and constructed from a gender perspective, and that, there is analysis of revenue and government expenditure on women and girls as compared to men and boys. Gender audit of budgets helps governments to decide how policies need to be adjusted and reprioritised for protecting and promoting women’s rights. Understanding the relationship between macro-economic policies and the Union budget, state budgets and the PRIs in the context of India’s economic reforms and globalisation is imperative as it influences women’s lives in several ways. It is good economic sense to make national budgets gender sensitive, as this will enable more effective targeting of government expenditure to women-specific activities and reduce inequitable consequences of previous fiscal policies. The Gender Budget Initiative is a set of tools to assist governments to integrate a gender perspective into the budget. The budget impacts women’s lives in several ways. It directly promotes women’s development through allocation of funds for women’s programmes and reduces opportunities for empowerment of women through budgetary cuts. So far, the process of gender budgeting has been a post facto effort to dissect/analyse and thus offset any undesirable gender-specific consequences of the previous budget. Due to consistent lobbying by gender economists and women’s groups, for the first time in 2000, the Ministry of Finance of the Indian government has given a mandate to all ministries to establish a ‘gender budgeting cell’ by January 2005, and 18 ministries and departments have been asked to submit annual reports and performance budgets highlighting allocations for women. These budgets are expected to be placed before the Parliament along with detailed demand for grants for 2005–06 (Indian Express 2005). There is a need to examine budgetary provisions for women during 2001–02 and 2002– 03 within the matrices provided by the aforementioned policy documents. Women’s status and bargaining power in the economy have a major bearing in the budgetary policy. Therefore, a yearly analysis of the budget from the point of view of women is required to enhance women’s economic interest and socio-political standing in the economy. Analysis of the budget from a gender perspective gives an understanding of the nature, character and content of women’s share of the development cake. Tables 13.3 and 13.4 provide details of allocations to programmes for women as well as those with indirect benefits for women, clearly indicating the shift in approach of the Union budget in India. Much of the change in approach can be attributed to the economists working on women’s issues and also the women’s movement. Systematic interventions of women’s organisations in the pre-budget sessions of the government have led to the fund allocation policy for ‘The Women’s Component’, in general schemes involving various ministries.

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GENDER AUDITS AS AN INPUT TO ENGENDER GOVERNANCE Table 13.3: Union Budget 2001–02: Allocations to Programmes for W omen (Rs. Million) Women Demand number

46 Education

47 Health and family welfare

48 Women and child development

Demand name

Mahila Samakhya Assistance for boarding/hostel facilities for girl students of secondary school National Programme for Women’s Education Lady Hardinge Medical College Welfare and Sucheta Kriplani Hospital Reproductive and Child Health Project Maternal Benefit Scheme and Post Partum Programme Sterilisation beds ICDS WB-assisted ICDS projects Training programme under ICDS Day care centres Balwadi Nutrition Programme ECCE grants to NGOs Other schemes Condensed courses for women Balika Samridhi Yojana Hostels for working women Support to Technology Entrepreneurship Programme Mahila Samridhi Yojana Socio-economic programmes, CSWB Training-cum-production Short-stay homes Awareness Generation Programme NCW Swashakti Project RMK IMY Other programmes Nutrition awareness programmes

Budget 2000–01

10.00 5.00

Revised 2001–02

Budget 2001–02

Change over 2000–01 allocation (%)

9.00 2.50

11.00 4.30

10.0 –14.0

10.00

10.00

–94.0

44.88

42.05

43.74

–3.0

951.00

801.00

1,126.95

19.0

111.00

111.00

135.00

22.0

1.70 935.00 180.00

1.70 935.00 140.00

1.35 1,198.00 220.00

–21.0 28.0 22.0

35.00

20.00

40.00

14.0

18.50 2.00 2.30 3.21 1.50 27.00 7.02 13.00

18.30 1.64 1.90 2.97 1.50 21.00 7.02 13.00

21.95 1.51 1.51 7.54 2.00 25.00 9.00 18.00

19.0 –25.0 –34.0 135.0 – –7.0 28.0 38.0

15.00 25.00

15.00 24.70

8.00 27.00

–47.0 8.0

13.00 14.51 1.80 3.50 15.00 3.00 18.00 6.11 9.05

11.00 9.77 1.80 3.50 8.00 1.51 2.21 3.61 8.47

18.00 12.84 4.00 5.00 15.00 1.00 19.50 19.89 10.15

38.0 –12.0 122.0 43.0 0.0 –67.0 8.0 226.0 12.0

160.0

(Table 13.3 Continued)

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(Table 13.3 Continued) Demand number

85 Social justice and empowerment 53 Labour and employment 79 Tribal affairs Total

Demand name

Budget 2000–01

Revised 2001–02

Budget 2001–02

Change over 2000–01 allocation (%)

Girls hostels

8.40

9.10

19.00

126.0

Special education programme for girls from SC and low literacy level groups Girls hostels

2.00

0.70

0.01

–100.0

12.00

7.00

10.50

–13.0

2,691.68

2,282.75

3,186.94

18.40

Source: Expenditure Budget, 2001–02, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Table 13.4: Union Budget 2001–02: Allocations to Programmes with Indirect Benefits for W omen Women (Rs. million) Demand number

1: Agriculture

21: Environment and forests 25: Finance 38: Health

40: Family welfare

53: Labour

59: Nonconventional energy

Demand name

Budget 2000–01

Revised 2000–01

Budget 2001–02

National watershed Programme for development of rain-fed agriculture, Alkali land reclamation and development programme Fuel wood and fodder project

55.50 20.00

114.85 20.00

– 1.50

–100.0 –93.0

31.00

18.80

22.00

–29.0

NABARD Development of nursing services Assistance towards hospitalisation of the poor Free distribution of conventional contraceptives Health guide scheme Beedi worker’s welfare fund; compensation to families of drivers of heavy duty interstate vehicles Biogas programme

28.76 17.30 6.00

28.76 16.00 3.50

29.00 21.50 4.00

1.0 24.0 –33.0

108.71

95.71

117.00

8.0

4.75 0.30

4.75 0.30

4.50 0.35

–5.0 17.0

66.50

62.50

549.5

Change over 2000–01 allocation (%)

–17.0

(Table 13.4 Continued)

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319

(Table 13.4 Continued) Demand number

Demand name

Integrated rural energy programme Biomass programme Improved chulhas 65: Rural Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar development Yojana Employment Assurance Scheme Gram Samridhi Yojana Jawahar 66: Land resources Integrated wastelands development project scheme 67: Drinking water Accelerated rural water supply supply Rural sanitation 80: Urban Special scheme for water supply development 83: Urban Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar employment and Yojana poverty alleviation Total

Budget 2000–01

Revised 2000–01

Budget 2001–02

Change over 2000–01 allocation (%)

8.00

5.00

6.65

–17.0

37.70 19.00 900.00

18.50 16.05 370.00

18.80 16.05 450.00

–50.0 –16.0 –50.0

1,170.00 1,485.00 398.80

1,453.00 1,345.00 365.12

1,440.00 1,485.00 351.00

23.0 0.0 –12.0

1,764.07 126.00 2.00

1,764.07 126.00 0.02

1,809.08 135.00 0.02

3.0 7.0 –99.0

168.00

95.03

168.00

0.0

6,417.39

5,923.94

6,134.55

–4.0

Source: Expenditure Budget, 2001–02, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Some of the long-standing demands of women economists and development organisations have been incorporated in the Union Budget 2000–01 in India. In his 2001–02 Budget speech, the finance minister mentioned the women’s agenda in point number 67 and stated: The year 2001 is being observed as Women’s Empowerment Year. My colleague, the deputy chairperson of Planning Commission is heading a Task Force to review the programme for women. Meanwhile I propose to: • • •

Strengthen the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh for providing micro-credit to poor assetless women through NGOs. Launch an integrated scheme for women’s empowerment in 650 blocks through women’s self-help groups. Start a new scheme for women in difficult circumstances like widows of Vrindavan, Kashi and other places, destitute women and other disadvantaged women groups.

But at the same time, there are a few areas missing in the budget that are crucial for women’s day-to-day survival needs. A case study of the 2001 budget reveals that in

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the section on ‘Quality of Life’ specific needs of women vis-à-vis health, education, drinking water, housing and roads have not been adequately addressed. There has to be coordination between launching of new schemes and budgetary allocation. It does not serve women’s interest if the funds are not available for an already-launched scheme or funds are allocated for non-existing schemes. For example, in the absence of womenspecific educational schemes, Rs. 1.6 billion allocated for the national programme on women’s education remained unutilised. In case of PRIs, engendering budgets would imply scheme-wise, sector-wise, categorywise and year-wise analyses, with their estimates, revised estimates and the actual expenditure. It is also important to make thorough study of the Economic Survey published by the Government of India and state Human Development Reports, State Policies for Women and allocation of resources in the state plans published by the state governments that guide programmes and budgetary allocations. This exercise helps in understanding of the macro policies in determining women’s predicaments. Currently, women’s groups are demanding that each and every ministry should allocate separate funds for women-specific needs (Kaushik 2002). Each state has a detailed list of the programmes/schemes benefiting women under four categories: 1. Women-specific schemes where 100 per cent of the allocation is required to be spent on women. 2. Pro-women schemes where at least 30 per cent of allocation and benefits flow to women. 3. Gender-neutral schemes meant for the benefit of community as a whole where both men and women avail these benefits. 4. The residual state-specific programmes having profound effect on women’s position/condition. In 2004, a review of women’s studies by the Economic and Political Weekly published articles based on UNDP-supported research reports on various schemes and programmes under the state government budgets. They have shown the means adopted by different states to finance budgets and the burden of indirect taxes mostly borne by common citizens (Banerjee and Roy 2004). Through case studies of the state budget of Maharashtra (Pandey et al. 2004), the midday meal scheme in Tamil Nadu, a bottom-up budget by involving elected women representatives PRIs in Karnataka, and a comparative analysis of development and social sector expenditures of 13 Indian states with that of West Bengal, they have succinctly shown gender-differential impacts of protective and welfare services (pensions for widows and destitute women, budget for shelter homes and rehabilitation centres for women victims of violence), social services (budgetary provision for education, health, crèche, working women’s hostels, fuel, fodder, water, housing, sanitation, nutrition and midday meal is) regulatory services (state commissions for women and women’s cells in the police stations and government departments) and awareness generation programmes (Banerjee and Roy 2004; Bhat et al. 2004; Swaminathan et al. 2004).

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Budgets garner resources through taxation policies and allocate resources to different sections of the economy. The budget is an important tool in the hands of state for affirmative action for improvement of gender relations through reduction of gender gap in the development process. It can help reduce economic inequalities between men and women as well as between the rich and poor. Hence, the budgetary policies need to keep in considerations the gender dynamics operating in the economy and in civil society. There is a need to highlight participatory approaches to pro-poor budget, bottom-up budget, child budget, SC budget, ST budget, green budget, and local and global implications of pro-poor and pro-women budgeting, alternative macro scenarios emerging out of alternative budgets, and interlinkages between gender-sensitive budgeting and women’s empowerment. Serious examining of budgets calls for greater transparency at the level of international economics to local processes of empowerment. There is a need to provide training and capacity building workshops for decision makers in government structures, gram sabhas, parliamentarians and audio-visual media. Women’s groups have demanded for the following: 1. separate listing of women-specific items in the budget; 2. no diversion of women’s component funds (30 per cent of the total) in different ministries and departments; 3. transparency about allocation and utilisation of funding; 4. right to information; and 5. inclusion of gender economists in pre-budget workshops that should be held around October so that their suggestions can be included. For a widespread impact of gender audits on budgets, its analysis from a gender perspective should be introduced and promoted in all women’s groups, and all educational and research institutions. Public debate on gender-sensitive budgets will help the country tilt the balance in favour of area development and peaceful use of resources in the present atmosphere of jingoism.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS Increasingly, a realisation has come about that without engendering development, it is endangered. Gender audits of decentralisation of political governance has revealed that while elected women in PRI, legislative bodies and Parliament have played a positive role in addressing or attempting to address a range of practical gender needs (inadequacies in living conditions such as provision of fuel, water, health care and employment), their impact on strategic gender needs (affirmative action by the state, proactive role of employers to enhance women’s position in the economy, and social movements) is not remarkable (UNDP 2001). Key indicators to addressing finance committees, women’s strategic gender needs are maintaining a gender balance in decision making bodies, finance committees, business and financial support share of expenditure devoted to women specific units, cells,

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departments and projects, share of women in education, employment, health, housing political participation and agenda setting power-blocks. To engender governance, there is a need to provide training and capacity building workshops on gender audits as a tool to evolve a gender-aware policy framework for decision makers in the government structures, gram sabhas, legislative assemblies, Parliament, judiciary and legal system, educational institutions, corporate world, financial and funding institutions, local, national and international NGOs, human rights organisations and the audio-visual media.

NOTES 1.

2.

See papers by Maithreyi Krishnaraj, Devaki Jain, Nirmala Banerjee, etc. presented at the XIth National Conference (1993 in Mysore) of the Indian Association of Women’s Studies on Effects of Structural Adjustment Programmes and New Economic Policy on Women’s Work, Employment and Food Security. Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering (FINRRAGE)– UBINIG–Policy Research for Development Alternative–DECLARATION OF COMILLA, Bangladesh, 1989.

REFERENCES Agnes, Flavia. 2003. ‘Feminist Juriprudence—Contemporary Concerns’, Majlis. Bailanchoo Saad Newsletter, Goa. 2002. Banerjee, N. and Poulomi Roy. 2004. ‘What Does the State Do for Indian Women?’ Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Womens Studies), 34(44): 4831–37. Basu, Asmita. 2003. ‘Sex Selective Abortions’, Lawyers Collective, 18(11): 20–23. Bhat, A., S. Kolhar, A. Chellappa and H. Anand. 2004. ‘Building Budgets from Below’, Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women Studies), 39(44): 4803–10. Davar, Bhargavi. 2001. ‘Women-centred Mental Health: Issues and Concerns’, Vikalpa-Alternatives (Special Issue): Gender and Transformation, 9(1&2): 117–30. ECOSOC. 1997. Report of UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Sixteenth Session. New York. Government of India. 1974. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on Status of Women. New Delhi: Government of India. ———. 1991. Annual Survay of Industries. ———. 2001. Economic Survey. Delhi University of Finance Gupta, Nisha. 2001. ‘Social and Gender Perspectives in Women’s Health’, Health for the Millions, 27(3): 11–12. Indian Express. 2005. 12 January (Mumbai). Jagori. 1995. ‘Mahila Samooh: Fertility Awareness’, Delhi. Kapoor, R.L. 2001. ‘Mental Health’, in Regional Consultation on Public Health and Human Rights. New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission: 187. Kaushik, S. 2002. ‘Economic Empowerment of Women: Some Issues’, Urdhava Mula, 1(1):16–29. Krishnakumar, Asha. 2002. ‘Beyond Erwadi’, Frontline, 2 August: 113–14. Nandedkar, T.D. and M. Rajadhyaksha. 1999. Reaching Womanhood Mumbai: National Book Trust. Pandey, D., A. Kanchi, K.K. Akolkar. 2004. ‘Gender Audit of Maharashtra Budget: An Illustration of Current Methodology’, Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women’s Studies), 39(44): 4788–91.

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Patel, Vibhuti. 2002. Women’s Challenges in the New Millenium. Delhi: Gyan Publications. ———. 2003. ‘The Girl Child: Health Status in the Post Independence Period’, National Medical Journal of India, 16(92): 42–45. Pathare, Soumitra. 2003. ‘Beyond ECT: Priorities in Mental Health Care in India’, Issues in Medical Ethics, 9(1): 11–12. Sadgopal, Mira (ed.). 1995. Sabala and Kranti: Na Shariram Nadhi—My Body is Mine. Initiatives for Development, Mumbai. Sen, Amartya Kumar. 2000. ‘Keynote Address’. ‘Transition to Sustainability in the 21st Century’ Interacademy Panel on Sustainability and Freedom on International Issues, Tokyo, 15 March. Shiva, V. 1988. Staying Alive. Delhi and London: Zed Press. Shram Shakti Report. 1988. Status of Self Employed Women and Women in the Unorganised Leater, Government of India, New Delhi. Swaminathan, P., J. Jeyaranjan, R. Sreenivasan and K. Jayashree. 2004. ‘Tamilnadu’s Midday Meal Scheme: Where Assumed Benefit Score Over Hard Data’, Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Women’s Studies), 39(44): 4811–22. Swirski, Barbara. 2002. What is a Gender Audit?, Tel Aviv: Adva Center for Information on Equality and Social Justice in Israel. UNDP. 2001. Decentralisation in India: Challenges and Opportunities. New Delhi: UNDP. UNFPA. 2003. Missing Women. New Delhi: UNFPA. UN Report. 1991. ‘Third World Women, 1970–90’. New York. Women Networking. 2004. Invisible Hands Documentation, Research Traning Centre. St. Pino College, Mumbai. World Bank. 1991. World Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press. WRAG. 1997. Muslim Women in India Women’s Research and Action Network, Mumbai.

14 Engendering Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions: Insights from Karnataka N. Shantha Mohan

INTRODUCTION

T

HE lack of space for women in the public sphere is a visible reality. Power and femininity enunciate their juxtaposition in the public domain. One factor contributing to this situation is the gendered orientation of space by means of which the relationship between power and femininity is articulated. Gender, thus, facilitates the path to power as well as the exercise of leadership. Politics is one such domain, which is seen as the forte of men. Women occupying this space are viewed as disturbing the traditional notions of femininity. The structural gender bias and gender-based perceptions hinder the performance of women in politics. For women, the lack of space for participation in political bodies has not only resulted in their limited presence in the decision making process, but also in the neglect and exclusion of women’s issues and experiences in policy making. Recognising this limitation where gender is concerned, India has passed laws that make it mandatory for local governments to include women. These laws do not apply to state and national legislatures. One-third of seats in local bodies—gram or village panchayats, municipalities, city corporations, taluk or block panchayats, and zilla or district panchayats—are ‘reserved’ for women. As a result, female political participation in these bodies does have positive potential implications for the future generation of political leaders and the political participation of women. Women are now being elected to local governments and are governing, be it at the village, block or district levels. However, the arena of politics presents a hostile, alienating, male-dominated environment for women. They feel continuously marginalised, stereotyped, taken for granted and experience little understanding or support. Men often do not give space

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to women to articulate their concerns. Women feel intimidated in the presence of men. It is, therefore, essential to facilitate the participation of women by removing these obstacles, and at the same time, encouraging and facilitating men to take up the issues affecting women. The Gender Studies Unit of National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, through a three-dimensional approach of research, intervention and advocacy, attempted to work towards the process of engendering governance in three districts of Karnataka in South India. This chapter, with the help of field-related data, analyses the increasing number of women entering the political arena at the grassroots level, the dynamics of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and the emerging voices of women. The chapter is divided into three main sections. The first section defines ‘engendered governance’ and provides the conceptual framework, objectives and methodology adopted for the study. The second section discusses the indicators for the assessment of engendered governance. In the third section, an analysis of the processes involved in engendering governance and achievements is made within the main activities of research, intervention and advocacy.

ENGENDERED GOVERNANCE Engendering governance is not a goal, but a process of that is equitable and ensures that the voices of women are heard in decision-making over the allocation of development resources. Engendered governance means both men and women elected representatives centre stage the marginalisation of women’s interest while they look at the common good of the communities they represent. There is a need to give special focus to women’s needs as they face several cultural and historical disadvantages as a result of which so far their interests have not been given due importance. The effectiveness of governance has always been valued against the developmental work done and not on the basis of how effective women’s participation, as members, and/or how sensitive the developmental work has been to women’s needs. Therefore, it becomes essential that a distinction is made between effective governance and effective engendered governance. Effective governance need not necessarily be gendered as it is mostly defined by men, and reflects their needs and interests. Men also set the parameters that are used to measure effective governance, and they almost always define development in terms of tangible changes. The concerns of women have rarely been addressed, as women are either absent or do not have a critical mass to voice their concerns and work towards their improvement. This is not to imply that engendered governance is a women-dominated political institution, but rather an institution where elected members, both men and women, represent concerns of the people of their respective constituencies with due importance given to issues affecting women. Most often the interests of women are subsumed in political negotiations, and this situation can be improved by increasing the participation of women in political institutions. Governance, therefore, is perceived as effective if it is more transparent, accountable, equitable, sustainable and participatory for the community at large. However, governance

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is both engendered and effective if it is more transparent for women, accountable to women, equitable for women, has lasting sustainable changes for women, and invites not just community participation but also women’s participation in particular. Thus, two distinct variables emerge—effective governance and effective engendered governance. In order to realise effective engendered governance, men not only have to provide space for women, but also work together with them. Training and orientation of men plays an important role to this end.

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK This study on engendering governance was purported to strengthen the understanding of women’s political participation in PRIs from a gender perspective and engender the institutions of local governance. It was conducted in the backdrop of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts of India, which guarantee that all institutions of local governance reserve one-third of their seats for women. Though the Constitution of India provides for the government to make special provisions to safeguard the interests of women as detailed in Article 15(3) and Article 39, it has not made any provision for reservation of women with respect to jobs and political offices. However, the 73rd and 74th Amendments passed in 1992 mandated reservation of one-third of all seats for women in PRIs in rural areas and in nagara palikas and municipalities in towns and urban areas. They also provided for reservation of onethird of the total number of seats reserved for SC and ST women and one-third of all posts of chairpersons in these bodies for women. Further, the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), was enacted to extend the scope of the panchayati raj legislation to cover tribal areas. Through the experience of the PRIs, 1 million women have actively entered political life in India. This provision has spearheaded an unprecedented social experiment, which is playing itself out in more than 500,000 villages with a population of more than 600 million people. The proportion of women at various levels of political activity has shifted dramatically as a result of the amendments. The entry of women in large numbers in the sphere of governance was unprecedented in the country and created a stir within Karnataka and other parts of India. According to the 10th Plan, in the elections to PRIs held between 1993 and 1997, women have achieved participation even beyond the mandatory requirement of 33.3 per cent of the total seats in states like Karnataka (43.45 per cent), Kerala (36.4 per cent) and West Bengal (35.4 per cent). At the block level, out of 51,000 members of block samitis, 17,000 are women. In addition, nearly one-third of the mayors of the municipalities are women. Of the 475 zilla parishads in the country, 158 are being chaired by women. Even prior to the amendments, the 1980s saw Karnataka emerge as a pioneer in facilitating women’s participation in politics by introducing reservation of seats for women in panchayats. Although elections were not held until 1987, Karnataka was the first state to set in motion election processes right on the trail of the 73rd Constitutional

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Amendment. It enacted this affirmative action in 1993 by providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the PRIs, as well as in the position of presidents and vicepresidents. This applied even to backward classes, SCs, STs and in general, to women. This Act provided the opportunity for thousands of rural women to become leaders. It was a stepping stone towards equality between men and women. One has to note that more women, not only from the general category but also, from backward classes, SCs and STs have been elected to these institutions. The panchayats in Karnataka are now in their third term. Table 14.1 gives an idea of different category-wise gram panchayat elected representatives (general and women). Around 14,000 women, 80 per cent of them completely new to political participation, were elected from 30,000 candidates. At the gram panchayat level in Karnataka, well over 40 per cent of the elected representatives were women. Today, reservations for women in elected positions in governance at the local level have led them to assume positions of political responsibility. While the potential of such a measure is enormous and achievement undisputed, the new system coexists with traditional male-centred institutions with limited space for women elected representatives to articulate their interests and gendering these institutions. Most women have entered politics for the first time, and many are illiterate, poor, landless and are surrogates for husbands and fathers who could not contest because of the imposition of the quota. Moreover, the fact that it took so many years to actually implement the constitutional provisions for panchayati raj speaks volumes about the ambiguity in the polity regarding the desirability of decentralised governance and the different perceptions of comparative advantages for various sections. The willingness of political opinions of all shades to participate enthusiastically in the working of PRIs is proof of the intrinsic ability of society to articulate and settle differences within a democratic framework. This does not mean that issues of gender and social justice are addressed adequately or settled satisfactorily. The oppressive dynamics of class and caste hierarchies, in combination with gender inequality, work negatively for women, because of which women are required to struggle all the more to liberate themselves from this nexus of class, caste and patriarchal discrimination to achieve political empowerment. An earlier study conducted by the NIAS entitled Status of Rural Women in Karnataka, Batliwala et al. (1998), has shown that lack of access to political spaces and processes of decision making have a deleterious impact on the status of women. Traditionally, panchayats were old councils of elders whose word on various issues was considered as law. Today, the new structure of governance coexists with the traditional one—the latter wielding power in ways unforeseen by the Constitution and, by virtue of the fact that they have no formal status; they are very difficult to change by law. Even though reservation exists as a tool, women have been unable to optimally utilise it to articulate their issues. There are several impediments that hinder not only their entry, but also their performance. In the presence of men, women in these bodies feel overpowered. They are made to sit in corners and are allowed to speak only when given a chance. They do not have any specific agendas of their own and are therefore, persuaded to represent the agenda set by men. Many a time, information about various issues

T

General WR T 48.73 47.16 46.61 45.88 48.88 51.05 47.14 45.49 53.35 47.96 47.52 50.87 50.47 48.55 49.36 51.27 52.42 53.29 53.15 47.70 46.63 44.92 46.55 53.97 47.99 46.60 51.75 48.77

OBC ‘A’ WR % of women

38.43 669 326 38.99 933 440 40.45 457 213 37.68 1,907 875 39.60 716 350 40.27 664 339 39.06 840 396 38.99 521 237 42.67 553 295 40.44 734 352 38.32 766 364 41.47 751 382 38.32 426 215 38.34 379 184 40.69 1,337 660 40.14 903 463 39.27 681 357 40.48 289 154 41.36 1,144 608 38.34 564 269 37.95 963 449 38.22 1,033 464 38.71 711 331 35.55 630 340 38.30 1,319 633 37.65 588 274 39.19 601 311 39.02 21,079 10,281

% of women

T

SC WR

9.94 423 193 5.22 734 315 8.77 444 181 18.25 912 547 7.94 573 249 7.47 572 240 10.33 641 275 14.75 468 196 2.96 467 248 4.40 661 285 12.87 273 209 3.76 664 300 9.52 156 128 6.67 237 125 4.71 1,279 536 2.81 652 314 5.80 378 225 2.08 194 103 1.63 1,167 487 9.29 340 162 9.57 502 253 7.53 782 343 13.56 521 224 0.49 507 301 4.31 938 421 14.84 169 147 6.15 257 211 7.81 14,911 7,218

OBC ‘B’ WR % of women

171 17 230 12 114 10 515 94 189 15 174 13 213 22 122 18 169 5 182 8 202 26 213 8 126 12 105 7 340 16 249 7 207 12 96 2 306 5 140 13 230 22 239 18 177 24 205 1 325 14 155 23 179 11 5,573 435

T

T

45.63 170 42.92 251 40.77 116 59.98 562 43.46 381 41.96 283 42.90 209 41.88 157 53.10 235 43.12 532 76.56 248 45.18 398 82.05 129 52.74 109 41.91 438 48.16 262 59.52 245 53.09 142 41.73 430 47.65 191 50.40 230 43.86 298 42.99 347 59.37 264 44.88 483 86.98 176 82.10 213 48.41 7,499

% of women

% of women

164 96.47 230 91.63 112 96.55 498 88.61 229 60.10 182 64.31 201 96.17 128 81.53 226 96.17 258 48.50 209 84.27 251 63.07 127 98.45 106 97.25 350 79.91 258 98.47 206 84.08 104 73.24 294 68.37 138 72.25 230 100.00 245 82.21 194 55.91 255 96.59 325 67.29 148 84.09 205 96.24 5,873 78.32

ST WR

Sources: State Election Commission and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RDPR), 2000. Note: Election not held in 11 gram panchayats, i.e., Mandya (2), Uttara Kannada (3), Bellary (3) and Bidar (3). T: Total, WR: Women reserved.

Bagalkote 1,072 412 Bangalore Rural 1,331 519 Bangalore Urban 576 233 Belgaum 3,357 1,265 Bellary 904 358 Bidar 817 329 Bijapur 1,262 493 Chamarajanagar 654 255 Chikkamagalur 757 323 Chitradurga 722 292 Dakshina Kannada 1,438 551 Davangere 885 367 Dharwad 809 310 Gadag 626 240 Gulbarga 1,627 662 Hassan 1,385 556 Haveri 1,156 454 Kodagu 462 187 Kolar 1,325 548 Koppal 866 332 Mandya 1,655 628 Mysore 1,460 558 Raichur 917 355 Shimoga 889 316 Tumkur 1,867 715 Udupi 1,150 433 Uttara Kannada 1,082 424 State 31,051 12,115

District

Table 14.1: District/Categor y-wise Gram Panchayat Elected Representatives in Karnataka, 2000 District/Category-wise

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329

addressed in the panchayats is withheld from the women. Even bureaucrats involved at the panchayat level do not feel the need to pass on information to women. Sometimes meetings are held at short notice making it impossible for the women to participate. The whole dynamics at the panchayat level is quite intimidating for women, as a result of which issues prioritised by women such as health, sanitation and water take a backseat. The situation becomes all the more complicated for dalit women elected to the panchayat. They are silenced and marginalised by virtue of their caste status apart from being culturally disadvantaged. Furthermore, problems posed due to travelling long distances for attending panchayat meetings, low honorarium for members who have to lose a day’s labour to attend the meetings, absence of support services like creches, and corruption and violence at the local level are some of the factors that discourage women from being active members of the panchayat. It is, therefore, essential to empower women to be effective by providing them an enabling environment to perform. It is the state that has to provide the platform for these women. Services like transport, creches, increase in the sitting fee of the members, etc. should be provided by the state. This study, apart from making interventions to engender governance, also aimed at bringing to the notice of the state impediments that hamper the performance of women and influence policy. It was deemed essential that women are trained, empowered and provided with services in order to encourage them to participate effectively in PRIs. This also required working with male representatives to be equally participative. A methodology was chartered to work with both men and women, as the former also need to be sensitised to gender issues in governance. The objectives of the study were as follows: 1. identify parameters and indicators for measuring gendered governance; 2. identify factors that enable and impede elected representatives, women and men, to be responsive to the needs and interests of the community, and that of women in particular; 3. engender governance considering the dynamics of caste and class relations; and 4. advocate for policy facilitating women’s effective participation.

PROFILE OF KARNATAKA Karnataka state, the eighth largest in the country, has been divided for administrative purposes into 27 districts, 175 taluks and 5,659 gram panchayats. Every 4,000 people elect one member to the gram panchayat; 10,000 elect a member to the taluk panchayat; and 40,000 elect a member to the zilla panchayat. This ensures equitable representation in all sections of society and also social justice by way of a progressive pattern of reservation. Table 14.2 shows the number of persons elected to the three different tiers of PRIs during the year 2000, giving the percentage of women elected to the total number of seats.

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Table 14.2: Number of Elected Representatives during the 2000 Elections in Karnataka Panchayats Zilla panchayats

Taluk panchayats

Gram panchayats

No. of elected representatives Total Men Women % of women Total Men Women % of women Total Men Women % of women

890 551 339 38 3,255 1,880 1,375 42 80,073 44,151 35,922 45

SCs/STs communities 212 118 94 44 827 393 434 52 22,370 9,279 13,091 59

Backward

General

299 190 109 36 1,093 661 432 40 26,652 15,936 10,716 40

379 243 136 36 1,335 826 509 38 31,051 18,936 12,115 39

Source: State Election Commission and RDPR, 2000.

UNIVERSE AND SAMPLE The locale for this study is spread over nine panchayats in three taluks distributed in three geographically representative districts of Karnataka, namely Koppal, Mysore and Udupi. These panchayats have been selected on the basis of four criteria—female/maleheaded panchayats, presence/absence of NGO intervention, proximity/distance to taluk quarters and economic status. Table 14.3 presents the district and taluk-wise location of the panchayats selected. Table 14.3: Sample Panchayats and Location District Mysore

Udupi

Koppal

Taluk Mysore Periyapatna H.D. Kote Kundapur Udupi Karkala Yalburga Gangavathi Kushtagi

Panchayat Udburu Panchavalli N. Belathur Marawanthe Majoor Kuchur Talekere Herur Dotihal

The scope of this study entailed extensive fieldwork covering 45 villages having an outreach of around 15,000 population. In all, intense interaction was established with a total of 290 elected representatives. Table 14.4 gives the distribution of elected representatives by gender at the various levels.

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Table 14.4: Distribution of Respondents by Gender Panchayat

Male

Gram Taluk Zilla Total

73 41 54 168

Female 61 27 34 122

Total 134 68 88 290

Source: Primary survey, 1999–2003.

Women comprise around 42 per cent of the total sample. Their proportions at the three tiers of the gram, taluk and district levels are 45.5, 39.7 and 38.6 per cent respectively. The interaction among the representatives within each and between the three tiers, and the outcome of the negotiations made is dependent upon various factors like party affiliation, money power, influence, caste/class, gender identities, and so on. Through systematic interventions, the extent to which these factors have influence on decisions, particularly of that of the women, has changed.

METHODOLOGY The four-year (1999–2002) study involved collection of both primary and secondary data. No single method was adopted. Techniques used for gathering information from government officials, elected representatives, political parties and the communities were varied. Interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions were used to elicit information. Structured questionnaires were executed during the pre-election process to profile aspiring candidates. Unstructured questionnaires were used to gather information from members of political parties and community members. Exclusive meetings with elected women representatives prior to panchayat meetings, especially at the gram panchayat level and gram sabhas and follow-up meetings were carried out, included male elected representatives. Group discussions were held with community members to perceive their opinions about elected representatives’ duties and responsibilities, such as motivating the community to participate actively during the gram sabhas. The selection of the three districts of Koppal, Mysore and Udupi was based on the geographical distribution in the various zones of Karnataka and for their varying developmental accomplishments. Koppal, in north Karnataka region falls within the lowest cluster in the ranking of districts for Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (GDI) in the state. Udupi, part of coastal Karnataka is among the high-achiever districts. Mysore in south Karnataka has middle rank. Three panchayats each were selected from the chosen districts on the basis of four criteria: women-headed panchayat, NGO intervention, proximity to taluk quarters and economic status. An interview schedule, which was unstructured, was used in the interaction with political aspirants who had filed nominations for the elections, and also those who had withdrawn their candidature, contestants remaining in the field

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and political decision makers at the local level. Table 14.5 illustrates the criteria for the selection of the panchayats. Table 14.5: Criteria for Selection of Panchayats Area Mysore district Udburu Panchavalli N. Belathur Udupi district Marawanthe Majoor Kuchur Koppal district Talekere Herur Dotihal

Woman-headed panchayat

NGO intervention

Geographical proximity to taluk HQ

Economic status

No No

No No Yes

Close Remote Remote

Poor Prosperous Very poor

Yes No No

Yes No No

Close Remote Remote

Prosperous Very poor Poor

No Yes No

No No Yes

Remote Close Remote

Very poor Prosperous Poor

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

Interventions were made to facilitate effective and gendered participation of members by addressing the issues of caste, class and gender dynamics, equality and social justice, and gender relations in governance. Continuous and regular inputs were also made by providing information regarding roles and responsibilities, budgets, programmes, transparency, accountability, mobilisation of financial and human resources, new developments, and so on. Efforts were made to advocate for policy change by facilitating a two-way information flow. The NIAS played a pivotal role in disseminating information from the field to the policy makers, as well as from the state to the field. Forums were also provided for direct exchange of perspectives between elected members and the state for experience sharing and dialogue. For this purpose, stakeholder meetings were organised between the state and the other parties involved, as well as amongst the stakeholders.

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE The most significant part of the methodology was to devise indicators for the assessment of performance of the panchayats. These indicators were benchmarks for effective governance. Effective governance at the level of panchayats has generally been assessed on the basis of the quality and quantity of development ‘projects’ undertaken. Numbers lend themselves to more accurate and tangible comparison, and so, development is, most of the time, measured in terms of money spent and cubic metres of public works accomplished. While infrastructure and other physical assets within the village community

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are definitely significant in improving the quality of life, questions of equity and gender justice need to be raised, which cannot be easily captured in numbers alone. The challenge is to combine qualitative and quantitative measures to assess performance in relation to effective gendered governance. Participation, transparency, accountability and resource mobilisation were identified as the four indicators that have been used to assess the performance of panchayats in relation to effective gendered governance. The perception of the constituents as to the extent to which elected representatives articulate and respond to the interests of the community, particularly that of women, is another indicator, which has been identified to measure gendered governance. These indicators are used in the analysis of performance of both female and male representatives from a gender perspective. Participation is defined as the ways in which poor people exercise voice through new forms of inclusion, consultation and/or mobilisation designed to inform and to influence large institutions and policies (Gaventa 2002: 2). In order to achieve participatory governance, the emphasis is both on including civil society to a greater extent in planning processes and on making the state more responsive and accountable to the demands expressed by civil society within such processes. The aim is to create a ‘jointly defined space’ within which decisions are shaped by an engaging civil society and a responsive local government. Accountability may be conceptualised as an aspect of ‘responsibility’ and a relationship that emerges between two persons or groups where one has entrusted the other with the performance of certain duties or responsibilities. This kind of ‘relational responsibility’, or the responsibility of a person or a group to another may be referred to as accountability of one to the other (Mulgan 1997: 26). Any relationship works when both the sides perform their respective roles. Hence, those who are accountable are obliged to account for what they have or have not done. Similarly, on the other side, there is an individual, group or institution whose responsibility is to call those persons to account for performance of the tasks entrusted to them. Accountability is, thus, a two-way process. Public accountability means the answerability of public institutions ultimately to the public for their actions or inaction. Accountability has been, by and large, concerned almost totally with the question of prevention of abuse of power and misuse of public resources. With respect to assessing governance which is gendered, accountability would mean answerability to not just the men of the group but also the women. Ensuring integrity with the local government is transparency. People of a locality must have access to reliable and user-friendly information about the functioning of the local government. Such access has to be provided in two ways. First, citizens must be given the right to information so that PRIs, on receipt of a request from any citizen, are obliged to show or provide copies of their official documents. Second, PRIs on their own should provide information about their activities, including information on budgets, plans and programmes, audit reports, list of beneficiaries of schemes, and so on. Such information must have the attributes of clarity, timeliness, importance and accuracy. Information about their performance in various fields should also be given to the citizens. No information should be withheld, or there should be no selective dissemination of information.

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Efforts at resource mobilization of panchayats is equated not only with efforts of tax collection alone though it contributes the lion’s share in total resources generated the but other sources, including non-tax revenue such as user charges, beneficiary contributions and donations in cash and/or in kind (land, material or labour). All these need to be considered to assess the total resources generated locally by the panchayats.

PROCESS OF ENGENDERING GOVERNANCE: RESEARCH, INTERVENTION AND ADVOCACY Engendering governance is a process involving the participation of, and interaction between several actors. Apart from the elected women members who are main catalysts, the other important actors include the elected male representatives, the secretaries, who are part of the bureaucracy, the constituency, political parties, and so on. Therefore, the analysis is more indicative of the processes that facilitate governance being engendered than measuring the extent to which the institutions of local governance have been engendered. The pace at which governance is engendered is dependent upon several factors such as the level of socio-economic development achieved in the region, the rigidity of caste, class and gender divide that exists, the proximity of, access to, and membership in social and women’s organisations. This section looks at the process of research, intervention and advocacy, the findings thereof, and analysis and interpretation of those findings.

Research For the research dimension, extensive use of participatory techniques were adopted for recording and documenting the performance of elected representatives against the indicators of effective engendered governance through observation and intensive interviews with them. Some of the issues that impeded the performance of women in the panchayats were observed as follows: 1. Men tend to call the shots: For most women, contesting the elections was a first-time political experience. Often, their husbands or other men of the household pressurised them to contest and later function as members. Most women acted in proxy for men who had an authority over them due to family relationships or by virtue of caste and status or other obligations. However, there were instances where once women were in a position of power, they learnt to exercise their authority, whatever the circumstances may have been that originally put them in that place. 2. Expectations from representatives: It was expected that women representatives must be capable of reflecting the interests of their constituency (both women and men) and negotiating on behalf of it effectively. They must be able to safeguard and further gender interests of women.

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However, women representatives were subjected to several disadvantages such as poverty, illiteracy and lack of education. Low income tied them down to livelihood activities with little time left for public affairs. All these limited women’s mobility and capacity to make timely and effective interventions. 3. Deprivation silences women’ women’ss voices: Articulation of an issue is not just a matter of language. It presupposes ability to formulate the issue and develop confidence to speak out. However, the cultural and historical disadvantages that women face have silenced their voices. And this confidence and courage could come only when the women became a part of mass struggles that questioned and critiqued current power equations. lected lleaders: eaders: Panchayat secretaries, who are part 4. Clash of bureaucrats and eelected of the bureaucracy and in charge of the actual administration, are almost invariably men. Due to their higher educational status and knowledge of administrative procedure, officials often tend to have an upper hand. Uneducated women representatives and other office bearers of panchayats can, therefore, be easily manipulated by the officialdom. 5. Persuaded to represent other interests: Because of the dominance of officials and men of upper castes/classes, their ideology of development is internalised by women members. Women panchayat members from poor households are no match for these powerful vested interests. Further, the powerful manipulate and keep issues like equity, wages and employment outside the purview of the panchayat. Therefore, unless there are fundamental changes in landholding patterns and wage structure, the economic balance will tilt in favour of vested interests and their control over institutions such as panchayats will continue.

Intervention The indicators for assessment of performance were taken up as a base for intervention. The intervention process generated a lot of quantitative and qualitative data. As a result, the analysis and interpretation of findings was a continuous process. The findings were further analysed and used to improve the process of intervention. In this section, analysis and interpretation are discussed simultaneously with interventions and the help of some case studies. Analysis and interpretation give an indication of the trend and the direction for change. The NIAS’s interventions in the three districts were exclusively on engendering governance, unlike those of other organisations, which work on women- or community-related issues with improved political participation being a by-product. The NIAS, therefore, did not develop or follow any formal training modules for the same. However, the presence of NGOs in some of the districts did make a difference to the study in terms of understanding the grassroots situation. Additionally, the process of replication in other districts, which was not part of the study, was facilitated by the presence of NGOs. As planned, at least two meetings of the gram panchayats in each of the nine chosen panchayats per year and one each at the taluk and zilla panchayat levels were attended.

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At least one gram sabha was attended and discussions held with the communities regarding their perception of the effectiveness of their elected members. Apart from this, collective and individual discussions and interviews were held with the elected representatives and members of communities. Contact was established and discussions held with elected representatives before and after panchayat meetings. Women representatives were met separately prior to the panchayat meetings to strengthen their confidence, evolve mechanisms of consensus building, and prioritise and articulate their issues. After attending the panchayat meetings feedback was provided to the women as well as men members on instances where they were not gendered. It also meant that around 45 villages had to be visited to hold focused group discussions regarding the extent to which elected representatives governed effectively. Thus, in all 36 meetings were attended at the panchayat and community levels in a year, working up to roughly twelve visits per district per year. The number of visits increased from previous year to the following, in order to facilitate and strengthen women’s effective participation in governance. During these meetings, several interventions were made to engender governance along the lines of the stated indicators used for the assessment of performance— participation, transparency, accountability and resource mobilisation. The process of engendering governance and its impact is discussed later. Many mechanisms have been put in place to ensure the participation of women as elected representatives by the state. Both formal and informal networks have facilitated the effective participation of women. Participation includes at one end the physical presence of elected representatives in panchayat meetings regularly, to articulation of demands and needs of their constituencies and taking them to their conclusive end through negotiations and dialogue on the other. On the one hand, the state on its part has ensured the physical presence of women in the panchayats. Women, on the other hand, have gained self-confidence through their participation in these bodies and are sincere in carrying out their work, which gets recognised and gives them an opportunity to contest the forthcoming elections. Table 14.6 shows a proportional increase, though marginal, in the number of women being elected to the three tiers of PRIs from the earlier term. It is evident that women are contesting and winning elections even from seats that are not reserved for them. Communities recognise the work carried out by those women and encourage them to contest elections for the second time and elect them to power. Table 14.6: Elected W omen Representatives in PRIs in the 1994 and 2000 Elections (%) Women GP

TP

ZP

Districts

1994

2000

1994

2000

1994

2000

Bagalkote Bangalore Urban Bangalore Rural Belgaum Bellary

– 44.66 43.22 43.51 42.38

44.39 43.88 43.58 45.21 43.47

– 39.13 39.86 37.28 40.15

41.41 41.18 41.01 38.33 41.96

– 38.89 39.47 35.53 39.47

38.46 41.18 39.47 35.53 37.50

(Table 14.6 Continued)

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(Table 14.6 Continued) GP

TP

ZP

Districts

1994

2000

1994

2000

1994

2000

Bidar Bijapur Chamarajnagar Chikamagalur Chitradurga Dakshina Kannada Davangere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttara Kannada State

42.60 42.74 – 48.99 41.58 43.52 – 43.64 – 44.30 44.64 – 44.97 44.25 – 44.22 42.09 41.87 48.20 42.38 – 47.04 43.59

43.94 43.82 43.39 50.30 42.21 46.43 44.93 48.12 45.47 44.29 46.31 47.02 48.12 44.42 43.50 32.18 42.71 42.20 48.62 42.74 45.80 49.83 44.32

40.19 37.17 – 43.81 40.70 39.81 – 42.74 – 39.71 39.16 – 39.58 43.01 – 38.10 38.68 41.54 41.89 39.41 – 46.34 40.21

42.57 39.52 40.74 48.54 41.74 40.00 41.74 50.00 48.48 41.41 41.73 43.12 41.30 43.09 39.76 41.67 40.79 40.19 47.47 41.03 38.64 54.47 42.24

37.93 36.67 – 39.39 39.96 34.55 – 35.82 – 34.55 35.14 – 37.04 38.00 – 35.90 34.38 35.19 36.59 37.04 – 36.84 36.45

34.62 37.50 42.86 40.00 38.71 38.71 41.94 44.44 41.18 34.55 37.84 41.38 34.62 38.30 39.13 38.46 36.59 37.93 37.04 36.54 41.67 37.14 38.09

Source: State Election Commission and RDPR, 2000.

The intervention through pre- and post-panchayat meetings with women members helped in consolidating their collective voices. The articulation of demands, prioritising concerns and placing them before other panchayat members was one key area that was focused on. Vasathi (habitat) sabha is also one such mechanism set up by the state wherein individual members hold meetings with their constituents and ensure that the concerns of marginalised and underprivileged are represented. These habitat-level meetings provide forums for communities, particularly women to voice their concerns in a less intimidating environment. The elected women members of the panchayats gain the confidence to be articulate and garner support from the wider community. This initiative conceptualised and implemented in the field was a step further in engendering governance. Women were facilitated to preplan their intervention during the meeting by developing their skills to consolidate their ideas and negotiate in one voice so that the concerns do not fizzle out. This intervention also led to resource mobilisation by the women. They proved better at mobilising human resources rather than financial. However, many women were also able to mobilise funds for community water taps and other developmental projects. Regular meetings and focus group discussions made women more confident about their roles as representatives of the electorate. They were regular and attended all the

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meetings, as the rule is that if a member does not attend three consecutive meetings he/she loses their seat. They were assertive in seeking information from the bureaucracy regarding utilisation of funds, the amount available for spending, information about any new government orders, rules, etc. Though information was put up on noticeboards, women took the initiative to disseminate information to their constituency members, particularly other women, in formal and informal ways. They distributed pamphlets and held discussion with women in mahila sanghas (women’s collectives), at the water source, flour mill, etc., therefore establishing a visible two-way flow of transparency— seeking and disseminating information. Consequently, within the panchayats, the earlier trend of information being withheld and exclusivity is changing with women members seeking information. Another trend emerging is that of women representatives informing their constituency members about the demands they made in the panchayat meetings, the issues that were raised and their follow-up. This again is a two-way process. More and more women representatives are seeking accountability from the implementing agencies, bureaucracy and the government, and at the same time, there has been an emerging trend of them going back to their constituency and updating its members on what has been done about their demands. There is more clarity now on the utilisation of funds. All this is not to say that women panchayat members became out rightly aggressive, but their keenness to participate and learn was quite visible during the course of the intervention. Intervention, therefore, was more need-based and participatory. The issues raised by elected representatives were addressed. It did not involve formal training sessions based on any modular approach, but were, rather demand driven. Fieldwork conducted during the pre-election stage after the announcement of the schedule of the elections provided first-hand experience of the dynamics that put women at a disadvantage at the local level, some of which are discussed in the ensuring text.

Inadequate Time to File Nominations The period between the announcement of the elections and deadline for filing nominations was very short. Those who had been planning to contest for long, along with the backing of larger political parties, were quick in jumping into the fray and seting the formalities in motion. Individuals, especially dalits, tribal people and women found it difficult to garner support for their candidature and complete the paperwork for the contest. They were adversely affected in the process. Such instances show that on the one hand reservations are made for women to equip them to participate effectively in politics, and on the other hand the state itself posed impediments for them.

Manipulations to put up ‘Consensus’ Candidates Like-minded parties and groups with similar interests come together to defeat common opponents and derive maximum political mileage. Loose coalitions are formed largely on an ad hoc basis to get as many candidates elected. Wherever one of the members of the group has better chances of winning, others did not contest. This worked to each other’s benefit. However, interests of less articulate sections were sacrificed in this

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attempt to build a so-called ‘consensus’. Women should negotiate to be elected and not be consensus candidates. Not only does it give them confidence to have been elected on their own merit, but also prevents them from being a mouthpiece for those who elected them to power. The following instance goes on to show how unanimity is sometimes ‘manufactured’ at the cost of dalits, women and other underprivileged communities. Hanumavva of Dotihal village in Koppal district, a dalit woman, was a sitting member of the gram panchayat. She was active in the local women’s sangha and was recognised as a good organiser. She was keen to contest again. Political forces in the area were swapping seats among themselves and they did not want Hanumavva to queer the pitch of the negotiations. They misinformed her that instead of Dotihal some other village was chosen as a reserved seat for dalits and hence she could contest in the next elections. She was also given to understand, intentionally, that the next election would be conducted in a year’s time. Hanumavva did not have enough time to check the veracity of the facts. Had she known the real facts she would have definitely contested the elections. In the process, the candidate in Dotihal was elected unanimously. The experience of a women’s group in Koppal district is a case in point with regard to gender bias against women candidates. Women’s sangha of Talkere village in Koppal, affiliated to the Mahila Samakhya Karnataka, an NGO, decided to put up two women candidates for the panchayat elections. Village elders were scandalised by this, as they wanted to have candidates of their choice who would lobby for them. They attempted to prevent the candidates of the sanghas from contesting, and also exerted pressure on the family of one of the women and succeeded in making her withdraw her candidature. The other woman, Shankaramma, however, held her ground and refused to oblige the elders. The sangha, including the woman who withdrew from the contest, stood solidly behind Shankaramma.

Misinterpretation of Rules and Misguiding Women Candidates Kartyani, belonging to a backward caste, was elected unanimously to the gram panchayat during its earlier tenure. She is articulate and actively participated in the functioning of the panchayat. She was also playing a very constructive role in the local women’s sangha affiliated to an NGO called ‘MYRADA'. During the next elections, her ward was reserved for dalit women and she could not contest from that seat because she was from a backward caste. Contesting from another unreserved ward was considered. Local politicians raised an objection and gave the impression that rules did not permit a sitting member to contest from another ward. Kartyani was disappointed and did not file her nomination papers. However, it was later learnt that there was no such rule restricting contest from another panchayat ward. This case clearly shows how women lack access to correct information regarding elections.

Irrational Rotation of Reserved Seats The seats designated as reserved were changed on a rational basis to provide a fair opportunity to candidates and the electorate in the election process. However, the

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rationale for earmarking reserved seats and for changing them was not sound. There was no congruence between the composition of the local population and the reservation of seats. For instance, some seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had only a very small segment of these communities in the local population. This caused a lot of discomfort among the larger communities of the area who had no other choice but to vote for one of the candidates from the reserved category. Putteballi, a tribal woman of Satyagala village of Panchavalli panchayat, had to contest from the Panchavalli village ward. Her own village was not in the list of wards reserved for tribal people. Contesting from an alien village makes the position of the candidate, especially women, very vulnerable. Without a support base in the village, the candidates are handicapped. They have to go through the contest mechanically without a real possibility of success.

The ‘Incumbency’ Factor: Few Women Renominated Within the areas taken up for the study, it was observed that while many incumbent male members of panchayats were renominated, few women could achieve this. Rotation of reserved seats is said to be the main reason, yet it seemed to affect women most unfavourably, while men shift to other wards when their own wards are categorised for reservation. Women do not seem to be able to shift smoothly.

Overlapping Categories Some caste and community groups were categorised under more than one head. For instance, in Koppal the Ganiga community supposed to be a sub-sect of Lingayats was listed under OBC-2A and OBC-2B. Such a situation resulted in over-representation of these communities in the panchayats. It was observed that at times the tehsildars and returning officers are not very rigorous about scrutiny of nominations. In Dotihal panchayat, Parana Gowda, a Lingayat, used an income certificate to justify his nomination to contest in the OBC-B category, whereas Lingayats should be contesting only in the general category. Table 14.7 gives the distribution of seats in different panchayats. In a society deeply divided on class, caste and gender lines, and where the democratic paradigm itself is relatively new, it is only natural that there is intrigue and manipulation in the election process to gain control over power at the local level. The willingness of women and other underprivileged groups to participate in local government is indicative of a new engagement with the political process. Although reservation of seats for women has been taken as fait accompli, now the attempt is to see that they do not grow into seasoned leaders by getting elected repeatedly but serve the cause of women. Wherever there are strong women’s organisations or where civil society formations supportive of women’s rights are active, women participated in greater number in the elections and their chances of winning were also better. Women who were elected through a contest tend to be more aware of the election process and functioning of the panchayat than those elected unopposed.

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Table 14.7: Distribution of Seats District

Mysore

Udupi

Koppal

Panchayats

Panchavalli Udburu N.Belathur Total Majoor Kuchur Maravanthe Total Dotihal Talkere Herur Total Grand total

General

OBC

SC

M

F

M

F

6 6 2 14 4 2 4 10 6 4 5 15 39

2 3 1 6 3 1 2 6 3 3 3 9 21

2 3 4 9 2 2 2 6 3 3 4 10 25

2 2 2 6 2 2 3 7 2 2 2 6 19

M 4 0 3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8

ST

Total

F

M

F

M

F

%F

2 1 2 5 1 0 1 2 1 1 1 3 10

0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

1 1 1 3 1 0 1 2 1 1 1 3 8

12 9 11 32 6 4 6 16 9 7 10 26 74

7 7 6 20 7 5 7 19 7 7 7 21 60

36.8 43.8 35.3 38.5 53.8 55.6 53.8 54.3 43.8 50.0 41.2 44.7 44.8

Source: Primary survey, 2003. Note: An ‘open’ seat is represented with ‘M’ and interpreted as male, and on this basis, women are prevented from contesting open seats.

Elections to the panchayats in 2000, the third time with reservations in the state, witnessed a high number of nominations being filed across all categories. The prospect of participating in a decision making body in the local government generated considerable enthusiasm among all sections of people. Quiet and placid Karnataka villages suddenly came to life with brisk political activity. Filing nominations for the gram panchayat elections was like making a statement about one’s own political identity, though at this level it is supposed to be apolitical. Even those with no affiliation to any particular political party felt it to be an opportunity to participate in a public activity. A remarkably high number of women also filed their nominations. Table 14.8 illustrates the number of nominations filed in relation to number of seats in the sample panchayats. The number of women members actually elected to the panchayats was higher than the mandatory 33 per cent of the total number of seats. One reason for this was the provision in the Karnataka Panchayati Raj Act related to calculating the number of seats to be reserved for women. It requires that if any fraction remains after calculating 33 per cent of the total number of seats, that fraction must be considered as one unit and added to the seats reserved for women. However, in case of the seats for reserved categories other than women, only those fractions above 0.5 would be considered as one unit. In the current term 2000–05, more candidates have won uncontested compared to earlier elections, the reason being that mainstream political parties are getting more sophisticated in their methods to gain control over panchayats. The results of panchayat elections currently receive much more media and public attention than before. The performance of the ruling party in these elections is taken to be the barometer of public

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Table 14.8: Number of Nominations in the Selected Panchayats District Mysore

Udupi

Koppal

Panchayats Panchavalli Udburu N. Belathur Total Kuchur Maravanthe Majoor Total Dotihal Talkere Herur Total Grand total

No. of nominations

Reject

63 41 39 143 16 36 39 91 54 49 52 155 389

0 1 1 2 – – – – – 1 – 1 3

No. of withdrawals

Final nomination

17 9 14 40 2 3 9 14 38 24 29 91 145

46 31 13 90 14 33 30 77 16 24 23 63 230

Total seats 19 16 17 52 9 13 13 35 16 14 17 47 134

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

sentiment regarding the policies of the government. Mainstream political parties also try to elbow out smaller players in the political field. Those who are affected most are women and candidates from dalit and other less powerful communities. Where reservation is applied, political parties have put up women and dalits to ensure that their representatives have a better chance to win. The emergence of uncontested seats must be viewed as a challenge to grassroots democracy rather than as an indication of political maturity. Table 14.9 presents the sex-wise distribution of candidates against contested and uncontested seats. Table 14.9: Contested and Uncontested Seats in the Sample Panchayats District

Mysore

Udupi

Koppal

Panchayats

Panchavalli Udburu N. Belathur Average Majoor Kuchur Maravanthe Average Dotihal Talkere Herur Average

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

Total No. of seats

Total No. of uncontested seats

M

F

M

F

12 9 11

7 7 6

2 1 6

3 5 5

6 4 6

7 5 7

0 1 0

0 5 0

9 7 10

7 7 7

9 0 6

7 0 6

Percentage of uncontested candidates M F 17 11 55 28 0 25 0 8 100 0 60 53

42 71 83 65 0 100 0 38 100 0 86 62

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It is interesting to note that more women than men have been elected unopposed. With the exception of Panchavalli panchayat in Mysore district, a majority of the women have stood for election from uncontested seats. It is only in the Talkere panchayat in Koppal district that all the women have contested. Does this mean that all voters in the constituencies where women contest from are in favour of sending the person of unanimous choice to the panchayat? This may not be quite the reality. It could often be that the single unopposed woman candidate is the representative of a powerful group or party in the village who has the wherewithal to ‘manufacture’ consent. This could also mean the stifling of other opinions and the stamping out of rights of other interest groups to claim political space by contesting the elections. For every woman elected unopposed, there could be many other women who were not allowed to contest either by men of their own family or other vested interests. The strategies of power groups to avoid contest in order to get their own candidates elected are used not only against women, but also candidates of other sections eligible for reservation such as other backward castes, dalits and tribal people. In Dotihal panchayat, for example, all members were elected unanimously. Many candidates had filed their nominations. Leaders of the dominant political parties convinced the candidates that the panchayat would get an incentive grant of Rs.100,000 for electing members unanimously. The leaders warned candidates that if they contested despite the advice of elders, they would be considered as those who have worked against the interests of the entire village. All except the one chosen by the party leaders withdrew from the contest. Most women who could ultimately contest owed their candidacy to the influence of their husbands or family members with party positions. Even reluctant women were pushed into the contest to maintain the prestige of politically active men in their family. As mentioned before, most women were fresh entrants to political activity. Their inexperience and lack of exposure limited their ability to advocate on behalf of their constituencies and women constituents at wider forums. Women members generally were disinclined to seek election for a subsequent term for various reasons. Sometimes, people blame elected members for things that are beyond their control. Sensing the dissatisfaction of the people, women tend to be reluctant more often than men to contest for another term. Another reason for the hesitance of sitting women presidents of panchayats was uncertainty as to whether they will be elected president again even if they were elected. They feel that to sit as an ordinary member in the panchayat when one has already served a term as president is a slight to their honour. Many women candidates were related to men who had been members of gram panchayats earlier. Some amount of basic education also appeared to work in favour of women candidates. However, women who contested in the reserved categories were largely illiterate. Women contestants seemed to go through a process of self-development during the electioneering. Some candidates, timid and hesitant to begin with, became more articulate by the day of election. Contrary to the level of involvement of women candidates, men were active at all stages of the election process. There was a subtle difference between candidates of the

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general category and those of the reserved categories. Many candidates of the reserved categories were nominees of powerful local politicians and were not leaders in their own right. They were merely instruments of other political forces. Where men were the candidates, they encouraged women of their families to campaign on their behalf, especially among women voters. The money spent on the election campaign varied according to resources available, influence wielded in the area, and the sponsoring parties and groups of the contestants. Similar dynamics were observed in the election of gram panchayat presidents. The panchayat term actually begins functioning only after the election of the president and the vice-president is completed. Defections, luring candidates with promises of reward and manipulations to achieve quorum, were different tactics employed quite openly during the elections. Wherever the president’s seat was reserved for women, it was clearly engineered in such a manner that local party leaders through spousal pressure invariably controlled the woman identified. However, once elected to the panchayat, after constant intervention, some women were able to negotiate their space and put the concerns of their constituencies, centre stage, particularly that of women. Some cases are presented: 1. Case from Herur gram panchayat, Koppal district: Lalithamma is 23 years old and married. She belongs to the Lingayat community and resides at Herur village. Her father-in-law is a rich landlord and a supporter of the Congress Party. She was elected unanimously from ward number four. She had studied up to high school. After being elected to the gram panchayat, she took a lot of initiatives to undertake development work of her ward. She has been able to represent the needs of her ward in the panchayat and she got some public works like drainage allotted to her area, recommended construction of a toilet for women, and a separate room for women members in the panchayat. 2. Case from Maravanthe gram panchayat, Udupi district: Sradha Karvi is 29 years old and is married. She belongs to the Karvi community, who are fishermen. Traditionally, the fishing community used to support the Congress Party, but this time they favoured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was contesting for the first time and got elected from ward number four. She has studied up to the seventh standard. She is also a member of the standing committee of the panchayat. She helped 150 households get toilets under the development programme. alakere gram panchayat, Koppal district: Parvathavva Gowdru is 3. Case from T Talakere about 35 years old, married, and belongs to the Lingayat community. She resides at Vanajabavi village. Her husband is an agriculturist. Her father-in-law is a reputed local leader of the Congress Party and head of a large agricultural family. She contested the elections for the first time and got elected from the Vanajabavi ward. Though she is illiterate, she has been active in the panchayat and tries her best to ensure some development work in the village. Despite many problems, she has been able to obtain Janatha1 houses for beneficiaries in her ward. She has also raised the issue of Janatha houses, streetlights and the need for a public platform to ensure accountability and transparency in governance.

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Reservation provided an opportunity for women to come forward to contest or get nominated to the positions meant for them. The whole process of pre- and postelections, and the efficiency of elected representatives against the parameters of engendered governance, that is participation, transparency, accountability and resource mobilization, were analysed. The number of women contesting the elections was found to be higher at the level of the gram panchayat, and reduces as they move to the upper tiers of the taluk and zilla panchayats, as depicted inTables 14.10, 14.11 and 14.12. The reason could be that gram panchayats are said to be relatively non-political, whereas taluk and zilla panchayats are political in nature and the party plays a direct role in identifying candidates. Table 14.10 shows past and present presidents and vice-presidents of gram panchayats in the study areas. Table 14.10: Gram Panchayat Profile Gram panchayat Udupi

Mysore

Koppal

Maravanthe Kuchur Majoor Panchavalli Udburu N. Belathur Dotihal Talkere Herur Total

Male

%

Female

%

Total

President

Vicepresident

6 4 6 12 9 11 9 7 10 73

46.15 44.44 38.46 63.16 56.25 64.71 56.25 50.00 58.82 54.48

7 5 7 7 7 6 7 7 7 61

53.85 55.56 53.85 36.84 43.75 35.29 43.75 50.00 41.18 45.52

13 9 13 19 16 17 16 14 17 134

M M M M F F M F F –

F M M M M M F M M –

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

The percentage of elected women members across the study panchayats show that they occupied more than 33 per cent of the total seats in gram panchayats, the highest being in Kuchur (55.56 per cent) in Udupi district and the lowest in N. Belathur (35.39 per cent) in Mysore district. However, most of these panchayats are headed by male presidents. Table 14.11 gives an idea about the profile of the taluk panchayats in the three districts. Table 14.11: Taluk Panchayat Profile Taluk panchayat

Male

%

Female

%

Total

President Past Present

Kundapur, Udupi district Periyapatna, Mysore district Kushtagi, Koppal district Total Source: Primary survey, 2003.

20 10 11 41

60.61 58.82 61.11 60.29

13 7 7 27

39.39 41.18 38.89 39.71

33 17 18 68

F M F –

M F M –

Vice-president Past Present M F M –

F M F –

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In the taluk panchayats under study, women members again occupied more than 33 per cent of the seats. The presidents of two were women during the first term of office. The rotation has interchanged the positions of presidents and vice-presidents in the taluk panchayats, pushing women from a powerful position to a subordinate one. This is more or less similar to the zilla panchayats too. Table 14.12 presents the profile of the zilla panchayats. Table 14.12: Zilla Panchayat Profile Zilla panchayat Udupi Mysore Koppal Total

Male

14 26 14 54

%

58.33 63.41 60.87 61.36

Female

10 15 9 34

%

41.67 36.59 39.13 38.64

Total

24 41 23 88

President

Vice-president

Past

Present

F F M –

M F F –

Past M F F –

Present F F F –

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

On the basis of rotation, the term of office for presidents and vice-presidents in the panchayats is 20 months. Once the term comes to an end, a new set of members are elected to the concerned posts. The positions occupied by women were replaced by men and vice-versa.

Advocacy Initially, women’s participation was viewed with pessimism and disbelief. They were quiet observers in the male-dominated discussions, as their male counterparts only shouted down the issues raised by women representatives. Eventually, they became confident and asserted themselves to be heard. Several women who have asserted themselves made significant and visible contributions of time towards development of their community, over a period. Through the research, intervention and advocacy strategy adopted, it was possible to lobby and advocate for reforms to strengthen decentralised governance, which has enabled women in particular to participate effectively. Through constant interventions by means of focus group discussions with the communities and the elected representatives, multi-stakeholder consultations and active participation in the working group set up by the state, forums have been provided for advocating to the state on issues concerning the participation of women in politics. Some examples of recommendations incorporated by the state as a result of advocacy based on policy-oriented research are presented in the following paragraphs. The implementation of the ‘toilet rule’ is a classic case of how the state itself poses impediments for women. The Karnataka Panchayati Raj Act decrees that an aspiring member needs to comply with this rule, which states that an individual who does not

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have this facility for his/her family members will automatically be disqualified. This rule has the effect of impacting women and other weaker sections the most as it is primarily them who did not have access to resources to construct toilets. This rule was challenged and the court ordered a conditional relaxation. However, the date of the verdict coincided with the last date of filing nominations. Due to the lack of timely dissemination of the verdict, many aspirants were prevented from filing their nominations. The forum that was created for a dialogue between the state and the stakeholders resulted in an amendment to the Act in relation to this rule. The previously low honorarium and sitting fees have been increased after constant negotiation with the state (see Table 14.13). The enhancement of honorarium and sitting fees for the members (who earn a wage) have particularly helped those women who lack resources to travel and provide for childcare, etc. At the gram panchayat level, the sitting fees has been increased five times for the members and almost two times for presidents and vice-presidents. Table 14.13: Revised Sitting Fees and Honorarium Amounts (Rupees) Types

Sitting fee Honorarium President Vice-president Member

Gram panchayat

Taluk panchayat

Zilla panchayat

Present

Revised

Present

Revised

Present

Revised

20.00

100.00

50.00

150.00

60.00

200.00

300.00 150.00 –

500.00 300.00 –

1,500.00 1,000.00 500.00

2,000.00 1,300.00 700.00

2,250.00 1,750.00 1,000.00

2,750.00 2,050.00 1,200.00

Source: Primary survey, 2003.

Apart from this, the term of office of presidents and vice-presidents of the panchayats has been increased from 20 to 30 months. The rotation of these positions has hindered their effective participation, as a tenure of a mere 20 months is too short a period to fulfil tasks undertaken by them. The increased tenure will to a greater extent facilitate them to continue and fulfil the commitments to their constituencies. The introduction of vasathi sabhas, the habitat-or constituency-level meetings, are important, especially for women and other vulnerable sections, who, due to several disadvantages such as of lack of mobility, powerlessness, and illiteracy, etc. are unable to interact with and strengthen their constituencies. These enable individual members to hold meetings with their constituents and ensure that the concerns of marginalised and underprivileged, who are often under-represented in larger forums like the gram sabha, are addressed. All the members of the gram panchayat are directed to attend each of the vasathi sabhas under their panchayat limits. This builds collective accountability to the issues and concerns raised in these meetings. It enhances members’ understanding of their constituencies and helps vulnerable people articulate their concerns without fear of suppression. In the process, the vibrancy of the communities is also enhanced.

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The intervention and advocacy efforts also facilitated the prioritisation of areas for action, enhanced understanding and evolved alternate strategies, promoted deliberations among policy makers, administrators, legal experts and activists of women’s and other groups, and arrived at consensus, evolved innovative methods for future women’s advocacy and policy, and developed effective measures for women to participate effectively in public affairs to make their mark in governance.

Strengthening Efficiency of Representatives Several NGOs have been working towards increasing and facilitating the participation of women in governance and thereby engendering governance. A large number of women in Karnataka were elected to local bodies because of reservation. Most of them were first-timers, illiterate with little political awareness or sense of their new roles. They had no understanding of their responsibilities and duties, or whom they could approach for solutions to problems. They did not have an idea about developmental programmes, panchayat activities, procedures, etc. It was, therefore, essential to provide them with inputs that would equip them to tackle problems and help them function effectively. Building their capacities as elected representatives was thus considered absolutely essential. Lack of information prevented them from participating effectively in governance. The lack of formal education, with the resulting illiteracy, was a major obstacle to their work, which deprived them of self-esteem and confidence. To build these, women have to come together to share their experiences. Exercises have been carried out by NGOs to motivate them to be effective participants in governance. Listening to the struggles and success of other women representatives has motivated them to be fearless in carrying out their job. State-run administrative training institutions and NGOs have charted out programmes to train and build capacities of elected women representatives and equip them to perform their duties better. Studies on the impact of training by SEARCH, an NGO, revealed that the performance of members who had attended all phases of training was found better than those who had attended only some. Long gaps between one phase and another diluted the impact of the training, so much so that there was no difference between trained and untrained representatives. Moreover, when the training contents were directly in relation to their functioning, it was found to be more effective. The impact of training in terms of attitudinal and behavioural changes is reflected in participation in activities of local bodies, attendance at meetings, contacting officials, transformation in gender roles and level of empowerment. Women elected to local bodies need specific kinds of support, which go beyond technical training. They need to build solidarity amongst women through strengthening links between women’s organisations and elected bodies. Some NGOs have also been trying to bring elected women representatives together to discuss their problems and exchange ideas. The Singamma Sreenivasan Foundation based in Bangalore, is one such NGO that has attempted to federate elected women representatives in order to empower and enable

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them in macro policy planning. Such collectives have great potential to bargain for power within the political system. The Government of Karnataka has launched an experimental satellite broadcasting programme in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to broadcast programmes to 17 districts in the state to enable elected women representatives to organise video-conferencing among villages, taluks and districts with anybody, anywhere in the country. Computerisation of panchayats has enhanced access to administrative data, such as various programmes and number of beneficiaries, status of applications for power and water connections, etc. at panchayat offices without running to taluk and district headquarters. Studies have highlighted that when an enabling environment existed for women to play a leading and active role in decision making, the entire community benefited. Women’s participation in decision making has been associated with better utilisation of financial resources, increased harmony in the villages, and prioritisation of some important but neglected aspects of development such as girls’ education, drinking water, women’s health and sanitation. Social reform measures such as reduction in alcohol consumption and domestic violence got prominence when women entered local governing bodies. For example, women spend considerable time in carrying water from distant wells and other water sources, which adds to their burden. Statistics show that only 62.3 per cent of Indian households have access to safe water, of which 81.4 per cent is in urban and 55.5 per cent in rural households. Similarly, accessing sanitation facilities is a special problem for women and girls, given the social emphasis on privacy and seclusion. Such problems are observed to be better addressed by women representatives than their male counterparts. That women are changing governance is evident from the issues they have chosen to address, such as water, education, health, alcoholism and domestic violence. They value proximity to sources of drinking water, fuel and fodder, affordable and timely health care, school, etc. Women are also addressing corruption by eradicating this menace as a first step towards development. Parvathamma, member of Gujjanadu GP of Pavagada taluk, and Chikkavva of Kavanadala GP of Madugiri taluk are educated up to the higher secondary level and took active part in all GP activities. Since both of them understood the importance of higher education, they recognised the need of primary and high schools in their villages and have succeeded in establishing them. Their involvement in politics is for self-expression and self-actualisation (Stephen and Raja Sekaran 2001). Table 14.14 provides information regarding the issues raised by men and women elected representatives across the three tiers of PRIs. The concerns of women members across the three tiers were similar. They gave more importance to education, health, toilets, drinking water facilities, electricity, violence against women, and pension schemes for the aged and widows apart from the beneficiary schemes that were common to both men and women. Whereas the issues raised by men, were mostly about infrastructure, such as road constructions and repair, construction of community halls and classrooms, appointments of staff, etc. Elected

–

–

Taluk panchyat

Zilla panchayat

Source: NIAS (2004).

Regular visits of doctors; maternity wards in the hospitals to be maintained; doctors’ appointment

Gram panchayats

M

Doctors visiting hours to be clearly written on board

–

Regular visits of doctors; maternity wards in the hospitals to be maintained

F

Health and sanitation

–

–

F

To take action against irregular, alcoholic and cruel teachers Need for another member in the college committee other than the same party member

Attendance of teachers, anganwadi teachers not distributing food properly

Education

Appointment of village education coordinators, replacement of anganwadi teachers; transfers of teachers; appointment of teachers; construction of classrooms

M

Table 14.14: Issues Raised in Panchayats by W omen and Men Women

Ration shops; registration of deaths and births

Action against those who had harassed a woman gram panchayat president

–

Pensions for widows, aged, and physically handicapped

F

Social welfare schemes M

–

Investigate why money available for drinking water, but not utilised

Drinking water; streetlights

Drinking water; Bhagya Jyoti, toilets

F

Infrastructure

Construction of roads; community halls; benficiary selection for Ashraya, Ambedkar Yojana, Indira Awas, etc; demand for regular electricity supply –

M

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women representatives emphasised issues that had long-term impact on the quality of life and did not indicate short-term measurable outputs. In the absence of measurable outcomes set within the tenure of office, women often tend to be referred to as inefficient. The interventions aimed at making governance engendered, therefore, focuses on creating awareness and understanding among men and women representatives to be responsive to constituency needs, both long- and short-term, and tangible and intangible results. As a result of the amendment, the elected women, who now occupy a critical number of seats in PRIs, are active in making the state sensitive to issues of poverty, inequality and gender injustice. The space in PRIs have helped women to change their perception and gain a sense of empowerment by asserting control over resources, officials and, most of all, by challenging men. This has given women an opportunity to understand the working of politics, in particular the importance of political parties. For instance, a dalit woman of the Janata Party, who earned a living by rolling out beedis (local cigarettes), says that the reservation has given a better opportunity for women from dalit communities to be supported by political parties and get elected. Earlier, only people with money and of the upper castes could be elected to positions of power.

CONCLUSION Engendering governance is a process that is continuous, whose end point keeps changing. It is dependent on the way the dominant and powerful, particularly men, tend to take control of decision making bodies, thus, subsuming the interests of women and other powerless groups. In this environment of dominance and amidst all structural and systemic pressures and patriarchy that operates, women have to keep working towards seeking and expanding spaces to put their interests centre-stage. What is essential then is that women work in constant interaction with these forces. Thus, it requires equal participation of both men and women. However, working with both men and women is possible when an enabling environment exists, and there is healthy interaction. For this, men have to be active partners in the process of engendering governance. The direction for the future entails women building alliances and gaining support from male colleagues, bureaucracy, political parties, civil society and communities. The conceptual framework evolved for understanding what good engendered governance constitutes, tools developed to measure engendered governance, the methodology adopted and interventions made for engendering governance has proved to be effective. These can be adapted both by the state as well as civil society organisations for scaling up the process of engendering governance, and monitoring and assessing the extent to which governance has been engendered. Engendered governance transforms the entire profile and culture of governance. Women, being relatively new to governance, not only want to participate effectively but also transform the discourse on governance. In order to ensure their efficiency and acceptance, they work towards being more participative, transparent and accountable

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in their transactions. This approach by women tends to exert pressure on men to be participative, transparent and accountable as well to their constituencies, as it is the only way that they can remain in power. Women are now addressing issues that were hitherto not prioritised by male representatives, thus also exerting pressure on them not to restrict their representation to mainstream demands and issues, generally that of men and the powerful, but to include the concerns of women and other less powerful and excluded sections of society. Thus, elected members, in addressing priorities of their constituencies, have been able to transcend caste, class and gender differences, thereby transforming the very nature of governance. In spite of this achievement, there are several impediments to women’s effective participation in politics. Patriarchy, caste and class hierarchies, and their inherent unequal power relations hinder women from fully accessing and controlling political spaces. Therefore, a lot more needs to be done to bring about a change in the perceptions and attitudes of men and women regarding the importance and role of women in politics. Strategies adopted by the government and NGOs to empower women have helped many of them challenge the hurdles faced by them for effective performance in governance. Formation of federations of elected women representatives, networking among them and strengthening their negotiating power could pave the way for them to occupy positions in decision making bodies such as in political parties and at the higher echelons of power, that is, state legislatures and the Parliament. Reservations in the PRIs in India have provided a tremendous opportunity for women to change the face of political leadership. However, this success needs to be replicated not only on a wider platform at the grassroots level, but also at state and national levels in order to make governance engendered. Consequently, there is a need to analyse the extent to which political spaces provided for women marginalise or exclude them from effective participation, and back it up with strong reforms and policy changes.

NOTE I thank the Ford Foundation, New Delhi for the financial and technical support extended to us for carrying out this long-term project. I also wish to thank Romica Gulati for assistance in writing this paper. 1.

They are low cost housing supported by the government and meant for low income population.

REFERENCES Batliwala, Srilatha, B.K. Anitha, A. Gurumurthy and C.S. Wali. 1998. Status of Rural Women in Karnataka. Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies. Gaventa, J. 2002. ‘Introduction: Exploring Citizenship, Participation and Accountability’, IDS Bulletin, 33(2): 1–11. Mulgan, Richard.1997. Politics in New Zealand. Auckland: Auckland University Press. National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). 2004. ‘Women and Decentralised Governance’ (unpublished). Bangalore. Stephen, F. and N. Raja Sekaran. 2001. An Empirical Study of Women in Local Self-Governance in Karnataka. Banaglore: SEARCH.

About the Editor and Contributors EDITOR Smita Mishra Panda Panda, is currently Professor of Development Studies with the Human Development Foundation, Bhubaneswar (Orissa). Prior to this, she has taught at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), Gujarat for eight years. She is trained as a Social Anthropologist and Regional Planner in Delhi University and the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok (Thailand), with specialisation in gender and environment issues. She has worked as a researcher at the Gender and Development Studies, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and also with United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Japan. Dr Mishra Panda has been a guest faculty with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Her current areas of interest are gender and governance, gender and integrated water resource management, and peri-urban natural resource and livelihood institutional concerns. She is also the India coordinator for CapNet (capacity building and networking in integrated water resource management), focusing primarily on gender and institutional concerns. Widely travelled, she has published in several national and international journals.

CONTRIBUTORS Indu Agnihotri is a Senior Fellow with the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi. Prior to this, she has taught History at Vivekananda College, University of Delhi. She has been actively involved in the women’s movement in India. Nirmala Banerjee is an economist, educated in Bombay and London universities. She has worked as an administrator and also as a town planner before joining the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata. After her retirement in 2001, as Professor of Economics, she has been working as a researcher with Sachetana, a women’s organisation of which she is founder-member. Her research interests have varied from urban economy and governance to labour and production organisations in developing economies within which she has extensively worked on women’s economic activities and status

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in India. Lately, she has been working on gender budgeting and impact of public policy changes on women’s economic position. Nirmala Banerjee has to her credit several publications, including monographs, edited volumes and articles in academic publications. J. Devika has a Ph.D. in history from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Her research interests have been broadly in the history of gender, modernity and development in Kerala. She has written extensively in Malayalam, and has a book in English, Her-Self: Early Writings on Gender by Malayalee Women, 1898–1938. A second book, Engendering Individuals: The Language of Re-forming in Early 20th Century Keralam is forthcoming. She is currently teaching at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. N. Shantha Mohan has a Ph.D. in Education and is presently Professor, School of Social Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). Apart from having taught in the Post-graduate Department of Education, she has been active as a researcher and activist on gender issues using the social justice and rights perspective. Her research interests include developing tools for measuring good governance, strategies for engendering governance, and evolving alternative paradigms to address the growing incidence of violence against women. Her interests also include issues relating to literacy and education, participation of women in politics, gender and irrigation, water, etc. She was coordinator for developing the baseline report on ‘Political Participation of Women in India’ for the International Women’s Rights Action Watch, Asia Pacific, and contributed to the Initial and First Alternative Report to CEDAW. She is an advisory and governing board member to several government and non-governmental organisations. She has published books, articles and papers. She has presented papers in both national and international conferences and workshops. Bidyut Mohanty Mohanty, a specialist on Famine, Agrarian and Women Studies, is a product of Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. Since the 1990s, she has been engaged in action research on women in local government, particularly in rural areas. As a part of that she has been organising an annual programme on women’s political empowerment coinciding with 24 April every year since 1995. She has contributed many research articles in noted journals, both national and international. Apart from that, she has presented research papers in different national and international conferences. She served as a member of the Advisory Committee constituted by the IDRC, Canada. She has been affiliated to the Center for Study of Women, UCLA in 2001 as well as in 2005. She was invited to a four-city lecture tour on women’s political empowerment by SAP-Canada in 2001.Currently, she is associated as a consultant with the Institute of Social Studies, New Delhi where she had served as Head of the Gender Studies Unit for several years. Vibhuti Patel is Professor, and Head of the Department of Economics, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, and holds a Doctorate in Economics. She has been foundermember and trustee of the Anusandhan Trust and its Institution Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT). She is trustee of Vacha, Women’s Research and Action Group and Satya Vijay Seva Samaj in Mumbai. She is also governing board

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member of Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, Mumbai, Women Power Connect, Delhi, and Institute for Community Organisation and Research, Mumbai. She made contributions in Women’s Studies and Gender Economics. She has co-authored two books, Indian Women: Change and Challenge and Reaching for Half the Sky. She has also authored a book, Women’s Challenges of the New Millennium. Apart from that, she has authored several monographs on women’s studies, women’s movement, portrayal of women in media, alternate media by social movements, sex determination tests and declining sex ratio, abuse of new reproductive technologies, violence against women, gender audit of budget and work participation of women. Sangeetha Purushothaman is currently Founder-Director of the Best Practices Foundation, Bangalore. By training, she has a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, a Master’s in Urban Policy from the New School for Social Research, and a Doctorate in Urban Planning from Columbia University, New York. She has published books in the fields of gender, governance and development including The Empowerment of Women in India, Challenging Development and Engendering Development. She won the Woman of the Year Award in Bangalore in 2000 in recognition of her work on gender, governance and development. Currently, she is engaged in extensive research on participatory processes in the peri-urban interface, based on which she has published an edited volume titled Changing Frontiers. Self Employed W omen’ A) is a trade union and an NGO founded Women’ omen’ss Association (SEW (SEWA) by Ela Bhatt in 1972. It is the largest self-employed women’s trade union in India. It is a membership-based organisation with a total of approximately 800,000 members throughout the country, of which more than 500,000 are based in the state of Gujarat. Members are all poor women belonging to the informal sector, of which two-thirds belong to rural areas. SEWA strongly believes that the basis of development and progress is through organisation. It works with the two-fold objective of providing full employment to its members and empowering them to be self-reliant. SEWA combines four specific strategies: organising women, since individual women in India have no voice; building the capacity of women to become owners and managers, not just producers and labourers; encouraging capital formation at the household, group and community levels; and increasing social security to enhance women’s well-being and productivity in order to reduce the impacts of crisis on fragile household economies. Kumud Sharma is Former Director and currently Senior Fellow of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi. She has a Ph.D. in sociology and has several books and research papers to her credit. Her publications include Women in Focus and National Specialised Agencies and Women’s Equality: A Case Study of Central Social Welfare Board. Her main areas of interest are sociology of development; women’s studies; women and work; women and natural resource management; ‘women’s movement’ women in the political process, and women and governance. She is currently working on issues related to gender and poverty, gender and environment, and women in local selfgovernment, gender and governance. She was a consultant with the International Centre for Public Enterprises, Lublanja, Yugoslavia. She has been a visiting fellow at the Simone De Beauvior Institute, Concordia University, in 1989. She has served on

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ABOUT THE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

academic/advisory bodies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indira Gandhi National Open University, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development; Mahila Samakhya Madhya Pradesh, and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s Task Force on Panchayati Raj. Girija Shrestha is currently a Researcher in Urban Housing at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She has worked as the Secretariat Management Officer of UNHABITAT/Urban Management Programme for Asia and the Pacific (UMP-Asia) based at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for over five years. Prior to joining UMP-Asia, she worked as a researcher for over six years at Gender and Development Studies, AIT. She has also worked as an architect/planner for three years in Housing and Physical Planning Department in Nepal. She completed her Doctoral Study on Gender Relations and Housing Design in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal in 2000. She holds two Master’s degrees in Architecture (with honors from Odessa Civil Engineering Institute, Ukraine) and in Urban Planning, Land and Housing (from AIT). She has published several book chapters, papers in referred journals and monographs on issues related to housing, urban governance and information technology with gender as a cross-cutting issue. Ratna M. Sudarshan is currently Director, Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST), New Delhi, a non-profit organisation engaged in research and action programmes focused on issues related to poverty and gender, with NGO Consultative Status (Special) with the United Nations. She is engaged in some of the ongoing research projects at the ISST mainly in three areas; gender and economic reforms, gender and governance, and gender and work. Prior to joining the ISST, she was principal economist at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, and has researched and published mainly in the areas of informal economy and education, with a focus on women. She has an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Suchitra V edhanth is currently Director, Mahila Samakhya Karnataka, Bangalore, Vedhanth where the central focus is to bring a change in women’s perceptions about themselves and their role in society. The process involves enabling women, especially from socially disadvantaged and marginalised groups, to address their problems of isolation, lack of self-confidence, and struggles for survival. She has a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Mysore, and her specialisation has been on violence against women. She has taught courses in sociology at the postgraduate level. She has worked as a development consultant in a number of projects. She has also worked as an editor with SAGE Publications, New Delhi. Meera V elayudhan is a historian who has been involved in research, advocacy and Velayudhan policy analysis focusing on strategies of organisation of women in varied contexts, gender and citizenship, pluralism and diversity. Her Ph.D. (in history) was on the role and participation of women in popular movements in Kerala. Her main research works include ‘Structural Changes in the Coir Industry in Kerala and Women’s Struggles’ and ‘Re-imagining the State: Gender and the Democratic Process in Kerala’. She has several publications to her credit in English and Malayalam. She is at present working as a policy analyst and also conducting a study on pluralism in traditional communities in two villages in Kutch.

INDEX

357

Index accountability and transparency, 15, 16, 19, 28, 29, 34, 50, 51, 83, 85, 86, 92, 98, 105, 110– 11, 113, 140–42, 155, 165, 174, 199, 226–28, 230, 238, 243, 249, 253, 258, 260, 271, 273– 75, 276, 289, 321, 325–26, 332–33, 336, 338, 344–45, 347, 351–52 affirmative actions, 18, 47, 50, 116, 311, 321, 327 agency of women (women change agents), 21, 26–27, 29, 36, 61, 66, 70, 74, 117, 127–28, 138, 152–53, 203, 205, 282, 291 agriculture, 28, 122, 160, 164, 169–70, 181–82, 183, 204, 208, 211, 216, 234, 236, 253, 269, 277; commercialisation, 181; labour force, 28 AIDWA, 236 alcoholism, 70, 92, 98–99, 101, 108, 168 Ambedkar programmes, 97 Ambedkar, B.R., 120–21 Anand, 266–67, 278 Andhra Pradesh: anti-arrack struggle, 26, 127; panchayati raj institutions (PRIs), 123 anti-poverty programmes, 48, 166–67, 231 Antyodaya scheme, 95, 237 Appiko Movement, Karnataka, 313 Araya Sabha, 60 Ashraya Scheme, 95, 97 Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Bangkok, 152 Asian Development Bank (ADB), 149 Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, 143, 148 Asmita, 24 autonomy, 30, 45, 50, 58–59, 61, 63, 72, 75, 107, 166; of women, 18, 30, 61–62, 65, 67 Ayyappan, K. Sahodaran, 76n10

Balakrishnan, P. Baby, 128 balance of payment (BoP) crisis, 301 Balwantrai Mehta Committee, report, 1957, 121 basic/minimum needs arrangement, 46–47 Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA, 1995), 16– 17, 33, 41, 42, 231, 235, 270 Bellary Education Centre, 94 Besant, Annie, 165 Bhatt, Ela, 26 Bijapur Education Centre, 94 Birla, Aditya, 211 bottom-up process, 142, 144 bounded rationality, 187 Brahmins, dominance, 123 Bretton Woods institutions, 50 budgetary allocations and women in postreform period, 302 building linkages with and monitoring government, 92, 93–98 bureaucracy, 46, 48, 49, 71, 84, 126–27, 129, 144, 157, 160, 161, 329, 334, 335, 338, 351; gender inequality, 23; women’s representation, 24 capacity building, 31, 32, 53, 66, 81, 142, 147, 148, 152, 260; SEWA initiative, 206, 209, 211, 212, 216; of urban poor women for shelter rights in Delhi, 149–51 capitalism, 112, 180, 189–91, 192, 223–24, 226 caste, 24, 60, 64, 88, 101, 116, 118–21, 124– 26, 130, 161–62, 164–65, 168, 194, 257, 272, 283, 289, 296, 309, 313, 327, 329, 331–32, 334–35, 339–40, 343, 351–52; and class, relation, 23, 45; conflicts, 120, 123, 256; discriminations, 96, 113, 129;

358

INDEX

divisions, 18, 21, 22, 45, 159; hierarchies, 234, 244; panchayats, 120; politics, 51, 197, 288; upper, 62, 120, 123, 169, 172, 278, 282 casual labour, 182–84 Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnagar, 210 Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), 230, 299 Centre for Inquiry into Health and Allied Themes, Mumbai, 308 Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), 30, 34, 50, 51, 139 Chalai Reading Club, 60 Chattopadhyay, Kamla Devi, 123 child labour, 307, 310 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, 307 child marriage, 101, 108, 113 Child Marriage Restraint Act, 76n10 child prostitution, 307 child sex ratio (CSR), 123, 124, 241 childcare and household responsibilities, see household responsibilities of women Chipko Andolan, Tehri Garhwal, 313 Christian Divorce Act, 297 citizenship, 21, 34, 50, 58, 61, 65, 74, 142, 165, 173, 224–25, 240 citizenship rights, 41, 52 city consultation: as an approach for genderresponsive local urban governance, 136ff; process, different stages, 142–43; responses reducing gender gap in local urban governance, 145–51 civil rights, 33, 62, 117, 165 civil services: gender gap, 17; reservation for women, 170 civil society, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24–27, 30–37, 49–51, 57–61, 69, 72–73, 111, 133, 136, 139–40, 144, 157, 165, 169, 174, 223, 228, 230, 232, 240, 242–44, 249–50, 296, 311, 333, 340, 351; and modernity and gender, a brief history, 60–66; and political society, distinction between, 59; and state, relation, 87–88; See also nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) class divisions/relations, 18, 21, 22, 45, 62, 88, 116, 124, 129–30, 161–62, 164–65, 172, 314, 327, 329, 331–32, 334–35, 340, 352 Coalition for Urban Poor, Dhaka, 152 collective action, 52, 165, 172, 270 collective entrepreneurship, 205–06 collective rights, 59

collective welfare, 59 commercialisation, 181, 190 Commission on Sati Prevention Act, 1987, 298 Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI), 1974, 159–60, 234, 296 commodification of women, 235 Common Minimum Programme (CMP), 238–39, 241 common property resources, See resources communalism, 297 Community Development Management Committee (CDMC), 148 community development process, 92, 147 Community Development Programme, 62, 121, 230 community participation, 85, 86, 111 community reformisms, 61 community structures, 70 community-based organisations (CBOs), 62, 83, 109, 142, 148, 151, 154, 171; See also civil society compartmentalisation, 300 competition, competitiveness, 181–82, 186, 204– 06, 213, 215, 218 component plan approach, 300 conceptualisation of women’s issues, 47 conflicts/confrontations, 40, 48, 70, 87–88, 102, 105, 110–11, 280, 282–83, 288; ethnic, 51; identity and, 17; inter-caste, 120, 123, 256; intra-household dimensions, 52; marital, 93; within women’s collectives, 100 conflict resolution, 71, 92, 99, 101, 107, 122, 128–31, 144, 274; role of Panchayat, 119 consciousness, 119, 172 consensus, 118, 130 conservative forces, 51 Constitution of India, 34, 36, 51, 122, 159, 196– 200, 242–43; 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992), 22, 25, 118, 121, 124, 130, 224, 238, 242, 244, 251, 252, 271, 326–27; Fundamental Rights, 296 consumerism, 244 contraceptives, 166, 241–42, 299, 302 Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act and Rules, 297 contractor-wage relationship, 251 cooperative(s): gender gap, 269; governance, 266– 67; movement in India, 265–66, 270, 278; principles, 265–66, 272, 280, 288, 292

INDEX corporate sector, 238 corruption, 71, 87, 92, 96, 98, 101, 105, 110, 111, 126–27, 129, 140, 173, 223, 226, 236, 249–51, 258, 261, 286, 289, 329, 349; correlation with women’s participation and education, 155, 251, 253 Craft Artisans of Kutch and Patan districts and SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC), 211– 14 creditworthiness of women, 289 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 297 criminalisation of working class, 308 crusade against liqour, 128 cultural values, 19, 45, 63, 87, 128, 137, 140, 164, 166 Dabhol Power Plant, 306 dairy cooperatives, management, 267–68 decentralisation process, 16, 22–23, 37, 41, 50, 65–73, 86, 88, 118–22, 140, 142, 161, 166, 168, 213–14, 223–24, 227, 233, 242, 261–63, 321, 327, 346; see also democracy decision making process, 51, 59, 69, 73, 85, 87, 106, 121, 136, 139, 146, 150, 153, 156, 159– 61, 226, 231, 249–52, 269, 341; gender concern, 25, 296; gender inequality, 169; nonstate actors, 173; women’s participation, 16– 19, 22, 23, 25–27, 30–31, 33, 41, 52, 67, 89, 98, 101, 104, 121, 130, 137–41, 147, 154–55, 163, 172–73, 195, 224, 234, 242, 268, 271, 277, 291–92, 297, 300, 314, 324–25, 327, 349, 352 deflation, 301 deforestation, 169 Delhi (India): capacity building of urban poor women for shelter rights, 149–51; City Consultation, 143, 147, 155; representation and informal governance, 259; slums, 259–60 Delhi Action Group (DAG), 152 democracy, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 32, 34, 40, 41, 50–53, 57ff, 84, 87, 106–08, 112, 119, 121– 23, 139, 165, 173, 197, 200, 223–24, 227, 230, 235, 238, 241–42, 249, 262, 265–66, 268, 280 democratisation, 17, 58, 118, 159, 161, 165, 172, 234; of power, 118 demographic and other characteristics of the elected women representatives, 124–25 demographic indicators, 160 demographic transition, 240

359

denationalisation, 301 Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), 48, 167–68, 170–71 deregulation and privatisation, See economic reforms devaluation, 301 devadasi system, 95, 101, 108 developing countries, 15, 16, 20, 27, 29, 50, 141, 163–64, 172, 186, 188, 190, 311 Development Alternatives with Women in New Era (DAWN), 27 Development of Women and Children In Rural Areas (DWCRA), 167, 270 development, development process, 16–21, 24–25, 32–35, 41–45, 72, 88, 112–13, 122, 129–30, 167–74, 181–82, 203–04, 223–32, 241–42, 257, 260–61, 270–71, 325; activism, 62; and displacement, 308; economic, 82, 93, 94–96, 112, 140, 143, 180, 188–89, 191, 199, 233, 243, 249, 254, 299; to empowerment, paradigm shift, 299; gender bias, 19, 150; and governance, 50– 51, 58, 66, 69, 106, 230; grassroots framework, 109–10; and modernisation, 44, 118; participatory, 41, 69, 88, 154, 170; performance, 15; planning for women, 47, 48, 160–62, 301; policies, 19, 40, 49, 170; and politics, 53, 57–58; rethinking, 162–64; social/socio-economic, 52, 62–65, 73, 117, 136, 143, 166, 170, 205, 228, 300, 335; thinking and practice, 44; impact on women, 149, 192, 234, 289. See also gender and development (GAD). Women in development (WID) discrimination against women, 61, 269; in labour market, 180, 183, 188; in land and credit markets, 51–52; regarding property ownership and inheritance, 264; urban, 136–41, 143; wages, 194, 234–35 disengagement strategy, 49 disinvestments, 305 displacement in the name of development, 308 distributive justice, 171, 173, 300 District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), 122 diversity, 40, 49 domestic agencies, 74 domestic-oriented womanliness, 58 domestic resource mobilisation, See resource(s) domestic responsibilities, See household responsibilities

360

INDEX

domestic upward mobility, 64 domestic violence, See violence against women Domestic Violence Bill, 2002, 297 domesticity, 311 dowry, 30, 51, 64, 70, 94, 100, 101, 113, 128, 139, 160, 164, 165, 199 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, 297 Dreze, Jean, 238 economic: activity, 17; and administrative governance, 49, 138; change, 65, 164, 169; dependency of women, 155, 157, 165; development; see development, economic; efficiency, 40; empowerment and independence of women, See empowerment of women, economic, growth and efficiency, 21, 42, 46, 65, 228–29, 232; management, 15, 51, 138; reforms (liberalisation, deregulation), 17, 20, 22, 40, 159, 169, 182, 186, 228–29, 231, 232, 240, 244, 296, 301–09; security, 289; structures, 36, 173; theory, 84 Economic Survey 2000–2001, 305 education, See literacy and education efficiency-based approaches, 42, 47, 51 egalitarian ideology, 50, 63 elected women representatives (EWRs), 22, 24, 66, 109, 117, 124–30, 174, 320, 325, 327, 330–31, 336–38, 346; demographic and other characteristics, 124–25; strengthening efficiency, 348–51 electoral process, 87, 118 employers’ role in labour market, 195–96, 199 Employment Guarantee Act, 235 employment of women, 160–61, 167–68, 184, 191–92, 199, 231, 229, 297, 299, 303–06 employment opportunities, 228, 297 empowerment, 22, 31, 112, 119, 138, 167–68, 205, 218, 231, 242, 261–63, 299, 348; of women, 16–17, 24, 26, 33, 35–37, 41, 45, 48, 50, 69, 72, 74, 113, 157, 165–66, 169–71, 179–80, 193, 197–98, 203, 207, 215, 233, 269– 71, 272, 278, 292, 296, 299–300, 303, 307, 313, 316, 319, 321; economic, 51, 53, 114, 153, 156, 171, 197, 301; political, 327 enclave approach, 43 energy and environment policy, gender audit, 313 engendering governance: institutions, 31–35, 249ff; market mechanism, 36–37; in

panchayati raj institutions, in Karnataka, 324ff entitlements, See rights and entitlements environment and forest development, 306 environmental: degradation, 26, 148; management, 36; movements, 170 Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, 296 equality/equity, justice and participation, 16, 22, 25, 28–29, 33–37, 40ff, 72, 86, 142, 179–80, 228, 232, 242, 265, 267–68; in laws and policy, widening concepts, 164–74 ethical framework, 34, 51 ethnicity, 18, 24, 172 exploitation of women workers, 187, 196 Factories Act, The, 1948, 297 family labour system, 303 family planning, 63, 161, 170, 241, 299, 300, 314 federations, 81–83; emergence as a New Organisational Form, 109–10; implications for local governance, 106; of women’s sanghas (collectives), 36 female chastity and modesty, 21 female foeticide, 166, 199, 308 female seclusion, 168 female subjectivity, 73 female workforce participation, See workforce participation of women female-headed households (FHHs), 162, 171, 303, 306–07, 311 femininity, 18, 21, 155, 269, 324 feminisation at work, 27, 184 feminism/feminists, 24, 35, 46, 49, 57–58, 64, 67–69, 71, 128, 261; in Kerala, 73 fertility awareness, 314 fishing communities in Kerala, 170 Five Year Plans, 36, 73, 166, 231, 300; First (1951– 56), 161, 230, 299; Second (1956–61), 160, 161, 181, 299; Third (1961–66), 161, 230, 299; Fourth (1967–72), 161, 230, 299; Fifth (1974–79), 161, 230, 299; Sixth (1980–85), 161, 166–67, 231, 234, 299; Seventh (1986– 91), 167, 231, 299; Eighth (1992–97), 167–68, 231, 299; Ninth (1998–2002), 48, 122, 168, 170, 231, 299–300; Tenth (2002–07), 20, 170– 71, 231–32, 236, 300, 326; Interim Plans (1961–74), 161, 299; gender audits, 298–300 Flood III Operation, 278 food first policies, 169 food security, 37, 170, 235–38, 239

INDEX foreign direct investment (FDI), 226 formal sector employment, casualisation, 27 Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Preselection, 308 free trade regime, 182, 184; See also economic reforms Free Trade Zones (FTZ), 27 freedom, 17; of association, 29; of entry and exit, 59 fundamentalism, 17, 24 GACL, Baroda, 211 Gandhi, Indira, 123 Gandhi, MK, 120 gender audits: of budgets, 316–21; of constitutional guarantees, 296–300; of five year plans of Government of India, 298– 300; as an input to engender governance, 290ff; of macro policies, 301–09; of mega development schemes and programmes, 309; and policy planning, 159ff; of state policies, 310–15 gender awareness, 71, 141, 148, 149 gender bias/discrimination/inequality, 16, 18– 19, 23–24, 41, 43–44, 49, 52, 68, 77, 119, 130, 295, 312, 324, 339 Gender Budget Initiative, 316 gender budgeting, 142, 198, 300 gender and development (GAD) approach, 29, 43, 44, 45, 48, 190–92 Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C), 148, 153 gender development, 227, 231, 300 Gender Development Index (GDI), 331 gender equity/equality, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 29, 34, 35, 40, 41, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 74, 137, 138, 229, 231, 242–43, 270, 292 gender gap: in governance, 16, 17, 29–30; in local urban governance, 146–51 gender and governance, 16–21, 37, 49–52, 138–39, 157; in the People’s Planning Campaign (PPC), Kerala, 57ff gender issues, 16, 42–43, 70, 118, 140, 145, 147, 152, 155, 300; in cooperatives and their governance, 268–71; in major domain of governance, 21–27; in the people’s planning campaign, questions and concerns, 66–72 gender justice, 16–17, 35, 46–47, 49, 51, 57–60, 64–65, 67, 69, 70, 73–74, 101, 108, 110, 116, 243, 297, 333

361

gender monitoring training, 148 gender needs, 25, 34, 45, 68–69, 141, 146, 147 gender relations, 18, 21, 25, 29, 37, 49, 52, 69, 71; in the women and development discourse, 44–47; at work and within family, 163 gender responsive participatory process, 148 gender sensitive planning, 66 gender sensitive projects, 138, 156, 157 gender sensitive urban management programme city consultations and changes in women’s agency, 152–53 gender sensitivity in governance, 37, 249 gender sensitisation, 25, 51, 72, 151, 165, 168, 298, 313 gender, civil society and governance, 24–27 gender-sensitive policies, 313 gendering of women workers, 192–93 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 310 George, Sabu, 308 girl child, 28, 30, 113, 139, 231, 289; discrimination, 123; labour and globalisation, 307 Global Conferences and Summits on Women (Rio, 1992, Vienna and Copenhagen, 1985; Cairo and Beijing, 1995), 41 global economic institutions, 27 global political economy, 27 Global Trading Network (GTN), 217–18 globalisation, 28, 51, 65, 88, 171, 204, 217, 223, 225, 233, 244, 296, 301–02, 309; and girl child labour, 307; and sex tourism, 307 good governance, 16–17, 20, 28, 34, 40ff, 110, 139–42, 155, 223, 225–27, 230–32, 243 Gopalan, Susheela, 77n26 governance: as communities, 84; defining, 83– 84; failures, 233; and federations, 83, 105, 106–10; and gender issues, See gender and governance; as hierarchies, 84, 223; as networks, 86; as a process, 84–85; reforms, 17; as structure, 48, 84, 137; women, governance and the Government of India, 230–33 grain banks, 236 gram sabha, See panchayati raj institutions Grasim Industries, 211 GRASSNET, 217 grassroots producers groups (GPO), 217 grassroots women’s network: alternative perspectives and approaches emerging from, 52–53; and organisations in

362

INDEX

engendering governance, 36, 81ff, 152–54, 161–62, 171, 234; See also panchayati raj institutions green revolution, 166, 181 health and family welfare, 23, 27, 28, 33, 61, 63, 74, 91–94, 97–98, 112, 113, 116, 123–24, 155, 160, 162, 167–68, 170–71, 300, 302, 306–07, 314; primary health care system, 241, 307; public health care expenditure, 302; tribal health, 241 Herur gram panchayat, Koppal, Karnataka, 344 hierarchies/hierarchy, 18, 36, 44, 51, 84, 86, 111–12, 118–19, 130, 223, 234–35, 244, 256, 261, 327, 352 Hindu Undivided Property Act, 297 household economic activity, 171 household responsibilities of women, 18–19, 31, 104, 107, 141, 143, 154–55, 168, 188, 190, 192–95, 198, 200, 299 housewifization, 63 housing policy, gender audit, 310–13 housing rights of women, See rights and entitlements of women human capital formation, 172 human development, 16, 19, 20, 33, 50, 171, 300; and United Nation agencies, 227–30 human rights, 16, 36, 37, 51, 139, 167, 227, 239, 243, 322; from gender perspective, 34; international, 17, 270, 312; panchayats and women, 116ff; violation 31, 36; of women, 17, 88, 134, 137, 141, 142, 227, 239, See also rights and entitlements of women ICE policy, 310 ICPD, 1994, 240 identity of women, 311 inclusion, equity and equality, 19, 21 income generation, 155, 205, 208, 212, 216, 301 incorporationist policies, 42 incumbency factor, 340 Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, 298 India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 149 Indian Association of Women’s Studies (IAWS), 301 Indian Patents Act, 310 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), 349 Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) and SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH) partnership, 207–09

INDICARE Trust, 149–50, 152 Indira Awas Scheme, 126–27 Indulekha, 75n3 industrialisation, 164, 190, 252 inequalities/inequities, 40, 42, 88, 171, 225, 230, 233, 235; economic, 50, 139, 214; of gender, 16, 19, 27, 41, 43, 44, 46, 52, 122, 169, 180; of income, 41; intra-household, 46, 244; between nations, 17; social, 23, 49, 50, 52, 122, 139, 161, 214, 224, 243–44; structural, 138, 291; See also gender, power relations infanticide, 166, 199 inflation, 302, 310 informal sector: engendering governance, 249ff, linking with mainstream markets, 203ff; women’s participation, 27, 234, 304–05 information, women’s access to, 93, 205 infrastructure development, 137, 149, 170 Institute of Social Sciences, 126 institutional and cultural changes, 19, 181 institutional economics, 187–88 institutional framework, 44, 84, 161, 232, 242 institutionalising gender, 51, 69; through special programmes and mechanisms within the state structure, 47–49; women, 315 Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), 127 integrationist approach, 42 International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), 270 international economic order, 163 international financial institutions (IFIs), 16, 169 international human rights law, 312 International Labour Organisation (ILO), 269, 309 international law, 28 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 186, 223, 225–27, 229, 236, 244, 301, 302; initiative on governance, 225–27 Jagrata Samitis (Watchdog Committees), 70 Jamanpada Women Dairy Cooperative Society, 272, 283 Janmabhumi programme, 122 job insecurity, 27 joint forest management, 165 Joint Forest Management Committee, 122 judiciary, 37, 322; gender gap, 17; women’s representation, 24 justice, See equality/equity, justice and participation See also social justice juvenile sex ratio, decline, 307–08

INDEX Kakadmadi women dairy cooperative society, 288 Kamadhenu Mahila Mahasangha, 98 Kariyamma Devi Mahila Sangha, 98 Karnataka: engendering governance in panchayati raj institutions, 324ff;— advocacy, 346–48;—overlapping categories, 340–46;—performance, 332–34;— strengthening efficiency of representatives, 348–51; federations: objectives, 89;— structure, 89–91;—issue-based committees, 82, 91–92, 93, 94, 112; Panchayati Raj Act, 341; urban poor women, 305 Karnataka Electricity Board, 99 Kautilya, 119 Kerala: model of development, 23, 73; urban poor women, 305 Kerala Institute of Local Administration, 25 Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), 60, 63, 64, 67, 71, 74 Khandaits (cultivating castes), women in panchayat, 124 Koppal Karnataka: panchayats, 330, 331, 339, 340, 343, 344 Kudumbashree, 69, 71, 72–73, 74 Kutch craft artisans and SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC), 211–14 Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, 24 labour, sexual division, 163, 172, 243 labour market in India: casual labour, 182, 184, 194; subsidiary and marginal workers, 185–86; women in, 183–86 Lalitpur (Nepal) City Consultation, 143, 147, 152, 155; urban poverty reduction through participatory approach, 151 Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City (LSMC), 151 land degradation, 169 land rights to women, See rights and entitlements of women land tenure reforms, 17, 150, 152 land titling, 17, 48 legal: aid mechanisms, 165; awareness, 113; constraints, 44, 269; framework, 35, 50, 52, 296; literacy, 82, 91, 92, 108, 112; rights, 15, 89, 159 Legal Service Act, 1987, 297 legislative positions, women’s representation, 17–18 legitimacy factor of Indian state, 28, 117–18 liberalisation, See economic reforms

363

literacy and education of women, 24, 72, 82, 91, 92–93, 94–95, 96–97, 102, 105, 113, 114, 125, 139, 168, 198, 200, 230, 277, 298, 299, 303, 320; educational facilities, 303; gender gap, 160; school dropout rates, 192 livelihood, 16, 17, 28, 48, 65, 132, 180, 191, 231, 233, 236, 238–39; loss, 169, 170 local self-governance institutions; See panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) local urban governance and gender responsiveness, 36, 136ff Lumanti, 151, 154 Lunacy Act (1912), 315 macro-economic policies, 28, 226, 229, 230, 233; and the Union Budget, 316 Madhavan, Subhadra, 71 Mahila Chetna Slum Women Solidarity Groups, 150, 152 Mahila Ekta Parishad, 255 Mahila Mandals, 161, 172, 230, 278, 299 Mahila Mangal Dal (MMD), 252, 255–58, 260, 262 Mahila Milan (SPARC), 152 Mahila Samakhya Karnataka, (MSK), 36, 81ff, 339 mainstreaming versus ghettoisation, 47–49 male attitude, 22, 34 male contraception, 299 male dominance, 27, 46, 49, 172, 324, 327, 346 male power and privileges, 43 male workers, 180 Malthus, Thomas Robert, 240 Malviya, Madan Mohan, 120 management and political positions, women’s representation, 17, 27 Management Development Programme (MDP), 229 Mantuna Misa Khala (Women’s Association of Lalitpur), 151 Maravanthe gram panchayat, Udupi, Karnataka, 344 marginalisation and exclusion of women, 27, 30, 64, 161, 168, 171, 189, 235, 299; of working class, 309 market, 48, 51, 301, 311; major barriers to entry for poor producers, 204–05;—SEWA’s strategy to overcome, 205–07; and civil society, 226; led development model, 40; directed governance, 17, 28, 46; expansion

364

INDEX

of, 20; fundamentalism, 21, 227; gender and governance, 27–29; as an institution, 187–88; mechanisms, engendering, 179ff, 203, 214; See also economy marketing and restrictive trade practices (MRTP), 304 marriage-related violence, See violence against women Marxism, 64 masculisation of sex ratio at birth, 241 MASUM, 308 maternal and child health, 161, 230, 299 maternal mortality, 30, 124, 139 Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, 296 Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD), 122 Mental Health Act (1987), 315 mental health policy, gender audit, 314–15 Metcalf, Sir Charles, 121 micro-credit programmes, 22 midday meal schemes, 320 migration of tribal/rural women, 195 militarisation, 17, 27 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 17, 33, 52, 270 Mitakshara, 311 mobilisation, 19, 24, 42, 59, 63; of poor, 225; of women and creation of collective entrepreneurship, 205–06 modernisation, 43, 61, 118, 166, 215; of Indian economy, 189 modernity with democracy, 57ff monarchy, 21, 119 monitoring government programmes and services, 84, 92, 93–99, 110–11; education, 96–97; housing schemes, 97; health services and sanitation, 97–98; fighting corruption, 98–99, 110, 111 Morse Committee, 306 mortality among women and female children, 139, 160 Motaphalia (Pratapnagar) women dairy cooperative society, 288 multinational corporations (MNCs), 28, 163, 301, 310 Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, 297 MYRADA, 339 Naidu, Sarojini, 123 Nair Service Society, 60

Nair, M.R., 76n8 Nambutiri Yogakshema Sabha, 60 Narayan, Jay Prakash, 120 nari adalat, 82, 89, 92, 94, 100–01, 106–10 Narmada Bachao Andolan, 313 Narmada Dam, 306 National Advisory Council, 238 National Bank for Rural Development (NABARD), 93 National Commission of Labour, 301 National Commission of Self-Employed Women, 26; Shram Shakti (report), 26, 167, 301 National Commission of Women, 26, 48 National Committee on Women’s Education, 230 National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), 278–79 National Family Health Survey, 236 National Health Policy, 2001, 314 National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, 325, 327, 332, 335; Status of Rural Women in Karnataka, 327 National Institute of Design (NID), 213 National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), 213 National Labour Commission (NLC), second, 310 national legislatures, women’s representation, 24 National Milk Grid (NMG), 268 National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, India, 236 National Perspective Plan for Women (1988– 2000), 164, 167, 234, 301, 307 National Plan of Action for Empowerment of Women, 233 National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2001), 48 National Policy on Education (NPE), 112 National Population Policy (2000), 240 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 240 National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 239 National Sample Survey, 236 National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF), 152 Nehru, Jawaharlal, 120–21, 299 neighbourhood groups (NHGs), 70 neo-liberalism, 17, 20, 27, 42, 51, 52, 223–24, 227 networks: and federations, definitions and distinction, 83; and the governance processes, 86

INDEX New Economic Policy (NEP), 182, 183–84, 186, 301, 303–05; impact on livelihood, 193–95; impact on women’s employment, 190 Nirantar, 24 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 37, 45, 83, 87–88, 105, 109–110, 127, 136, 148, 150–51, 153, 157, 168, 171, 214, 223, 229, 236, 260–62, 270, 296, 306, 319, 322, 330–31, 335, 339, 348, 352 nyaya panchayats, 122 occupational mobility, 162, 259 opportunism, 188, 193, 195, 199 organisational dynamics, 250 Orissa Panchayat Act, 1994, 125 Pakistan: Constitution, 81st Amendment, 31; participation of women at parliamentary level, 27, 31 Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, 326 panchayati raj institutions (PRIs, local self government), 25, 30, 36, 37, 52, 53, 71, 91, 93, 95, 112, 118, 241, 251–62, 271, 282, 300–01; after independence, 121–22; caste panchayats, 120, 133n3; and civil society, 88, 111; corruption, 251; engendering governance in Karnataka, 324ff;—advocacy, 346–48;—overlapping categories, 340–46;—performance, 332– 34;—strengthening efficiency of representatives, 348–51; evolution and present status, 119–21; institutions of restorative justice, 119; gender representation in Karnataka, 330–31; gram panchayat, 105, 251–54, 256, 258, 329, 331, 341, 343, 344, 347; gram sabha, 85, 94, 104, 119, 121–22, 127, 321, 322, 331, 336, 347; khap panchayats, 133n4; as violators of human rights, 122–24; manipulation to put up consensus candidate, 338–39; taluk panchayat, 329, 330, 331, 345, 346, 349; women participation, 48, 116–30, 251, 252–58, 324; zilla panchayat, 329, 335, 345, 346 Pandit, Vijaya Laxmi, 123 Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women, 48 participation and governance, differentiation, 271

365

participatory learning and action (PLA), 150 Patan craft artisans and SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC), 211–14 patriarchy, patriarchal forces, 28, 37, 58, 59, 61, 63–64, 68, 70–71, 85, 112, 123, 129, 130, 180, 191, 195, 297, 327, 352; and the labour market, 188, 189, 191–92, 199 patron-clientele relation, 85, 110 People’s Action for Employment Guarantee, 239 People’s Planning Campaign (PPC), 25, 35–36, 57ff; People’s Representation Act, 166 Phnom Penh (Cambodia) City Consultation, 143, 147–48, 152, 155; participatory urban poverty reduction, 147–48, 153 Pillai, B. Kalyani Amma, 61, 76n7 Pillai, Swadeshabhimani K. Ramakrishna, 61 Planning Commission of India, 26, 231, 236, 238, 239, 319; See also Five Year Plans planning process, 42, 138, 146, 161, 173; citizen’s participation, 88; gender audit, 298–300; mainstreaming gender into policies, 46–47; women’s involvement, 141–43; without women, 160–62 pluralism, 49, 117 policy, policy process, 15–16, 19, 22, 26–28, 34, 40, 84, 295, 301; barriers for poor producers, 205; commitments, 43; formulation, 65, 69, 73, 160, 173, 233; framework, 37, 140, 316; intervention, 102; planning, 36, 224;—and gender, 159ff; shift, 27, 36, 168, 173; negative impact of adjustment policies on women, 47 political: culture, 22; dynamism, 49; economy, 27, 28, 73; fundamentalism, 21; governance, 22, 24, 31, 49, 138, 296; ideology of neoliberalism, 20; institutions, 121, 130, 141, 169; participation, 114, 249, 261; power, 118, 199; society, 35, 57–60, 62–69;—and civil society, 72–73;—in Kerala, 35, 58, 60, 63–66, 69, 72–74; structures, 26, 226, 233, 244; women’s representation, 23, 31, 66–67, 235, 324–29 politicians, male, 261 politics, 15, 21–26, 31, 34, 47, 51, 62, 64, 72– 73, 126, 174, 230, 237, 242, 282, 324, 326– 27, 338, 346, 349–52; of citizenship, 173; of development, 53, 57–58; of engagement, 49; feminist, 47, 128; of gender, 45, 46, 57, 62, 71–73, 128; of institutions, 173; of mainstreaming, 53; transformational, 52 population debate, 240–42

366

INDEX

population policy, 166, 299, 314; gender audit, 314; and gender equity, 51 poverty, 22, 24, 41, 42, 46, 47, 51, 88, 148, 160, 163, 171, 224, 230, 236, 296, 299; above poverty line (APL), 237; alleviation/ elimination, 16, 36, 69, 71, 122, 143, 147– 48, 151, 157, 161, 182, 229, 231, 239, 303; below poverty line (BPL), 236–37, 239; feminisation, 46, 303, 306, 309; reduction through state and civil society collaboration, 87; and population growth, 240; globalisation, violence and poverty, link, 244 power, power relations, 18–19, 29, 43, 52, 53, 118, 123, 138, 165, 229; and conflict, intra-household dimensions, 52; and development, relation, 172; and resources, gender equitable distribution, 19, 174 Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (2002), 298, 308 Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PNDT) Act (1994), 166, 308 Prevention of Immoral Traffic (in women and children) Act, 298 prices of essential commodities, 302 private domain, 31, 280; associated with household and femininity, 18, 269 private sector, 19, 21, 36, 136, 139–40, 144, 166, 171, 226, 228–29; and economic growth, 88; social regulation, 226 private-public divide see public-private divide privatisation, 17, 20, 28, 224, 228; of social sector, 235 product development, SEWA initiative, 212, 213, 218 productive role of women, 160 property rights, See rights and entitlements of women prostitution, 29, 160, 298 Protection of Right on Divorce Act, 1986, 297 psychotherapy and counselling, 315 Public Distribution System (PDS), 236, 237, 239, 241, 253, 254, 302, 306 public domain, 18, 21, 27, 29, 31, 33, 44, 104, 128, 173, 244, 280, 283, 289, 291; associated with decision making and masculinity, 18, 269; management, 16; and private divide, 22, 24, 31, 33, 62, 71, 269; women’s participation, 18, 23, 104, 128, 137, 140, 173, 244, 270, 271, 280, 283, 289, 291

public policy, 295 public resources, management, See resource(s) public sector, 88, 155; employment profile, 305 Puthenchandai Reading Association, 60 Rabdi women dairy cooperative society, 272, 288 rape and molestation, 30, 100, 101, 126, 139, 160, 164, 165 Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, 26, 319 Rathore, Geeta, 129 religion, 18, 19, 22, 24, 34, 118 reproductive and child health, 88, 300, 314 reproductive capacity and role, 166, 242 reproductive responsibilities, 250, 269 reproductive rights, 162, 300, 314 reproductive technologies, 241 reservations and quotas for women, 18, 23, 31, 61, 62, 116, 117, 123, 250, 260, 261, 301, 326–27, 338, 340–42, 345, 351; See also Constitution of India, 73rd and 74th Amendment resource(s): allocation, 25, 26, 45, 46, 49, 169, 231, 253, 271, 325; common property resources, 169; financial, 15; mobilisation, 233, 273, 275, 332, 333, 336, 337; public resources, management, 226, 232; sharing, 36; women’s access to, 102, 269, 277 responsiveness, 50, 249, 260, 333 restorative justice, 118, 119; see also panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) rights and entitlements of women, 17, 21, 25, 28, 30, 40–41, 70, 73, 87, 92, 99, 108, 113–14, 117, 123, 137, 141, 154, 164–65, 190, 205; housing rights, 152, 311, 312; property rights, 17, 28, 30, 139, 164, 297; right to work, 234, 238–40; socio-economic and political rights, 34, 117, 165 right-based conceptualisations of governance, 33 Rio Summit, 41, 306 Rozgar Adhikar Yatra, 239 rule of law, 51, 118 rural development, 300, 305 Rural Health Mission, 240 rural marketing distribution network (RUDI Bazaar), 216–237 Russian Revolution, 179 Saarthak, 315 Sabarsingi Women Dairy Cooperative Societies, 283 SACHETANA, 193, 200

INDEX Sahayogini, 100, 102 SAKHI, 24, 25; Report, 2000, 66, 68 salt workers of Surendranagar and SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH), 209–11 Sangharsh Sabha, 237 Santhwana, 92, 94 Sardar Sarovar Project, 306 Sarpor women dairy cooperative society, 272, 288–89 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 94 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/ STs), 96, 124, 253, 326, 327, 340 Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), 24, 26–27, 36–37, 203ff, 270; Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH), 204, 206, 216–17;—and salt workers of Surendranagar, 209–11; and sesame seed farmers, 207–09; strategy to overcome barriers, 205–07; Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC), 204, 206, 207, 217;—and craft artisans of Kutch and Patan districts, 211–14; see also Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) self-employment, 166, 197, 265, 270, 305 self-help groups (SHGs), 22, 26, 30, 34, 47, 69– 71, 73–74, 93, 122, 127, 152, 153, 171, 251, 265, 273, 278, 279, 282, 291, 300, 307, 319 self-reliance, 82, 91, 93, 163, 172 Sen Committee, 237 Sen, Amartya, 29 service delivery system, 166, 230 sesame seed farmers and the SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH), 207–09 sex ratio, 165; decline, 160 sex tourism, integral part of globalisation, 307, 309 sex-selective abortions, 123, 166 sexual autonomy, 61 sexual complementarity, 59 sexual harassment, 64, 69, 71, 94, 100, 129, 160, 164; at workplace, 298 sexual morality, 68, 312 sexuality issues, 300 Sight and Service Schemes (SSS), 311 simplicity in rules and regulations, managerial efficiency, adaptiveness, responsiveness and transparency (SMART), 141 Singh, Manmohan, 301 skill acquisition, 30, 139 skill development programme, 151, 171, 213 Slum Rehabilitation Schemes (SRS), 311 social: attitudes, 160, 172; audit, 167; awareness, 93, 153; campaigns, 92, 98–99;

367

capital, 53, 129; change, 23, 45, 48, 65, 128, 165, 170, 203; conduct, 120; constructions, 19, 21; deprivation, 241; development, see development; divisions, 22, 34; economic and political processes, role of women’s networks, 86–87; equity/ equality, 16, 137; injustice, 22; institutions, 33, 59, 74, 118; issues, 70, 93, 108, 110, 113; justice, 25, 40, 41, 46–48, 137, 138, 140, 167, 232, 262, 327, 329, 332; movements, 19, 25, 58, 60–61, 63–67, 69, 72, 74, 123, 130, 139, 168, 224, 227, 230, 237–38, 244, 262, 301, 321; norms and practices, 19, 24, 61, 62, 162, 187; projects, 295; reforms, 74, 168; relationships, 29, 33, 44, 45, 49, 51, 118, 119, 138, 311; responsibility, 265; security, 296, 310; stereotypes, 291; structure, 43, 116, 120– 21, 205 Social Development Summit, Copenhagen, 231 Societies Registration Act, 1860, 112 socio-cultural factors, 45 socio-demographic characteristics, 124 socio-economic activities, 278 socio-economic complexities, 188 socio-economic life of Keralam, 65 socio-political context, 227 sovereignty, 224 Soviet Union, disintegration, 1989, 226 Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, 60 state, state institutions, 20, 44, 224; and civil society, relations, 36, 49–51, 87–88, 130, 169; as a counter-force, 197–98; failure, 86; gender and governance, 21–24; and human rights, 117–18; market and civil society, 50–51, 136, 243; and non-state actors, 59, 84; notion of, 117; and exploitation of women workers, 196; policies, gender audit, 310–15;—implications for women’s empowerment, 296 status of women, 18, 31, 64, 113, 117, 123–25, 152–53, 154, 156, 163, 167, 295, 311 stereotypes, 31, 50, 291; of gender, 24 streesamajams (women’s associations), 61 streevedi, 128 structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), 28, 159, 169, 227, 229, 234, 296, 301–02, 305, 310 subcontracting, 303 subordination and exclusion of women, 18, 24, 29, 34, 41, 43, 45, 48, 49, 52, 53, 58, 68, 89, 191, 197, 198, 244, 270, 312, 314, 346

368

INDEX

Sukhiya Bai, 129 superstitions, 105 Surendranagar Mahila and Balvikas Mandal (SMBM), 210 Surendranagar salt workers and SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (SGMH), 208–11, 216 survival of women, 30, 139; quality of survival, 30, 139 sustainability, 32, 86, 93, 102, 105, 140, 142, 157, 232, 273 Swarnjayanthi Gramin Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), 95, 127 Swavlambhi Gramin Nari programme, 279 symbolic recognition to political commitment, 49–52 Talakere gram panchayat, Koppal, Karnataka, 344 taxation, 295, 321 technical cooperation, 225, 229 technocrat-bureaucrat privilege zone, 73 technology transfer, 163, 164, 215 Tejlav-Adivasi Women Dairy Cooperative Society, 272, 288 Telugu Desam Party (TDP), 26 top-down approaches, 52 Total Literacy Campaign (TLC), 65, 168, 169 trade unions, and exploitation of women workers, 196–97, 199 trafficking of women, 29, 160, 309 transformative approach, 42 transparency, see accountability and transparency Trivandrum Debating Society, 60 tribal women, 74, 164 triples roles’ framework, 45 TRYSEM, 166 two-child norm, 123, 241–42 Udupi, panchayats, Karnataka, 330, 331, 344, 345 unemployment and underemployment, 28, 148, 181, 238–39, 305–06; of women, 184–85 UNICEF, 126 UNIFEM, 193 Union Carbide, 304 United Nations (UN), 16, 34, 143, 167, 223, 270; agencies and human development, 227–30; Charter on Equality, Development and Peace, 296; Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against

Women (CEDAW), 17, 33, 270; Third World Women 1970–90 report, 305 United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS Habitat), 142, 147, 311 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 309 United Nations Development Project (UNDP), 15, 16, 19, 33, 50, 143, 147, 227–30, 242, 320; Human Development Reports (HDRs), 227, 229, 301, 320; (2000), 17; (2003), 238; Initiative for Change, 228 United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), 142–43, 148 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 116, 117 universal rights framework, 225 urban: development, 136–37, 139, 143; poor women in Kerala and Karnataka, 305; poverty, reduction through participatory approach in Lalitpur, Nepal, 143, 147, 151, 152; slums, 259–60; unemployment, 306 urban management programme (UMP), 136ff; and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), partnership, 143, 148; gender-responsive participatory process, 148, 156 urbanisation, 51, 88 USAID, 299 Uttaranchal: formation of state, 252; panchayati raj institutions (PRIs), 252–58 Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act (1947), 252, 253 Uttaranchal Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Kendra, 255 Uttaranchal State Finance Commission, 253 Valsad District Milk Cooperative Union Limited (VASUDHARA), 37, 268, 272, 278–92 Vasathi (habitat) sabhas, 337, 347 Vientiane (Laos) City Consultation, 138, 143, 147–49, 152–53 Vientiane Urban Infrastructure and Services Project (VUISP), 149 village administration, 119–21. See also panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) village panchayats, 22, 92, 10–21, 124 violence against women, 27, 30, 52, 70, 119, 128, 142, 165, 244, 250, 255, 296–97; domestic, 26, 30, 64, 117, 119, 130, 170, 255, 297; marriage-related, 30; of reproductive technologies, 166 Vokkaligas, women in panchayat, 124 Voluntary Technical Corps, 75n1

INDEX wage discrimination, 189, 234 wasteland development, 127, 170 water policy, gender audit, 313 watershed management, 122 welfare approach in development, 43, 46, 161, 162 welfare orientation of the state, 29, 51 welfare resources, 53 welfare state, 179, 187, 224–25, 230, 233 western feminism, 64 western values, 43 wife beating, 168 women and development (WAD) approach, 41, 43, 44, 167, 190, 231 women dairy cooperative societies (WDCS) in Gujarat, 37, 265ff; indicators of engendered governance, 271, 272, 273–75; impact indicators, 277 Women Empowerment Policy (WEP), 2001, 307 Women in development (WID), 29, 41–42, 106, 164, 190, 230–31, 301; shift to gender and development (GAD), 43–44 women/women’s: access to public goods and services, 93; activism, 25; bargaining power, 18; control over their bodies, 63, 123, 166; control over resources, 18, 93, 140, 172; development, 167, 168, 203, 230, 299; deficit, 124; disadvantages as workers, 180–81, 189; qualifications as workers, 189; harassment by male colleagues, 155; in India, 159–74; internal preparedness, 29; as justice providers, 117–18, 123, 127; in labour market, 183–86; mobility, 184, 335; movements, 24–26, 29, 35, 37, 40–41, 45, 46, 48, 52, 59, 71, 82, 89, 100–03, 105, 109, 127, 159–66, 172, 174, 198– 99, 260, 263, 296, 307, 310, 316;—and governance, issues and challenges, 223ff;— perspective and response from, 233–42; networks, role, 36, 86–87; participation in governance/local governance, 85, 142, 173; passive recipients of services and resources, 21, 33, 66; political effectiveness, 72; practical gender needs, 25, 34, 68–69; representation

369

in PRIs, see panchayati raj institutions; sanghas (collectives), 36, 81–82, 89, 91, 92, 93, 95– 100, 104–14, 171, 338, 339;––internal conflicts within, 89, 100; role in society, 162; specific projects, 48, 299; strategic interests, 66; struggle for autonomy and citizenship, 65; struggle for voice and visibility, 52; traditional roles and responsibilities, 46; in unorganized sector, 203 Women’s Component Plan, 25, 48, 66, 75n1, 170, 299, 300, 316 Women’s Dairy Cooperative Society, (WDCS), governance, 280–89; impact on women, 289–91 Women’s Dairy Cooperative Leadership Programme (WDCLP), 278, 279 Women’s Empowerment Policy (2001), 301 Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO 2005), 17 Women’s Union of Vientiane Municipality (WUVM), 149 women-headed households, See female-headed households women-only projects, 43 workforce participation (WPR) of women, 30, 139, 183, 189, 192, 203, 234, 296, 303 working conditions, 26, 27, 28, 126, 211 working-class, 63, 72, 74, 302–03; criminalisation, 308; marginalisation, 309 World Bank (WB), 15, 143, 186, 223, 224, 236, 242, 244, 301, 306; initiative on governance, 225–27 World Health Organisation (WHO), 299 World Summit on Social Development, 270 World Trade Organization (WTO), 224, 226, 232, 234 World Urban Forum, Barcelona (2004), 88 World War II, 117, 179 Yadav, Subidha, 129 Zilla Panchayat Act (1961), 252